Aunt Martha 

A prominent character in the novel and helps to uncover its different sides. Aunt Martha is Linda’s grandmother and has a meaningful impact on her. She was a slave from her early years and seems to get used of it. The woman is respected by the surrounding people even by those with white skin. When the life of her mistress ended, Aunt Martha was put for sale. The kind-hearted old woman bought her and presented freedom.

Having tasted this freedom, Aunt Martha became a baker to save money. She is struggling to make her children free and supplies them with all the necessary things they could not afford to buy. The woman does her best to unite her children. We can notice that her spiritual deepness comfort Linda. But there is one thing Linda can’t accept from her grandmother. Aunt Martha does not want to listen about escape and bet Linda even with tears to leave this idea. She points of the list of things Linda loses while escaping. However, two women could not find a compromise solution to the problem. Both of them have rather distant views of slavery. Aunt Martha sees it as a physical corruption, but Linda goes deeper and considers it slavery of thoughts and mind.