The Longest Memory deals with people who are powerless because they are denied the ability to make their own decisions, they lack freedom and status. They face many restrictions and have no ability to influence what happens to them. Although both Lydia and Chapel lack power, they are not equally powerless. Unlike Chapel, Lydia possesses money and status giving her greater power than Chapel.

Since Chapel is a slave, automatically he is denied all rights. He does not have the freedom to express his own opinions, as he is a slave, and is denied the opportunity to be educated, for "It was forbidden for a slave to know how to write and read." Despite the fact that slaves are forbidden to read and write, Lydia taught Chapel how to. Chapel was rather talented in the art of literacy, he was capable of creating poems in his mind without...