Significance of Pens, Fences, Chains, Yokes, Ropes

Pens, fences, chains, yokes, and ropes encapsulate the brutal treatment that black people endure at the hands of their captors. The book's main theme is slavery, and these devices all carry heavy significance in the novel, for they are the main means of trapping, tethering, imprisoning, and immobilizing slaves. The repetition of these images demonstrates the pervasive and persistent and presence of slavery; they show that slavery is so very difficult to escape, thanks to all these instruments of bondage.