Louis is both the human focus of the story and a symbolic figure who represents the thousands of slaves who tried to flee northward toward freedom. Much about Louis and his circumstances are intentionally made typical of his era in order to intensify this symbolic identification. He is surprised to find the big river close to where he had been a slave; slaves were often kept ignorant of their geographic locations because not knowing where they were helped prevent conspiracies among slaves of different owners—even if the slaves escaped they would not know how to find each other. This geographical ignorance further impeded slaves who tried to escape since they stood a very good chance of moving deeper into slave territory rather than closer to the edge of it. Without knowing which direction to flee in, which roads to take, and which...