Handful

Handful who is Mauma’s daughter is the character that I like most in the novel. One unique thing about Handful is the fact that she sees hope where no one sees any hope. This is because despite being a young girl, almost Sarah’s age, Handful, had already an idea of how she would one day go away from Charleston and be free. When the others had no hope of ever going away from Charleston, Handful always kept her hope alive. Despite of being unhappy of being a slave, Handful is very happy that she is a secret friend to Sarah and that means a lot to her. It is through their friendship Sarah that Handful is able to learn how to read and write. Something that really helps in the later sections of the book where she is able to send letters to Sarah and thus they are able to communicate effectively.

Despite coming from a disadvantaged home, Handful never let this ruin her morale in any way. Instead, she uses this as her main drive to for a better life. Handful does a lot of perseverance and at no time did she lose her temper nor hurt any other person in the book despite being hurt several times. After Mauma going away for thirteen years, she gets back with her younger sister Sky, who Handful quickly gets attached to and also teaches her how to carry out her duties. To prove her selfless nature, Handful agrees to escape along with her younger sister. Finally, her dreams come true when Sarah, Mrs. Grimke’s daughter is able to smuggle them out of Charleston as they posed as Widows. 

Handful is great source of motivation to anyone since she shows us that all our dreams are valid and that we only need to believe in ourselves and our goals.