# XL: The Fugitive Slave Law explained — Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl > Chapter companion for Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent. ## What happens Linda returns to work for the Bruce family, but the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law creates a reign of terror for fugitives in New York. She lives in constant fear of capture, takes precautions, and is eventually forced to flee with Mrs. Bruce's baby to New England when Dr. Flint learns of her whereabouts. The chapter also recounts the story of Luke, a former slave who escaped by taking money from his deceased master's trousers, and highlights the moral corruption of slavery. ## Themes in this chapter ### Northern Complicity and Abolitionism The chapter exposes the hypocrisy of free states like New York, where fugitives live in constant fear and are subject to slave laws. Mrs. Bruce's defiance of the law contrasts with the complicity of others. ### Dehumanization and Identity Luke's story illustrates how slavery corrupts the moral sense, as he justifies taking money from his dead master as unpaid wages. Linda reflects on the theft of wages and the degradation of slaves. ### Resistance and Escape Luke's escape and his clever plan to take money for his journey north exemplify resistance. Linda's flight with Mrs. Bruce's baby to New England is another act of escape from the reach of slaveholders. ## Character check-ins ### Linda Brent Returns to New York and works as a nurse for Mrs. Bruce, living in fear under the Fugitive Slave Law. She eventually flees to New England with the baby to avoid capture. ### William Linda's brother, who spends his last evening with her before leaving for California. He is free from the Fugitive Slave Law but expresses bitterness and hostility toward oppressors. ### Benjamin Agrees to go to California with William after his own project fails. ### Ellen Likes her school and is a favorite there; when it is discovered her mother is a fugitive slave, efforts are made to help her. ### Mrs. Bruce The new Mrs. Bruce, an American with aristocratic background but a hearty dislike of slavery. She becomes a true friend to Linda and risks imprisonment and fine to protect her. ### Luke A former slave who escaped from a cruel master. He recounts taking money from his deceased master's trousers as unpaid wages and flees to Canada. ## Key lines > The slave Hamlin, the first fugitive that came under the new law, was given up by the bloodhounds of the north to the bloodhounds of the south. The first fugitive slave captured under the new law, Hamlin, was handed over by Northern authorities to Southern slave catchers. _Highlights the complicity of the North in enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law._ > I was, in fact, a slave in New York, as subject to slave laws as I had been in a Slave State. Strange incongruity in a State called free! Linda feels she is still a slave in New York because the Fugitive Slave Law makes her just as vulnerable as in the South, a contradiction for a supposedly free state. _Emphasizes the theme of Northern complicity and the illusion of freedom._ > I am very well aware of it. It is imprisonment and one thousand dollars fine. Shame on my country that it is so! I am ready to incur the penalty. Mrs. Bruce knows the legal penalty for harboring a fugitive but is willing to go to prison rather than let Linda be captured. _Shows Mrs. Bruce's courageous defiance of the law._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/incidents_in_the_life_of_a_slave_girl_se/chapters/xl-the-fugitive-slave-law - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/incidents_in_the_life_of_a_slave_girl_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/incidents_in_the_life_of_a_slave_girl_se/chapters