The answer to this question can be found in Chapter Ten of
this great novel. This narrates the second visit that Kit makes to Hannah Tupper's
house. When she arrives, she finds Hannah buys spinning thread. However, when asked by
Kit if she grows the flax herself, note how Hannah
responds:
"Some of the families in town always bring me
their flax to spin," she explained... "Fourpence a skein," she said. "Enough to pay the
taxes and buy what I
need."
Thus we discover that
the flax is a form of employment for Hannah. It enables her to meet her living costs. We
also find out that part of those living costs are actually taxes that she must pay
because she refuses to go to church every Sunday. This clearly is another way that the
book depicts religious prejudice and persecution. The fact that Hannah is fined for
choosing not to go to church is shocking to our modern day minds, and yet this was
standard practice for groups such as Quakers in those times.
No comments:
Post a Comment