The Courage of Sarah Noble

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1954

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-11

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

The Coexistence of Courage and Fear

Sarah Noble associates fear with a lack of courage, most especially when her father prepares to leave her with “Tall John’s” family while he retrieves Sarah’s mother and siblings from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She says aloud, for the first time, that she is “afraid” and has “lost [her] courage” (36). Sarah evidently believes that being brave means that one is unafraid and that such strength is possible only in the absence of fear. However, as her father points out, this is simply not true. He says, “To be afraid and to be brave is the best courage of all” (36). Sarah’s experiences and her father’s advice illuminate the idea that fear and courage coexist because, in fact, one does not need courage if one feels no fear. It is, ultimately, the presence of fear that enables a person to develop courage.

Early in the story, when Sarah finds herself surrounded by unfamiliar Schaghticoke children, fear prompts her to believe that “their eyes were going all the way through her,” and she thinks they do not “hurt [her] because they like the story” (26) she reads to them, and this fear is what enables Sarah to be brave (27). Having been frightened by Mistress Robinson’s sons’ warnings about Indigenous people’s cannibalism and cruelty, Sarah keeps “as still as a rabbit in danger” before she is inspired to read to the children from her Bible (25). Doing something that brings her comfort gives her the courage to introduce herself and even to express impatience when the children do not understand her. The narrator compares the way the Schaghticoke children scatter to “the deer when her father lifted the gun” (28). This simile positions Sarah as more powerful than the other children, as though she is actually more of a threat to them than they are to her (which, culturally speaking, is true). Seeing this, she chastises herself, and her fear changes from xenophobia to a concern that the children will never come back. Sarah develops courage during this interaction because of her initial fears, not in spite of them; without these fears, she would not feel so threatened and, thus, in need of courage.

Sarah’s bravery develops further when she lives with “Tall John’s” family. With her “cloak […] wrapped tightly around her” (37) and thinking of wolves and bears, she worries that her father will never return. Acknowledging this fear, she reminds herself, “Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble” (39), advice she would not need if she had no fears about living with a family she only recently met or losing her father to the wild animals in the woods. Her comforting cloak and her mother’s familiar words inspire her bravery anew, and she carries on. Ultimately, Sarah’s experience with fear—both imagined and real—shows that courage doesn’t exist in the absence of fear but, rather, develops because of it.

More Similar Than Different

It is primarily Sarah’s experiences with “Tall John’s” family that highlight this theme, suggesting that there are more similarities than differences between the English and the Schaghticoke families, further hinting that their cultures are also more similar than they might seem at first. Although the Schaghticoke family’s dinner is “not what Sarah was used to” because they eat without utensils, the whole family sits down together to a meal prepared by “Tall John’s wife, and “the meat tasted good” (39); this is similar to how Sarah’s family eats and her mother prepares family meals. Moreover, though Sarah and “Tall John’s” children do not speak the same language, the narrator says that “friends have ways of speaking without words” (39), implying that there is something universal about children’s play, no matter the family or culture. The children may not be able to communicate with language, but they must have enough in common that they can communicate through expressions and body language, meaning that the ultimate goal of interaction—communication—can be very similar across apparently distinct groups.

Further, though Sarah initially views the clothing worn by the Schaghticoke children as unacceptable, reinforcing the sense of security she gains from her petticoats and other layers, Sarah enjoys the new freedom she feels when provided with deerskin clothes and shoes. Her feet feel “light and free” (42) when she walks, and later, when she dons her old clothes again, they are “stiff [and] tiresome” (46) at best. In this way, something that strikes Sarah, at first, as a significant difference between her and the Schaghticoke children leads to her realization of how much more comfortable Schaghticoke clothing is than typical English dress. The “secure” feeling her English clothes give her is overwhelmed, later, by the superior comfort offered by the soft deerskin, and Sarah values comfort, just as the Schaghticoke do.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, when Sarah prays, “Tall John” explains to his children that she speaks to her “Great Spirit” in the same way they speak to theirs, an explanation that highlights the similarities between Christianity and Schaghticoke religious beliefs rather than the differences. Given the number of violent conflicts between religious groups, “Tall John’s” distillation of the two into such simple and similar terms is notable. This description is especially true since Sarah descends from Puritans—Christian extremists who fled England to found communities based on their religious doctrine—and because of the hegemony of Christianity in mid-20th century America when Dalgliesh wrote the text. Sarah’s experiences with the Schaghticoke—in everything from family meals to religious beliefs—confirm that, if we look, we will find more important similarities with one another than we do differences: People want tasty food, meaningful relationships, the ability to communicate effectively with others, to feel comfortable, and, often, to believe in something bigger than themselves.

Experience Leads to Understanding

The Courage of Sarah Noble is a controversial text, in part because of white colonists’ prejudices against and misrepresentations of Indigenous groups, as well as the text’s use of inaccurate and offensive language to refer to the Schaghticoke. At the same time, the text shows how experience with another culture leads to the development of deeper understanding and empathy, even to inclusion and belonging.

The more experience a white character has with the Schaghticoke in the text, the more cultural awareness and understanding they acquire. This is, of course, relatively speaking, given the period in which the text is set and the period in which it was written. In the beginning, the only family member to have significant experience with the Schaghticoke is John Noble, and he assures Sarah that they are “good Indians” (18) and “will not harm [the Nobles]” (19). Such a statement insensitively links the group’s “goodness” to their peacefulness, as though Indigenous peoples who are violent toward white colonists are “bad”; it is unlikely, for example, that a white colonist would characterize another white group so simplistically. However, John does foreground kindness, differentiating him from his wife and Mistress Robinson, both of whom have no direct experience with the Schaghticoke. Mistress Robinson can only profess to “have heard” that the Schaghticoke are friendly or to suspect that the knock on her door “might be” Schaghticoke individuals because she hasn’t actually had the firsthand experience John has. Thus, her xenophobia—exhibited by her refusal to correct her sons’ false and offensive claims about the Schaghticoke—can thrive based only on suspicion and rumor.

Likewise, Mary Noble’s prejudices and attitudes about the Schaghticoke are similar to Mistress Robinson’s because she lacks firsthand experience with people from this culture. When John tries to tell her that “Tall John’s” wife is very nearly as “careful” as Mary is, she doesn’t believe it: “That she would have to see for herself—if she could even bring herself to look into one of those queer wigwams” (51-52). Again, Mary doesn’t believe that a Schaghticoke woman could be as diligent a wife and mother as she is because she has never actually met a Schaghticoke woman. Moreover, looking into a Schaghticoke family’s home is something she feels she’d have to “bring herself” to do, which gives it the connotation of being something dreadful and unpleasant. Therefore, her opinion that the Schaghticoke are “savages” is easy for her to maintain because she has never even met a Schaghticoke individual, an experience that would quickly disillusion her as it has her daughter.

Ultimately, because Sarah is the person who has the most experience with the Schaghticoke, she has the best understanding—though still limited—of their culture and life. The text does not offer any characterization of a Schaghticoke individual with the same depth it offers the white characters, likely the result of the era in which it was written and the author’s own race (Dalgliesh was white). Therefore, Sarah’s knowledge and inclusion of the Schaghticoke, which is deep enough to cause her to contradict her mother, is linked to the degree of experience she has attained with the Schaghticoke relative to the other white people in the text. Then, the extent to which the text promotes not just acceptance but inclusion or belonging, which are much richer and more meaningful, is relative to the era in which it was produced. This short text does seem to suggest that peaceful coexistence between disparate groups—whether they are racial, ethnic, or religious—is possible when both groups gain some experience of the other’s life and culture because such experience inevitably leads to more understanding and empathy.