Toliver's Secret

The first three chapters provide exposition on the main setting and characters. The end of Chapter 3 introduces the main conflict: Ellen carrying Grandfather’s message to the Shannons.

Toliver’s Secret takes place in colonial New York in late 1776. It contains many details that introduce young readers to the historical setting. Ellen and her family live in lower Manhattan, near the Battery and Bowery Lane, though she and Mother used to live in a small village in Brooklyn. Compared to her old home, New York is busy and intimidating. Even early in the morning, the street is full of “carts and wagons that rumbled along” pulled by horses, many a “work-man with a load on his shoulders,” and apprentices “sweeping the steps of the shops” (22). Rather than having one or two stores that fulfilled all of someone’s household needs, 18th-century shops often sold a single category of goods and were run by specialized craftsmen. Grandfather, for instance, is a wigmaker and barber. Houses did not have centralized plumbing, so every morning, Ellen walks two blocks to the local water pump, where “a group of women and girls were waiting in line to fill their buckets” (23). Fetching the household’s water would have fallen under the domestic tasks usually assigned to women, according to Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles.

In terms of clothes, Mother wears a “white cap,” and Grandfather wears a “white wig.” Caps were worn by women of all classes in the colonial period. It was a “practical piece” that provided a quick style and also “protected the hair from everyday dust and dirt” (“A Colonial Lady’s Clothing: A Glossary of Terms.” The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). Since Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles dictated that women oversee the domestic realm of the household, it would protect their hair from the particles associated with baking, cooking, and cleaning. For men, the 18th century was “the golden age of male wig wearing” (“Wigs in Colonial Williamsburg.” The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). Grandfather wears a wig when he leaves the house, and his profession is a wigmaker and barber. Since the British occupy New York, his clientele are mainly soldiers who want him to “shave their chins or powder their hair or dress their white wigs” (8). Wigmakers and barber shops were also local gathering places where people “could openly discuss politics, day-to-day activities, and transact business deals” (“Wigs in Colonial Williamsburg”). Since the British govern New York, this puts Grandfather in a position to hear a lot of sensitive information about the British army.

Ellen and her mother are characterized as timid and worried, respectively. When Grandfather sprains his ankle and broaches the idea of Ellen carrying the message, Mother replies, “I gave my husband to the cause of freedom and my son has gone to the war, too. I won’t let you send my little girl” (40). This is both a mother’s initial protective response and a reflection of traditional gender roles, which would not endanger a young girl’s life, even for a righteous cause. It also stems from the fact that Ellen’s mother knows that her daughter struggles with Feeling Self-Confident in Adverse Circumstances, as demonstrated by Ellen’s avoidance of direct confrontation with Dicey at the water pump. When Ellen’s mother relents and agrees to have Ellen delivered the bread with the snuffbox, Ellen begins her journey toward self-confidence because circumstances will force her to dig deep and find both her courage and her confidence in dangerous moments. 

The section foregrounds the theme of The Impact of War on Individuals and Families in several ways. Initially, the disruption of war is hinted at by the absence of Ellen’s father and brother. The reader first sees Ellen at home with her grandfather and mother though what happened to Ellen’s father and her brother, Ezra, has not been revealed. Next, there is mention of the presence of “redcoats” in the house and the need to be quiet and discreet, demonstrating how daily life has changed because of the war. Ellen and her mother are shown curling British wigs, an indication of how the colonists find themselves unwilling servants to the British army. In Chapter 2, the reader finally learns the fates of Ellen’s father and brother. Her father, a schoolmaster, was part of the militia and died fighting the British at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. Ezra, 15 years old, also fought in the battle but went missing. Ellen and Mother hope he retreated with Washington but fear he is on a “prison ship.” Prison ships were repurposed transport ships used by the British to hold captured American soldiers. One prison ship, the Jersey, was called “Hell Ship” by captured soldiers due to the conditions aboard. The men ate “moldy bread, half spoiled pickled beef and pork, or provisions which had been condemned for regular issue,” and diseases such as “colds, ton­sillitis, influenza, and pneumonia, the contagious fevers, measles, scarlet fever, chicken pox, and small pox” took root and spread quickly (Roddis, Louis H. “The New York Prison Ships in the American Revolution.” U.S. Naval Institute, vol. 61 no. 3, Mar. 1935). These conditions meant that many men did not make it off these ships alive. Ellen and her family live in a time of uncertainty, unsure if Ezra is dead, aboard a prison ship, or safe with Washington. Though losing her husband and son makes Mother worried, these events also fuel the Tolivers’ commitment to the Patriot cause.

This section introduces various slang terms associated with British soldiers in this historical period. The most popular term is “redcoat,” a moniker they earned because British soldiers were outfitted with vibrant red coats. In private, Grandfather also uses the disparaging term “lobsterbacks.” This term references the British army’s red coat in a slightly derogatory and mocking way. Ellen’s family, including Grandfather and his friends, are staunch “Patriots.” Patriots were people who supported American independence from England.

The novel is sympathetic to the Patriot cause, largely portraying Patriots as protagonists and British soldiers as antagonists, with a few notable exceptions being Dicey and, in later chapters, Higgins. British soldiers ride through the streets “as if they owned the whole world” (23), nearly running Ellen down. Due to the Quartering Act, British soldiers occupy the bedrooms of Grandfather’s house kitchen. Every morning, the British soldiers “ordered Mother to bring tea and biscuits to them” (7). The British are depicted as imperious and entitled. Ellen and her family must patiently serve them so they are not suspected of being Patriots. In private, they perform small acts of rebellion. In addition to Grandfather’s messages, he sometimes pretends to be British and dances what he calls the “The Redcoat Minuet” with Ellen, putting “his nose in the air very haughtily” and dancing around, “flipping up the tails of his coat” (7). This small act of rebellion and mockery also introduces some levity into the lives of the Tolivers, who are otherwise negatively affected by wartime violence.