Chapter 7, The Lover Summary and Analysis

Linda falls in love with a free black man who lives in her town. He proposes to marry her and wishes to buy her. Dr. Flint will not allow it and is furious that Linda would prefer the honorable proposal of a black man over his own licentious advances.

Linda refuses to enter an affair with the man she loves because she wants him to see her as a virtuous woman and because she knows that as a free man he would be devastated to see his children born into slavery (since the children of slave women "follow the condition of the mother"). Although she is heartbroken, she convinces her lover to travel north to seek his fortune and not to come back.

Linda has tried to enter a sanctified marriage and live according to the Christian...