A Lion to Guard Us

Jemmy is Amanda’s eight-year-old younger brother. Throughout the novel, he transitions from a quiet, shy child into a bold, talkative, and increasingly independent one. In Mistress Trippett’s house, he is forced to stay on the back stairs all day with his younger sister and remain quiet when they are not required to do chores, and he hates confinement once they leave this house. He is inquisitive and asks Amanda questions about the stories she tells and looks to her for guidance once their mother dies. Jemmy values the door knocker for its importance in their family history and as a way to stay connected to their parents. He is its caretaker, bringing it when they have to flee Mistress Trippett’s house, playing with it on the ship, diligently polishing it, and keeping it safe.

Aboard the Sea Adventure, he becomes more talkative and is even bold enough to speak to the admiral. Amanda admires his daring. Jemmy transitions from childhood to independence more slowly than his sister Amanda. In many ways, he remains a child throughout the novel, bragging about the door knocker to impress his friends and playing with Meg on the island. However, he also takes on greater responsibility, which manifests in him retrieving the door knocker from Master Waters without involving his sisters.

Meg Freebold is Amanda’s five-year-old younger sister. For much of the novel, Meg remains completely silent. In Mistress Trippett’s home, she is required to sit on the back stairs all day, doing nothing and staying quiet. Even when a strange woman tries to take her from Amanda, believing Meg is her own child, Meg says nothing, only clinging tighter to Amanda. She relies completely on her sister to protect and care for her, and she interprets their world through Amanda’s stories, even seeing the shipwreck as Amanda’s prediction that the children will safely get off the ship.

Once the children have their own home on the island, Meg begins to relax and exhibit more childlike behaviors, like skipping and jumping, because she finally feels at ease. Her transition from a quiet, timid child to a free one who loves to play makes her a dynamic character, ready to embrace the changes offered by life in the “New World.”

The absence of the Freebold children’s parents causes the main conflict of the novel. They are both static characters whose lives and motivations are not deeply explored. Mistress Freebold is absent because she is unconscious and ill at the beginning of the novel. She used to be a servant in Mistress Trippett’s home before she fell down the stairs, which caused her illness. The novel doesn’t reveal how the family transitioned from living in their own home to living as servants, but her hard work in her husband’s absence reveals a determination to provide for her children. Amanda imitates this behavior when she is forced to take on her mother’s workload—both as a servant and a parent. When Mistress Freebold dies, the children are left without a protector. Master Freebold left the family years earlier to build a better life in Virginia. The children cling to that hope, which leads them to follow him to Virginia after losing their mother. When they reach him there, they find that him near death, echoing the situation with their mother at the beginning of the novel. However, the novel ends optimistically with their reunion.

Cook and Ellie are other servants in Mistress Trippett’s home. Cook is a flat, static antagonist who plays a role in running the household and constantly gives Amanda more work to do, although Amanda is not being paid. She also dislikes Amanda’s siblings, calling them brats and banning them from her kitchen. She is also a foil to Ellie, the maid, who is much more compassionate and bonds with Amanda. Cook is allied with Mistress Trippett even though her lower class status prevents them from actually being peers. By contrast, Ellie aligns with Amanda, revealing that Mistress Trippett took Mistress Freebold’s money and that it will be difficult for Amanda to retrieve it. She also tries to dissuade the children once they’ve decided to leave for America out of concern for their safety.

Dr. Crider is a supportive secondary character. He has a gray beard and a friendly appearance and is willing to help Amanda when she is struggling to carry a heavy bucket of water back from the pump. This, like his work as a doctor, shows that he is willing to violate class norms and help lower-class people despite his middle-class position. He is unable to cure Mistress Freebold and has to tell Amanda that her mother has died. After the children are thrown out of Mistress Trippett’s home, he takes them in, offering them a real bed, plenty of food, and new clothing despite his modest means. In this way, he is a foil for Mistress Trippett, who has much more and shares little. He books passage for all of them to go to America, hoping to make a difference in the “New World” as a doctor. Since he takes on the caregiver role, Amanda can just be a sister to her siblings for a short while. When Dr. Crider is swept overboard, though, Amanda is again thrust into the role of caregiver.

Mistress Trippett is an antagonist in the novel and a flat, static character. She owns the home where the Freebold children and their mother reside in London and is of a much higher social status than they are. She is a small woman who wears high heels and a tall, red wig, and her eyes are like little black beads. Once a week, she comes to the kitchen to inspect everything, showing her exacting nature. When the children’s mother dies, she refuses to give them the money they are entitled to and insists that they stay with her and work for free. When Amanda directly asks for the money, Mrs. Trippett angrily throws a book at her and shouts for her adult son, Randolph, to have the children removed from the house, leaving them without any money or a place to go. Her actions and attitude emphasize class disparities in England at this time and contextualize the family’s decision to pursue a new life in America.