Forge

On numerous occasions in Forge, Curzon will refer to the motion of his inner compass. It’s first mentioned in the early chapters of Part I, after he discovers the compass belonging to the redcoat he helps Eben kill. Finding the compass among the redcoat’s belongings, Curzon recalls a time in his childhood when he’d watch the needles on Judge Bellingham’s compasses and wonder at the invisible forces pulling them. It seemed magical at the time. But now, many hard years later, Curzon finds the magic of these devices is gone.

A compass helps divine a direction, its needle pulled to magnetic north by the invisible fingers of the physical laws which govern the universe. In the beginning of the novel, Curzon isn’t heading towards something, so much as away from it; he is running from Bellingham and Trumbull and the British, cultural and political forces beyond his own control. But in the act of helping to killthe redcoat, and hearing the action of the war beyond the trees, Curzon finds a larger force toagain make his own figurative compass spin.

Later on, after his fight with Eben, and an attempt at reconciliation, Curzon mentions his compass again, saying that it whirled inside him at the apology of his friend. But a whirling compass is a compass that isn’t doing what it should. Again, we find him directionless, this time emotionally. He wants to believe his friend to be a good person, but how could he be, when he is white, and Curzon is a runaway slave: “I should trust him; his apology was heartfelt. I dared not be his friend, nor the friend of any person. But I wanted to be his friend again” (199).

For Curzon, at that time, each act is a revolution unto itself. It becomes Curzon’s job to define his own direction, and trust his own inner compass. 

Curzon recalls the tale of Prometheusas told to him by Benny Edwards. Prometheus, a Titan from Greek Mythology, was punished by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind. As punishment, Prometheus was chained to a rock and his liver devoured by an eagle. Every day, the eagle would come. Every night, Prometheus would heal. Curzon explains that if he were Prometheus, he would fight the chains, and the mountain, and the eagle as long as he lived.

It’s clear from his admission that Curzon has no intention of submitting himself to the fetters of another’s power or control. The mountain in this circumstance would surely be colonial America. The chains, naturally, would be his disempowerment and disenfranchisement resulting from slavery. The eagle can be seen to pertain to Bellingham, returning as he does after Curzon has healed from his previous wounds.