Linda's Freedom

Linda eventually gains her freedom through Mrs. Bruce. Mrs. Bruce offered Mr. Dodge, Emily’s husband, three hundred dollars for Linda. Mr. Dodge replied by saying, “half a loaf was better than no bread” and accepted Mrs. Bruce’s offer.
When Mrs. Bruce first mentioned the idea of purchasing Linda, Linda refused. Linda replied by saying that if Mrs. Bruce bought her from Mr. Dodge, it would be like “being sold from one owner to another” which “seemed too much like slavery.”
When Linda is finally free, she has mixed feelings. She is excited that she is finally free and can walk the streets without fear of being captured. On the other hand, Linda’s years of slavery have not just disappeared and still affect her thoughts on others and the world in general. Linda is happy that she is free, but she knows that her “dream of life is not yet realized. I do not sit with my children in a home of my own. I still long for a hearthstone of my own, however humble. I wish it for my children’s sake far more than my own.”