In Chapter II, the narrator pauses to describe Eliza as a young woman of beauty and grace, gently raised from childhood by Mrs. Shelby, and to tell of her marriage to George, who is the slave of a Shelby neighbor named Harris. Earlier in their marriage, Eliza lost two children in infancy, which makes her especially protective of little Harry. When Eliza and George were married, George was “hired out” to the owner of a small factory, where he was a superior employee and invented a labor-saving machine. His jealous owner ended George’s factory employment, assigned him to menial labor, and now punishes him gratuitously. George can keep from expressing his anger only by exercising strict self-control.
In Chapter III, later in the afternoon, after Mrs. Shelby has left, Eliza’s husband George, on an errand for his master, stops to see Eliza and their child. George complains bitterly about his life and tells Eliza that his master has decided to make him take a different woman as his wife. George says he plans to run away to Canada, where he will work and try to buy Eliza’s and Harry’s freedom.
