Riding Freedom

When Charlotte’s parents die, she is found grasping the leather reins of the horses that were driving the wagon. The doctor who finds her cuts the reins and says “she might as well have something to hold on to […] she hasn’t got much else. There’s no other family to speak of” (4). She wears the leather rein as a bracelet for the rest of her life: “For as long as anyone could remember, she wore a strip of leather rein tied around her wrist” (5). The bracelet is a connection to her past that also symbolizes her connection to horses. Gripping the horses’ reins symbolizes her desire for control, to learn to lead the same animals that led to the deaths of her parents. That tragedy permanently linked Charlotte with horses and driving, just as the bracelet is a permanent fixture on her wrist. The bracelet comes to hold further significance when Charlotte splits it in half and shares it with Hay. In doing so, she makes him part of her family, and their bond is unbreakable.