The Chain

To function properly, The Chain depends on the specific morality of its “links”—victims of coercion. The Chain requires people to commit actions that they would find immoral under usual circumstances, such as kidnapping and murder. In order to force the links to do these things, the crime ring puts loved ones’ lives at stake, testing how far people will go to rescue their loved ones. Leaders Ginger and Olly assume human nature will help The Chain run itself—and for the most part, it does. As twins with an abusive father who killed their mother and kidnapped them, Ginger and Olly have a complicated moral code: They love each other and respect their grandfather, but care little for anyone else. With The Chain, Ginger and Olly prey on others’ loyalty to their own loved ones. As Rachel observes, “The Chain is a cruel method of exploiting the most important human emotion—the capacity for love—to make money” (336). Although most links in The Chain are less morally corrupt than Ginger and Olly, most of them still demonstrate how love—especially parental love—complicates morality.

In order to perform a successful kidnapping, Rachel and other links have to target someone who is loved—someone who has family willing to pay a ransom and kidnap someone else to replace their own loved one.