The Courage of Sarah Noble

Sarah’s fur cloak, which she brings with her from the Massachusetts Bay Colony into the relative “wilderness” of the Connecticut colony, is a motif that highlights the Coexistence of Courage and Fear. The linkage is made early in the text: “‘Keep up your courage,’ her mother had said, fastening the cloak under Sarah’s chin” (2) as Sarah and her father prepare to leave home. Her mother’s words and actions link the cloak with courage in Sarah’s mind, and so she goes on to treat the cloak similarly to a child’s security blanket. Often, before bed, she “hold[s] tightly to a fold of the warm cloak” (5), and the comfort it gives her allows her to fall asleep despite whatever fears she may be feeling at that moment. When Sarah first finds herself alone at the camp her father has made, despite the “mild” June air, Sarah feels “suddenly that she need[s] her cloak” (24), and putting it on helps to bolster her bravery. In short, Mary Noble’s warning that Sarah will need courage for her journey, combined with the action of putting the warm and familiar cloak around Sarah’s shoulders, connects the two in Sarah’s mind, allowing her to use the cloak later on to build up her courage in moments when doubt or fear threaten to overwhelm her.