In Chap­ter 11 of the nar­ra­tive, a des­per­ate and impro­vised plan mate­ri­al­izes as the pro­tag­o­nist approach­es the wom­en’s quar­ters of a camp, where a men­ac­ing white man, sym­bol­ic of oppres­sion, prowls about. Buck ques­tions the need to locate the protagonist’s fam­i­ly, to which he con­fi­dent­ly responds that they are inside, assert­ing the inten­tion to res­cue every­one. The dia­logue reveals ten­sions and uncer­tain­ties regard­ing their escape, par­tic­u­lar­ly as Buck and Mor­ris dis­cuss poten­tial routes lead­ing north.

As the pro­tag­o­nist pre­pares for action, he believes the over­seer will flee toward a near­by corn­field, prompt­ing him to ini­ti­ate a diver­sion. He crouch­es low in the corn­field, tests the dry­ness of the plants, and ignites a cor­ner of the field, fuel­ing a chaot­ic blaze that quick­ly engulfs the night, caus­ing pan­ic among those near­by. The leader observes Mor­ris suc­cess­ful­ly inca­pac­i­tat­ing the over­seer while wield­ing the man’s whip, demon­strat­ing a shift in pow­er dynam­ics.

Amidst the encroach­ing chaos of fire and fear, a poignant reunion occurs. The pro­tag­o­nist spots Sadie, whom he ini­tial­ly can­not believe is before him. They share an emo­tion­al con­nec­tion as they embrace, fol­lowed by the arrival of Lizzie, the pro­tag­o­nist’s child. The urgency esca­lates as he instructs the men to gath­er every­one and flee north, empha­siz­ing the need to col­lect food while the fire rages, draw­ing the atten­tion of the white over­seer, now vis­i­bly hor­ri­fied by the flames.

As the old man bran­dish­es a shot­gun and calls for the escap­ing slaves to return, the pro­tag­o­nist con­fronts him defi­ant­ly, assert­ing a men­ac­ing pres­ence as “James,” an omen of jus­tice. The stand­off cul­mi­nates in a dra­mat­ic shot fired, strik­ing down the over­seer and envelop­ing the scene in ter­ror and vengeance. While chaos reigns with flames roar­ing and women scream­ing, Sadie prompts their retreat. The group dash­es north­ward, with the pro­tag­o­nist car­ry­ing Lizzie, who inces­sant­ly calls for her father, “Papa.” This chap­ter pow­er­ful­ly encap­su­lates themes of resis­tance, famil­ial bonds, and the tumult of seek­ing free­dom amidst oppres­sion.