True Story *spoilers*

Before I had read this book in English class, I had read a bit in one of my U.S. History books about Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who killed her daughter (and tried to kill her other children), when slave catchers found them. She was ordered to be returned to the South, and on the boat trip back, she and her other baby daughter fell (some say Margaret jumped) into the river. The baby drowned, Margaret was rescued, but said that she was happy because another of her children had been freed from slavery.
I always thought of that in light of a line from the movie and novel, "thin love ain't no love at all." I think, that ultimately the story is an exploration of love, how deep it can go, and what that would mean...to protect what you love in the most extreme circumstances.