Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, racial violence, enslavement, lynching, sexual assault, graphic wartime violence, antisemitism, and the death of a child. This guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

Faced with the daily hardship of life in the Confederate South, each character in The Thread Collectors takes a different approach to survival. Some characters self-isolate as a coping mechanism, while others turn to their community for support. Throughout the novel, Edwards and Richman emphasize the integral nature of community care to overcome adversity.

The institution of enslavement is designed to tear families and communities apart. Throughout the novel, enslaved characters relate stories of children sold away from their mothers, men sent away to fight or be killed, and relationships broken up on the auction block. As a result of constantly having their loved ones torn away from them, some people, like Janie and Miss Claudette, have internalized the idea that community is a liability; they believe that the only way to survive in the South is to look out for oneself. This self-preservationist attitude stems from their experiences being bought and sold, as well as decades of sexual assaults endured during plaçage. Janie is also traumatized by Percy selling the man she loves after he discovered their secret relationship.