How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Should we run?" […]
The little man shook his head. "Not much point," he said. "We've walked into the trap, and we'll still be in it even if we runs." (4.67-68)
Tristran and the hairy little man walk right into the serewood without realizing that it's a trap. You want to talk freedom and confinement? Let's talk about a grove of trees that is basically a giant Venus flytrap, with the goal of ensnaring its dinner and picking the bones clean.
Quote #5
And with that he unwound one end of the silver chain and slipped it around the girl's slim wrist. He felt the loop of the chain tighten around his own. She stared up at him, bitterly. (4.267-268)
Tristran captures the star with a magical silver chain—and as soon as she realizes what he's done, her hatred for him grows. Of course, Tristran doesn't see her as a person yet, so he probably doesn't think of his action as enslaving her, like, for real. It's a temporary thing, just so he can show her off to Victoria. Like you do.
Quote #6
Inside, he felt numbed and foolish, stung by a pang of guilt and shame and regret. He should not have loosed her chain, he should have tied it to a tree; he should have forced the star to go with him into the village […] but […] if he had not unchained her then, he would have done it sometime soon, and she would have run from him then. (5.150)
Tristran releases the star from the chain in order to get some food so he doesn't starve, and he's somehow surprised that she uses this chance to run away. She hated being bound to him by the chain, so we're guessing stars don't do well in confinement. We wonder if things would have gone differently if Tristran hadn't been so quick to treat her like an object rather than a person.