Morrison distinguishes between the mere absence of chains and the harder work of self-authorship—you can escape bondage without ever believing you deserve to occupy the space you've claimed. The insight cuts deeper than simple liberation because freedom, she suggests, requires an internal reckoning: you must become the author of your own story rather than merely the character freed from one. When someone leaves an abusive relationship, for instance, they've only begun the actual work; the real transformation arrives when they stop narrating themselves through their former captive's eyes and start making decisions as the protagonist of their own life.