Now Jim was a dreamer, but he was a thinker, too. And he thought one day that if he let his owner meet the cooter, he might get
his freedom that way. After all, a talkin cooter was a wonderful thing to hear. So Jim went on back to the plantation. He found the slaveowner, and he says, “Mas, I wanter tell you about this cooter down there at the pond.” —“The Talking Cooter,” Virginia Hamilton Read the passages. Then, write two to three sentences comparing Jim’s viewpoint on escaping from slavery with the nonfiction narrator’s viewpoint on escaping from slavery.
Sample response: In "The Talking Cooter," Jim is willing to risk a whipping from his owner if it means that he will gain his freedom. Similarly, in "Carrying the Running-Aways," the nonfiction narrator risks his life to bring himself and others to freedom. In both selections, freedom is valued more than personal safety.
