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.” I ran away from the plantation and all who I knew there. I lived in the fields and in the woods. Even in caves. Sometimes I slept up in the tree branches. Or in a hay pile. I couldn’t get across the river now, it was watched so closely.
Finally, I did get across. Late one night me and my wife went. I had gone back to the plantation to get her. Mr. Rankins had him a bell by this time, along with the light. We were rowin and rowin. We could see the light and hear that bell, but it seemed we weren't getting any closer. It took forever, it seemed. That was because we were so scared and it was so dark and we knew we could get caught and never get gone.
—“Carrying the Running-Aways,”
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.
Jim clearly thinks it is better to bide his time and try to convince his slave owners to let him free. The narrator of this text doesn't believe it is worth the time kissing up to the slave masters as that submissive behavior is what owners are expecting anyway and ultimately hope to achieve through the fear tactics and whipping. The narrator believed the only way to achieve freedom was to take it. It seems quite apparent that they cannot stand to stay where they are. They've developed such a sense of dignity that they would rather risk punishment than do nothing.
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.
