Mr. Harris was a well-known author. He used many stories he had heard while working with people of color. Stories that had been passed down for generations, to teach morals and bring smiles to children's faces. I like how Harris used Uncle Remus to tell these stories. He was old and uneducated, but brought a certain flavor to the stories.
In Joel Harris's story, "How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox" the dialect was very difficult for me. It took several readings to get through the story. It is an old classic and a story of trickery. In fact I use that on my son all the time, reverse psychology. The fox catches the rabbit and wants to hurt him so bad. The rabbit says anything but the Brier patch. Which we all know is exactly where Mr. Rabbit is begging to go. Mr. Fox being ignorant of course throws him into the Brier patch. I think life is like this many times, and the rabbits outsmart the foxes. You just have to be calm and wait it out. It seems all light hearted and funny, but the story in the end has its moral also.
I really enjoyed, "Free Joe and the Rest of the World." Free Joe seemed like such a humble man. Once a slave, now free. It was such a sad story, because Free Joe felt more free as a slave. He smiled, sang songs, and whistled as a slave. He lived a good life, according to him. He had a faithful wife, who he loved endlessly, and was always so faithful to himself. Free Joe was freed one day when his owner could not control his gambling problem, he lost everything. So he went and let Free Joe become free and then he took his own life. The only problem was that Joe's wife was lost in that gambling to the judge. Everything seemed great and Joe could see his wife whenever he wanted, she was well taken care of, until the judge died. Which it seems like something horrible as this happens every time a story is going well. His property including his slaves went to Calderwood. A man who was mean and spiteful. The opposite of Joe. Joe continued to visit his wife until one day Calderwood said he was not allowed there anymore. Of course he was not going to just stop seeing his wife so they devised a way to see each other anyway. The old poplar tree Joe would sit and Lucinda would visit him. I found it sad that people could not just be happy for them, and it came back to Mr. Calderwood. He just snatched her up and took her six miles away. Joe wanted to find a way to see Lucinda, but in the end never saw her again. He waited and waited and was convinced his little dog Dan would bring Lucinda back to him. His devotion was amazing and what I think someone truly in love would be like. He waited until he died under that popular tree, smiling waiting for Lucinda. He was a man than many men wish they could be like. I feel like he was such a great character and it had me cheering for him throughout the story.
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