Joel Harris

Growing up in Eatonton Georgia which is in the dirty south in the late eighteen hundreds would be a very interesting place to be in.  Joel Harris had a great deal of slavery all around him.  I think these are revised ideas that were told to Harris while he was an apprentice on a plantation in his teenage years.  Some of his stories are difficult and slow to read and understand at times, but I think fiction stories are much more interesting as a whole.  I think his time on the plantation is where he got much of his ideas for writing from.  One reason the first story is so hard to understand is because the lack of education at the time it was written.  I think the main point of the story is the fox wanted to hurt the rabbit as much as he could because it would be funny.  The rabbit out smarted the fox because the fox didn’t know that rabbits home is in the briar patch for security and protection.  The story about Joe is much easier to read and understand than the first one.  Joe might have been free, but because his wife whose name is Lucinda wasn’t I think he was worse than when he was enslaved.  Not able to see your wife because of slavery would be a difficult thing to deal with.  When Lucinda owner found out about Joe secretly visiting her he sent her to another plantation many miles away.  I think by doing that Joe’s life was basically over at that point because he just went to their meeting place to wait for her.  Even though he was considered “free”, I think he was actually enslaved more by not being able to visit his wife.  It’s hard to imagine these situations took place in our country such a short time ago.