Joel Chandler Harris - Free Joe and the Rest of the World

     I enjoyed reading the short story “Free Joe and the Rest of the World” by Joel Chandler Harris.  This short story was easier to read than “How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox.”  There was still slang used in some parts but I understood this story much better.  An important point that was made in this story was that freed slaves had to endure a lot from people in their area.  The slaves were only considered free in the sense of the law.  Free Joe didn’t really have true freedom like he should have.  He was allowed to roam freely but his troubles with other slaves and white people showed us that he was just as limited as slaves in many ways.  There was one line in the story that stood out to me and it was when Harris’ said, “When he was a slave Free Joe would have scorned these representatives of class known as poor white trash…”  This line was ironic in that there were class differences between people which were so strong that even the slaves looked down at people for their social standing within society.  I would have thought that during this time period slaves would have realized that they weren’t lower due to the insignificant differences and realized that about others as well.  Joe was a generous and humble man to all he came in contact with.  Even after Joe was freed he still wanted to see his wife.  It breaks my heart to even think of how slaves were separated from their families during this time period.  Once Joe was freed all he had was his dog, Dan.  He was separated from his wife and not allowed to see her at all.  Joe had patience and determination in waiting for Lucinda no matter what it took.  I was really hoping that he would save her but that never happened.  By viewing Joe’s ability to remain optimistic and positive until his last breath shows us just exactly what the human soul can overcome.  This story showed how faithful a person should be to their spouse.  If we had this kind of commitments in the world today, the world would be a totally different place.  Joe never once gave up on his wife Lucinda no matter what others told him.  He was truly committed to his wife and their marriage.