Authors Note: This is Big Tom's POV showing what happened when Daniel in the story “Jump ship to Freedom” jumped his master’s ship to escape and buy his freedom, while he was being chased down by Big Tom and Capitan Ivers. This POV will help analyze what happens in the story to determine who is really the good guy and who is really the bad guy.
The Book “Jump Ship to Freedom” is written in the point of view of Daniel Arabus. In this specific scene he jumps his master’s ship so he can go to the government and buy his freedom with his dad’s soldier’s notes. Captain Ivers is Daniel's master. In this scene Daniel is viewed as the good guy and Big Tom is viewed as the bad guy. While Daniel is trying to escape, Big Tom is trying to keep him from causing trouble between black and white folk. Daniel sees it as Big Tom trying to keep him working for Capitan Ivers or Big Tom trying to get Daniel caught for stealing the soldier’s notes. While we never hear what Big Tom is thinking, he might have seen it as Daniel trying to cause trouble for the white folk by escaping, which Big Tom doesn’t want to happen because he would like to buy his own freedom using the money he saved from doing work for Capitan Ivers. Big Tom feared that if Daniel caused trouble, Capitan Ivers might take away the money Big Tom had made so he would not be able to buy his freedom. This might have been the point of view of Big Tom while Daniel was escaping and Capitan Ivers was looking for him.
What a coward jumping ship, I thought. I’ll have to go after him as Capitan Ivers orders. I’ll teach him a lesson or two about what he does around white folks when we need our freedom. As I went down to tell Capitan Ivers what happened, I saw him fiddling around in the storage by the oxen. “Capitan Ivers,” I said, “What are you doing down here”. He replied, “Well that Negro Daniel had been down here, probably hiding those soldiers he stole from me”. “About him, sir, he just jumped ship and swam to the little island across the bay from the New York harbor, probably trying to escape”. I had seen by the look on his face that he was not pleased with Daniel for escaping. “Big Tom, go and watch the unloaded storage, and if you see that Daniel, make sure to give him a piece of my mind for escaping,” Capitan Ivers ordered.
As the crew was just about done unloading the ship, the slave boy Daniel ran by just pass the supplies. I jumped out of my chair and dashed for him. He was screaming and knocking down the box and barrels up and down the street making me slow down to dodge them. I came close enough to grab his shirt. I reached out and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, stopping him in his tracks. “You got some nerve to jump ship, boy” I said while keeping him in my grasp. “Well, I was going to be dealt to the West Indies and I would have never seen my momma again,” said Daniel. I loosened my grip and he was able to wiggle out of his shirt and jump into the bay, I didn’t go in after him because I, like many other sailors, cannot swim so I decided to let him be free for now. I knew Capitan Ivers would be furious with me for letting him go, but he would probably leave town to escape from Capitan Ivers.
When I got back to the ship, the whole crew was surrounding the storage while Capitan Ivers was giving them a talking to. I could hear him a little talking about stolen supplies. I tried to duck down so he could not see me because it was my responsibility for losing those supplies. It was no luck, he could see a big black man a mile away. “Big Tom get over here right now and explain to the crew why some of the supplies were stolen,” he yelled. “Well that escaped Arabus kid ran by here. I got orders from you to catch him if he runs by here,” I explained. “Well that is not a good excuse. I am putting the responsibility on you to either catch that Arabus kid or find those supplies,” he reconciled. At night fall, I went looking around for the Arabus kid. I found him in a popular tavern owned by a wealthy black man and an old quaker. I was guessing that they were hiding him there away from Capitan Ivers so he could buy his freedom. I decided that at sunrise Capitan Ivers and I would go into the tavern to capture him.
The next morning, Capitan Ivers and I were hiding outside of the tavern waiting for Daniel to come out. I had to guard the back door. I heard yelling and screaming from the front, and that was my signal to go in after Daniel. When I got in, I saw him waiting on the stairs and his back was facing me. I wandered up the stairs so quietly that he could not hear me. Just as I reached the top, he turned his head and saw me. He started to run, but he was not fast enough and I grabbed him. “Who do you think you are causing trouble between whites and blacks?,” I yelled. “That is no good for me or you. Capitan Ivers is going to whip you so hard when I bring you back to him,” I hollered. “Well, I was hoping that Capitan Ivers wouldn’t have noticed the missing soldier notes,” he murmured. With a fist clenched, I was about to sock’em one, but again he was able to escape by wiggling out of his shirt. He ran up the stairs and slammed a door shut. In a matter of seconds, I was able to break through the flimsy door. He was nowhere to be seen. I looked up the chimney and he was halfway up the chimney. I was too large to fit up but, I was able to go up the stairs to the roof. Daniel was dangling from the side of the tavern. I thought he would not jump, because it was about a twenty foot drop to the ground and he could not live from that high of a jump. But he was a stupid kid. He let go and fell twenty feet. As I looked down, he was fine. He got into a carriage and had escaped. By the time Capitan Ivers and I got down, Daniel was long gone and there was nothing we could do.
In this scene, Big Tom’s point of view made him look like he was the good guy trying to keep things straight between slave owners and slaves. While in the real book, Big Tom was seen as the bad guy who was a right hand man to Capitan Ivers, the slave owner. In a different point of view it can change how a person thinks of the characters in the book. When I first read “Jump Ship to Freedom” I thought that Big Tom was the bad guy trying to get Daniel in trouble for stealing and running away from his master. While Big Tom was just trying to keep things good between him and Capitan Ivers so he could eventually buy his freedom. With careful examination Big Tom could be seen as a good character trying to stay out of trouble a buy his freedom or as a bad guy trying to keep things good with Capitan Ivers by selling out the other slaves with nonsense that could get them in trouble.
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