Essay Questions

Slavery is the enormous trauma human beings ever experienced. Show how Harris proves this statement using the book "Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches.'

The book explores the inhumane acts of slavery in the ancient centuries. Joe is among the slaves who experienced human torture and lost everything precious to them. Masters owned slaves as their properties, implying that the enslaved people had no freedom of doing anything except strictly following the directions of their masters. When his master finally freed Joe, the world became more unfriendly to him. Joel found himself between a rock and a hard place because neither the free world nor the whites accepted him. Making matters worse, Joel lost his wife to another slave master who treated her like property and subjected her to more suffering.

Is compromise emerging as the central theme in the book?

Most parts of the book indirectly refer to the adverse effects of war on the economic growth both for North and South America. The Southerners rely on farming using cheap labor from slaves, a strategy that is strictly prohibited in the North. Joe is among the slaves who worked in plantations to serve the interest of his master. The economies of the North and the South are collapsing because there is no peace. Therefore, both parties are coming up with a reconciliation resolution and allow peace to prevail because that is the only way to boost economic growth.

What is the vital lesson the reader learns from ‘Trouble on Lost Mountain’?

The main character in 'Trouble on Lost Mountain' is a young man who effortlessly protects his territory (young woman) from other suitors. The story relates to different sections of the book in which the North and South American people are trying their level best to protect their territories. Similarly, in 'Trouble on the Lost Mountain,' there are mocking-birds that symbolically represent territorial control. Therefore, this story's vital lesson is that people must learn to protect what belongs to them.