Knowing When to Stop

Authors note: I wrote this essay on the themes of “Jump Ship to Freedom” and why I thought the themes fit the book right.

I couldn’t stand it the smoke was too thick, but then the door opened. I couldn’t believe that my plan had worked and the next thing I knew I was in the water.  “Jump Ship To Freedom” by James and Christopher Collier, show the adventure of the life time for Daniel Arabus. A fourteen year old slave brought on his masters ship to trade, but turns shocking when he overhears that he’s being sold away. Daniel has to make a plan not only to escape but how to get free. Theme’s of this book can range from segregation to determination, but I want to talk about justice / freedom.

First of all justice fits this book well because of how Daniel and his Mom deserve justice or freedom because they have the soldier notes to buy freedom but their master Captain Iveres won’t let them go. This book somewhat revolves around the whole theme about getting justice and becoming free. And for just this one thing Daniel take off with determination that some day he and mum will be free.

Next a theme that also fit well was courage and bravery, because without this Daniel would have never thought up the plan to get past Captain Iveres. This really was a big theme not only for the past reason but also for Daniel having the will to keep going and to get to Philadelphia and try to make things right. By the end all of that helped Daniel realize that he wasn’t just a dumb slave, he was something special.

Another book that had the same content and idea was a book called “The Captive” by Joyce Hansen. The Captive, is about a young boy name Kofi who is captured by poachers on the African coast. It also has somewhat same themes like, justice because towards the end Kofi get freed and is brought in a better family that doesn’t believe in slavery. Kofi also needed the themes of bravery and courage for when he ran away and was in hiding.

When you think about it most books have more than one theme, and looking back at “Jump Ship to Freedom” it does have multiple themes and there were points in the book where those themes were explained. Theme in every book is fun to find because just like Daniel you never know what you’ll end up with.