Joel Chandler Harris's short story "Free Joe and the Rest of the World" has long been classified as an important example of tradition literature Plantation literature in this tradition often portrays African Americans as incapable and "inept" beings who require white supervision to be happy and productive. While many elements of "Free Joe" seem to fit this mold, Harris uses several events from the story to present them a more complex view of African Americans and slavery in general, an alternative reading of the final scene reveals that "Free Joe" is more complex than most literature on the plantation tradition and in some ways criticizes the institution of slavery a more precise and comprehensive understanding of Harris' work as a whole. Say no to plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The final scene of Free Joe dead at the foot. of the poplar stands out from the rest of the story both for its images and for the emotions it arouses in the reader. While most descriptions of Free Joe portray him as a carefree and "clueless" man, Harris uses his death to reveal the impact of his inability to find his wife, which in turn helps the reader see the injustice of the social and economic situation. system based on slavery. Harris reinforces this notion of injustice by describing Free Joe as "seedy in the extreme." Poverty/misery is linked to the wrong done to Free Joe by the existing social system (20). The last sentence, “A passerby, looking at him, could not imagine that so humble a creature had been called to testify before the Lord God of hosts,” contains elevated language that is very different from the rest of the story. (20). This mention of the “Lord God of hosts” introduces a religious element into the reader's mind and helps to show that Free Joe is dignified in his death and is rewarded with acceptance into heaven. All of these elements in the final scene present Free Joe as a more complex and humane African-American character than those in plantation tradition. Staley's outburst upon seeing Free Joe under the cottonwood tree for the first time also supports a reading of the tale that recognizes Harris's multiple facets on race and slavery. After seeing Free Joe slumped against the tree, Mr. Staley yells at him, "Get up out of there and go make a living" (20). He then realizes that Free Joe is actually dead. The following description of Free Joe, “He was dead… It was as if he bowed and smiled when death stood before him, humble to the last,” makes the reader feel pity for Free Joe and his place in society. However, this does not make the reader feel that Free Joe would simply be better off as a slave as much literature in the plantation tradition does. The focus here is on Free Joe's pain, not his exile from the slave community. Instead, Free Joe's pitiful description, contrasted with Mr. Staley's hostility, pushes the reader to question (and perhaps abhor) slavery because it caused Free Joe to lose his dog, his wife, and ultimately of his life. In summary, Harris uses this stark contrast to create strong pathos that leads the reader to this more critical view of slavery. Several examples in “Free Joe” support the conventional reading of the tale in plantation tradition. These cases occur in the opening and middle sections of the story, but after Free Joe loses little Dan to the foxes of.