Analysis

The costs of freedom are emphasized through Platt’s escape into the swamp. The slave has done nothing deserving of punishment. He has simply acted in self-defense to prevent the white master from committing murder. Had he been a white man, he would have been legally and socially exonerated, but his status as a black slave made that kind of justice impossible. The white owner had legal rights denied to the black slave, and in that system moral rightness was no defense against the immoral law. Freedom, however limited, was his only hope for survival. So Platt runs from one danger to another, trading the murderous human overlord for the potential killers in the wilderness of the swamp.

In spite of the dangers of the Great Pacoudrie Swamp, Platt’s temporary freedom is worth the risk, worth the cost, and worth the hardship. Pursued by men and dogs, surrounded by alligators and poisonous water snakes, for this one night at least, he is free. He is the master of his own destiny. He avoids the dogs and the dangers in the swamp and survives the night. The next day, the harsh reality sets in for Platt: His freedom has only been temporary. Sooner or later Tibeats—and the unjust laws that support him—will catch up to Platt. So he seeks out the only white man who has treated him with human dignity, sacrificing his freedom for protection and the slim hope that, somehow, William Ford will rescue him once again.