In "The People Could Fly," the fictional viewpoint emphasizes a magical and hopeful narrative where enslaved individuals can literally escape their bondage and soar through the skies, representing a deep yearning for freedom and the power of belief. In contrast, "My Escape from Slavery" presents a nonfictional account that is grounded in the harsh realities of the enslaved experience, showcasing the struggles, dangers, and resilience involved in seeking freedom through real-life actions and decisions. While both narratives express a longing for liberation, the former embodies a mythical aspect of escape, whereas the latter focuses on the tangible and perilous journey to freedom.
Another and another fell from the heat. Toby was there. He cried out to the fallen and reached his arms out to them. “Kum kunka yali, kum . . . tambe!” Whispers and sighs. And they too rose on the air. They rode the hot breezes. The ones flyin were black and shinin sticks, wheelin above the head of the Overseer. They crossed the rows, the fields, the fences, the streams, and were away.
“Seize the old man!” cried the Overseer, “I heard him say the magic words. Seize him!”
The one callin himself Master come runnin. The Driver got his whip ready to curl around old Toby and tie him up. The slaveowner took his hip gun from its place. He meant to kill old, black Toby.
But Toby just laughed. Say he threw back his head and said, “Hee, hee! Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know some of us in this field?” He said it to their faces. “We are ones who fly!”
—“The People Could Fly,”
Virginia Hamilton
Read the passages. Then, write two to three sentences comparing the fictional viewpoint of escaping from slavery in "The People Could Fly” with the nonfiction narrator’s viewpoint expressed in "My Escape from Slavery.”
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