Now Jim was a dreamer, but he was a thinker, too. And he thought one day that if he let his owner meet the cooter, he might get his freedom that way. After all, a talkin cooter was a wonderful thing to hear. So Jim went on back to the plantation. He found the slaveowner, and he says, “Mas, I wanter tell you about this cooter down there at the pond.”
—“The Talking Cooter,”
Virginia Hamilton
What is the topic of this passage?
o Jim makes friends with a cooter.
o An enslaved man believes a talking cooter will help him gain his freedom.
o A talking cooter wants to meet Jim.
o Jim is a talking cooter who wants to be a dreamer like his owner.
The topic or the subject matter that the given passage discusses would be:
B). An enslaved man believes a talking cooter will help him gain his freedom.
The topic that the given passage communicates would be that "an enslaved man possessing the belief that a talking cooter would assist him to obtain his freedom.'
This is reflected through the thought and aspiration that he has that if the cooter meets the owner once, it will bring him freedom.
The confidence that he displays while telling about the cooter to the slaveowner shows his strengthened belief.
