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Vive Libre O Muera Tratar (John Parker Paper)

John Parker was a very calculating, restless, and irate spirit, he was "designing, hateful, and determined… [he] was resentful…" (Parker 27). How would you feel, as a "free" human being in the United States, if for your entire life, you were under the control of another person, young or old, mild or mean? They controlled every thing you do in life, all the way down to the manner in which you breathe. How would this make you feel? I, for one, would not stand for it, and whole heartedly agree with Parker when he admitted; " I was bitterly touched with a hatred which I had to conceal, but it rankled and festered and bore its sour fruit…" (26). Parker's life was not like nature, free, strong and powerful, but angry, and indignant. He was constantly faced with the conflict of containing his rage, but regularly defeated himself in this effort because he "[took] delight in smashing down [his] revenge on the things that were free" (Parker 27). Until he decided to live life on his terms, Parker was forced to conform, adding to his desire, and that meant taking his freedom at any cost. Freedom was an ever-present light in the distance, like "the north star", guiding him on his voyage (Parker 71). Along with this guide; it took Parker's own deception, humility, perseverance, game-play, and disregard for the consequences of capture; to stimulate the hunger for personal liberation from the institution of slavery, and to deliver the food of hope to others who did and did not contain his intimate knowledge or drive.
Parker uses deception, or "tricksterism", and well-earned malice, to delude and intimidate his way into freedom. These methods did nothing for Parker, other than get him caught time after time, because he did not see the grand scheme of things. Parker lived in the moment, constantly formulating ways of escape, but never creating a concrete plan. Once he realized the error in his effort, shortly before he was to be sold south as a field hand, Parker saw his salvation...