I find it to be credible that Thomas Jefferson fathered his children by his slave, Sally Hemmings. After reading Wolf By the Ears I find a lot of evidence in the book that that Mr. Jefferson is indeed the father of Harriet Hemmings and her siblings. First off, their physical features are similar. Thomas Jefferson had red hair when he was younger and same with Harriet and her brothers. Thomas also let them leave when they turned twenty-one. But, no other slaves had the permission to leave except for the Hemmings’ children. Also, Harriet’s mom is especially close to Thomas. For these reasons, believe that Thomas Jefferson is the father of Harriet Hemmings and her siblings.
I believe that it is fair to say that Mr. Jefferson led a life of contradictions. He was strongly against slavery, yet he had a large plantation with many slaves on it. But, he treated all the slaves very well. He fed them well, gave them warm blankets, and never whipped a slave. But this still is not an excuse to have slaves. In some way, Mr. Jefferson was hypocritical because a hypocrite is someone who says not do do something but, they go off and do it. So, from my perceptive, It it fair to say that Jefferson led a life of contradictions.
The word alienation means ‘to leave a group or an area.’ So, with this said, Harriet Hemmings alienated her plantation. She left her family and her friends all behind so she could be a free women. Harriet decided to pass as a white and marry a white and have white children. She didn’t want to betray her black people, but she knew that it would be the best and safest choice. This is significant because she was one of the only slaves that left besides her brothers. She was given the opportunity to leave and she took it.
The historical relevance to this novel is slavery. The south had slavery and the north did not. If the slaves reached the north, they were free. But then the Fugitive Slave law came to be and the north would have to return the slaves. The bounty hunters would catch runaway slaves and beat them or set them on fire if they caught them. Slavery was like having a wolf by the ears. You can’t hold the wolf forever, but you can’t safely let him go.
