Matheny 12/4/12 1st Letter from Jourdon Anderson to his old master 1.

Jourdon Anderson is writing to Colonel Anderson for two reasons. One, to see if it would be possible to get a large sum of money by working for the Colonel, if he is offering a good wage and living conditions. Second, he is in a way bragging to his old master by proving to him that a freed slave can be successful. 2. Jourdon Anderson tests the Colonel's sincerity by asking the Colonel to not only promise a good wage and working conditions, but also back-payment for all the years that he and his wife worked for him. 3. Jourdon's greatest desire in life is to get his children an education and for them to form virtuous habits. 4. I would describe the letter's tone as sincere, but at the same time tongue-in-cheek. Jourdon may know that it is unlikely for the Colonel to agree to Jourdon's payment requests, and because of this he proves to the Colonel in a roundabout way that he is living a happy, successful life. In someways, he may sincerely want to return to his home, to see people of his old life, but I am not sure of his sincerity regarding his feelings towards the Colonel himself. He claims to have been worried about his well being, but then talks about how he killed a union soldier and shot at Jourdon twice. 5. Jourdon often felt uneasy about the Colonel because he may have wanted him to not be killed by union forces, though, if Jourdon is saying this insincerely, he may mean that he felt uneasy about him because he was a slave-owner that killed a Union solider and shot at Jourdon multiple times. 6. Jourdon mentions that his wife is called Mrs. Anderson. He could be doing this for multiple reasons. He could be rubbing the fact that he now has a wife in the Colonel's face, or he could be demonstrating that even after Jourdon is free, his old master still affects his life through his name. 7. I am not sure whether or not there is a sub-text going on in this letter. I do not know enough about Jourdon and his relationship with the Colonel. Was it abusive? Or was it mild? I also don't know what kind of person Jourdon was. Was he smart and witty? Or was he trusting and forgiving? Several parts of the letter definitely have sub-textual meanings. 8. I think neither slave nor slave-owner should have been financially compensated. The amount of moving around would have been tremendous and complicated to handle. A compensation system at this time would have been ripe with abuse and might even lead to more trouble than good.