"Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis focuses on Elijah Freeman, who is the first freeborn slave of Buxton, Canada. The community is for runaway slaves to start a new life and settle in. Elijah Freeman is skillful and courageous, but he is fragile. Throughout the novel, he learns about the adults' past in slavery. He matures through some of the events and learns to appreciate himself being free. In the beginning, Elijah was a fragile, gullible, and a sensitive boy. The first example that shows him being gullible was when the Preacher makes up a story about a hope snake and the tortuous things it does to its victim. Cooter and Elijah believe him and are scared by the story. According to the novel, in chapter 1, page 8, paragraph 3, it says, "Afore I knowed what was happening I was through Cooter's gate and right in the middle of a good long hard run home... Ma must've heard me screaming from a ways off 'cause she running out our front gate by the time I got there." His reaction shows that he believes in anything and will do some crazy things when he is scared. The second example that shows his sensitivity is when his mother puts a snake in the cookie jar to teach him a lesson after he put a toad frog in her knitting blanket. According to the novel, on page 19, paragraph 3 & 4, it says, "My …show more content…
The first example that represents this is when Mrs. Duncan-the-first finds her long lost sister. Elijah finds her reaction peculiar and strange. What makes it peculiar to Elijah is that she does not make a big deal out of it. Elijah says that if it were children, they would have a reaction and make a big deal out of it. According to the novel, in chapter 12, page 180, it says, "Maybe that’s why when growned folks see someone who’s long lost, they don’t get riled ‘bout it much as a young person would…. This thinking like a growned person was starting to be sensical.