Freeman Walker

by David Allan Cates

At the age of seven a mulatto slave boy with an indomitable spirit, Jimmy Gates, is freed by his owner-father, separated from his mother and everything he holds dear, and sent to England for an education. Four years later when his father drowns at sea, leaving him bereft, Jimmy is apprenticed to a London workhouse where he spends six hard years making saddles, reading heroic novels to his companions, finding the comfort of prostitutes, and discovering the inspirational speeches of an Irish revolutionary name Cornelius O Keefe, or O Keefe of the Sword. At eighteen, dreaming himself a warrior and a hero, he returns to the states intending to rescue his mother. Both blessed and cursed by his late father s words-to-live-by and armed with his free papers and a copy of the Declaration of Independence, Jimmy grows into manhood while he s on the battlefields of the Civil War and in the gold camps of the American West, repeatedly forced to reckon the joys, terrors, and ironies of his freedom. He also discovers chameleon-like ability to shift identities and re-invent himself along the way. Freeman Walker is an adventure story filled with contradictory epiphanies, ironies, and paradoxes rolled into one man s quest to discover a defining inner truth that might allow him to survive a life of terrible misadventures-gritty, sublime, fantastical-and to finally understand the true meaning of moral freedom.

Genres: Fiction

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

David Allan Cates is the author of five novels, a chapbook of poetry, a full collection of poetry, and a collection of short stories. His travel writing has appeared in the New York Times Sophisticated Traveler and Outside, among other magazines. He is the executive director of Missoula Medical Aid and lead many dozens of groups of medical professionals on trips to Honduras, where he worked in rural communities and hospitals as an interpreter.

Reviews

[Linda Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Allan Cates can tell a story, and he can write!!

[Rosaland Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because of gritty, yet heartwarming story about Jimmy Gates. He, Freeman Walker, is a true hero because of everything he endures to find out what it is like to be free.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel features an interesting character, a child born to a black slave and her owner. His seemingly idyllic childhood moves to England when his father enrolls him in a private school where he is comfortable and popular with his peers. His only regret is that his father took him precipitously from the plantation without an opportunity to say good-bye to his mother. The segment of his sheltered life in the English school ends when his father dies aboard a ship that sinks en route to visit him. With the loss of his father, the means to support him in school also end and he is subjected to the third and heretofore most dire circumstances of his life. What follows is his return to America and a search for his mother, who had been traded to another slave owner.

The perspective of someone who is half white, half black (and a legally freed slave) at the beginning of the Civil War is the most interesting aspect of this book. He had one green eye and one brown eye, and wearing a hat seemed to guarantee that he could "pass." I never felt fully engaged with the man who changed his birth name to Freeman Walker, but could empathize with his increasingly difficult plight and encounters during the Civil War.

The concept and meaning of freedom are constantly examined in this book, with the first explanation given to the boy by his father when he left for England. What Freeman Walker discovered about freedom during his journeys is worthy of reflection. I am grateful to Library Thing for the opportunity to read this book as an early reviewer.

[Karin Bartimole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book! A true lesson in human spirit, told in part through one man's life long interpretation of the Declaration of Independence.

The author of this novel, Mr Cates, assures us in his author's note, that we'll learn nothing about African American slavery, 19th century London, the Civil War, Native Americans, or gold mining on the American west but he was a master at transporting me through time and space to a get a sense of this period of upheaval and brutality. I almost could smell the smells (none too pleasant), feel the fears and terrors of war and racism, sensing the cold and hunger beyond my realm of knowing.

Following the life of Jimmy/Freeman Walker from slavery to freedom on paper, to slavery and freedom in his spirit was something I find it hard to put words to. A man unclaimed by the white people of his father, nor the black of his mother, nor the land of his country, after a childhood away from it - a man forever in search of his enslaved mother he'd been separated from, unanchored by a land on fire in war of horror and poverty.
Following him through out, the life lines from his father; we are not in control... we do not live for ourselves... we are free... we all suffer... We are all going to die... oh, the mystery!... and portions of the Declaration of independence change their meaning again and again for Freeman and the reader. It's simply a beautiful story.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another one of those books that cause us to look at our humanness and our society. How do we know what we would do in some of the situations that Freeman Walker faced? I can relate to his cowardice in some situations and fear that I would be the same or worse in the situations he faced.

This book shows mans inhumanity to other men that is accepted in the current society. This always makes me sick to my stomach to think about what has been done to those people who society presents as "less than", Native Americans, African Americans, and immigrants throughout the history of the US. Yet, unfortunately this is human nature.

This is a good story and a good read.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a bit of a let down, after a while waiting for it, in anticipation. It was interesting though, to see how a slave boy reacts to freedom, after his father sets him free.
As he grows older and advances through different stages of his life, he changes a bit, to reflect the situation. After a series of coincidences, he also fancies himself to being a faery, or a gifted man, with the ability to make things happen. His transformations were definitely the most interesting bits in the story, however. Other than that, I wasn't as thoroughly impressed with it as I had hoped it would be.

[Shirley DeCou · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel about a seven year old slave boy in America, freed from slavery by his own father, sent to England to be educated. Consequences sends him into a life of travels you will have to read..............................I enjoyed it for it's deep personal touch and feelings.