The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Group

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cisna0810
cisna0810
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In "The Autobiography of Misss Jane Pittman," when does Jane take responsibility for Ned as if he were her own child?

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Posted by cisna0810 on Wednesday April 23, 2008 at 12:10 PM and tagged with characters, jane, massacre, ned, patrollers, the autobiography of miss jane pittman.

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  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    This scene is in Book I in the chapter titled "Massacre." At the end of the war, several of the former slaves decide to go north, with Big Laura leading them. They stop and make camp for the night, and everyone sleeps under the bushes. Early the next morning, some "patrollers" (men who used to hunt runaway slaves) come upon them and start attacking them. Jane takes Ned and hides in some bushes. She lies on top of him so he will stay down and not make a sound. She just knows that at any minute they'll be discovered, but the patrollers don't find them. When it is safe to come out, Jane finds Big Laura's dead body, still clutching her dead baby. Jane says:

       I didn't cry, I couldn't cry. I had seen so much beating and suffering; I had heard about so much cruelty in those 'leven or twelve years of my life I hardly knowed how to cry. I went back to Ned and asked him if he wanted to go to Ohio with me. He nodded.

    The next day, she is thinking about their situation and begins to wonder:

    ...what I was go'n do next. "I got this child to take care, I got that river to cross-and how many more rivers I got to cross before I reach Ohio?"

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    Posted by linda-allen on Thursday April 24, 2008 at 4:58 PM

  2. mimi083
    mimi083 Student
    College - Freshman

    she asks like hes her own son

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    Posted by mimi083 on Saturday June 20, 2009 at 1:00 PM