Now Jim was a dreamer, but he was a thinker, too. And he thought one day that if he let his owner meet the cooter, he might get his freedom that way. After all, a talkin cooter was a wonderful thing to hear. So Jim went on back to the plantation. He found the slaveowner, and he says, “Mas, I wanter tell you about this cooter down there at the pond.”

“Well, what about it?” said the slaveowner.

“Mas,” says Jim, “that cooter can talk. And he don't just talk. He taken out his fiddle and he play on it, pretty as you please.”

“Oh, get out!” said the slaveowner. “You know that's not true.”

“Tis too true,” said Jim, as calm as he could. “He speak to me and play and sing for me nearly every day now.”

The slaveowner had to laugh. “Well, then, Jim,” he said, “if it’s true, I’ll give you your freedom. But if it’s not true, I’m going to give you the worst whippin you ever had in your life.”

“That's all right, Mas, I’ll show you,” said Jim. “I’ll take you down there and you’ll see for yourself.”

—“The Talking Cooter,”
Virginia Hamilton

Based on this passage, which two words best describe Jim’s viewpoint about escaping from slavery?

excited
embarrassed
furious
hopeful
afraid