Cbr17bingo TBR (2 bingos)
James won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. For some people, “literary fiction,” especially the prize-winning kind, can be intimidating and/or off-putting, but this novel is engaging, exciting and horrifying from page one. James is Percival Everett’s imaging of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huck on his adventure down the Mississippi River, gets separated from him, and is reunited with him again near the end. Everett imagines Jim’s life both as part of the enslaved community owned by Huck’s aunt and then as a fugitive accused of murder and running away (stealing himself). I read Huckleberry Finn for the first time almost a decade ago, so my memory of it was a little sketchy, but it really doesn’t matter if you remember it or have never even read it. James is an outstanding novel about a man seeking freedom, his family, and his own voice in a country that cannot abide such a thing.
The novel opens with Jim pretending to be asleep and overhearing Huck and Tom Sawyer talking about him and planning some shenanigans. We learn immediately that Jim is very smart and that code switching is essential to his survival as well as that of his fellow enslaved people. The affected speech that Twain features in the original novel is used here, but only when black people are talking to whites or in danger of being overheard by them. When speaking safely with each other, Blacks use the same English as white people. Jim secretly teaches Black children how to speak the way enslaved people are expected to speak so that they can protect their own lives. As he explains, this language allows whites to feel superior, and “…the better they feel, the safer we are.” Jim also knows how to read and write, crimes that would be punishable by death if whites knew.
When Jim discovers that Huck’s aunt is planning to sell him, he runs away, telling his wife and daughter that he will return to buy their freedom as soon as he can. As happens in Huckleberry Finn, Jim and Huck find each other and travel together. Jim’s life is in greater danger now since it is believed that he killed Huck in addition to running away. As the two travel together, the reader sees that Jim and Huck care about each other, although Jim always must be wary of white folks. This is especially evident in their adventures with people like the Duke and the King, who feature in Twain’s novel. But Jim’s experiences when he is separated from Huck are even more interesting. He encounters a minstrel troupe whose leader Daniel Emmett (a real historical person) buys Jim to sing with his group. Emmett declares himself as against slavery, but his actions prove otherwise. Jim also meets Blacks who seem to support their masters, a man who passes for white and, like Jim, hopes to free his wife and family, and enslaved men who take huge risks to support Jim on his journey. The story of how Jim acquires a pencil is horrifying and tragic, but it makes Jim even more determined to survive and to write down what he sees and knows.
James does depart from Huckleberry Finn in some notable ways. Given that this is told from the perspective and experience of an enslaved Black man, there is considerable violence and death. The ending is also quite a departure from the original novel, and in my opinion, an improvement upon it. Whether or not you are a fan of Huckleberry Finn, James is a must-read novel. It uses a literary classic to highlight white violence in our history, the hypocrisy of “allies” whose actions spoke louder than their words, and the enormous power of writing, speaking and acting the truth to power.