James: A Novel

Jim, who ultimately chooses to go by his full name, James, is the novel’s narrator and protagonist. He is a learned, erudite man who enjoys reading and writing, and teaches the children on the property where he lives. He is a loving family man with a wife and daughter. He is an enslaved African American man, and through the complex, multi-faceted nature of his character, the novel explores issues related to race and racism in the United States.

Jim is based on the character Jim in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. James reframes the story through Jim’s eyes to argue that the lives and experiences of enslaved people in pre-emancipation America merit as much interest and attention as those of their white counterparts. Whereas Twain’s novel foregrounds Huck’s experiences, coming of age, and interest in ethical development, James foregrounds Jim’s keen intellect, humanity, and insightful observations about the cognitive dissonance required to support the enslavement of an entire racial group of humans. An important part of the novel’s reframing is Jim’s interest in writing. He pens a manifesto of sorts to set his own story down on the page, and this is an important meta-commentary on the importance of marginalized people telling their own stories. No one can speak with as much authority on the experiences of others than on their own experiences, and much gets lost when individuals with privilege attempt to tell the stories of those without privilege. Although Mark Twain set out to write, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a thoughtful book engaging with the ethics of enslavement, the way that he centered the experiences of a white boy in that story meant that the experiences of its main Black character were secondary. Everett not only centers the experiences of Jim, but shows Jim in the act of telling his own story, and this is an important revision.

Jim is characterized in part by his erudition. He makes clandestine forays into Judge Thatcher’s library to read, and his interest in philosophy and the “great” thinkers of the Enlightenment era informs his own perspective, as well as his ability to point out the flaws in their thinking. He recalls having to “hide” his love of books, but part of what draws him to books and ideas is his interest in the discrepancy between so-called humanism and the racist support that their authors give to the institution of enslavement. Huck comes to question the ethics of enslavement, but Jim is the primary interrogator of white supremacy in this novel. Through this aspect of his characterization, the novel suggests that Black people are best able to identify and analyze white supremacy. The novel also emphasizes the humanity of a people who have been silenced, marginalized, and dehumanized throughout American history.

Jim’s use of standard English and the way that he teaches code-switching to the children in his household is another important aspect of his characterization. Jim knows all too well how difficult white people can make life for him, so he and his fellow enslaved men and women use dialect to protect themselves when speaking to their enslavers: If the enslavers think that enslaved people are less intelligent and aware, then they will trust them enough to leave them alone, and feel comfortable in their power dynamics enough to refrain from violence as a tool of control.

Jim is also a loving family man and a good friend to those individuals whom he meets and deems worthy of friendship. He has a meaningful connection with Luke, Norman, and the group of enslaved men who help him procure a pencil, and he helps to free a young woman who reminds him of his daughter. He also watches out for Huck, his secret son, in a way that demonstrates empathy. He knows that Huck is trying to figure out his place in the world, that he suffered at the hands of his abusive father, and that he needs protection. Despite spending his entire life in a brutal system of bondage, Jim has retained his commitment to others. He is much more of a humanist than the Enlightenment thinkers whose support for enslavement belies their so-called commitment to humanistic values.