Like most Americans, I read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in high school (sophomore year, in Honors American Literature, to be precise). And I distinctly recall not really liking the book. I’m not sure if it was a case of not caring all that much about a story about a young boy coming of age during a series of adventures in the moments leading up to the start of the Civil War (to be fair, I also didn’t enjoy “Catcher in the Rye,” another book we read that year also about a boy coming of age, so maybe I just couldn’t relate to either character) or if it was some sense of unease regarding how Jim, the escaped enslaved man who traveled with (and protected) Huck, was portrayed in comparison to the White characters within the novel. So, I was a bit wary when I started reading “James,” the Pulitzer Prize Finalist novel by Percival Everett, but I was willing to give it a shot. And boy am I glad I did.
“James” is, at its heart, a retelling of “Huck Finn,” but it’s also so much more. For one, while knowledge of the source material is helpful, it’s certainly not necessary. Yes, Huck is a supporting character and he and Jim encounter the same individuals and scenarios together that they do in Mark Twain’s novel, but the story isn’t really about that. After all, this novel is titled “James,” so we are experiencing those trials from his perspective – and we’re also privy to the events that occur when Huck and Jim are separated at several points in the original novel. And it’s in those slices of story where this novel truly shines.
This version of Jim isn’t merely an escaped slave who protects Huck when necessary – while teaching him a bit about the abhorrent nature of slavery. No, this Jim is a fully formed person, with wants, needs, hopes, and dreams. He wants to escape being sold to New Orleans, away from his wife and daughter. He wants to protect Huck, to whom he is more deeply connected than one might originally believe. He wants to return and steal his family away with him to freedom, whatever that might look like. He hopes to be able to offer that same freedom to other enslaved individuals he meets along the way. And he dreams of being able to write his own story – both literally and figuratively – once he manages to get to a place of safety. Because this version of Jim can both read and write – and, like the other enslaved individuals we meet in the story, can speak perfect English.
That is perhaps the largest shift from the original novel – that the enslaved individuals in the story code switch between perfect English and the Pidgeon version utilized in Twain’s novel. It goes a long way toward presenting Jim and the other Black characters he interacts with as fully realized, complex, and human individuals in a way that Twain never quite manages to accomplish in “Huck Finn.” And it drives home the central theme of “James”: agency and identity intertwined are the bedrock of humanity. When one is stripped from a person, they begin to lose sight of just who they are in the world; what their purpose is on the earth. In “James,” Jim isn’t simply the slave Huck travels with on his adventure. No, he’s a man who knows who he is no matter how many people try to lay claim to him.
If you, like me, never quite enjoyed “Huckleberry Finn” when you were asked to read it back in your youth, I suspect you’ll find “James” to be a much more fulfilling read. The characters are so vivid and well-written, and Everett manages to re-imagine Twain’s tale without tearing it down. This is the same story, told from a different – and more interesting – angle.
-
Rating
