Review of James, a novel by Percival Everett
Published by Doubleday in 2024
By Peter Baiter
The Title James
The striking title of the novel, the simple first name James, makes it clear that the central focus throughout will be on the character of the narrator, James. At the beginning of the story, James is known to the world as the common slave Jim. But as events unfold, Everett’s Jim emerges as a skeptical observer of everything around him, a calculating survivor in a dangerous world and surprisingly more literate and knowledgeable than most of the white people around him. James is constantly focusing on the threats confronting him every day as he devises strategies to keep his white masters from seeing his real character and abilities and killing him from spite.
The New Adventures – As Told by a New Narrator
One reviewer characterizes James as a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: in Twain’s story Huck Finn is the narrator; in Everett’s the fugitive slave Jim/James narrates. Various scenes from the earlier work now end differently and many characters are also reinterpreted. Those who know The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can recognize how Percival Everett has transformed his original source materials into a new dynamic, but fortunately the average reader can also appreciate the powerful attraction of James without knowing much about Twain’s earlier creation.
The Adventures of Jim/James
Jim is a slave owned by the elderly Miss Watson in Hannibal, Missouri. He has a wife, Sadie, and daughter Lizzie, and he is very devoted to and protective of both. Though they speak standard English among themselves, in the presence of whites they switch to the native language of the slave population to appear ignorant and superstitious, and to not draw attention to themselves. Jim is a model slave who completes all the tasks assigned to him with skill and efficiency. In the meantime, Huck Finn, adopted child of Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, confides in Jim and questions him about all the strange things Huck sees going on around him, including the existence of slavery.
The Importance of Mastery of Language
Early in the novel (Chapter 2), James (I emphasize this name as the identity of a highly intelligent Black man, not the identity of Jim the slave) makes clear how important language is to survival. As James notes, “Safe movement though the world depended on mastery of language. Fluency.”
In this episode James teaches a language lesson to his daughter Lizzie and six other children. When asked why such a lesson was needed, James replies, “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them.”
Later, James presents the children with some hypothetical situations where the children have to deal with whites, which he calls “situational translations,” and the correct responses are determined through discussion. The children become aware of the reasoning that makes an answer “correct.” They recognize as guiding principles, “We must let whites be the ones who name the trouble” and “They need to know everything before us. Because they need to name everything.”
At the end of the lesson, James tells them how to approach whites in general. “The more you talk about God and Jesus and heaven and hell, the better they feel.” At this point all the children say together “The better they feel, the safer we are.” James asks one of the children to translate that message into their own language. She answers “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be.” “Nice,” says James.
This episode with James as a language teacher illustrates the central role of language in creating one’s identity, especially for someone like James, who lives and survives by skillfully moving between two different worlds. Language is an important marker in distinguishing between the whites and the slaves, and the slaves speak their native language throughout the novel. While this presents a challenge for the readers to understand, with a little patience, these exchanges become enjoyable and instructive.
Turning point in the life of Jim / James
A crisis occurs in Jim’s life when he hears that Miss Watson is planning to sell him off to a new owner in New Orleans. Jim decides to flee and become a targeted runaway slave, intending to return for his family in the future. His first stop is Jackson Island in the Mississippi River, where he surprisingly meets up with Huck, who has faked his death to escape from his abusive father.
Jim / James on the run
Life on the Mississippi is dangerous. The river floods regularly, damaging buildings on the shores and sinking boats of all kinds. Wild animals roam free and snakes and leeches abound. When Jim is bitten by a rattlesnake and nearly dies, he hallucinates and talks in his sleep like a French philosopher, breaking character and using educated English. When Huck hears him, he is confused because he doesn’t hear the usual slave language.
When their raft is destroyed, Jim washes up on shore alone and encounters a group of friendly slaves. A young slave from the group steals a pencil stub for Jim to use to write down his thoughts, for which the boy is brutally flogged and hanged by his white masters.
Jim is later bought by Daniel Decatur Emmett to join a blackface singing troupe. He feels safe at first, but then realizes if the audiences learn he’s really black he faces certain death. Jim escapes the troupe and steals Emmett’s notebook (which includes the songs that appear at the beginning of the novel) and starts to write his own story next to the minstrel songs.
Jim next meets Norman, a former slave who passes as white. They decide to make money by having Norman sell Jim off as a slave. The deception works and Jim is sold off to a sawmill from which he soon escapes.
In a crucial scene Jim and Norman stowaway on a steamboat which is destroyed by a boiler explosion. To his great surprise, Jim finds Huck among the survivors after the two had been separated. When Jim sees that both Huck and Norman are drowning and he can only save one, he saves Huck instead of Norman. When Huck asks Jim why, to Huck’s amazement Jim confesses that he is Huck’s birth father, and he begins to speak to him like an educated white, i.e., in the language style of James.
Huck insists on returning to Hannibal to help Jim find Sadie and Lizzy. Upon their return, they discover that the two have been sold, but James rescues them in a daring raid. Meanwhile, the Civil War has broken out, but Jim realizes that this will not truly free him.
The last of Jim’s adventures is the journey north with his family to Iowa, a free state where they will be safe from persecution. Here Jim can finally openly boast of his new identity. The local sheriff in Iowa asks Jim, “And who are you?” “I am James.” “James what?” “Just James.”
My Personal Reactions to James.
Even though I was already well aware of some of the worst atrocities of slavery in the middle of 19th century America, Everett’s novel made me feel the anguish, suffering and terror that slaves endured on a daily basis throughout their lives. They had no rights. There was no justice. The women were raped repeatedly. Any disobedience was punished harshly, even by death. Slaves were chattel and were bought and sold indiscriminately. Whites spent much of their time and efforts finding ways to keep the slaves subdued.
One of the main tactics to keep the slaves in their place was to make sure they were never educated. This meant keeping slaves from learning to speak the white man’s language and to read and write. James knew better than anyone that an educated slave was a danger to the whites; if he was ever found teaching his fellow slaves to read and write, he was liable to be hung.
My Concluding Thoughts
Percival Everett’s novel James is full of drama and emotion. It focuses on the wonderful character and resilience of a true hero who overcomes a vast range of challenges and dangers to educate himself.
For me, the book James is very uplifting, and I highly recommend it to everyone for its emotional depth, engaging plot and brilliant hero.
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Peter Baiter is the former Thessaloniki Chapter Chair and Thessaloniki Chapter Representative of Democrats Abroad Greece. At the present time, Peter is actively engaged with the Thessaloniki Chapter as a regular volunteer.