Berl Falbaum
Throughout the years when I have written book reviews, I seldom, if ever, used the words “clever,” “ingenious,” “imaginative,” or “inventive.” Until now.
I am referring to a book titled, “James” (Doubleday) by the prolific black writer, Percival Everett. It has been critically acclaimed in the literary world and last week won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Everett reverses the all-time classic, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, telling the story from the perspective of a Black slave, James (Jim). Everett has Jim describe all their adventures. In Twain’s book, the narrator is Huck.
(Before I read “James,” I reread Huck Finn which I studied in college — many decades ago).
Readers might remember the two join forces after Huck escapes from an abusive father who beats him mercilessly, while Jim runs away from his owners upon learning they plan to sell him, tearing him away from his family. The two drift down the Mississippi River on a raft and Jim relates their experiences — many death-defying — from his perspective.
Everett gives us a deep look into the heart and soul of a Black slave. Everett’s Jim is a highly educated, articulate man, having taught himself to read and write by consuming books in his owner’s library. But he keeps his “education” secret.
He is so sophisticated that even in his dreams he has conversations with such philosophers as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Locke.
In one dream, Locke, known as the father of liberalism, says to Jim: “Some might say that my views on slavery are complex and multi-faceted.”
Jim: “Convoluted and multifarious.”
Locke: “Well-reasoned and complicated.”
Jim: “Entangled and problematic.”
Locke: “Sophisticated and intricate.”
Jim: “Labyrinthine and daedalean.”
Locke: “Oh, well played my dark friend.”
In the narration, he is erudite, but in conversations with whites and blacks he does not know he reverts to the deep, Black dialect of a slave, a language, he says, “no white person could muster.” In one encounter, he says, “I paused, unsure of my diction, whether to speak as myself or as a slave. I made the safe choice: ‘I is, suh.’”
When he meets a Black man in a situation where he does not have to use dialect, the man says to him, “You can drop the slave talk.”
Jim responds, “Cuse me, suh?” and then asks, “How did you know?”
“A slave can spot a slave,” the man tells him. “You didn’t slip. I’s just knows.”
Throughout the book, Jim explains how slaves have to continually “prove,” by their behavior with whites, that they are dumb, illiterate, not deserving of respect. They need to debase, dehumanize themselves.
In one scene he teaches Black children how to deal with their white masters. He asks if a white housewife doesn’t know her pantry is on fire, what do you say?
“Fire, fire,” the children respond. “That’s almost correct,” says Jim.
Another child then offers, “Lawdy, missus. Looky dere.”
“Perfect,” responds Jim, and then asks, “Why is that correct?”
Child: “Because we must let the whites be the ones who name the trouble…because they need to know everything before us…because they need to name everything.”
He also teaches them how slaves must talk to whites with an “incorrect correct grammar.” “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be,” he advises.
Jim is confused when a white man says something to him that he never heard before. The man said “I’m sorry” to him. This apology “screwed me to the ground.”
While whites and the Blacks he knows call him Jim, he maintains his self-respect by insisting, when circumstances allow him to take the risk, that his name is “James.” Thus, the book’s title.
Everett’s plot is significantly different from Twain’s story. The twists and turns have you in constant fear for Jim’s life.
One of the most moving episodes involves another slave getting Jim a three-inch pencil so he can write in his notebook. The slave apparently stole the pencil from his owner.
Later, as Jim is traveling through some forests, he comes across a group of white men lashing a slave. He overhears that the slave was being punished for the theft of the pencil. If that were not enough, Jim, heartbroken and with the pencil still in his pocket, discovers that the slave was later hanged.
With Jim as the narrator, you learn of the pain, hopes, dreams, anxieties, anger and other emotions of a slave — emotions they are forbidden to express. When, at one point, when Jim feels anxiety and anger, he is surprised that he has them.
Most important, Everett lets you feel all the tribulations of life as a slave without suffering the lashes.
I am referring to a book titled, “James” (Doubleday) by the prolific black writer, Percival Everett. It has been critically acclaimed in the literary world and last week won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Everett reverses the all-time classic, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, telling the story from the perspective of a Black slave, James (Jim). Everett has Jim describe all their adventures. In Twain’s book, the narrator is Huck.
(Before I read “James,” I reread Huck Finn which I studied in college — many decades ago).
Readers might remember the two join forces after Huck escapes from an abusive father who beats him mercilessly, while Jim runs away from his owners upon learning they plan to sell him, tearing him away from his family. The two drift down the Mississippi River on a raft and Jim relates their experiences — many death-defying — from his perspective.
Everett gives us a deep look into the heart and soul of a Black slave. Everett’s Jim is a highly educated, articulate man, having taught himself to read and write by consuming books in his owner’s library. But he keeps his “education” secret.
He is so sophisticated that even in his dreams he has conversations with such philosophers as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Locke.
In one dream, Locke, known as the father of liberalism, says to Jim: “Some might say that my views on slavery are complex and multi-faceted.”
Jim: “Convoluted and multifarious.”
Locke: “Well-reasoned and complicated.”
Jim: “Entangled and problematic.”
Locke: “Sophisticated and intricate.”
Jim: “Labyrinthine and daedalean.”
Locke: “Oh, well played my dark friend.”
In the narration, he is erudite, but in conversations with whites and blacks he does not know he reverts to the deep, Black dialect of a slave, a language, he says, “no white person could muster.” In one encounter, he says, “I paused, unsure of my diction, whether to speak as myself or as a slave. I made the safe choice: ‘I is, suh.’”
When he meets a Black man in a situation where he does not have to use dialect, the man says to him, “You can drop the slave talk.”
Jim responds, “Cuse me, suh?” and then asks, “How did you know?”
“A slave can spot a slave,” the man tells him. “You didn’t slip. I’s just knows.”
Throughout the book, Jim explains how slaves have to continually “prove,” by their behavior with whites, that they are dumb, illiterate, not deserving of respect. They need to debase, dehumanize themselves.
In one scene he teaches Black children how to deal with their white masters. He asks if a white housewife doesn’t know her pantry is on fire, what do you say?
“Fire, fire,” the children respond. “That’s almost correct,” says Jim.
Another child then offers, “Lawdy, missus. Looky dere.”
“Perfect,” responds Jim, and then asks, “Why is that correct?”
Child: “Because we must let the whites be the ones who name the trouble…because they need to know everything before us…because they need to name everything.”
He also teaches them how slaves must talk to whites with an “incorrect correct grammar.” “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be,” he advises.
Jim is confused when a white man says something to him that he never heard before. The man said “I’m sorry” to him. This apology “screwed me to the ground.”
While whites and the Blacks he knows call him Jim, he maintains his self-respect by insisting, when circumstances allow him to take the risk, that his name is “James.” Thus, the book’s title.
Everett’s plot is significantly different from Twain’s story. The twists and turns have you in constant fear for Jim’s life.
One of the most moving episodes involves another slave getting Jim a three-inch pencil so he can write in his notebook. The slave apparently stole the pencil from his owner.
Later, as Jim is traveling through some forests, he comes across a group of white men lashing a slave. He overhears that the slave was being punished for the theft of the pencil. If that were not enough, Jim, heartbroken and with the pencil still in his pocket, discovers that the slave was later hanged.
With Jim as the narrator, you learn of the pain, hopes, dreams, anxieties, anger and other emotions of a slave — emotions they are forbidden to express. When, at one point, when Jim feels anxiety and anger, he is surprised that he has them.
Most important, Everett lets you feel all the tribulations of life as a slave without suffering the lashes.
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