As I have read up to chapter 18, character Jim appears as a human being. He is a slave, uneducated person. He appears to be a mean black one but in fact he has a warm heart. He doesn’t want to be a slave anymore. He tries to save money to buy him out, to buy his wife and his children. He recognizes who he is and because of his social status differences in that society, he has to try very hard. Also, he is very stubborn in some areas like his opinions about King Solomon. His superstitions are just too much which cause him to become kind of a passive person. As a slave, he is very helpful in pairing with Huck in surviving on the raft while they run away.
Anyway, I don’t think Jim is a minstrel. He also doesn’t have a double consciousness. He knows who he is. All he wants to do is to be a free man, to be himself. He is the same human being as anyone else.
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Agree about him wanting to be a free man. I think it is interesting though about his double consciousness is that even though he wants to be a free man, he kind of always sticks around and waits for Huck. You could just leave when they separate but it seems like he is devoted to Huck. But he just shows he is very loyal person.
ReplyDeleteI really like the part about his superstitions, I was thinking the same thing. Every time anything bad happens, Jim blames it on superstition or if Huck does anything that is out of the ordinary, Jim tells him that he can't do that and what will happen to them now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also agree that he is not a minstrel
I agree with you about his warm heart. He has a big heart and he cares a great deal about huck. His character in the book demonstrates how sincere he is to his family and how much he wants them back. It is a good examlpe for the audience to see what slaves went through during this time period. His superstions make him kind of funny but it shows he is a real person and has his little quirks.
ReplyDeleteeveryone lives to be free, and everyone is human, it sucks that african americans at this time were not seen as humans, or free people, but property of the white man.
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