Percival Everrett's James is a retelling of Mark Twain's 1885 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which Jim—the protagonist and narrator of James—is a supporting character.
Set in the antebellum South, Twain's original novel follows the journey of a young boy named Huck, who runs away from his abusive father and seeks freedom from the constraints of civilized society. Huck teams up with Jim, a runaway slave, to navigate the Mississippi River on a raft, encountering a series of colorful characters and adventures along the way. Through their journey, Huck wrestles with his conscience and society’s teachings, ultimately coming to see Jim as a friend and equal rather than property. The novel explores themes of freedom, friendship, and moral growth, as Huck defies the social norms of the time and embraces his own sense of right and wrong.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels, praised for its innovative use of vernacular speech and its portrayal of American society in the pre–Civil War era. The novel broke new ground by using the perspective and voice of a child to critique adult hypocrisies, especially on topics like racism, slavery, and societal expectations. Its portrayal of Jim as a complex, sympathetic character challenged the racist stereotypes of the time, and Huck’s moral evolution is seen as a critique of the deeply flawed ethics of 19th-century America. Twain’s satirical style and vivid, colloquial language lent authenticity to the narrative and paved the way for American literature to embrace vernacular speech and realism.
Although the novel carries an anti-slavery message, Twain has been criticized for his use of racial epithets and his depiction of Jim as being superstitious, subservient, and gullible. Everett alludes to this critique by revisiting scenes from Twain's original narrative from Jim's perspective, showing how Jim purposefully feigns ignorance and a lack of intelligence around white people as a survival strategy.
