James: A Novel

Alone and scared, Jim is running. He hears white people arguing in the distance. Among the strange voices is one he recognizes: Huck’s. Pistol shots ring out and Jim is aware of a chaotic firefight. After the noise subsides, he manages to get Huck’s attention. All the others are now dead, and Huck hurries Jim away. He tells Jim that he found and repaired their raft. During their exchange, Jim forgets to code-switch and Huck notices that Jim does not sound like “a slave.” Hastily Jim switches back to dialect and, although he still wonders if something is amiss, Huck admits that Jim sounds normal again.

Huck tells Jim the story of the two feuding families he’d been staying with. Jim worries that it was traumatic for Huck to witness their violence. He has been traumatized by the lynchings he’s seen. Later, Jim falls asleep while writing and has a vision in which John Locke appears. He interrogates the philosopher about his hypocrisy and the two argue back and forth: How could such a keen thinker with a strong sense of right and wrong permit the system of enslavement? During their argument, Jim wakes to the sound of Huck’s