Fanfiction has often been considered a lesser form of writing, having a lack of creativity and being a form of stealing. But what if I told you that one piece of fanfiction recently published has just won the National Book Award?
The novel James, by Percival Everett, is a magnificent retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the escaped slave Jim. One of the “it” books of 2024, James has been enjoyed by many, including former president Barack Obama. Everett expands on the basic plot of Huck Finn, including the large periods of time in which we do not know where Jim is or what he is doing, providing ample space for more creativity, adventures, and realism.
James maintains the charm of Huckleberry Finn while simultaneously adding certain darker elements. The reader witnesses the horrors of slavery–such as when a slave is whipped and killed by his owner because of a missing pencil stub. This makes the change in perspective more pronounced, showing that this is not thirteen-year-old Huck Finn telling this story, but a fully-mature adult–the enslaved Jim.
The novel begins similarly to Huckleberry Finn, with Huck’s faking his own death and Jim’s escaping from Miss Watson. Together they raft down the Mississippi, encountering various adventures and struggles and, eventually, separation. Along the way, Jim forms a relationship with Huck that is almost paternal, and he worries deeply about Huck whenever they are separated. Together they encounter the Duke and the King, two con men lying about their ancestral lineage and pretending to be royalty, and are forced to travel with them lest they turn Jim in. Unlike Twain’s version, the King and Duke prove to be far more ruthless in their treatment of Huck and, especially, of Jim.
James explores powerfully the idea of justice. Jim’s experiences with slavery and being enslaved contribute to his worldview and sense of justice and of right and wrong: “We’re slaves,” he says at one point, “We’re not anywhere. Free person, he can be where he wants to be. The only place we can ever be is in slavery.” Later, an escaped slave named Norman meets Jim, who has been wounded badly from his last encounter with a white man, and asks him what he’s done to be hurt so badly: “What did I do? I’m a slave, Norman. I inhaled when I should have exhaled.” While hiding on Jackson’s Island, awaiting news of his family, his frustration with the injustices he witnesses only grows: “I hated the world that wouldn’t let me apply justice without the certain retaliation of injustice.” He wonders, are actions such as murder excusable if the person being killed is guilty of other horrors? Not only has he witnessed the whipping and murder of another enslaved person because he stole a little stub of a pencil, but he has seen many other such brutal acts committed by white men, which Huck Finn couldn’t tell us about because in Twain’s time–the age of realism–authors still weren’t permitted to write about such realities. This leaves Jim with a broken sense of justice as well as a deep anger that explains some of his actions later in the novel, when again he wonders, “Was it evil to kill evil? The truth was that I didn’t care.”
Jim is not perfect in James, but he is a fully fleshed-out human being with thoughts and feelings, who is obviously intelligent. He has read Voltaire and Locke and not only understands them, but also questions some of their ideals. This is not to say that Twain’s Jim is a bad character; he is arguably the most “good” or likable character in Huckleberry Finn, but Twain could not write Jim in the same way Everett has. Percival Everett could’ve written Huckleberry Finn, but Mark Twain could never have written James. This is not in terms of quality of writing, because both are wonderfully written (if we ignore the ending of Huck Finn), but culturally, Mark Twain could not. Percival Everett has breathed new life into Twain’s story and made it his own.
James is a wonderful retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As Twain’s masterpiece has faced controversy for years and many schools today are reluctant to teach it, I believe that James is the perfect companion and that both books should be read together.
7 Responses
Thank you, Harper. You have stimulated us to read and explore this book. Your analysis is thorough and clear. Well done!
I know this is an “it” book, but I think Twain’s version is much better. Twain’s “agenda” was to open people’s eyes to the humanity of slaves, and he was bold enough (for his time) to make Jim the real hero of the book. Everett takes the original story and makes Jim much less believable and the ending in particular seemed totally unnecessary and contrived. Everett could never have written Twain’s version–and in my opinion, Twain would be dismayed at how his story was manipulated.
I was dismayed that James’ attitude toward whites was unrelentingly unforgiving and monolithic. One size fit all. Maybe that would have been all James could manage, given his limited experience of black-white relationships. Yet I am disappointed that the author here could not have assumed some responsibility in pointing toward more positive racial interrelationships.
Thank you for your insightful review of James. I was struck by the author’s portrayal of James’ intellect cleverly hidden from the whites and Huck’s knowledge. And wondered how he came to it. I haven’t finished the book so maybe I missed it or haven’t come to it yet.
Glad to hear young people are reading it.
me too! And also writing about it.
Thank you for writing this, Harper. It’s an excellent analysis that draws readers into a powerful book.
Most fascinating to me about “James” and essential to realizing what Percival Everett is up to in this reimagining of the Huck Finn /Jim story is the matter of dialect, beginning already with the title. James and his fellows know how to read and they know standard English. They know precisely when to speak as they are expected to speak by white folks and when they are free to be themselves. In fact, their survival depends on it. Everett gives great dignity to these characters and helps us appreciate them in ways we hadn’t thought of before.