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... able of feeling the entire spectrum of emotions, disputing the classic view of the Negro. Not until the end of the book is Twain's expression of Jims humanity is indisputably upheld. As Jim voluntarily stops his escape in order for Huck to fetch a doctor for the injured Tom Sawyer, an action that saves Toms life, while jeopardizing his own, Jims humanity is demonstrated. This action also eventually leads to Jims recapture and near hanging by an angry mob. Even though Jim has full knowledge that he may be recaptured his selflessness causes him to insist upon fetching a doctor.
Again, Huck compares Jim to a white man when he says, I know he was white inside, and I reckoned hed say what he did say, (Twain 276). A second instance takes place at the very end of the book, after Jim realizes that his freedom has come at last. Huck worries about his father coming back to steal Huck's money. Jim quietly tells him that Pap will never come back again.
When Huck presses him as to why Jim says this, Jim refers to an earlier instance in the story when the two had seen a house floating down the river with a dead man inside. Doan you member de house dat was float down de river, en dey wuz a man in dah, kindred up en I went in en uncovered him and didn let you come in? Well, den, you kin git yo money when you wants it, kase dat was him, (Twain 293). By not allowing Huck to come inside the house and by keeping the true identity of the man concealed, Jim believes his actions protect Huck from pain and unpleasantness.
Because Jim has a stable, loving relationship with his own children, he does not realize that some fathers, Huck's white father included, do not love their children in this way. This selfless action of Jim reveals more about his character than any other action in the book. Not only does it speak of his love of his own children, but it also proves the love and compassion that he develops for Huck Finn, proving that Jim, a black man, is as human as any white man, contradicting the stereotype that Negroes are inhuman and unfeeling. Along with defying the social stereotype of the happy-go-lucky, ignorant Negro, Jim also serves as an example for the free Negros social standing in 1884, the year of the books publication. After the Civil War, blacks were technically free men, but were rarely granted their deserved rights and privileges equal to those held by the free white man. Very often, Huck and the river rafts other passengers, the duke and the king, travel onshore, leaving Jim alone on the raft.
In order to protect him against slave traders who might come upon him, the duke paints his face blue and dresses him up in absurd costumes, leaving a sign that reads, Sick Arab- But harmless when not out of his head, (Twain 156). Huck believes this disguise is meant to keep the people from recognizing Jims race, but when the disguise is put to the test, the people who come upon Jim simply see that he is a strange nigger dressed so and so, (Twain 211). This incident can be compared to what happened to many free blacks during their migration northward, trying to find jobs and prosperity. Many employers would not give them jobs, simply because of their race. They dressed like white men, acted like white men, but were not granted the privileges of white men. Likewise, Jim tries to disguise himself as an Arab, but still is not treated as an Arab.
Twain also uses the character of Tom Sawyer to further the idea of the black social status. Tom Sawyer arrives at his Aunt Sally's home with the knowledge that Jims owner, Miss Watson, set him free in her will. Yet, Tom keeps this knowledge to himself, using the opportunity that Jims captivity provided for his own amusement, hoping for a grand adventure. After the truth is revealed, Tom confides to Huck that his plan was for [Huck and Tom] to run [Jim] down the river on the raft, and have adventures plumb to the mouth of the river, and then tell him about his being free, (Twain 292). Likewise, Tom Sawyer continued the practice of white men using black men to their own advantage. Tom showed great selfishness in not telling Jim the truth and using the mans pitiable condition to his own advantage.
However, the biggest statement that Twain makes about social conditions of free blacks in his era does not have to do with Jims treatment by any character in the book, but simply his condition near the end of it. A family by the name of Phelps, Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle, recapture Jim and put him in chains again, although his freedom has long since been granted. Jim personifies the free blacks condition after the Civil War in that he was a free man, still wearing chains. The bonds that blacks wore were not those of slavery, however, but those of racism. Former slaves were free and they were granted the rights of citizens of the United States, yet they were still denied the chance to fulfill their own dreams and pursue happiness because of the racism that shaded the opinions of the whites who controlled society. By presenting Jim in such a manner, Twain's character embodies the position in which free blacks found themselves after their freedom had been granted.
Twain's novel is largely satirical, written in the tongue-in-cheek manner considered his trademark. However, underneath the ridicule and the satire lies a far deeper meaning. The authors statement about the perception of white superiority and the freed slaves position in society is potent and powerful. After its publication, the book incensed many readers because it dared to insult the preconceived notions and accepted beliefs about the black position in slavery. This book proved to be an appeal to the white population of the United States to recognize its hypocrisy in dealing with freed slaves. Bibliography: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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