My Experience
I chose James by Percival Everett because it was recommended directly to me, and peaked my interest in historical fiction. I also saw it as a very extended branch of a story of migration which kept me interested as well. It is in fact, not your typical immigration story. After reading the first ten chapters though, displacement and survival are evident through Jim’s decision to hide and put himself at risk by doing so. As I was reading, I felt a strong sense of paranoia. Jim is not just physically hiding but is also aware that he could be discovered at any moment. Even in moments that seem and should feel calm, there is the feeling that things could take a turn at any moment. I found myself reading anxiously, anticipating the worst for Jim. Before the start of his journey though, and kept in mind as I continued on, was a sense of togetherness. I experienced this when reading the first few chapters that helped me get to know Jim and the other slaves around him. There is an unspoken agreement between them. They communicate amongst themselves, and around white characters differently, to protect each other.
Classifying My Experience
Paranoia is defined as a feeling of threat triggered by environmental irregularities. This best describes my reading experience especially when a sound or movement occurred in Jim’s environment because any and everything felt dangerous and threatening. I never once forgot that something could go wrong, even when nothing did, I was always alert. Togetherness, is defined as a feeling of being united in understanding with other people. I saw this when it came to the interactions of the enslaved characters. They had a pact almost, on how to behave and appear in order to survive, especially around their white counterparts.
The Features Prompting My Experience
The setting and Jim’s situation as a slave in hiding has been the main feature prompting my experience. He is aware that being found would have major consequences. The ways in which certain scenes are written put emphasis on uncertainty and danger. He is often listening or watching for somethings, creating tension. The most tension is present when Jim first starts his hideout. He so abruptly made the decision to avoid being sold away from his family, that I feared for him as I read the beginning of his escape.
“I could just barely see the island in the dark and I hoped I wouldn’t glide right past it. Luckily, no riverboats ever navigated the channel between the shore and the island. But I couldn’t be sure some peckerwood wouldn’t paddle by in a canoe or on a raft. I could finally see the island, but I felt a tugging on my leg. I couldn’t shake loose of the snag. I didn’t believe in river monsters, so I quickly figured I’d gotten hung up in somebody’s trotline. Getting untangled was difficult, and for a brief time I thought I was going to miss the island or drown or both” (Everett, 45).
Another important feature is the difference between how Jim and the other slaves think and how they actually speak. They present themselves as less intelligent when speaking to white people, even though their thoughts and communication with each other shows the opposite. Jim often finds himself having to correct himself to speak incorrectly. This contributes to togetherness. The characters are not only trying to survive, but they are empowering themselves while doing it. White characters in this story have no idea of the full capacity and depth these characters contain because they mask it so well. The shifts in speech depending on who is in the conversation show the awareness all of the enslaved characters have on their surroundings. They not only have to code switch around their superiors on the plantation, but around anybody white, including children.
“Jim, you work the mules and you fix the wagon wheels and now you fixin’ this here porch. Who taught you to do all them things?”
I stopped and looked at the hammer in my hand, flipped it. “Dat be a good question, Huck.”
“So, who did?”
“Necessity.”
“What?”
“‘Cessity,” I corrected myself. “‘Cessity is when you gots to do sumptin’ or else.”
“Or else what?”
“Else’n they takes you to the post and whips ya or they drags ya down to the river and sells ya. Nuffin you gots to worry bout” (Everett, 27).
Determining The Narrative Technology
The narrative technology that explains my paranoia is the vigilance trigger. This adds an element to the story that does not fit without explanation. In James, Jim is constantly aware of the possibility of being found, making it feel like in every scene, something is not right. Even when nothing threatening is happening, there is always the feeling that something could go wrong. The detail in which these scenes of Jim hiding out are written, keeps the reader paying attention. Tension is never fully lifted, it keeps building through anticipation. The second narrative technology is opportunity to observe. This allowed me to notice the pattern of change in the way characters speak to their superiors versus amongst themselves. When around white characters, they present themselves as less intelligent, but amongst themselves their true intelligence is clear. Although this is a much lesser part of the book and it’s stroyline, I still found myself amazed by it. We observe this “dumbing down” across different interactions, and can quickly see the unspoken means of survival they have created.
Other Thoughts…
I also see now that my interest in the experience that I recognized to be togetherness, might also just be awe. I found myself slightly smiling in proudness when I realized that Jim was leading circles of his daughter and other children, teaching them how to act unintelligently around white people. I could be over-dramatizing because of course, most of the book is focused on Jim and his journey with Huck, but I thought this was something so cool that I almost wish had a longer part to play in the story.
“Papa, why do we have to learn this?”
“White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” I said. “The only ones who suffer when they are made to feel inferior is us, Perhaps I should say ‘when they don’t feel superior.’ So, let’s pause to review some of the basics” (Everett, 31).
Featured Image
Cover for James. Doubleday. All Rights Reserved.
