James

James by Percival Everett is a bold and inventive novel that reimagines Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man at the heart of Twain’s tale. Everett’s work offers a fresh lens on a classic American narrative, exploring themes of race, freedom, language, and humanity with characteristic wit, depth, and empathy.

The novel closely follows the events of Twain’s original book but with a definitive shift: Jim – who prefers to go by James — is the narrator. Everett delves into James’s inner life, granting him a voice and complexity that Twain’s version left unexplored. The story traces James’s escape from slavery down the Mississippi River alongside Huck, but with new dimensions of awareness, agency, and survival.

Everett’s portrayal of James is deeply nuanced. No longer a mere sidekick or comic relief, James is depicted as intelligent, resourceful, and emotionally rich. The narrative voice is both insightful and sardonic, often highlighting the ironies and dangers of life as an enslaved man in the antebellum South. Everett skillfully uses code-switching to show James’s mastery of language—speaking in dialect when necessary for his safety, while revealing his true intellect and feelings in private thoughts and narration.

James explores the absurdities and cruelties of American racism with biting satire and humor. Everett does not shy away from the violence and indignities of slavery. Still, he celebrates the resilience, cunning, and humanity of his protagonist. The novel highlights the power of narrative — who gets to tell the story, and how stories shape our understanding of people and history.

Percival Everett’s James reframes an American classic. For readers interested in the intersections of literature, history, and social justice, this novel is well worth reading. While it reclaims an historical narrative it challenges us to think anew about the stories we tell and who gets to tell them.