IRP Blog Post 2

Jim

Jim is one of Miss Watson's slaves, referred to in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using the n-word. This reflects the social attitudes of the time period that Mark Twain portrayed, the 1830s and 40s in the South. Jim is shown as being extremely unintelligent. In Chapter 4, he is shown relying on a hairball that was found in "the forth stomach of an ox" for advice. Huck thinks that he sees his father's tracks in the snow so he asks Jim for advice from the hairball. Jim mentions that there would be two angels - one black and one white. Huck goes to his room that night and sees his father, "There sat pap, his own self" (p 19).