‘James’ by Percival Everett: Write yourself into being

What is good, and what is evil? Who gets to decide? Is it evil to kill what is evil? Is evil universal, or does it depend on who holds the power? What about equality? How do we measure it, and who defines it?

These are the questions you’ll find yourself asking as you read James by Percival Everett, a bold and brilliant retelling of The Adventures of HuckleberryFinn from the perspective of Jim.

The book is divided into three parts. Each section explores James’s struggle as a runaway slave on the mighty Mississippi River. The story begins as he waits for his mistress, Miss Watson, to give him a pan of cornbread made using his wife Sadie’s recipe. As he waits, he thinks about how waiting is central to the condition of being enslaved:

“Waiting is a big part of a slave’s life, waiting and waiting to wait some more. Waiting for demands. Waiting for food. Waiting for the end of days. Waiting for the just and deserved Christian reward at the end of it all.”

Religion plays a significant role in this book. It can offer hope, comfort, and community, depending on how it's used. But to James, it's a tool of control, used to justify slavery and to encourage Black people to serve their “masters” selflessly. To obey. To suffer. No questions asked.

This becomes painfully clear in a conversation James has with slave children during one of his sessions, where he teaches them how to act in front of white people. One child asks, “Why did God set it up like this? With them as masters and us as slaves?”

James responds:

“There is no God, child. There is religion, but there is no God of theirs. Their religion says that we will get our reward in the end. However, it apparently doesn't say anything about their punishment. But when we are around them, we believe in God.”

Another force that shapes James’s world, and his resistance, is language. From the very beginning, you notice how differently Black people speak to their oppressors, white people, compared to how they talk among themselves. The more ignorant the Black people sound, the happier the white men are. To stay safe, he teaches Black children the kind of language they must use when they interact with white people.

“You are walking down the street, and you see that Mrs Holiday’s kitchen is on fire. She is standing in the yard, her back to the house. How do you tell her?”

“Fire. Fire,” January said. Direct. And that is almost correct.”

Rachel said, “Lawdy, missum! Looky dere.”

“Perfect. Why is that correct?”

“Because we must let the white be the first to name the trouble.”

As much as James is a funny book, it’s also full of life philosophies. It challenges readers to reflect on their own beliefs. It makes you pause and think about race, power, and how slavery of any kind strips people of dignity and selfhood.

As James continues to run, trying to free himself and reunite with his family, whom he was separated from after fleeing Miss Watson, who planned to sell him, he learns disturbing truths about human nature, regardless of skin colour.”

Just like back then, some people didn’t mind being slaves. They would do whatever the “master” asked, even turn on fellow Black people, just to be in the master’s good graces. And it’s not so different now. People are often willing to be slaves to others, to emotions, to things, so long as it keeps them comfortable. So long as it means they don’t have to face the discomfort of walking away from what doesn’t serve them.

Yes, it’s easier said than done. Sometimes people believe that resignation is the only choice. That surrendering to fate is survival. Is it, though?

One of the most enjoyable and tender relationships in the book is that between James and Huck, two people from different worlds, yet somehow the same. It’s the kind of relationship that gives hope, a childish sense of belief that things will work out or that things will get better.

Books play an essential role in James’s life. They help him understand different perspectives on the questions I ask at the beginning of this review. It’s a reminder that we have to keep learning about other people’s thoughts and worldviews to understand our own better. But most importantly, there is the need to write your own story, not the one others tell about you.

“A man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related but self-written.”

Because a man who writes his own story writes himself into being.

Jane Shussa is passionate about books, coffee, nature, and travel. She serves as a Senior Digital Communications Officer for Twaweza East Africa.