The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn

by Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua and Jocelyn A. Chadwick

Book Overview

Especially in academia, controversy rages over the merits or evils of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in particular its portrayal of Jim, the runaway slave. Opponents disrupt classes and carry picket signs, objecting with strong emotion that Jim is no fit model for African American youth of today. In continuing outcries, they claim that he and the dark period of American history he portrays are best forgotten. That time has gone,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578060613
• ISBN13: 9781578060610
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Jim

I just read this book. I wish I could tell the author how much I appreciated it.

The book adds to the dialogue about teaching Huck Finn.

Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua's slim volume packs a lot of power. As an African-American rhetorician and Twain scholar, she eloquently makes the case for book's continued study. Using the lexicon of classical rhetoric, she carefully examines the role of Jim in Twain's book to show that he is elevated to a place of prominence and importance in conveying Twain's message of humanity. She examines closely Jim's words, his dialogues with Huck, and the language of slavery used by the society in the novel as a way of exposing Twain's methods.If one carefully reads Twain's masterpiece and then thoughtfully reads Chadwick-Joshua's book, s/he must surely see that _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ needs to remain an important element in the American landscape of literature. Without Twain's honest look at race in the 19th century, an important part of the American experience would be lost. We need this book, black and white alike. __The Jim Dilemma_ helps us to appreciate Huck and Jim's journey to freedom all the more.