The Character of Jim in The Adventures of Huck Finn Satire or Offensive?

What do these images make you think?

What about these?

And these?

Lasting Effects John H. Wallace Article

Who dah?" This is Jim's first line It's a good question for Jim to ask. One of the greatest issues raised by the novel is "who is there" as far as Jim is concerned. Is he a satirical caricature that helps Mark Twain’s antiracism cause OR Does the African American caricature go too far?

Anti-Slavery/Racism Satire OR Racism in disguise

Jim: The Uneducated Slave “Well you see, it ‘uz dis way. Ole Missus-dat’s Miss Watson—she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she wouldn sell me down to Orleans. But I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader roun’ de place considable, lately, en I begin to git oneasy. Well, one night I creeps to de do’ pooty late, en de do’ warn’t quite set, en I hear ole missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn’t want to, but she could git eight hund’d dollars for me, en it ‘uz sich a big stack o’ money she couldn’ resis’” (42).

One quote says a lot… Property- Jim is worth $800 (he is not considered human, but a possession something to own, buy, and sell for cash) Inhuman- Jim is treated poorly by Miss Watson (having the boils on his back to prove it- pg. 9) Uneducated- Jim’s language and dialect shows that he is uneducated. Keeping slaves uneducated, keeps them under control.

Willie Lynch This speech was said to have been delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712.  Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners there.

Ignorance is bliss… "I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves."      -- Harriet Tubman

Jim: The Minstrel Show “I remember the first Negro musical show I ever saw…In our village of Hannibal we had not heard of it before, and it burst upon us as a stunning surprise” ~ Mark Twain

A minstrel song A mix of variety show, circus, and song and dance, minstrel shows were popular with white audiences from the 1840’s to the 1890’s. And though they were called “Negro” musical shows, the “blacks” were actually white men with their faces blackened. The blackface actors made no effort to depict African Americans as real people. Rather, they presented blacks as clownish and foolish, good only for a laugh.

Minstrel Characters

Minstrel Characters These three stock characters were among several that reappeared in minstrel shows throughout the nineteenth century. "Jim Crow" was the stereotypical carefree slave, "Mr. Tambo" a joyous musician, and "Zip Coon" a free black attempting to "put on airs" or rise above his station. The parody in minstrel shows was often savage.

The Point of Minstrel Shows Prior to the Civil War, the imagery and caricatures in the minstrel show acted as a counter argument to the abolitionist movement. Slaves were seen as content and carefree, with no desire, or capacity for freedom. “Yes—en I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn want no mo” (46).- Jim does not see that there is a problem with him being property.

Jim Crow The minstrel character of Jim Crow eventually became the inspiration and namesake of the Jim Crow Law that dominated the southern United States from 1880’s to the 1950’s “By the 1880’s, Jim Crow had become synonymous with a complex system of racial laws and customs in the south that enabled white social, legal, and political domination of blacks” ~Richard Wormster

Evolution of the Minstrel Show Minstrel shows were still performed until the 1950’s when African Americans began to seek civil rights and equal treatments. Cotton Watts was popular in the 1950’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p_jxA4p1Wk

Think about it… In Huck Finn, is Jim a minstrel figure (Jim Crow) or is he a fully developed character? Could he be both? Is there any harm or danger in Twain’s depiction of Jim? Does Twain’s portrayal of Jim benefit his cause for equality or does his affection of the minstrel show, and his satire have the opposite effect?