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Part 1, Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in James, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Speech, Performance, and Willful Ignorance
Identity, Narrative, and Agency
Racism, Dehumanization, and Hypocrisy
Innocence vs. Disillusionment
Family, Alliance, and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
The King and the Duke emerge from the saloon and take Huck and Jim to the town’s livery. There, they meet Easter, a Black blacksmith. He acquiesces to the con men’s request and chains Jim to a post so he cannot run away. The King and the Duke leave. Huck hates them for their treatment of Jim. Jim assures Easter that Huck is on his side, and the blacksmith produces another key and frees Jim so he can sleep more comfortably, promising to lock them up again in the morning. Huck thanks Easter.
Chaining Jim up at the livery emphasizes that the Duke and the King think of him as livestock. Huck’s hatred of the men he once admired shows that he is loyal to Jim despite their differences. Easter’s actions demonstrate his solidarity with Jim as a fellow enslaved Black man.
Themes
When Huck is asleep, Easter drops the performed slave dialect and asks Jim what the boy is to him. Jim calls Huck his friend. Easter looks closely and asks if Huck is white, claiming he sees “a lot of things in that face.” Jim cuts him off, asking for water. Easter remarks that white folks “don’t see like we do” before heading to bed. Huck speaks up, having been secretly awake this whole time. He thinks Jim doesn’t trust him, because of the way he changes his speech around him. Jim tells Huck he trusts him with his life. Huck says he understands why Jim talks the way he does. Jim calls him a smart boy.
The fact that slave talk is so widespread suggests that it is effective as coded communication between enslaved people. Easter questions Huck’s white identity and seems to imply there is more between the boy and Jim than is obvious at surface level. Jim’s quick change of subjects indicates he is uncomfortable with the other man’s line of questioning. The idea that white people don’t see everything Black people do further implies a kind of pervasive willful ignorance. While Huck initially views Jim’s speech alterations as a kind of betrayal, he claims to understand his reasoning. Even though Huck does not elaborate, Jim senses the boy is remarkably perceptive in comparison to the aforementioned unaware white folks.
Themes
