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Part 1, Chapter 6
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
Jim’s condition improves after a few days, and he and Huck catch a rabbit. Worried about Sadie and Lizzie, Jim asks Huck to return to town and check on them, disguised as a girl using clothes they took from the floating house. Huck agrees and paddles his canoe back to the mainland. Alone, Jim fashions a pen from a stick and writes his first words using the paper and ink he took from the house. He writes that he is called Jim but has yet to choose a name for himself. He refuses to let his enslavement define him, determined to embrace his own life’s meaning by writing it himself.
Jim’s concern for his family reminds the reader that the stakes of running away are higher for him than they are for Huck, who will not be killed if he is found and who has no family to bear punishment in his place. Jim is eager to experiment with writing for the first time, showing that he views the act as a way to reclaim some of his stolen agency. His first words reject the idea that his enslaved status defines his identity, and they illustrate a deep longing for self-determination.
Themes
