The Role of Jim Imagine growing up with such an unloving and irresponsible father that a man that isn’t even related to you seems more like the dad that you never had. In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a boy known as Huck fakes his own death to escape his abusive father, and stumbles upon and runs away with a runaway slave by the name of Jim. As they travel together, attempting to make it to a free state, their reliance on each other grows. This bond forming, starts to grow into something more. Jim is something like a father figure if not more to Huck. One side of Jim that makes him seem very much like a father figure to Huck is that Jim seems to care for Huck, He shows genuine passion and respect for Huck.
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The first example is when Jim asks Huck a question. It goes as so: “Why, Huck, doan’ de French people talk de same way we does?” (Twain 71). When Huck and Jim go on talking about French people, Jim drops the question because he doesn’t understand the concept of another language. However, it shows the wisdom in Jim because it shows Jim’s willingness to expand what he knows, he is not afraid to ask and doesn’t pretend he knows what he is talking about. Another show of intelligence by Jim is his fortune telling secret. Near the beginning of the story, Huck asks Jim to tell a fortune with his giant hair ball which he claimed magical. The hairball wouldn’t talk, and Jim says “Sometimes it won’t talk without money” (Twain 16). What really shows intelligence or wisdom in this is that Jim is a slave. He has gotten no opportunity for education, yet he uses superstition in his advantage. Despite him swindling people like that, it still shows a great mental capacity inside Jim. The last argument for Jim’s wisdom is the lecture and argument about Solomon, and if he was wise. Jim pleads the question : “Yit dey say Sollermun de wises’ man dat ever live’. I doan take no stock in dat. Bekase why: Would a wise man want to live in de mids’ er sich a blim-blammin’ all de time?” (Twain 70). Essentially, Jim is thinking about how Solomon had so many wives, and thinking from real-life his experience, does not think Solomon would be wise to live in such a hectic environment. What shows his wisdom is that Jim seems to argue it seemingly off of his years of life and experience, and argues the point to teach Huck what he thinks. That is what shows Jim’s wisdom about what he said. Altogether, these points argue Jim’s wisdom, one of the hallmark traits of a parent, but what also reflects his role as a father figure are the moments when he passes his
The first example is when Jim asks Huck a question. It goes as so: “Why, Huck, doan’ de French people talk de same way we does?” (Twain 71). When Huck and Jim go on talking about French people, Jim drops the question because he doesn’t understand the concept of another language. However, it shows the wisdom in Jim because it shows Jim’s willingness to expand what he knows, he is not afraid to ask and doesn’t pretend he knows what he is talking about. Another show of intelligence by Jim is his fortune telling secret. Near the beginning of the story, Huck asks Jim to tell a fortune with his giant hair ball which he claimed magical. The hairball wouldn’t talk, and Jim says “Sometimes it won’t talk without money” (Twain 16). What really shows intelligence or wisdom in this is that Jim is a slave. He has gotten no opportunity for education, yet he uses superstition in his advantage. Despite him swindling people like that, it still shows a great mental capacity inside Jim. The last argument for Jim’s wisdom is the lecture and argument about Solomon, and if he was wise. Jim pleads the question : “Yit dey say Sollermun de wises’ man dat ever live’. I doan take no stock in dat. Bekase why: Would a wise man want to live in de mids’ er sich a blim-blammin’ all de time?” (Twain 70). Essentially, Jim is thinking about how Solomon had so many wives, and thinking from real-life his experience, does not think Solomon would be wise to live in such a hectic environment. What shows his wisdom is that Jim seems to argue it seemingly off of his years of life and experience, and argues the point to teach Huck what he thinks. That is what shows Jim’s wisdom about what he said. Altogether, these points argue Jim’s wisdom, one of the hallmark traits of a parent, but what also reflects his role as a father figure are the moments when he passes his