1. James, by Percival Everett, is contemporary a remake of Huckleberry Finn, where Jim would rather be called "James" instead of "n- Jim", and it follows Twain's plot only up to a point. Most relevantly, James is bought by Daniel Decatur Emmett, a historical figure who had a minstrel show. Emmett claims to be James' employer but he reflects that:
Slaves didn’t have the luxury of anger toward a white man, but I had felt anger. The anger was a good bad feeling. (...) He bought me, yes, but reportedly not to own me, though he expected something from me—my voice, he claimed. I wondered what he would do if I tried to leave. In my head I could hear him shouting, “But I paid two hundred dollars for you.” A man who refused to own slaves but was not opposed to others owning slaves was still a slaver, to my thinking. (p. 155, chap. 30)
How can this reflection be a commentary on the complicated plan of Jim's "release" from chapters 35 to 40.
2. Comment on the following disclosure dialogue of chapter 42, p. 328-329
3. Do you think there is any symbolism in Tom Sawyer using his wound bullet in a watch, and checking it regularly, as portrayed also in the picture of p. 333, chapter 43?
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