Huckleberry Finn: Why Jim Is Mark Twain's Most Meaningful Character

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is widely considered the first "Great American Novel," and yet, since its first publication in 1885, the book has been a subject of intense controversy. In this video essay, I explore how close and thoughtful reading of Huck Finn, especially the character of Jim, shows us that Twain intended for his novel to help us become better people. Four years later, Percival Everett's novel, 'James', brilliantly validated the thesis of this video. 0:00 Introduction 1:29 Trashy and Vicious 3:55 Twain, Dialect, and the N Word 4:47 Jim's Masks 7:10 The Fog Episode 9:22 Jim's Fatherly Instincts 11:02 A Regressive Ending? 13:38 Social Invisibility and Injustice 14:28 Twain's Legacy 15:43 Conclusion Twitter:   / thought__word   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thought-Word... Thank you for watching Thought & Word! I hope you come back for future episodes. Like this video and subscribe to this channel to make doing so easier. Film Credits: The Peanut Butter Falcon. Directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, performanc by Shia LaBeouf, Armory Films, 2019. Newsy. “In The Loop: Gen Z’s Protest Power, Defunding The Police & Deforestation” Online video clip. Newsy. E.W. Scripps, 8 Jun 2020. Sources: Bollinger, Laurel. "Say It, Jim: The Morality of Connection in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." College Literature 29.1 (2002): 32-5 Eutsey, Dwayne. "An Unlikely Patron of Civil Rights Jurisprudence." Center for Mark Twain Studies, 12 Feb. 2018. Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. Was Huck Black?: Mark Twain and African American Voices. New York, Oxford University Press, 1993. Haven, Cynthia. "'A chill went through me': How a Twain scholar discovered a long-lost letter on racism." The Book Haven, Stanford University, 27 Jan. Smith, Cassander L. "'Nigger' or 'Slave': Why Labels Matter for Jim (and Twain) in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 50, no. 2, Spring 2014, pp. 182–206. "Teaching the Negro." The New York Times [New York City], 19 Mar. 1885, p. 4. "Trashy and Vicious." The New York Times [New York City], 19 Mar. 1885, p. 4. Twain, Mark, and Thomas Cooley. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Contexts and Sources, Criticism. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 1999. Print. #HuckleberryFinn #MarkTwain #PeanutButterFalcon