(Many thanks to this month's guest scribe, Jocey Hale, for the following discussion summary).
We gathered at Blanche’s home with Linda, Steve, Margy, Louis, Shirley, Jocey, and Chris with the bonus of her friend Pam.
After admiring Blanche’s award-winning garden, we enjoyed chicken salad and cornbread (as a nod to this month’s book) as we sat around her beautifully set dining room table. We were so eager to discuss James by Percival Everett that we jumped into “book club” before finishing lunch (but not before we discovered that Shirley has a sweet spot for a talented martini-shaking bartender at Spoon and Stable. We like your style, Shirley!)
Our book discussion started by comparing the various versions of Huck Finn we had pulled from our bookcases – including Steve’s 45-cent paperback to Jocey’s hardback from Glenn inscribed to him by his mother. We were appalled to see many had racist trope illustrations. Some of us had read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for school and others had not.
All enjoyed reading Huck Finn along with James and we all employed different methods for approaching the duel read – Huck first, James first or both together, chapter by chapter. Chris started with Huck Finn. Steve read them together. Lois read Huck and reread James. Steve found it to be an extraordinary reading experience.
The conversation jumped between the two books so these notes will be intertwined.
+ Margy discovered the “N word” was used 219 times in Huck Finn. Steve wondered if Mark Twain attempted to be extreme in the book to make his point about racism.
+ Chris and Pam were interested in how characters in Huck Finn and James would know about the Civil War. For the people at that time who did not travel and did not have access to reliable news, how would they trust the information they were hearing? It also helped give context to what we’ve learned about Juneteenth.
+ Blanche lived in Selma from 1966 through 1969 when her husband Thane was training pilots. It felt to her like they were still living in a slavery framework. “It was awful to witness the way Black people were treated.” Lois is currently reading An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which she found to be an interesting companion piece and more context to other times our country was torn apart.
+ Percival Everett said in an interview “Twain was not misinformed, but uninformed.” The dialect was incredible. In Huckleberry Finn, Linda wondered how intentional Twain was at the ending. The boys did ridiculous things before freeing Jim and the novel presented at the end that “Jim was pleased to death…” Was this irony by Twain? Twain portrays Jim as smarter than Huck yet allowed only Huck the opportunity to learn and grow as a character. Jim was a character there to offer an opportunity for Huck’s moral grown but not for his own personhood.
+ A major theme in James is the importance of reading and language. James reflects on the power of fiction, and the novel is a love letter to the ability and power of reading and writing. “… At that moment, I realized it (reading) was a completely private affair, and completely free, and therefore completely subversive.” Shirley noted that women are currently facing the lack of access to reading in many parts of the world.
+ We wondered why, in James, he had Huck as the son. How did that change the moral choices in the books? Did that change the friendship between the two? In Huckleberry Finn, Huck has a moral debate about sin. In James, the debate is between Huck being white or Black, and which he would he choose to be.
+ Throughout James, we noted the theme of passing. With the ministerial show, passing was portrayed as Shakespearean -- the concept of passing Black dressed as white dressed as Black.
+ Why is Huckleberry Finn more of a classic than The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? Huck Finn grapples with more moral questions rather than just being a book about the hijinks of young lads. And yet, we wondered if Huckleberry Finn should continue to be highlighted as essential literature. Some thought it was a masterpiece, others were bored by it.
+ We wondered why James diverged so much from Huckleberry Finn.
+ A quote we liked: “If words can have meaning, then life can have meaning, then I can have meaning.” George sacrificed himself for writing and likely knew what he was doing.
+ We worried that someone would find the pencil.
+ Linda noted in James that white folks were described in these ways:
- It pays to give white folks what they want
- White folks expect us to sound a certain way
- They need to be superior
- White folks like to buy stuff
- White folks look alike
- White folks need to laugh at Black folk
- White folks like to feel guilty
- White folks like thinking we (Black people) are stupid
- It always made life easier when white folk could laugh at slaves
+ James’ growing anger is an important theme. He begins to observe his own anger and then decides it is okay. Jumping to current day, Black people now are not allowed to be angry.
+ The hair-touching scene was a way to talk about the common complaint of white people touching Black hair.
+ We marveled at Twain’s descriptive language of storms and the Mississippi. His writing displays rhythm and musicality.
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| The assembled masses |
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| Our gracious hostess with her family vineyard's Chardonnay. |
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| The happy result of that delicious wine. |
What We Are Reading Next
Big in Sweden by Sally Franson
1 pm at Steve's house
Dessert will be served.
