A discussion of the role Jim plays and author Mark Twain's intent when developing the character.
Written in 2002; 1,219 words; 1 sources; APA; $ 41.95
Paper Summary:
This paper describes Jim as a typical token black character. This token character is dense, good-natured, and foolish and always has a cliched response to a situation. The paper gives examples of this and suggests that Twain does not respect this character and what he represents.
From the Paper:
"There has been a myriad of discussion regarding the role of African-American's in popular films as token characters. The token black character is the dense, good-natured, foolish character that always has a clich?d response to a situation. Often times these characters are the subjects of ridiculous pranks, degraded for the shear amusement of the other characters. In Huckleberry Finn Jim plays the role of the token black character. He is made fun of by children. The elaborate escape plan concocted by Tom is the classic example of how the black token character is used for the enjoyment of others. In this scenario a grown black man is reduced to playing silly, dangerous games for the sole purpose of Tom's notion of what is proper behavior, as dictated to him by the many adventure stories he's read. Throughout the novel Jim is not respected, he is pitied, mocked and manipulated. The barrage of antics that Tom sets up as a necessity for Jim to complete at the end of the novel serves as the definitive proof of the overall racism of the novel.
The way Twain developed the character of Jim in the earlier scenes shows the progression of Jim's character as source of entertainment. The relationship between Huck and Jim at times bordered on genuine friendship. Huck's decision regarding turning Jim over to his owner wavered several times, leading the reader to believe that he was having a crisis of consciousness. Yet Huck repeatedly agreed to Tom's elaborate, scheme. For every ridiculous plan that Tom imagined, Huck was able to agree and be satisfied with the demeaning nature of what that plan entailed. Jim also succumbed to the childhood fantasy adventure that Tom proposed. Julius Lester's critique "Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" states that Jim's character is ?"childlike"in attitude and character?? (343). Lester's argument is based on his belief that Twain didn?t take slavery seriously, whereas I believe that Twain did not take slavery seriously because he did not take black people seriously."
We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.
This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library.Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Essays on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Research papers on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Student papers on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Book reports on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Dissertation on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Thesis on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Summary of paper on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'", Articles written on "The Token Black Character in 'Huckleberry Finn'".
Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on