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Part 1, Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in James, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Speech, Performance, and Willful Ignorance
Identity, Narrative, and Agency
Racism, Dehumanization, and Hypocrisy
Innocence vs. Disillusionment
Family, Alliance, and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
The group finds a town, stowing their canoe and raft to some trees before setting off on foot. The King and the Duke force Jim and Huck to come along, sure they will bolt if left on their own. The King insists on pretending to be Jim’s owner. Jim takes note of their path so he can find the way back later, and spots rope scars on a tree branch. The town is nearly empty. The King stops a man, who reports that everyone is attending a revival, giving all their money to a preacher. The King offers to sell Jim to the man, to no avail. The con men head toward the edge of town, seeking the revival.
The King and the Duke easily claim authority over Huck and Jim, forcing them to tag along and pretend that Jim is their slave. Ominously, the King attempts to sell Jim to a passing citizen, destroying any illusion of loyalty to either him or Huck. The rope scars hint that the townsfolk are fond of hanging people they perceive as troublemakers, which does not bode well, given the grifters’ plans to make trouble.
Themes
Huck is furious the King tried to sell Jim. They come upon a small tent, where 300 people are listening to a preacher, who heals a woman with a physical disability. His accomplices collect the townsfolks’ money in baskets. The Duke, inspired, interrupts the preacher’s sermon with a speech about his own salvation. The Duke claims he used to be a pirate before coming to the Lord, and Jim and Huck are astounded to see the audience spellbound. Jim notes there are no other enslaved people in the tent. The Duke claims to have converted Jim, though he calls him Caesar. He asks for donations to help continue his good work of preaching the gospel to heathens.
The townsfolk’s willingness to give the preacher their money highlights how the desire to believe a lie is sometimes stronger than the desire for truth. Likewise, the Duke’s performed piety leaves the audience enraptured despite its falseness. The fact that no one in the audience is Black recalls Jim’s conviction that white people are more gullible, and—like the rope-scarred tree—implies that this town is not safe for people of color. The Duke references Jim as a former heathen, knowing he can rely on widespread racist ideology to support his claim.
Themes
The King sends Huck through the aisles to collect money from people. The King tries to entertain the crowd with some Shakespeare, but they are confused when the speech he recites is from a Jewish perspective. The preacher attempts to regain control of the crowd, but the Duke carries on about his crimes of piracy. When they see that Huck has collected plenty of money, the King and Duke try to make their exit, but they are caught in their own web of lies. The townsfolk demand their money back, and one man insists that the con men have earned themselves a hanging.
As with Jim’s performed slave identity, failing to convince their audience leaves the grifters’ lives in danger. The difference, of course, is that the King and the Duke’s trickery was born of malicious intent, where Jim’s deception is necessary for his survival in white society. In other words, for Jim, the stakes of performance are much higher, which is perhaps why he is better at staying in character than the con men. The townsfolk’s readiness to hang someone suggests they find it easy to dehumanize a person to satisfy their desire for violence.
Themes
