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Part 3, Chapter 5
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
Jim dreams of a white boy speaking to him in French about cultivating a garden. On second glance, he realizes the speaker is a woman who is not white. She mocks his hope to find his family, calling it a ruse. The woman also tells Jim no one wants him to be free because “people all over the world are making money off your scarred black hide.” Her name is Cunégonde, a character from Voltaire’s Candide (1759). Jim remarks that she still comes back at the end of the story, but Cunégonde is unimpressed.
Cunégonde is the love interest from Voltaire’s 1759 novel Candide; she represents an unattainable ideal. Since her discussion with Jim revolves around his enslavement and struggle for liberation, her presence suggests that his quest and hope for freedom is futile. Jim’s observation that she returns at the end of Voltaire’s novel (diminished and disappointing) suggests he has not given up hope, even if the freedom he finds is less than he desires.
Themes
When Jim wakes, Katie is telling him to hide. The overseer—Hopkins—enters the house. Cotton is out, but Hopkins has come for Katie. He rapes her while Jim watches, knowing that retaliating will make no difference in this moment, that Katie will still be constantly in danger. Instead, he befriends his anger, hoping to use it one day. Later, Jim leaves the house without telling anyone. He crosses the water to Jackson Island, where Huck will know to look for him. He steals some fish and makes a fire in their old cave. His pencil is still in his pocket.
Katie’s rape is yet another example of racist dehumanization—Hopkins does not see her as a human being, so assaulting her is not problematic in his eyes. The futility of rescuing Katie without incurring further punishment for her and himself amplifies Jim’s rage, though he is learning to save it for later use. He leaves the camp in order to protect the others from the consequences of his presence. Even alone, Jim clings to his pencil as the symbol of his hope.
Themes
