There certainly is a VAST difference between saying "The" nigger Jim and
"Nigger Jim." I would think most people with an education as English
scholars would recognize that difference.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Hal Bush
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 2:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "nigger Jim" corrected text

On 3/19/04 1:18 PM, "Fred Kaplan" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The opening paragraph of "Huck Finn and Tom =
> Sawyer among the Indians" includes the sentence, "Me and Tom Sawyer and =
> the nigger Jim, that used to belong to old Miss Watson, was away down in =
> Arkansas at Tom's aunt Sally's and uncle Silas's."

LISTERS:

I do not think that this quote is calling Jim "Nigger Jim" -- it sounds to
me like he is just noting the race of Jim.  My sense is that Twain never
does refer to Jim as "Nigger Jim," in the exact sense of a proper name or
proper noun.  Please note that Twain does not write ""Me and Tom Sawyer
and Nigger Jim" -- isn't the "the" crucial to this??

Ps-- I had thought that the wide currency of the naming of Jim as "Nigger
Jim" was due to Hemingway, rather than his "first biographer" as Kaplan
states -- but perhaps I am mistaken??



Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Dept. of English, Saint Louis University
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)


Quote of the moment:

 "How does it feel
To be on your own?"

--Bob Dylan