Heretical Fictions is an excellent book, but I think anyone trying to 
make the case that Jim was motivated by self-interest not to tell Huck 
about his father's death, must also make the case that Jim didn't think 
he was smart enough to escape slavery without a white child's help. I 
think that questioning Jim's motives is an insult to Jim's character; he 
has more integrity than most of the white characters in the story. Would 
Jim--the paternal figure who delivers that eloquent sermonette on 
friendship--treat the now wholly orphaned Huck that way?

I would suggest that anyone who has read Huck Finn or Life on the 
Mississippi also read Thomas Buchanan's Black Life on the Mississippi 
(2004) for some surprising insights (and even as a counterpoint) into, 
well, black life on the Mississippi.

Kevin
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------ Original Message ------
From: "Scott Holmes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 3/23/2023 12:37:07 PM
Subject: Why Jim didn't tell Huck about Pap

>Still reading notes from "Heretical Fictions", I note the idea that Jim did not tell Huck about the dead body being Pap as because Jim did not want Huck to abandon him in his quest to escape slavery.  I had always had the impression that his motivation was to avoid telling Huck the "bad" news.  Thinking about it, now, I suppose I have been a bit naive.
>
>-- /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/