Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, runaway slave and companion to Huck, Jim, acts as if he knows really no information about anything. Yet, with Huck being the narrator, does Jim actually know as much as he leads on to know? Or does Jim actually hide his intelligence from Huck knowing that it could get him into trouble?
In several instances throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck would tell a story or give his opinion on something and it slightly seemed like Jim was hesitant or did not completely agree with Huck, and in some cases did not agree at all. One instance of this covered intelligence was after the Duke and King dooped the city and took all their money, which was in chapter 23. As soon as the two men fell asleep, Jim was suddenly alert of what was really going on. Jim soon asked “Don’t it ‘sprise you. de way dem kings carries on, Huck?” (Twain, 165). Huck denies this claim by Jim yet thinks to himself after their conversation what “was the use to tell Jim these warn’t real kings and dukes?” (Twain, 167).
Every time Jim would get into some kind of argument or questioning of what was actually going on, he would soon concede to whatever Huck had to say on the matter. This is strange for anybody now days, but then it was very ordinary. Slaves were not to hold any type of intelligence or education, which was exactly what Jim was prior to his escape. So what it really seems like is that Jim knows exactly what is going on, but has to hide his real thoughts on everything. The feelings for Jim must have been fear when he would start to question these type of things with Huck, for at any moment Huck could have him chained up and collect his reward. I just could not imagine what it would be like to live like that, no ability to think except to yourself, yet to just live in imaginary stupidity, as Jim had to live.
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