of the “Africanist” presence, in that Jim serves as “[a] strongly urged, thoroughly serviceable, companionably ego-reinforcing, and pervasive” other who essentially becomes a gateway to allowing Huck to practice his white supremacy (8). The most revealing evidence of Huck’s inadvertent Whiteness occurs when both he and Jim are nearing Cairo, a spot where the Ohio River merges with the Mississippi. From there the two will be able to board steamboat upriver and journey into the “free” states, where Jim can become free.
This particular chapter begins with Jim pronouncing more clearly than ever before that freedom is his main goal, and Huck begins to understand that his own freedom is predicated upon his oppression of Jim. For the first time in the novel, Huck wavers between maintaining a semblance of humanity towards Jim and maintaining his Whiteness by taking measures to have Jim re-enslaved because he feels guilty for not maintaining the racial-hierarchy. The excitement of Jim’s impending freed...