{"product_id":"my-jim-isbn-9781400054015","title":"My Jim","description":"\u003cb\u003eA spare and beautiful meditation on love and longing, \u003ci\u003eMy Jim \u003c\/i\u003eholds an unrelenting gaze on the life and world of Sadie, the wife of Jim from Mark Twain’s \u003ci\u003eAdventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Rawles covers territory Twain did not. . . . As heart-wrenching a personal history as any recorded in American literature.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in the great literary tradition of novels like \u003ci\u003eSula\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMy Jim\u003c\/i\u003e considers the historically important question \u003ci\u003eWhat happened to those enslaved persons who didn’t escape?\u003c\/i\u003e by investigating the fictional world of Sadie Watson, a formerly enslaved woman. In her old age, she narrates a tale pieced together from her life born in slavery as a means to help her granddaughter decide on whether to marry her love and move away. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Sadie tells her granddaughter her love story, she paints a beautiful and complex portrait of her Jim—a gifted seer, a man of wit and charisma. When faced with the prospect of being sold, Jim escapes down the Mississippi with a white boy named Huck Finn. Reviled as a witch, punished for Jim’s escape, and convinced he has died, Sadie must rely on her own will, the objects she has carried from her past, and her love for Jim to animate her life and see her through.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA nuanced critique of the great American novel that mirrors the true story of countless enslaved women, \u003ci\u003eMy Jim\u003c\/i\u003e is a haunting and inspiring story about inheritance, longing, and the liberating power of Black love in a world that did everything to extinguish it.“Here, finally, is the Jim we can only glimpse between hijinks and humiliations in \u003ci\u003eHuck Finn\u003c\/i\u003e—a man who’s clever and tender, romantic and tragic. And there’s just no escaping his wife’s voice. I read some chapters without blinking.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A wonderful first-person narrative . . . both a love story and a chronicle of a brutal time in American history.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMy Jim\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling, eloquently written novel that can stand on its own merits beside the great works that inspired it.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Rawles’s affecting spin-off of Twain’s classic gives the resilient Sadie Watson a harrowing story and a powerful voice to tell it.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eNancy Rawles\u003c\/b\u003e is an award-winning novelist and playwright. Her novel\u003ci\u003e Love Like Gumbo\u003c\/i\u003e was the recipient of the American Book Award. She lives in Seattle.\u003cb\u003eChapter 1: Jar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChas Freeman ask me to marry him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTake me by the hand. Take me in his arms. Lift me on his horse and jump up right behind me. Show me a letter say he got duty with the Ninth Cavalry at Fort Robinson Nebraska. Got to ride out there and chase down them savage whites and Indians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI real happy for Chas. He so proud. But I dont wants to go to Nebraska and I tells him so. Cloud come over his face and he get real quiet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou think on it he say. Me I cant sharecrops no more. I aint born a slave and I aint gonna live like one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho gonna keep the land I says. But he aint got no answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI comes back for you Sunday after next he say. You come if you want me. You the one I wants. Chas always sure bout everything. Me I aint so sure and I cries when he leave me at Nanna Sadies cabin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanna in there shucking corn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy you all the way crying she want to know. You ever seen a bird crying. Here you sitting free as a bird and crying like a beatdown dog. What your name she say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou know my name I tells her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI knows it. You the one forget. She look at me real hard cause she mad now. What your name she say again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarianne. I can hardly answers. Her asking make me weep.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarianne what. She sound like a preacher on Judgment Day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarianne Libre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou Free Marianne. Got a freeman asking for your hand. What you gonna say gal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI cant says nothing so I looks down at the floor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat year we in she want to know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe never know the year. She say it aint important. But she know I counts the year and she make me tell her when she mad. Nanna reckon I reads and writes and figures but I aint gots no more sense than a lightning bug.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1884. I says it to my feet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen you born gal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1868.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow old you now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSixteen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat you waiting for then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI aint crying no more but I still cant finds my words. I hates to think bout leaving my nanna. She cant hardly see but she see my fear.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDont worry bout me she say. Your uncles gonna come round and help me with my crop. Dont bother yourself bout me none. My spirits and my songs surrounding me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe chewing on her pipe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut how I knows Chas the one I asks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe sing dont he she say. Goodlooking fella and strong. Want something for hisself. Never get with nobody dont want nothing for hisself. He sing and he know how to wear a hat. I likes a man know how to wear a hat. I bets he wearing that hat when he ask you for your hand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe light her pipe looking at me out the corner of her eye. She see with that corner. If slaves can love you can love she say. Chas love you and he want you to marry him. I gives you two my blessing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI aint sure I loves Chas Freeman. He almost a man but I aint through being a child.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanna take a long smoke. She blow heavy on her pipe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou scared to love cause you scared to lose. You want to stay here forever. Washing white folks dirty linen. Slopping they hogs. Nursing they children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFar as I can sees it aint so different at Fort Robinson I says. After doing all them soldiers laundry I still gots to nurse my children and slop my own hogs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI sees you still got that tongue in your mouth Nanna say. You marry you got to watch that tongue. She put down her pipe and put down the corn. She take my hand like when I was little. She pat me on the hand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDont make me go Nanna. I throws my arms round her neck. We stands that way a long time till the light start to leave. We aint gots no candle and not one Liberty nickel. No oil for the lamp or Indian head penny. It summer in Shreveport and plenty hot. Moon sitting low in the sky and two of us thinking bout never seeing each other no more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter awhile I feels my nanna crying. Aint never knows her to cry. Not even when Papa Duban die last winter. His heart fail and we finds him on the floor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong time ago I wants to stay she say. I wants to stay and they aint let me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe sobbing a low moan. I tries to comfort her but she old. I cant says how old now. I helps you make the crop I says. I aint wants to leave you Nanna. They gonna take our horse and plow and chickens cause Papa Duban done sign the paper. Thats why you crying aint it Nanna.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe shake her head. Papa Duban good to me all his days she say. She move away from me. Aint love make you lose everything. Life just mean thats all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe talking real soft now. I sees her eyes looking far away. I aint cries for Papa Duban she say. I cries thinking bout how they force me to leave my husband. How they tear my children from me. All them years ago. I wants to stay and they aint let me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat husband I says. What children. I never hears you call they names.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy Jim she whisper. My Lizbeth. My Jonnie. Been years since I calls they names.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt so hot the door standing open. Spirits come in and fill the room with the cool of they loneliness. First Nanna Sadie rile. Then she peaceful. Singing her trance song. Rocking side to side. Her hands waving round her head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe back in slavery days. Back fore the war. Some old people talk bout them times but they grandchildren aint want to hear it. My nanna never talk bout her captive time. I scared to trouble her bout it. She mad at me for bringing back the shame of them days. But I almost a woman and I wants to know my nannas heart. Maybe its cause she thinking I gonna leave that Nanna Sadie decide to talk. Maybe she just want to tell somebody.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe fall to the floor. I runs and gets her some water and holds the cup to her mouth. Then I takes my knife and slices a peach. I puts it under her nose and lets it rest on her lips. I calls her back to this suffering world so the spirits aint carry her off. She look at me like she seeing me for the first time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI helps her to sit and I sits down at her feet. She rest her hand on my head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat you recall of your mama she ask.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI picks up her pipe and takes a smoke. I draws the tobacco in deep so my throat and chest burn with it. When I talks bout my mama my throat and chest all the way burn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer feet in shoes I says. When she leave she got her feet in shoes walking away from me. I still hears the sound of her feet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanna Sadie look tired. How long it been she say. How many years since she gone away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow old was you then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYour mama bout that same size when them Union troops come through New Roads. All the children jump and shout. Your mama follow along skipping and dancing. And some years later when them Union soldiers run out of Louisiana she follow them again. Leave you with me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe smell like leather and dye I says. She work for the saddlemaker and he give her a old pair of shoes. One day she just walk off in them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYour mama born walking. You late walking Marianne Libre. Still scared to touch ground. Like the mud gonna swallow you up. It aint swallow you yet. But it hold you firm to this place. Time for you to go and your feet dont want to move. Better get you some walking shoes gal. Stop all your weeping and go on with your soldier boy. Life bound to be better in the territories. Cant be no worse. When he coming back for you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSay he coming Sunday after next.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow many days from now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFifteen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou some good at counting aint you. Lets see what else you can do. We gonna sew you a memory quilt. Cant lets you go off to no prairie less you got your family with you. They say aint nothing like that cold wind coming off the prairie.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the heat of the day when its too hot to move we takes to sewing the quilt. I brings Nanna pieces from the gal who sew for the white seamstress. I gathers scraps from the families I takes in washing for. They say Mary you get us another gal if you running off.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGonna back this quilt with something heavy Nanna say. Take Papa Dubans old work clothes and your mamas old apron. Gonna put something of myself in there too. Long as you got something of love to hold onto you know you a person of worth. Only folks really own theyselves the ones know what they worth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGo get my jar she say. I gots some things I wants toshow you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey the things she keep inside a canning jar on a shelf above the stove. All these years I never knows why they there. Just a few small things you can hold in one hand. I feels them with my fingers. Knife so small. Piece of felt. Bottom of a clay bowl. Childs tooth. Shiny gold button. Corn pipe thick with tar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI carries them things from a long time ago she say. From up the Mississippi I brings them. How old I be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI dont know Nanna Sadie. Old as Grant I spects.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe gots to pray for the General she say. I be some sad when he go. You children cant never know what he mean to us old ones. I a grown woman fore I believes theys a white man want me to be free.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor more than a week Nanna tell me what grown folks scared to talk bout. Sometime her voice tremble sometime it shout. I listens to all she say. When she tell it in a small voice I leans close to hear. We cuts the squares and pieces our stories. I writes down everything she say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd at the end of the telling I knows what to do.20th Anniversary Edition; American Book Award-winning author of Love Like Gumbo","brand":"One World","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300720791781,"sku":"NP9781400054015","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781400054015.jpg?v=1767733308","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/my-jim-isbn-9781400054015","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}