James The Notebook of Daniel Decatur Emmett–Part One, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The Notebook of Daniel Decatur Emmett

The novel opens with a series of songs printed in a handwritten font, giving the reader a glimpse into the contents of Daniel Decatur Emmett’s notebook. The real-life Dan Emmett is known for having founded the Virginia Minstrels, considered the first minstrel troupe. They are credited with popularizing minstrel shows as a form of entertainment in the 1840s. The poems and songs would have been performed by white men in blackface depicting stereotypical characterizations of African Americans, utilizing a dialect Emmett and his white contemporaries associated with them.

Part One, Chapter 1

Jim, an enslaved Black man living in Hannibal, Missouri, waits outside by the kitchen door. Just then, he notices two local boys, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, hiding in the tall grasses under the moonlight. He pretends that he is unaware of them and declares that he is going to rest on the porch. The boys sneak up on him, and Tom attempts to convince Huck that Jim will sleep through their prank. Although Huck expresses reservations, Tom presses on, sneaking into Miss Watson’s kitchen to borrow some candles and hanging Jim’s hat up on a nail. The boys run away, and Miss Watson, the woman who has enslaved Jim, emerges to find Jim waiting for her. After inquiring about whether or not anyone had been in her kitchen, she hands him a loaf of cornbread, and he departs.

Jim brings the cornbread home and shares it with his wife, Sadie, and his daughter, Lizzie. Despite the fact that Miss Watson used Sadie’s recipe to make it, the family agrees that the cornbread is terrible. Jim goes outside and joins his friends around the fire, and they are telling stories when he hears Huck and Tom giggling from behind a bush. Performing for the boys’ sake, Jim alters his way of speaking, affecting a stereotypical slave dialect, and dramatically begins recounting the tale of how his hat mysteriously moved from his head. He ultimately gets the boys to leave by proclaiming that burning the bushes will keep witches and devils away. The next morning, Huck returns and confesses to Jim that he is not always comfortable with Tom’s schemes or Miss Watson’s religious teachings. Jim attempts to comfort him, and Huck declares that Jim is his friend. Once Huck leaves, Miss Watson reveals that Huck’s father, a drunk, has returned to town and asks Jim to keep an eye on the boy.

Part One, Chapter 2

Later that evening, Jim gathers Lizzie and six other children to give them a lesson in code-switching—that is, speaking in a way that upholds whites’ assumptions about slaves. He tells them to never instigate conversation or be direct about any given topic, and they take these lessons to heart. The next day, Jim comes across Huck while moving chicken feed at Widow Douglas’s house. Huck asks Jim about praying and believing in God, expressing doubt about both. After Jim sends him on his way, Old Luke, also enslaved and working for Miss Watson, comes over to tell him about the brutal murder of a slave in St. Louis. A white man interrupts their conversation, forcing them to adopt a more simplistic way of speaking.

Part One, Chapter 3

An unexpected springtime snow causes Miss Watson to ask Jim for as much wood as he can chop. As he works, he stashes some logs underneath the porch to take back to the slave quarters at night. Jim acknowledges this as stealing, but he wants to help the older slaves make it through the cold nights. Huck appears and asks Jim about a certain set of footprints that he noticed in the snow, identifiable by a cross in the heel. He fearfully suspects that his abusive father has returned, but Jim tries to comfort him by pretending that his bundle of hair from a mule’s tail is magical. Despite his best attempts to reassure him that he will be okay, Jim privately laments the struggles that he knows Huck will face.

Part One, Chapter 4

Jim continues to steal wood from Miss Watson as the cold weather persists, and he worries that someone will notice. Unfortunately, his worst nightmare comes to life when Sadie reveals to him that she overheard Miss Watson tell Judge Thatcher that she was going to sell Jim to a man in New Orleans. Despite the risks, this news drives Jim to run away. He swims across the river to Jackson Island during the night, does his best to protect himself from the freezing temperatures, and falls asleep. The next morning, Jim hears a voice among the trees and discovers that it belongs to Huck. He has fled to the island after faking his own death, hoping to escape the cruelty of his father. Jim fears that the authorities will blame him for Huck’s death should he be found, so he emphasizes the importance of staying out of sight. He and Huck watch as a boat passes by, clearly searching for the boy’s missing body.

Next section Part One, Chapters 5–8