Review(s): Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and James by Percival Everett

Although I know it is unusual to review two books at once, I read these one after the other and found many common themes between them. I reflected on the narratives and the themes together and so it felt more natural for me to review them together. 

Underground Railroad is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel which reimagines the historical Underground Railroad as a literal underground train system used by enslaved people to escape bondage in the American South. It follows the plight of Cora, a young woman fleeing a Georgia plantation, as she travels from state to state, encountering different, often horrifying manifestations of racism and oppression. It's essentially a blend of historical fiction and speculative fiction - or historical fiction with speculative elements. It certainly feels far more historical than anything in the way that it describes the brutality of the lives of enslavement that so many people were subjected to.  

James is a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but this time told from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huckleberry on his journey. Similarly to Underground Railroad, James is a piece of historical fiction with speculative element. Everett imagines that enslaved people only speak in the stereotyped dialect when white people are listening. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that this use of language by the enslaved is a strategic performance rather than a reflection of their reality. What I took from this is that Everett was trying to reclaim the voice of the enslaved by challenging the historical depiction of enslaved people as ignorant or unintelligent. It acknowledges that white cultures (whether in the past or present) often see and hear what they expect to see and hear.

These novels have so much in common. From a literary perspective, they are both about centreing the perspective and experiences of black characters who were enslaved and voiceless, and showing them as complex and autonomous people. Of course, they both touch on violence and systemic oppression by white culture, something that continues into the present day in its evolving forms. They both deal with how their characters fight their dehumanisation through whatever acts of resistance that are available to them. 

In the end though, I think what was most emotional for me was how each book explores freedom as an illusion for those escaping slavery. Both Jim and Cora go on their own unique journeys to freedom, but in the end, this doesn't result in their liberation. They are still encumbered by loss, racism and violence even as they reach 'freedom'. It's sad and emotional, but what I believe is an authentic representation of 'freedom' would really have meant.