Middle School Classroom Chronicle

Eighth graders engaged in a novel study of James by Percival Everett, a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of Jim. This study culminated in a character evolution poster project that visually and analytically tracks the protagonist’s journey from "Jim,” the persona he adopts for survival, to James, his true, intellectual, and literate self.

This exercise supports critical literary analysis, historical contextualization, and the study of intellectual resistance. By charting James’s transition, students explored how he utilizes codeswitching as a strategic mask while using reading and philosophy as private tools of liberation. This project served as an exploration of narrative agency, allowing students to see how James transforms literacy into a revolutionary act of freedom, building a framework for understanding how the pursuit of knowledge serves as the ultimate form of resistance against oppression.