"King Sollermun"

Along with many other classmates, I too believe that Solomon represents the government. But instead of just an ordinary government, I want to make the point that Solomon represents a racist, white government that believes it holds the authority over people. Mom #1, or the "real" mother, represents the enslaved black people and Mom #2, or the "fake" mother, represents the racist white people in both the antebellum and postbellum societies of Huck's and Twain's days. Lastly, the baby represents the equality of all human beings and the representation of an individual. When the fake mom took the baby away, Jim saw that as the white racists taking his rights away without even taking a second glance. He, being a part of Mom #1, felt that his equality and the rights that he deserved were being stolen from him and being forcefully held in the authority of Mom #2, and that's how his life was all the time - controlled, bought, and sold by white slaveholders. He said, "Doan' talk to me 'bout Sollermun, Huck, I knows him by de back" (Twain 78). He says he knows Solomon because he deals with this situation everyday. What makes Jim upset is the fact that he doesn't get his rights and believes he never will. "The King Sollermun episode reveals Twain's perception that two decades after the Civil War 'liberty and justice for all' were still ... 'a fiction of law and custom'" (Sloan 5). Twain makes this point because as he writes in a postbellum era, he sees that even though the Civil War was fought and the black slaves were technically "free", the former slaves were still not considered as full humans to the white racists. Mom #2, or the white people, considered the baby as a worthless piece of junk that had no direct relevance to them. That's why they don't care whether it's divided in two pieces or a million pieces. This can be seen in the Constitution where it implies that slaves be considered 3/5 of a person when voting. Jim compares the child to half a dollar bill and he argues, "...what's de use er dat half a bill? - can't buy noth'n wid it. En what use is a half a chile? I wouldn' give a dern for a million un um" (Twain 77). He refers to himself that what's the point of not being given his full representation; society sees him and his people as worthless.

Sloan states, "Neither Jim nor Huck really understands the King Solomon passage..." (Sloan 4). I agree. Both Huck and Jim don't understand each other and it's clearly stated in the text; Huck says, "you've [Jim] clean missed the point - blame it, you've missed it a thousand mile" (Twain 78) and Jim says, "Who? Me? Go 'long. Doan' talk to me 'bout yo' pints. I reck'n I knows sense when I sees it" (Twain 78). I think that Huck and Jim only understand the part of the Solomon passage that they've been raised to understand. Huck grew up in a white community full of slaveholders who degraded the humanity of black people. Thus, he only understands the fact that Solomon was wise because he was brought up as a "whole" person and was never considered less than a full person, although considered on the lower half of the social class. Jim argues, "En mine you, de real pint is down furder - it's down deeper" (Twain 78). Jim is hurt by the fact that Solomon would even think about cutting the child in half because he's always been raised in an environment where they don't consider him a whole person. Sloan also states, "... Jim vigorously defends himself when Huck accuses him of failing to understand King Solomon's wisdom" (Sloan 4) which supports my claim. All in all, Twain's purpose was "an interpretive key to a modern key ... about the social and psychological enslavement of blacks twenty years after the Civil War" (Sloan 2). By including this parody of misunderstanding between Jim and Huck, Twain was able to show readers of his day that although the enslavement of blacks was technically abolished, the psychological imprisonment was still true, and it is wrong, also supporting the fact that this book is an anti-racist novel. :)