Character Inspiration
The character may have been modeled after one or more slaves, or on the "shrewd, wise, polite, always good-natured ..." formerly enslaved African-American George Griffin, whom Twain employed as a butler, starting around 1879, and treated as a confidant.
The author, Samuel Clemens, grew up in the presence of his parents' and other Hannibal, Missourians' slaves and listened to their stories; an uncle, too, was a slave owner.
Read more about this topic: Jim (Huckleberry Finn)
Famous quotes containing the words character and/or inspiration:
“What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)