The dialect portions of the book would obviously have been
more dominant, so the reader would have had to adjust to that. And the perspective
would have been quite different. Jim's main concern is that he wants to be a free man,
this is completely different than Huck's desire to be "free" in the sense that he simply
wants to figure his own way out in the world and avoid the traps of both his father and
the widow as he works out his own path.
Jim on the other
hand is actually seeking freedom from bondage and the ability to live a life not
determined legally by an "owner." Regardless of the fact that his owner is relatively
humane, the idea of freedom is a very different one for him and would change the story
completely because of that different perspective.
Jim is
also portrayed as more superstitious than Huck, so that would be a more ever-present
facet of the story. Also, as the previous post says, a great deal more of the story
would be about hiding and the constant worry of being caught and returned in chains and
the possibility of being sold to a different owner and a completely different
life.
I agree with the above post as well that there is
certainly no reason to distrust Jim as a narrator, given that he is generally as honest
as Huck and as trustworthy. Both of them have a certain objective and bias in telling
their stories so it is different than an omniscient narrator, but I would consider his
voice as trustworthy as Huck's.
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