With the bucket in his hand this picture of Jim echoes the
second picture of the "Jim" in Tom Sawyer, though
Kemble also emphasizes that this different Jim is a grown
man, not a "small colored boy." The look on Jim's face here
is the look he wears in just about every one of Kemble's
representations of him. I'd describe it as
"clownish."The representation of Jim in MT's text is much more ambiguous. He is running for his freedom from slavery. He tells Huck that while "Ole missus--dat's Miss Watson--she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough," he decided to light out when he heard her talking about breaking her promise not to sell him down the river (Chapter 8). He feels the pain of being separated from his wife and children, and plans to buy them or arrange their escape as soon as he himself is free (Chapters 16 & 23). On the other hand, when after Tom's "Evasion" Huck tells him "Now, old Jim, you're a free man again, and I bet you won't ever be a slave no more," his only response is to praise the boys' scheme for his escape: "En a mighty good job it wuz, too, Huck. It 'uz planned beautiful, en it 'uz done beautiful . . ."
The Barrett Collection, UVA PS1305 .A1 1885b