Love Revealed In Nancy Rawles My Jim

My Jim by Nancy Rawles is a book about love. Rawles writes her novel from the perspective of Sadie, a grandmother telling a story of lasting love to her granddaughter, Marianne. The book is separated by items including a knife, hat, bowl, tooth, pipe, tobacco, cross, quilt, and button. All of these items take on some form of importance to Sadie. Sadie’s story is one of love, loss, and family. The first item introduced to the reader in My Jim is the knife. Sadie explains the knife once belonged to her mother. Her mother stole the knife from her mistress when leaving Virginia going to Missouri. Sadie kept the knife close to her at all times, keeping it in her pocket. Sadie thinks of this knife as if it were her freedom. She felt safe and in control when she had her knife with her. Sadie felt the power of the knife when she was tending to Mas Stevens, she knew then that she could have killed Mas Stevens but she let him live giving her a feeling of being in control. Sadie felt safe with that knife and that if she ever gets into a “real tight bind” she still always has that knife. The second item in My Jim is the hat. The hat belongs

Marianne put pieces of the previous items into a quilt.

The quilt held significance for holding items representing all the different family members and ancestors in the family. Sadie tells Marianne then “you wrap yourself in it and remember how the old people love you.” Then Sadie tells Marianne that Marianne should take that quilt with here everywhere to feel the love of her ancestors because “that’s all you got in this world.” The most important item to Sadie is the knife. The knife was the only item that Sadie carried with her everywhere she went and was also, along with the bowl, the first item she received. The bowl and knife were the only two items she received from mom. The knife was the item that made Sadie feel like she was in any kind of control as well as feeling somewhat