James: Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Another enslaved man (Brock) discovers Jim and Norman in the engine room and tries to get them to leave. Norman pretends again to be Jim’s owner and tells Brock to mind his own business. Jim is not sure they can trust the man, even though he is enslaved. Brock returns to again insist that they leave the engine room, or else he will get into trouble. Norman asks where the passenger trunks are kept so he can change out of his wet clothes and investigate the upper decks as a white man. Brock tells them “Mistuh Corey” will throw him in the fire if they are caught, but another reprimand from Norman sends him away.

Norman finds dry clothes in one of the trunks and heads to the upper decks to investigate. Brock tells Jim to help shovel coal into the engine, since he refuses to leave. Brock enjoys his work, smiling while he shovels. Even though there are no white people around, he says “massa” instead of “master,” which irks Jim. Brock suspects something is strange between Jim and Norman, who talk to each other like equals. Brock works alone in the engine room and claims to take short naps between shovels. He does not even leave the windowless room when the boat makes port. Jim asks when “Massa Corey” comes down, but Brock ignores him.

Brock tells Jim the boiler has been making a new noise and shaking, but he doesn’t know why. A bell rings, and Brock excitedly fiddles with the boat’s wheels and levers. The boiler makes a sound like a woman crying, but Brock insists Corey doesn’t need to know about this. Corey leaves food for Brock outside the door every day. Brock begins to sing about being a slave on the boat while Jim rests. Jim thinks of Norman and his own ever-present anger. He wakes to find Brock eating some cornbread and asks if he told Corey about him. Brock avoids the question, confirming Jim’s suspicion that the master does not even talk to Brock, treating him like a dog.

Norman returns from the upper decks. Jim asks him what he found, provoking Brock’s scrutiny. He shovels coal with increased fervor as the two men talk. Emmett is on the boat, and Norman thinks the trombonist Cassidy may have recognized him. The boat itself is packed with people fleeing home to the north—the slave states are trying to leave the union, and there are rumors of war. Jim reports that Brock loves being a slave, and he shares his suspicion that “Massa Corey” does not exist, or is long dead. Brock continues to shovel coal as the boiler emits a sustained whine. Norman says that something is wrong.