In Chap­ter 9 of “James,” the pro­tag­o­nist embarks on a dar­ing mis­sion against the back­drop of a moon­lit night. He cross­es a mud­dy chan­nel, hold­ing his sup­plies over­head, sig­nal­ing a deci­sive farewell to Jack­son Island. The night trans­forms his per­cep­tion, enrich­ing his thoughts and ground­ing his iden­ti­ty. Arriv­ing at Judge Thatch­er’s home, he nav­i­gates through the shad­ows, evad­ing bark­ing dogs, and enters the unlocked house. The oppres­sive weight of the pis­tol in his bun­dle fills him with dread as he stealth­ily explores the famil­iar library, seek­ing a crit­i­cal doc­u­ment that could aid in find­ing his fam­i­ly.

A sud­den encounter with Judge Thatch­er height­ens the ten­sion. The judge, shocked at the sight before him, ques­tions his pres­ence. The pro­tag­o­nist, now iden­ti­fied as James, con­fronts the judge with his gun, reveal­ing his des­per­ate need for infor­ma­tion regard­ing his wife and daugh­ter, who were sold into slav­ery. Reluc­tant­ly, Thatch­er con­firms they are at the Gra­ham farm in Edi­na, Mis­souri, and the pro­tag­o­nist demands to know its loca­tion on the map. The judge’s fear esca­lates as James asserts pow­er over him, demon­strat­ing a rever­sal of roles that leaves Thatch­er vul­ner­a­ble.

As they trav­el upriv­er in a skiff, James taunts the judge, flip­ping the pow­er dynam­ic as he stress­es Thatch­er’s makeshift enslave­ment under threat. Their con­ver­sa­tion turns bit­ter as James reveals he killed Tom Hop­kins, a man who per­pe­trat­ed vio­lence against slaves, solid­i­fy­ing his resolve against his oppres­sor. The chap­ter clos­es with James secur­ing Thatch­er to a tree, leav­ing him tied but with the poten­tial for escape. As the jour­ney to Edi­na begins, the pro­tag­o­nist con­fronts the fright­en­ing uncer­tain­ties of free­dom and the com­plex­i­ties of pow­er, hope, and revenge .