Jim Hickham is the oldest son of Homer Hickham Sr. and Elsie Lavender Hickham. A blond all-American athlete, he has hated his younger sibling since his birth. He is fashion conscious, has a peroxide curl on the front of his hair, spends hours primping in the bathroom, and spends so much on clothes at the men's clothing store in Welch, the town with more shops than Coalwood, that his mother says that he, "...must have been dropped off by vacationing Rockefellers." Jim and Sonny have brawled for as long as Sonny can remember. Although he is bigger, Sonny is sneakier and they manage to damage each other. Jim frequently calls Sonny a "sister," and ridicules his brother and his brother's interests, that Jim cannot understand. Jim is well-liked at school and big enough to avoid the beatings that Sonny endures as the small son of the mine superintendent.