The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapters 38-43

By: Rohan Rastogi, Kavita Shah and Demi Zhang

Basic Events…Chapter 38

Tom says Jim needs to inscribe onto prison walls because all other books do it and the escape needs to be exact

Tom tries to think of what Jim should inscribe on the walls and comes up with a list

Jim argues it would take so long using a nail and he does not know how to write

Tom suggests using rock to carve in. They steal one from mill and roll it with Jim’s help

Tom says Jim needs to keep a pet and suggests a rattle snake which he could tame. Then he suggests a garden snake, rats, and for Jim to play the Jew’s harp.

Tom says Jim needs to plant flowers and water them with his tears. Jim argues he never cries, and then Tom loses patience with Jim

Chapter 39

Tom and Huck buy a wire mouse trap and put it under Sally’s bed. Then they unplug the rat hole and let all rats out, but Thomas Phelps finds the mouse trap

Aunt Sally screams in fright and takes out hickory stick

Huck and Tom hunt snakes put them in a sack in their room, but it gets loose and all the snakes get out

The snakes, spiders, rats are all placed in same room with Jim as pets

In three weeks mostly everything is done. Tom says it was time for anonymous letters in which

one person warns people something is up and a prisoner switches clothes with the mom

Chapter 40

Another letter with instructions on how to handle the gang

Tom makes Huck get butter, runs into Aunt Sally who order him to go to sitting room to ask questions

There are many farmers with guns The butter melts making Aunt Sally worried Huck

has a brain fever Aunt Sally lets Huck run off when she realizes

Huck was only getting food from the cellar Tom makes a noise with his boots causing the

men with guns and dogs to run after them Tom is shot in the calf Jim says they have to get a doctor and hides

Chapter 41

When on the way to island Huck bumps into Silas. He explains that he and Sid were hunting for the runaway slave when they lost the other hunters.

Huck says Sid is at the post office. They go there and when Sid does not return, Uncle Silas takes Huck home.

At the Phelps’ house, Huck finds many farmers discussing how crazy the runaway slave is and how there were definitely people that helped him escape

Huck feels bad for lying to Aunt Sally and causing her grief, so he promises to not leave her.

Chapter 42 Tom on a mattress, the doctor, Jim, Uncle Silas and angry

men approach the Phelps’s house. The angry men want Jim to be hanged as an example. Doctor argues Jim is a good slave and shouldn’t be

hanged because he risked his freedom to help the doctor. After hearing this the angry men start quiet down

Tom after being shot, tells Aunt Sally the fun adventure he and Huck had helping Jim escape.

Aunt Polly arrives and reveals Huck and Tom’s true identity.

Huck realizes Tom had known all along Miss. Watson had set Jim free.

Aunt Polly wrote letters to Sally Phelps but Tom had hidden all of them.

Chapter 43:

Jim is set free and is paid forty dollars by Tom for following the escape plan.

Jim tells Huck the man on the floating house was his father so Huck could now keep the six thousand dollars.

Characters… Huck – Huck has really changed since the beginning of

the novel, as he has matured and shows much growth, from removing racist attitudes and exhibiting empathy; Huck starts to realize his self worth and really utilizes his thinking abilities

Tom – Tom is…. well,…Tom; he doesn’t change, and still values the adventure of schemes over their efficiency; he also already

Aunt Sally – Aunt Sally shows more of her personality throughout these chapters, being both motherly and gentle as well as intimidating and fierce

Uncle Silas – Huck still describes Silas Phelps as a semi-clueless man (easily tricked by Huck), whom we don’t see much of during the end

Characters… Farmers and Women – The farmers are quite angry at Jim,

just because he was a “run – away slave”; they depict common society at that time

Doctor – The Doctor is a kind old man, who defends Jim from the other farmer, and symbolizes true intelligence; he also helps Tom remove the bullet in his leg

Aunt Polly – Aunt Polly appears for the first time, and is quite intimidating and stern; she explains the whole situation to a confused Aunt Sally and fiercely scolds both Tom and Huck

Jim – Finally, Jim is rescued after Tom’s completely outrageous and extravagant plan, only to find out that he was actually set free by Miss Watson; Jim also shows his compassion, his kindness, and his friendship towards others, especially towards the boys, driving Twain’s point that “All humans have feelings” home

Quotations… “Shucks, Tom,” I says, “I think you might

tell a person. What’s a bar sinister? “Oh, I don’t know. But he’s got to have it. All the nobility does” (Twain 231).

Again, through this quote, we see the book smarts vs. the street smarts. Tom, ignorantly, follows this ridiculous plan (which he read in a book) and when asked a question of what it means, he bluntly ignores the questions and demands the need for the bar sinister. Twain is trying to stress that actions taken without thought (like Tom’s plan) are ineffective and possibly detrimental

Quotations… “I felt mean, and like I couldn’t look her in

the face[…]Laws knows I wanted to go bad enough to see about Tom, and was all intending to go; but after that I wouldn’t ‘a’ went, not for kingdoms” (Twain 251). This is a characteristic of Huck we have been seeing a

lot. He seems to always find the good in people and sympathize with them. Huck is beginning to mature, as he’s starting to empathize more and more. Basically, Huck is realizing how his actions are affecting others, a concept which may not have been important to him earlier. Also, by being a man, this is thought of, by women, to be somewhat unusual.

Quotations… “Then the others softened up a little, too,

and I was might thankful to that old doctor….because I thought that he had a good heart in him and was a good man the first time I see him” (Twain 254)

Throughout this novel, Huck has decided to follow what he thinks is right. He won’t follow society’s demands or expectations if he thinks that they’re unreasonable. Society would never say that Jim, being a black slave, had a good heart. However, Huck knows Jim and considers him as a friend, so he characterizes Jim not off societal bias but off of his interactions and experiences with a kind, loving father

Quotations… “I reckon I got to light out for the

territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before”(Twain 260)

After escaping from reality and adventuring on the raft, Huck fell in love with the freedom of the raft and wishes to go back to it as it feels like “home”. After being adopted by Aunt Sally, he will always have to be clean and neatly dressed which are the few of many things he hates. He rather explore nature.

Themes…

“A man should be judged by his character not the color of his skin.” Jim comes back and is being slapped and

hit Doctor admires Jim’s honesty and

innocence Others are shocked, soften up and agree

not to swear at Jim any more.

Themes…

“A true friend will stand by you no matter how dire the circumstance.” Huck and Jim: Going against society

because he is freeing a black slave Tom helping out Huck even though he

made the situation even harder than it actually was

Themes… “Though adventure and fun are

desirable, it may not achieve your goal and can possibly cause harm”

Tom Sawyer is the perfect example of this: he creates a superfluous plan, with snakes and spiders and rats, etc.

His ideas and “adventures and fun” are totally unnecessary and distracting from the goal, which is freeing Jim

Tom gets shot! (Yay! – Tom Sawyer) He also fails to mention that Jim is already

freed!

Discussion Questions… How did you react when Huck finds out

Jim had already been freed by Miss. Watson? Did you feel like it was a good idea for Tom not to tell Huck earlier? Were Tom’s actions justifiable?

Discussion Questions Did you think that Tom had ever truly

wanted to help Jim escape to help his friend, or was it only for his own benefit because he wanted a fun adventure? Do you feel Tom’s help was beneficial to Jim’s escape?

Thank You!