Chapters 31-35 Freedom and Enslavement

As readers start off Chapter 31 we find Huck tagging along, unwillingly, with the King and Duke once again. After many failed attempts of conning people out of their money, the Duke and King begin to whisper amongst themselves. It is in this moment that Jim and Huck decide that they will no longer follow these men. Huck says, “...we was pretty scared, and made up an agreement that we wouldn't have nothing in the world to do with such actions, and if we ever got the least show we would give them the cold shake, and clear out and leave them behind.” I believe that this is a large step in Jim and Huck's current enslavement predicament. They are prepared to make their own freedom and set themselves free from this pilgrimage they have been dragged into. However, this changed when Huck went into town with the King and Duke, leaving Jim alone. Jim is sold and is a slave once more. His physical enslavement leads to Huck's mental enslavement. Huckleberry becomes so focused on achieving Jim's freedom that he is neglecting his own, of which we have seen multiple times preceding these chapters. This teenage boy who, at times, has a more matured thought process than people in the world today is able to see past the color of Jim's, and other black people's, skin in a time where slavery and racism is evident.

Then, Tom makes his appearance after many chapters of his absence. We painfully read through Tom diminishing Huck's ideas and creating a complex means of escape for Jim. Huck, yet again, is enslaved. I think that this is a large part of Huck's character. People constantly take advantage of Huck and treat him like he is below everyone. This is once of Huck and Jim's greatest battles to overcome in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Chapters 26-30 Freedom and Enslavement

After leaving Huck and Jim for a few chapters we pick up with them again in Chapter 26. Huck is currently in a house belonging to the Wilks family and Jim is tied to a raft. I would like to take a moment to talk about this cruel treatment of Jim. The Dauphin, Duke, and Huck do not want Jim to be found and taken as a runaway slave. However, tying him up is unnecessary and, I feel, gives us readers the literal feeling of enslavement and captivity that is being thrust upon Jim.

Now, Huck's enslavement in these chapters takes on a new form. Huckleberry is not only achieving this enslavement with the gracious help of the Duke and Dauphin, but from himself as well. He is torn between going right along with the two con men's evil scheme and telling Mary Jane the truth about what is going to happen with her father's money, estate, and belongings. In Chapter 27, Huck says to himself, “I don't wish to be mixed up in no such business as that...” The reader feels his internal conflict and can tell he wants to do the right thing but that he wants even more to not be involved in this mess in the first place.

After a few pages of the Dauphin and Duke being completely clueless towards their missing stolen money (how ironic) they catch on to it absence and interrogate Huck first. He must quickly come up with a lie about the whereabouts of the fortune. These men induce fear into Huck and therefore have control over his actions. When Huck makes his escape back to the boat he gains his freedom from the King and Duke. But this lasts only for a moment when they come into view over the waters. Huck's sense of defeat is overwhelming as he says, “So I wilted right down onto the planks, then, and give up; and it was all I could do to keep from crying.”

(Huckleberry was so close to freedom! That last sentence in Chapter 29 was so upsetting to read!)

Chapters 1-20 Freedom and Enslavement

The topic of freedom is seen woven through out the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This is exercised when Huck Finn is able to find his freedom on the Mississippi River while escaping the connections that were binding him to St. Petersburg, Missouri. Widow Douglas and Miss. Watson took Huck in and paved him the pathway to a brand new life full of promising opportunities along the way. Unfortunately, that was not the road for Huck. He was trapped in school instead of wandering the streets wondering who he will meet next. Huck was caught up in a world where he did not belong. So he makes the decision to build his own life, with no Pap, Widow Douglas, Miss. Watson, or Tom Sawyer.

Because of the time period in which this novel takes place, around the 1840s, the plague of slavery has devoured the country. Jim's freedom and enslavement is very clear cut; his own independence ironically is dependent upon him reaching the North. Luckily for Huck, because of Jim's basic level of enslavement and there only being one solution to it Jim feels the need to help Finn achieve his personal freedom. Their adventures that I have read so far revolve around finding this elusive freedom. In Chapter 11, Huck leaves Jim on Jackson Island to go into town. When Huck finds out that search parties have reason to believe that Huck's whereabouts focus in on Jackson Island he becomes frantic. This reaction is not only for his own safety, but Jim's as well. They share the threat of being captured and losing on their quest to find freedom.

Oh, yanno

Just chillin' at home drinking an Irish Cream Latte from Dunkin Donuts...Happy St. Patrick's Day!