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!)
1 comment:
Since we pick up in chapter 26, Huck has been enslaved in the Wilks’ house and has not been able to escape. He is in a huge predicament because he wants to tell Mary Jane about her estate and everything else, but he does not want to make the Duke mad. Huck is trapped because it is either letting Mary Jane know or getting in trouble with the Duke. So either way, it doesn’t look like any freedom is coming for this traveler. I think for the most part you were right about fear coming into Huck’s mind and controlling his thoughts, emotions, and decisions. These few chapters have shown a different side of Huck, a side we have not seen before.
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