Chapter 13: Getting into the rowboat
that the murderers themselves were planning to get away in, Huck and Jim hurriedly hurl themselves into
the little boat and finally get away from the whole fiasco. They find their raft further downstream
as they pass a ferryboat with a watchman on deck. Huck, wanting to help the "rapscallions" who he and
Jim had stranded, tells this man that he is from the wrecked steamboat (ironically named the Walter
Scott) and that his family is still on board.
Later, Huck thinks to himself that the Widow Douglas would be quite proud of him for helping the men,
since these are the kind, according to her, that most need helping.
Chapter 14: Looking through the
supplies they had received from the wreck, Huck and Jim talk about the adventures they've just had.
Through the course of the conversation, Huck admits that Jim "had an uncommon level head, for a nigger."
This shows that some of Huck's assumptions about Jim are beginning to change.
Next, perhaps the most comical scene in the book takes
place as Huck and Jim discuss the nature of kings and dukes. Huck, who has read more about them in
his books, explains to Jim that kings don't do any work, but still get to have as much of anything as
they want. Jim's knowledge of kings is limited to "King Sollermun." The two have a humorous conversation
about him, and this leads into a discussion of languages, Jim not understanding the nature of different
languages. This all serves to show Huck that Jim, though he may have an "uncommon level head," is incredibly
ignorant and stubborn.
Chapter 15: Still planning on
getting into the free states of the North, Jim and Huck continue their journey. Eventually the two
get separated from each other, and Jim comes to believe that Huck has died. When Huck finds Jim a bit
later, Jim is surprised but happy to see him again.
|