The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn · Chapter
XXXIX explained
Tom and Huck continue their elaborate plan to free Jim, filling his cabin with rats, snakes, and spiders to make the escape more adventurous.
What happens
Tom and Huck continue their elaborate plan to free Jim, filling his cabin with rats, snakes, and spiders to make the escape more adventurous. They write anonymous warning letters to the Phelps family, and Tom insists on following romantic escape conventions, including having Huck disguise himself as a servant girl and Tom as Jim's mother. The family becomes terrified by the mysterious warnings and the creatures, while Jim suffers in his crowded cabin.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Identity
Tom and Huck use disguises and anonymous letters to manipulate the Phelps family, highlighting the theme of deception as a tool for adventure.
Friendship and Loyalty
Huck and Tom's commitment to freeing Jim, despite the absurdity of the plan, underscores their loyalty to him.
Critique of Romanticism
Tom's insistence on romantic escape conventions, such as the servant-girl disguise and nonnamous letters, satirizes the impracticality of romantic literature.
Characters to notice
- Huckleberry Finn
Acts as Tom's accomplice, reluctantly participating in the elaborate escape plan and disguising himself as a servant girl.
- Tom Sawyer
Orchestrates the escape with theatrical flair, insisting on anonymous letters, disguises, and filling Jim's cabin with creatures for authenticity.
- Jim
Endures the discomfort of rats, snakes, and spiders in his cabin as part of Tom's plan, and writes in his journal using ink from rat bites.
- Aunt Sally
Becomes terrified by the snakes and rats, jumping at every sound and threatening punishment for the boys' pranks.
- Silas Phelps
Mentions advertising for Jim in newspapers, causing Huck concern, and is disturbed by Aunt Sally's reactions to the snakes.
Key passages
“The thing for us to do is just to do our duty, and not worry about whether anybody sees us do it or not. Hain't you got no principle at all?”
Tom argues that they must follow the proper procedures for a romantic escape, regardless of practicality.
Tom's insistence on principle over practicality reflects his romantic idealism.
“Jim didn't like the spiders, and the spiders didn't like Jim; and so they'd lay for him, and make it mighty warm for him.”
Jim suffered from the spiders and other creatures that Tom and Huck placed in his cabin.
The humor of Jim's discomfort highlights the absurdity of Tom's plan.
“I never see a family in such a sweat. They couldn't a been worse scared if the place had a been full of ghosts laying for them behind everything and under the beds and shivering through the air.”
The Phelps family was terrified by the anonymous warnings and strange occurrences.
The exaggerated fear of the family adds to the comedic tone of the chapter.