Note to Miss Watson

Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson to tell her of the whereabouts of Jim because he was captured by a farmer. However, Huck had a change of heart. He started to think of all the times Jim was nice to him and how kind hearted he was. He didn't want to ruin that by sending him back to slavery. This is a big change in him. Throughout the book Huck has had to make decisions. One was whether to leave Jim behind or not. Now there is this one. Huck has started to stray away from the ignorant southerner. He has begun to think on his own instead of what his family taught him.

How does Huck ruin the Duke and King’s plan? Why does he do it?

The Duke and dauphin pretended to be the brothers of the recently deceased Peter Wilks in order to obtain his money and property. The Wilks give them 6,000 dollars in gold. Huck doesn't like this type of trickery so he steals their 6,000 dollars and hides it in Peter Wilks' coffin. He then tells Mary Jane Wilks what has been going on. Huck instructs her to stay at a friends house for the night to allow him time to runaway. Here was this family that just suffered a great loss and the Duke and dauphin decided to take advantage of their feelings. Huck didn't like this at all. He felt bad that they were tricking this family in order to get money. This was a turning point to Huck because it showed some maturity. Throughout the book Huck has played tricks on people, and now we see that he doesn' want to.

Jim's Daughter

Huck wakes up to find Jim in tears thinking about his daughter. He was thinking about when she had scarlet fever and eventually became deaf. He tells Huck how he hit her when she wasn't doing as he said, but she couldn't due to her deafness. Jim felt so bad for what he had done and still can't forgive himself for doing it. This is significant because Jim has always forgiven Huck for anything bad he has done to him. This also shows a very compassionate side to Jim, which we have seen before. But, this scene really shows how much Jim cares.

Duke and the King

From the first time Huck and Jim met the Duke and King, I had a feeling it was a bad idea for them to help them and tag along. It is usually not a good idea to help people that are being chased by towns people. However, I can see why they would want to help them. Huck and Jim are also running away so think there couldn't be anything wrong with helping them out. Even when Huck discovers that the Duke and King are liars, he still lets them tag along. At this point I would have thought Huck would desert them. It is not wise for them to go along with the Duke and Jim because they are both con artists. Con artists usually attract trouble and attention wherever they go. This is a very bad idea since they are trying to avoid attention and trouble. Jim is a runaway slave so it would be very bad if he ended up getting caught. The same goes for Huck.

The similarities between Huck and Buck

In chapter 17, after Huck becomes separated from Jim, he meets the Grangerfords family. They have a son named Buck who is very similar to Huck. For starters, their names are almost the same, they are very close in age and are close to the same height; Buck is a little bigger. Huck has been known to be very impatient. Buck, as well, has shown impatience. This is relevant when Buck attempts to tell Huck a joke, but has trouble explaining it when Huck does not understand. Another way the two boys are similar is that they are both adventurous. Buck's adventures include the fighting over an unknown reason with another family. Sadly, Buck ends up dying in the end. And because they are so similar this could be foreshadowing Huck's inevitable death during his adventure.

The Raftsmen

Huck and Jim come across a group of 13 raftsmen on their way to Cairo. They decide to sneak up and watch them. A few of the raftsmen were arguing. One said that he could "lam any thief in the lot." This made everyone more angry. They were all about to go after him until the biggest man stood up on a table and said, "Leave him to me, he's my meat." So, the two men continued arguing about who was the better man. They went on about their qualities, which shows just how boastful they are. They all had a lot of pride that none were wiling to give up, and the two had to show how "manly" they were so they didn't seem weak. It was like reading about two animals fighting over a piece of meat. This chapter showed us that raftsmen mixed with alcohol act like animals.

Men on the Wreck

Huck decided that he's going to try to save the men from drowning, of course making up a story so that he could. He does this because even though he some sometimes deceitful, he is a nice person. He knows that that are bad people and that they will die when their punishment comes. There's no need for them to die before there time has come. This is when we realise that Huck has a good heart. It also shows some maturity in him. He is willing to risk his life to save another, even if the other person is not a good person.

What trick does Huck play on Jim? Why is he tricking him now when he didn’t want to before?

While Jim is asleep Huck finds a snake and kills it. He then puts it by Jim's foot so that when he wakes up he will think there is a real snake there. However, Huck forgot that when a snake's mate dies the other will find it and curl around it. This is what happened, which resulted in Jim being bitten by the dead snake's mate.

Jim is known for having knowledge of all sorts of superstitions that usually deal with bad luck. Earlier, Huck had touched a snake's skin that it had shed which, according to Jim, was bad luck. Huck doesn't really like these supersttitions because shortly after touching the skin he has good luck. This is why he plays this trick on Jim. He didn't trick him before because he thought it to be the right time.