Enslavement - 36-40

Although this is the last few chapters of the book, I still see many signs of enslavement, both current and new. For example, Jim is still trapped inside the shed with both Huck and Tom trying to think of ideas to get him out. To me, Jim is enslaved within his own mind. When Tom and Huck actually see Jim and explain situations to him, he is confused but just decides to go along with them. This is another sign of enslavement for him. He is so to say enslaved within the boys’ grasp because he will willingly do anything for them and listen to anything they say. That’s called mental enslavement in my opinion. Another person that we see as difficult in these last few chapters is Nat. Nat is enslaved and is controlled by both Huck and Tom and he does not even know it himself. He is superstitious and even believes that witches are hunting him. He shows many signs of being gullible by even believing that he has to bake a pie for that to be the only cure. Meanwhile, he doesn’t even know that Huck and Tom are scheming to put a rope inside the pie. As you can see, many forms of enslavement have continued to happen even when the book was about to be over. If you think about this another way though, Huck and Tom have lowered their standards and now could be considered as the King and Duke.

Huck Finn Chapters 26-30 Reflections

In these 5 chapters (26-30), Huck and Jim are still trapped by the King and Duke.  Even worse, Mary Jane along with the King continues to pester Huck about where they came from, and especially asking him if he ever saw the King.  My theme is still freedom and enslavement, and I want to take a moment to pay attention to this important detail for a second. In this part of the story, this is a sign of enslavement. Now as readers thinking of the word enslavement, we all think of slaves being held against their will for the most part. This is a different type of enslavement though. Huck and Jim are trapped not by their will, but by other’s persecution. They have gotten into a big load of mess over this money and the King and Mary Jane for the most part have enslaved them for unknown reasons. This is one form of enslavement.  Also I feel that throughout these chapters, freedom is always an option for Huck. I feel like Huck can always just escape on his own if that was what he really desired. We see that he is good at sneaking out when he sneaks out the window and climbs down the ladder of the house. I think the real question we have to ask ourselves is why didn't Huck run away? Why did he stay? I believe the answer to this is because he feels he is leaving a piece of something behind. He sees the funeral for his so-called-brother. He feels bad and wants to repay these people and does not want to steal from them. But it is shown throughout the chapters that he always has the option of being a free man. These are just some of the little things that I noticed for my theme within these few chapters.