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SUMMARY
Huck feels intrigued about the dead man and wants to talk about him, but Jim does not encourage him. He warns about the possibility of ill-luck that may result from it. Moreover, a dead man, who has not been buried, is likely to haunt them. They go through the clothes that they have brought back and find eight silver dollar sewn in the lining of an overcoat. Huck reminds Jim that the latter had anticipated similar bad luck when they had got a hold of a snakeskin from the ridge. On the contrary, Huck argues that all that they had come across was good fortune by way of the "truck" of treasure they had gained after marauding the place. Jim says it's too early to comment because there still might be impending misfortune. He has a lot of faith on his superstitious beliefs and would not risk running into trouble.
And, sure enough, they land up in trouble, three days later. Huck kills a rattlesnake and keeps it under Jim's blanket, forgetting all about it later. The snake's mate comes and bites Jim on his heel. Huck kills the snake and throws it away. Since the snake-bite is very painful, Jim has bad time. Huck realizes his carelessness and feels remorse for having played this trick on Jim and secretly vows never to do it again. He repents having been so callous towards Jim.
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| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 10 |
According to Jim's instructions, Huck roasts the snake's body so that Jim can eat it, as an antidote to the poison. He also takes off the rattles, strings them together and ties it around his waist. Jim downs jugs of Whisky to drown the pain that he is experiencing and starts feeling better after four days.
A few days later, after the flood has subsided, they go down to the river and catch a mammoth catfish that they can barely handle. Owing to lack of any interesting activity, Huck starts feeling slightly jaded and decides to go to the town of Petersburg to gain some information about what's going on. Dressed up as a girl, he dons a sun-bonnet, practices a girl's gait and gears up to have some fresh adventure. He reaches a small house where he sees an unfamiliar face and decides to talk to her because there is no fear of being recognized.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The element of superstition, which will be revealed over and over in the novel, comes to the fore once again. Initially, Huck's commonsensical mind makes him question Jim's erstwhile belief that bad luck would befall upon them when Huck had fetched a snakeskin from the ridge. It had, after all, fetched them all the booty that they ransacked from the floating frame house. "We ve raked in all this truck and eight dollars besides. I wish we could have some bad huck like this every day, Jim". Nevertheless, he starts believing Jim's belief after the rattlesnake incident. Jim's superstitious bent of mind gets reinforced when he resorts to eating the roast snake and tying the rattles around his waist, as an antidote to the poison. OF course, these remedies do little by way of curing him.
Though Huck is also superstitious to a certain extent, Jim is, definitely, more so. Critics have pointed out what anthropologists say about incapable and feeble people. They seem to resort to such supernatural beliefs as a support system for themselves. Despite having been brought up in a similar social milieu, Jim and Huck have different reactions to these superstitious beliefs. While the former recognizes these beliefs as true, they are unheard of by Huck (he belongs to the white community while Jim is a nigger).
We are given a fleeting insight into Huck's innermost feelings for his father. He says, "I'd druthers be bit with a snake than Pap's whisky", insinuating the fact that Huck resents Pap solely because of his alcoholism. Huck is justified in having such sentiments towards Pap who has, after all, not done anything to foster a close bond with his son. Besides, he has not even provided him with the basic necessities of life that are due to a son.
In this chapter, Jim uses superstition as an excuse for not talking about the dead man. He tells, Huck that if they talk about him, the dead man will haunt them. He is really trying to protect Huck from the news that his Pap is dead thinking that the boy would be grieved by the truth.