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SUMMARY
Huck and Jim have a peaceful time sailing, with not much action. It is an idyllic time that the two of them have - sleeping, smoking, eaung and lazing around. They generally go onshore during the night to avoid being seen. One night, in order to get some food, Huck goes over main shore and finds a raft. Suddenly, he sees a couple of men tearing towards them. Apprehensive that they must be out to get him, he also starts running as fast as his legs can carry him. Realizing that the two men are coming towards him for help, he tells them to hop into the canoe. Immediately, he moves them towards the raft. The two men, who do not know each other, have a great age difference between them. They are approximately seventy and thirty years old, respectively. They do a myriad of "jobs", from selling a medicine that takes tartar (and sometimes the enamel) off one's teeth to being a quack, trying to treat cancer, paralysis and "such things". Then they decide to "double-team it together". The younger of the two pretends to be the Duke of Bridgewater and laments the loss of his fortune and status. He bemoans the fact that he is "forlorn, torn from my high estate.. and degraded to the companionship of felons on a raft!" Both Huck and im feel sorry for his predicament a vow to indulge him with all the respectability and politesse that becomes a Duke. Due to all this mollycoddling, the older one feels uncared for and, in an effort to draw everyone's attention towards him, laments of a similar loss of rank. He claims to be Louis the XVII. Indignant that he had been outdone, the "Duke" doesn't look very cheerful.
Huck, after observing their behavior for sometime, comes to the conclusion that they are no royalty but plain "low-down humbugs and frauds". He decides against divulging his real feelings to anybody and simply lets them be. He keeps his feelings secret from Jim as well because he is not sure how Jim would react to it. At this point of time, the most important thing for them is to have some peace so that they can concentrate on achieving the goal that they have set out for.
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| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter 19 |
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The river continues to be a haven of peace for Huck and Jim. "....we slid into the river and had a swim, so as to freshen up and cool off; then we set down on the sandy bottom where the water was about knee deep, and watched the come. Not a sound anywheres - perfectly still-just like the whole world was asleep..... then the nice breeze springs up, and comes fanning you from over there, so cool and fresh and sweet to smell on account of the woods and the flowers". The days slide along "so quiet and smooth and lovely". The arrival of the two frauds signals an interruption in this untainted way of life. They are symbolic of the society that Huck so detests.
In the light of the numerous stories that Huck cooks up, in order to save his skin, we can easily forget that he is a mere fourteen-year old. His agility of mind buoys us to assess him as a brainy lad who underestimates his own potential.
Huck's decision to keep shut about the real identity of the two men demonstrates his common-sense view of the world. His smartness tells him fairly soon that "these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on: kept it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no quarrels, and don't get into no trouble. If they wanted us to call them kings and dukes, I hadn't no objections, long as it would keep peace in the family". So, it is purely for practical reasons that he decides to keep shut. His world wisdom has taught him "that the best way to get along with his (Pap) kind of people is to let them have their own way. Probably Twain has a social message that is equally relevant in the current times. He uncovers the truth that the worst of us are, usually, the most pretentious.