Also Read
SUMMARY
Having tracked Jim down, Tom and Huck go down to the woods to collect stuff for the great escapade. Jim has been chained to one of the legs of the bed and, in order to free him, a simple move, like lifting the bed and removing the chain, would suffice. Huck makes a suggestion that they should free Jim this way. But Tom is dissatisfied that everything is so easy and it's "difficult to get up a difficult plan". Inspired by all the prison stories and adventure novels that he has read, he wants to "invent all the difficulties". He considers making a rope ladder by tearing sheets up into pieces. He says that they could even send Jim a rope ladder baked in a pie. Tom also wants Jim to write a "journal" the way all "state prisoners" do. Huck makes him see reason. He tries to tell him that it would be a futile exercise for the simple reason that Jim can't read or write. But this fact is no deterrent to Tom's proposed plan. Since Jim is uneducated, whatever he is made to write on the plates would be illegible. But Tom refuses to see the sense in the argument. According to him, things should be done the "regular" way; whether somebody can read it or not is immaterial. He says that he would make Jim leave marks on a piece of cloth or steel plates and give it the semblance of a "journal".
Finally, they get down to collecting the most complicated tools to dig with. To give Jim a semblance of a hero, he needs to have the most primitive and archaic tools. Tom discards Huck's idea of using the picks and shovels, which are readily available in the shack. By the end of the entire mental exercise, Tom is in control and sends Huck to get some knives.
 |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 35 |
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Tom again takes the leadership role in formulating the plans for Jim's escape. His penchant for dramatic, elaborate solutions is clearly contrasted to Huck's desire for the simple and practical. In Tom's presence, Huck becomes more dependent on him and lets him take decisions. Huck acknowledges that the "right plan" will come from Tom, for Tom Sawyer's head" is definitely superior.
Though Huck questions Tom on the absurdity of making Jim write a Journal and other nonsensical plans, he cannot defy him. He is perceptive enough to realize that he and Jim are trapped within the confines or a racially prejudiced and dogmatic society, symbolized by Tom.
Huck's common-sense objections to Tom's stylish plans add touches of humor. Beneath the humor is Mark Twain's intended mockery of the romantic novels of the period. Tom's ornate and gaudy plans reduce the otherwise momentous act of Jim's escape to a mere comical farce. The exercise is all the more nonsensical because, as we would come to know later, Jim has already been set free in Miss Watson's Will and more so because Tom is already cognizant of the same. The chapters are reminiscent of earlier chapters when Tom makes a "gang of robbers" and decides to hold people for "ransom" without having any idea, whatsoever, what it means.
Though Huck's ideas and plans make more sense than those of Tom, he is not very confident of his own good sense of judgment. He says, Tom, if it ain't unregular and irreligious to sejest it...there's an old rusty saw-blade around yonder sticking under the weather-boarding behind the smoke-house. Huck is so much, in awe of Tom (and his foolish plans) that the former's sensible plan of action becomes "unregular and irreligious to sejest"...? In Tom's intimidating presence, Huck is always unsure of himself. "He (Tom) looked kind of weary and discouraged- like.. "It ain't no use to try to learn you nothing, Huck".