Also Read
SUMMARY
The next day, since there is still no news of Tom, Uncle Silas and Aunt Sally are quite worried.
Uncle Silas gives Aunt Polly's letter to his wife. Before she can open the letter, she notices the doctor with Tom on a "mattress" and Jim in her "calico dress". She is extremely glad and relieved to see that Tom is alive and rushes towards him. Taking advantage of the commotion, Huck hides the letter.
The farmers are livid at Jim for having run away. Some of them contemplate hanging him so that it serves as a lesson to others niggers. The others believe that, since Jim is not their nigger, they should take no such action. They chain him and take him back to his cabin.
The doctor comes and advises everyone to be kind towards Jim. He says that when he was trying to get the bullet out of Tom's leg, Tom had become delirious. Jim had come out crawling from somewhere and offered help. He had been the best "nuss" and "faithfuler" than anybody else. The doctor considers him "worth a thousand dollars - and kind treatment, too". This makes the farmers mellow down considerably.
The next morning, when Tom regains consciousness, he tells Aunt Sally about the adventure. On learning that the boys had a hand in all nat took place, Aunt Sally is confounded. She tells Tom that Jim has been recaptured and there is no way he can escape naow. On hearing this hews, Tom is awfully upset. He reveals that Jim is a free nigger as he has already been set free by Miss Watson in her Will. Apparently, Miss Watson nad died two months ago and, on her death-bed, had felt remorse for having desired to sell Jim off.
At this moment, Tom notices Aunt Polly at the doorway. Aunt Sally hugs her sister who reveals the identity of both the boys. She also reveals that, when Aunt Sally had written to her about the safe arrival of both Tom" and "Sid", she had been puzzled because Sid was not supposed to visit Aunt Sally. She had written a letter to Aunt Sally enquiring about "Sid". On getting no response from her sister, she had decided to visit her to find out the facts. Evidently, Tom had been intercepting and hiding the letters.
 |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 42 |
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jim's declination to leave the wounded Tom, in Chapter 40, leads to his recapture in chapter 42. This enhances our admiration of him. We distinguish him as a heroic figure who is prepared to sacrifice not only his much desired freedom but, possibly, his life as well. The local man "was very huffy" and consider hanging Jim to serve as a lesson to the other niggers. The doctor's praise of him, as a good "nuss" who is "worth a thousand dollars", reinforces our high opinion of Jim.
Tom's revelation, that Jim is already free, strengthens our opinion that his playfulness and zest for adventure have been very harmful. It is quite annoying to realize that he made everyone go through all the toil and misery just for nothing.
This chapter serves another occasion for us to discern human disposition. When some farmers contemplate hanging Jim, the others counter the idea. The opposition is not because of any human instinct of benevolence but because they fear that the real owners of Jim would "turn up and make us pay for him". Huck's comment, in this context, aptly sums up human nature and gives us a scathing portrayal of society. He rightly states, "the people that's always the most anxious for to hang a nigger that hain't done just right, is always the very ones that ain't the most anxious to pay for him when they've got their satisfaction out of him".