Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter 5 - 8
Huckleberry remembers all the beatings his father, Pap, used to inflict on him as soon as he sees him and immediately becomes afraid of him. Pap appears to be in a severely dilapidated condition as his face is extremely pale and his clothes are ragged. Pap insults Huckleberry for going to school, being clean, and being rich, as he has heard rumors that he has six thousand dollars. Huckleberry tells him that he has no money, but still hands over the dollar he had received from judge Thatcher, and Pap leaves after warning him not to go near school, which only causes Huckleberry to be more adamant about going to school. Pap gets drunk with Huckleberry’s money and visits Judge Thatcher the next day to take Huckleberry’s money but the judge refuses. Pap continues to harass Huckleberry and takes more money from him for his drinking while Judge Thatcher and the Widow Douglas try to gain Huckleberry’s custody. Their attempts are thwarted by a new judge who believes that families should not be separated. The same judge decides to take in Pap when he lands in prison for his drunken antics, and the judge tries to reform him but this plan fails relatively quickly.
Pap finally decides to kidnap Huckleberry and carries him away to a small cabin on the riverside. He beats Huckleberry and keeps him prisoner while the widow attempts to retake Huckleberry but fails to do so because of Pap. Huckleberry soon grows used to the new mode of his life, as he no longer has to be civilized and he can spend his days smoking tobacco or catching fish. Huckleberry finally decides to escape when his father leaves him locked in the cabin for three days, and he begins to chart a route of escape. That evening Pap returns to the cabin particularly drunk and rants about the failures of the government which prevented him from getting the six thousand dollars that belonged to Huckleberry and therefore rightfully belonged to him. He also complains about a Mulato, who is allowed to vote in the country and is not owned as a slave.
Pap falls asleep after drinking some more and attempts to hurt Huckleberry in his sleep. The young boy manages to stay clear of his father and wards him off with a gun which he continues to hold in his sleep. Pap wakes up in the morning and is unable to recall the events of the night, but he questions Huckleberry for holding the gun in his sleep. Huckleberry claims that he had heard someone on the outside at night, and had pulled the gun to repel the invader. Pap sends Huckleberry out for some fish, and he finds a canoe in the river. He retrieves the canoe and hides it with the intent to use it for his escape. Pap leaves for town later in the day and locks Huckleberry in like usual, but the boy has already created a hole to exit the cabin.
He strips the cabin of all its useful things and loads them all into the canoe. He constructs a scene of struggle and death by using the blood of a freshly butchered pig. Huckleberry escapes to a deserted island nearby and hides there for the following days. He watches the townspeople searching for his body in the river, and manages to escape detection but he finds the remnants of a campfire on the island. Huckleberry is terrified at first, but he investigates the island and finds Jim, Miss Watson’s slave. Jim is scared to see Huckleberry as he had believed him to be dead, but Huckleberry tells him the truth of the matter. Jim informs Huckleberry that he had run away from Miss Watson since she was planning to another slaver down the river. Jim seeks Huckleberry’s promise that he wouldn’t turn him back to the people in the town and though he is afraid of being labeled an abolitionist, he still agrees. Jim impresses Huckleberry with his extensive knowledge of superstitions.
Analysis
This section of the novel offers us a deeper view of the relationship between Huckleberry Finn and his Pap, as well as the overall character of his father. It is evident, that Huckleberry has suffered significant physical and emotional abuse from his father as evidenced by the numerous recollections of beatings that Huckleberry had been forced to bear.
The poor nature of their relationship is further indicated in the first conversation that they have, as Pap says all he possibly can to insult Huckleberry and make him feel inferior. He fails to view Huckleberry as an individual and instead sees him as an object that he can exploit for his gain, as his only motivation in gaining the custody of his son is the possession of the six thousand dollars that Huckleberry owns. Furthermore, Pap is depicted as an extremely incompetent and bigoted individual when he rants about the failures of the government that allowed children to be cut off from their parents and that allowed black people the right to vote. It is ironic that Pap comments on the failures of the government when in fact the government has failed to protect Huckleberry Finn from the terrible influence of his abusive father.
In this section, we begin to realize the similarities in the positions of both Jim and Huckleberry Finn, who are both treated more like inanimate objects than actual human beings. Huckleberry is caused to remain with his father without the intervention of the government, and he does not wish to return to the civility of the Widow’s home. Jim doesn’t wish to be sold to yet another slaver, but his desires are inconsequential and so both of them are forced to escape society to lead a life on their terms.
