Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter 9 - 12
Huck provides the supplies for their camp and the pair of them have a lovely feast until Jim notices some birds that indicate rain. Both of them set to explore the island and find a large cavern at a significant height. They stay in the cavern for the duration of the rain which quickly turns into a storm that continues for a few days leaving the island flooded with the newly risen river. Once the rain has subsided, they find a raft floating in the river, along with a house. They retrieve the raft and search the house for belongings. Jim finds a dead man in the house that appears to have been shot but he prevents Huckleberry from seeing the body’s face. Later, Huckleberry plays a prank on Jim when he stashes a dead snake in Jim’s bed, but he later forgets about the dead snake, and Jim is bitten by the snake’s mate. Huckleberry is saddened to have caused Jim injury and swears to leave off playing with Snakes as Jim takes time to recover from the snake bite.
Huckleberry decides to go to St. Petersburg to learn news from the town, and Jim helps him create the disguise of a girl. Huckleberry finds a woman at the edge of town who had recently moved there and learns that the town is out searching for both Jim and Pap. He learns that the town had initially blamed Pap for Huckleberry’s disappearance, but had later concluded that it had been Jim who had murdered the boy while escaping. Jim now had a reward of three thousand dollars on his head, and the lady suspected that Jim would be hiding on Jackson island for she had seen smoke from a campfire a few nights ago. She intended to inform her husband who would be sure to visit the island with a friend in the middle of the night, and Huckleberry begins to make excuses for departure. Pap had gone away after taking some money from the judge with the claim that he would be searching for his son, but he had disappeared and the town had placed a reward on his head as well.
The lady suspects that Huckleberry is a boy but decides to believe the story he tells her about being a runaway apprentice. Huckleberry returns to the island in a hurry, and they decide to set out down the river on their raft. Huckleberry sets a campfire on the island to confuse the soon to arrive investigators and they sail only during the night while remaining hidden during the day. They build a wigwam on the raft to protect themselves from the elements, and ‘borrow’ food from the farms whenever they get an opportunity.
Both of them understand that this borrowing would be frowned upon but ultimately decide that they would only take just as much as they required, and create rules about not taking some specific crops. They come across a wrecked steamboat in the waters and explore it upon Huckleberry’s insistence although Jim expresses some reservations. They are both surprised to discover three robbers on the boat and learn that two of the robbers have turned against the last member of their group. Huck and Jim decide to take the robber’s skiff but they are shocked to learn that their raft had floated away from the wreck.
Analysis
Jim finds a dead body in the house and cautions Huck from seeing the corpse’s face since he feels that it would be bad luck. The reader will later learn that the body in the house had actually been that of Pap’s father, which forces us to wonder why Jim chose to keep Huck from learning of the fact. Jim probably understands that the death of his father would Huck little reason to continue his exile from the town, and therefore expose Jim to discovery. The following events also lead us to conclude that Jim adopts the role of a father figure in Huck’s life following his discovery of Pap’s death, and he does a far more admirable job of it than Huck’s actual father. Jim tries to guide Huck and offers him protection from the dangerous elements of society.
This section also reminds us of Huck’s childish temperament, as he attempts to play a prank on Jim with a dead snake. Huck’s exposure to abuse has caused him to mature rather quickly, which is why it can be difficult for the reader to remember that the protagonist is in fact a child. However, Huck’s reaction to Jim’s injury allows us to see that he treats Jim as more than an object and rather sees him as an individual something that even the older lady from St. Petersburg couldn’t bring herself to believe.
