Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Q&A

Jim escapes from servitude when he learns that his owner, Miss Watson, is planning to sell him to someone in New Orleans. Jim overhears her talking to a man who claims that he would be able to sell him for eight hundred dollars, and ultimately decides that the sum was too big for her to resist temptation. Jim doesn’t want to travel to New Orleans since both his wife and children are held as slaves nearby and going to New Orleans would not only mean difficult labor but also separation from his loved ones.

Huck seems to believe that Jim earns his freedom when both he and Tom set him free from the shed on Uncle Silas’s plantation. However, he gives up his freedom to ensure that Tom receives appropriate care from the doctor. Tom later reveals that Jim had been granted his freedom a month before their adventure, as Miss Watson had felt guilty about ever considering his sale. She had left him his freedom in her will, which had come into effect upon her death. Uncle Silas then frees Jim, and he is allowed to be a free man.