CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTER 35: Dark, Deep Laid Plans

Summary

Huck and Tom start digging the hole through which Jim will travel to freedom. Tom also looks for a saw for Jim to use in his escape. Huck tells Tom that it is not necessary, for Jim is just chained to a cot; he could lift the cot and remove the chain. Tom admonishes his friend and tells Huck he should read the books about great prisoners, like Casanova or Henry IV, and how they escaped from captivity. He tells Huck that Jim should eat the sawdust after sawing off the wooden leg of the cot. Tom even suggests that Jim should saw off his own leg, but Huck, after a long argument, convinces him that it is not necessary.

Tom also suggests that Jim make a rope ladder and keep a journal written in blood on a shirt. When Huck reminds him that Jim cannot read or write, Tom says that he could still make some marks and scrawl messages that make no sense.

Notes

Tom, true to his romantic aspirations, insists that JimÂ’s escape must have an element of adventure, like those he has read about in books. Tom can only dream and pretend about real adventure; unlike Huck, he has never had the opportunity to live in true freedom or float down the Mississippi for days. Huck, on the other hand, has become even more realistic and practical. He sees the simple solution as stealing the keys and releasing Jim. Tom, however, wants to part of such a easy plan.

As the boys plan JimÂ’s escape, it recalls the escape in the early part of the novel when Huck successfully flees from Pap. What Huck forgets is that Jim is suffering, just like he suffered, while the boys play at having a grand adventure.

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