CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTER The Last: Nothing More to Write

Summary

The first chance that Huck gets, he questions Tom why he wanted to free Jim when he already knew that he is free. Tom replies that he did it for adventure. Also he wanted to follow and find the escaped Jim, so they could have more adventures. Eventually, he planned to tell Jim he was free.

Once it is known and verified by Aunt Polly that Jim is a free man, he is released from the chains. Tom gives him forty dollars for being such a good prisoner. Huck finds out from Jim that the dead man they had seen in the floating house was his Pap. When she learns that Huck has no relations, Aunt Sally wants to adopt him. The thought of being civilized again is more than Huck can stand, so he decides to run away to the west.

Notes

The novel ends with Huck deciding to “light out to territory ahead” in order to escape from society. The reader clearly understands why Huck hates “civilized” life; his trip down the river has shown him that hatred, violence, brutality, and filth are the characteristics of the society on shore.

Twain ends the story as he started; near the beginning of the novel, Huck is afraid that he will be civilized by Widow Douglas. Now he realizes that Aunt Sally wants to adopt and civilize him, and he decides to run away to the west, to uncharted territory. Ironically, it is the corrupting influence of civilization that makes Huck “uncivilized.”

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