Monday, June 21, 2010

Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings" from his Aunt Polly; ever the mischief-maker, would rather play hooky than attend school and often sneaks out his bedroom window at night to adventure with his friend, ­ Huckleberry Finn, the town's social outcast. Tom, despite his dread of schooling, is extremely clever and would normally get away with his pranks if Sid were not such a "tattle-tale."

As punishment for skipping school to go swimming, Aunt Polly assigns Tom the chore of whitewashing the fence surrounding the house. In a brilliant scheme, Tom is able to con the neighborhood boys into completing the chore for him, managing to convince them of the joys of whitewashing. At school, Tom is equally as flamboyant, and attracts attention by chasing other boys, yelling, and running around. With his usual antics, Tom attempts to catch the eye of one girl in particular:Becky Thatcher, the Judge's daughter. When he first sees her, Tom immediately falls in love with Becky. After winning her over, Tom suggests that they "get engaged." But when Tom accidentally blurts that he has been engaged before to Amy Lawrence, he ruins his relationship with Becky and becomes heartbroken.

One night, Huck and Tom sneak off at midnight to the town's graveyard, where they are planning to carry out a special ritual used to cure warts. Believers in superstition and folklore, the two expect the graveyard to be full of ghosts. After hearing voices approach them, the two boys hide in fear; the voices belong to ­ Injun Joe -the villainous savage,Muff Potter - the town drunk, and Dr. Robinson. The three men are grave robbing! Soon, a fight breaks out between Dr. Robinson and the two other men. As Dr. Robinson grabs a headboard and knocks the liquored Muff Potter into unconsciousness, Injun Joe grabs Muff's knife and stabs the doctor to death. The boys run away from the graveyard before they learn that Injun Joe is planning on framing Muff for the doctor's murder. Fearful of Injun Joe and horrified at what they have witnessed, Huck and Tom vow to keep silent regarding the night's events.

The next day brings only grief for Tom. Aunt Polly learns from Sid that Tom snuck out the night before and cries over him. At school, Becky snubs Tom by paying no heed to his boyish antics. Hurt and angry, Tom assembles a "gang" of pirates: himself, Joe Harper, and Huck. The three boys decide that they have had enough of normal society and run away to Jackson Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River. When the boys are missing, the whole town assumes that they have drowned in the river and villagers drag the river for their bodies. In the darkness of the night, Tom sneaks off the island to return home and leave a note for Aunt Polly informing her that he is not dead. Instead, he overhears Polly and Mrs Harper making plans for their funerals. The boys then wait until the morning of their own funeral, sneak back into town and attend their own funerals before revealing to the congregation that they are alive!

At school, the boys are the envy of each pupil; however, Tom has still not won back Becky's heart. When Tom inadvertently catches Becky reading the schoolmaster's book, she jump out of surprise and breaks it. Later that day, when the schoolmaster questions Becky whether it was she who broke the book, Tom lies and says that it was he who committed the act. Although he takes the punishment for Becky, he wins back her love and attention.

After school is let out for the summer, Muff Potter's trial begins. The town of St. Petersburg has already convicted the innocent man in their minds. Tom and Huck are both racked by their guilty consciences, and are made to feel even worse when Muff Potter thanks them for being kind to him. When the trial begins, the defense council calls Tom Sawyer to the witness stand. To the surprise of Huck, Muff Potter, and all those who are in the audience, Tom divulges all he knows about the murder, naming Injun Joe as Dr. Robinson's killer. Before the trial ends, Injun Joe sprints out of the courtroom before anybody can catch him.

Injun Joe is declared missing and Muff Potter is set free with the apologies of the town. Meanwhile, Tom is afraid that Injun Joe will attempt to seek revenge on him for being a witness, and Huck holds similar fears. One day, Huck and Tom decide to dig for buried treasure at the old haunted house on Cardiff Hill. As they begin their search, the entrance of two strange men surprises the boys. In hiding, Tom and Huck realize that one of the men is Injun Joe in disguise as a deaf-and-dumb Spaniard. Tom and Huck watch as Injun Joe and his accomplice discuss plans for a "revenge job." The two villains are planning to hide a bag of six-hundred dollars in the haunted house and meet back there; but when they hide their bag of money, they discover a box of buried treasure that has already been hidden in the haunted house ­ treasure that once belonged to a gang of robbers. The villains decide to hide their loot in "Number Two" under "the cross" and exit the house. Obsessed with obtaining the treasure, Tom and Huck make plans to follow Injun Joe and find out where the treasure is buried.

Becky, who has been out-of-town, returns to St. Petersburg and holds a picnic for all of her friends. As part of the picnic festivities, the children go exploring in MacDougal's cave: a large cave with secret underground passageways. Unbeknownst to the other picnickers and adults, Tom and Becky lose themselves within the depths of the cave.

In the meantime, Huck has resigned himself to waiting outside the Temperance Tavern, where they suspect Injun Joe is staying. On the brink of giving up, Huck's patience is rewarded when the two villain step out into the night and head off towards the haunted house. But instead of entering the haunted house, the villains go toward the old Widow Douglas's house, with the intention of torturing ­ and maybe even killing ­ her. Remembering times when the widow bestowed her kindness upon him, Huck races toward the Mr. Jones's house, informing him of Injun Joe's plans to hurt the widow. Mr. Jones and his two younger sons hurry over to the widow's estate and scare off Injun Joe and his accomplice before any harm is done.

The word of Widow Douglas's near attack is circulated around town. But news of the missing children breaks out, and for the moment, the entire town concentrates on praying and searching for Tom and Becky. Deep within the cave, Tom and Becky have lost all sense of direction. With the last of their candle burnt out and no food to eat, the two are aware that they may starve to death. Tom attempts to comfort Becky, and continues to explore the cave's passages in hoping of finding a way out. Winding down one passageway, Tom sees a man and shouts to him; to his surprise, the figure belongs to Injun Joe! Frightened by Tom's shouts (and not recognizing the boy's voice), Injun Joe runs away. Tom never tells Becky of this incident, for fear that we would cause her even more worries. Eventually, Tom's persistence pays off when he discovers a tiny hole that the children manage to crawl through and escape peril.

With the safe return of Becky and Tom, the town of St. Petersburg rejoices.Judge Thatcher orders that the door to MacDougal's cave be locked and sealed with metal. When Tom learns of this, he tells finally tells the Judge that Injun Joe is in the cave. Upon breaking the sealed door, Tom, the Judge, and the other citizens find Injun Joe at the mouth of the cave, starved to death.

When he meets up with Huck, Tom informs him that he knows where the treasure is buried. Mistaking the treasure for lost, Huck is eager to return to MacDougal's cave with Tom in search of the money. After recovering the treasure from the cave, the two boys return to town, only to be ushered into the Widow Douglas's parlor. To express her gratitude towards Huck for saving her life, the widow intends on giving Huck a permanent home and providing him with an education. Declaring that Huck is now independently wealthy, Tom spring forward with their newfound treasure, totaling over twelve thousand dollars.

To conclude, to novel ends with Huck and Tom discussing their future plans of becoming world-class robbers.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

At the book's opening, two men, Mr Utterson and his cousin Mr.Richard Enfield are leisurely walking through London. Initially silent, the men pass a mysterious basement cellar door, and Mr. Enfield launches into a story about a strange occurrence related to the door. Late one night, while on his way home, Enfield chanced upon a deformed, short man who trampled a girl in the street on her way to fetch a doctor. The girl's family and Mr. Enfield catch the mysterious man and instead of getting the police, decide to force him to give the girl's family money. Agreeable to this compromise, the mysterious man disappears into the cellar door and returns with a check bearing not his own name, but that of the respectable Dr. Jekyll. Although Enfield assumed the check would be a forgery, it proves to be legitimate.

After hearing the story, Utterson returns to his home where he removes his friend and client Dr Henry Jekyll's mysterious will, which Jekyll recently filed. The will states that in case of Dr. Jekyll's death, his substantial estate will pass to Mr.Edward Hyde, whom Utterson has never met and whom he assumes is the mysterious man in Enfield's story. Even stranger, the will states that in case of Jekyll's disappearance for more than three months, Hyde will assume Jekyll's estate without delay. Utterson also realizes that the mysterious door is connected, in an L shaped way, to Jekyll's home. Utterson concludes that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll and resolves to seek the man out to understand why. After tracking the man down, Hyde is initially civil but turns angry when Utterson extends the conversation, probing into his relationship with Dr. Jekyll.

One year later, Edward Hyde brutally murders Sir Danvers Carew by beating him to death with a cane. With help from Utterson, the police find Hyde's apartment ransacked and all papers burned. After leaving, Utterson proceeds to Jekyll's and confronts him for harboring a murder. Jekyll claims that he is done with Hyde forever and that their relationship is terminated. Jekyll does, however, have a farewell note from Hyde. Utterson examines the note and his clerk,Mr Guest , later discovers that the handwriting, although slightly altered, matches a dinner invitation written by Dr. Jekyll. Angrily, Utterson assumes that Jekyll has forged a letter for a murderer.

More time passes, and we learn that although Hyde has not been located, Dr. Jekyll has become increasingly social, returning to his pre-Hyde days of friendly meetings and intellectual gatherings. One day, Utterson attends a dinner party at Jekyll's home and sees Dr Lanyon there. Shortly thereafter, Jekyll secludes himself and Dr. Lanyon falls severely ill due to "shock" and dies. After his death, Dr. Lanyon leaves Utterson a letter instructing him only to read it after Dr. Jekyll's death or disappearance. Some time after these mysterious events, Enfield and Utterson again walk by the mysterious door and get a rare glimpse at Dr. Jekyll, who is sitting by a window in the apartment. The men have a brief conversation, but Jekyll abruptly shuts the window as he begins to suffer what appears to be a seizure. Enfield and Utterson are struck by the disturbing appearance of Jekyll's face as he withdraws from view.

About a week later,Richard Poole , Jekyll's faithful butler, approaches Utterson. Poole reports that Jekyll has locked himself in his cabinet and strange sounds, including crying and pacing are all that have been emanating from the room. The only communication that Poole has received from Jekyll consists of letters desperately asking for a specific type of medicine. Utterson agrees to assist and follows Poole to Jekyll's house. The two men break down the door to the room where Jekyll has hidden himself. They find Hyde's dead body and assume he committed suicide immediately before they entered the room. They ransack the area looking for Jekyll's body or evidence of his death, but are unsuccessful. In the laboratory, the men discover a large envelope addressed to Mr. Utterson. Inside, Jekyll urges Utterson to read the package from Lanyon and if he wishes to know more, read the further description Jekyll provides within the envelope.

Utterson reads Lanyon's narrative. The letter begins with a description of a strange letter Lanyon received from Henry Jekyll, the night after a dinner party at Jekyll's residence. The letter urges Lanyon to go to Jekyll's house and fetch a certain drawer with specific contents from the laboratory. Afterwards, a messenger will come to Lanyon's house in Jekyll's stead to recover these items, which include powder, a phial, and a paper book. Lanyon follows the instructions thinking that Jekyll has lost his mind. Mr. Hyde appears at the specified time, looking particularly strange, dressed in clothes far too large for him. Lanyon gives Hyde the ingredients. Hyde then asks Lanyon whether or not he would like to see the end result of his errand. Lanyon is curious and agrees. Hyde mixes the ingredients into a potion, drinks it, and transforms into Dr. Jekyll as an astounded Lanyon observes. Lanyon is deeply affected by this shock and the pure evilness of Jekyll, brings on his subsequent illness and death.

After reading Dr. Lanyon's account, Utterson reads Jekyll's own description of his failed experiment. Jekyll believed that the soul is made up of two separate distinctions: good and evil. These two separate beings live in continuous and inherent conflict with each other. Slowly, Jekyll begins an experiment where he attempts to completely differentiate these two aspects of human nature. Jekyll experiments extensively and then makes two potions. One transforms him into Edward Hyde, and the second transforms him back into Henry Jekyll. This amazingly successful experiment begins Jekyll's extensive exploration of his other self, a man entirely comfortably in morally corrupt behavior, whom he eventually names Edward Hyde.

For some months, this behavior continues until Jekyll, "had gone to bed- Henry Jekyll, and had awakened Edward Hyde." Jekyll was alarmed that he transformed into Edward Hyde without the assistance of the potion, and became concerned that the character of Hyde might irrevocably take over. Concerned that he had overstepped his bounds, Jekyll chose to give up the freedom of Hyde and for two months maintained the identity of Dr. Jekyll. Unfortunately, he was tortured with Hyde's longing to freely take part in evil doings, and he once again took the potion. During this transformation, Hyde brutally murdered Carew. Because of the manhunt for Hyde, Jekyll swore off ever again making the transformation and set out to try to remedy the evil inside of him.

Unfortunately, at this point Jekyll had given too much power to his evil side. Hyde was an irrevocable part of Jekyll's character, and the many transformations and evil behaviors only strengthened Hyde's power. One night, while contemplating Hyde's deeds, Jekyll spontaneously transformed into Edward Hyde. Because his dual identity was a secret to all members in his house, he realized he could not walk through his house to the laboratory to retrieve the potion's ingredients. Therefore, he sent the urgent letter to Dr. Lanyon. After successfully turning back into Dr. Jekyll, he went home once again but every time he fell asleep, he reverted to Mr. Hyde. Soon, his potions failed to work, even at double strength, and he ran out of the specific medicine needed. While living in the cabinet apartment and not allowing any of his servants to see him, Hyde launches a desperate but unsuccessful search across London for the potion ingredients. When Poole and Utterson finally break into the room, Hyde kills himself, thus finally releasing both Jekyll and Hyde.

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Gold Rush in the Yukon and Alaska has prompted the need for big, strong dogs who will be able to pull sleds over icy trails.Buck , a large animal living in the home of Judge Miller in Santa Clara, California, is exactly what the explorers want. He is an animal with human-like tendencies, intelligence, strength and dignity. Thus far he has enjoyed his civilized life with the occasional nature stroll or hunting trip.Manuel, a gardener's helper with a penchant for gambling and a need for money, manages to kidnap Buck and sell him on the black market. He is given to a saloon-keeper and transported via train to the Northland. Throughout the ordeal, Buck is kept in a cage and becomes increasingly angry. He manages to badly bite one of his kidnappers. By the time he arrives at his destination, he has worked himself into a rage.
The meeting with the Red Sweater and the painful encounters with his club push Buck into submission. He is not broken, but he knows better than to keep resisting, which can only result in his death. Once he is behaving correctly, Buck, along with Dave and Curly, two other dogs, is sold to Francois and Perrault, two agents of the Canadian government. They must bring the mail between Skaquay and Dawson, Alaska. While in camp, Curly is killed for trying to make friendly advances to another husky. Buck understands that this is the law of club and fang which dominates this new world. He resolves never to go down in that manner.

Buck and Dave join a preexisting dog team led by Spitz, a bullying husky dog. The trail work begins immediately. Buck learns fast from the other dogs. In time he starts to become more wild, losing the domesticity imposed upon him in the Judge's home. Tensions develop between him and Spitz. Buck is ready to be a leader, and looks to usurp Spitz's power. While hunting a rabbit one night, the two end up in a fight to the death. Buck achieves mastery. When Francois attempts to place Sol-lek at the head of the team, Buck refuses to allow it. Even the appearance of a club does not faze him, for he has learned how to avoid it. When Francois allows him to take the position, he is amazed by Buck's abilities. Buck begins to dream of an ancient world in which man and dog fought side by side to survive.

After two round trips between towns, the dogs are exhausted and overworked. Francois and Perrault are very proud of their team, having just set a record for their run. But they receive new orders and must bid the dogs goodby. Several Scottish "half-breeds" take charge of Buck and his other dogs. He does not have strong feelings for them, but they are good men and they care for the dogs. Buck's dreams of the ancient world grow more vivid. The path is very difficult and men and dogs alike are growing weak. One day Dave shows so much pain that one of the men tries to get him to run behind the sled. He refuses so adamantly that the men give in and allow him to run himself out. The next morning they drive the sled away, then one man returns and shoots Dave.

After this last trip, the Scottish men are told to sell the dogs and buy fresher ones. The team is sold to a group of tenderfoots -Hal,Charles and Mercedes - looking to strike it rich. They have no idea how to work with a dog team. In Hal's eagerness to complete the trail, he terribly mistreats the dogs. His quiet brother-in-law Charles and weepy sister Mercedes only increase the difficulty. Hal's incompetent handling of the rations leads them to run out of food for the dogs half-way through the trip. Starving and overworked, one by one the dogs start to die. The remnants pull into the camp of John Thornton. Buck refuses to rise when Hal wants to leave. After watching the cruel young man beat Buck repeatedly, John steps in and saves him by cutting him out of the harness. The rest of the team continues. Only a quarter-away, the sled falls through the ice, thinned by the sun, and dogs and humans perish together.

Buck falls wildly in love with John Thornton, who immediately recognizes that Buck is one of a kind. Under John's influence, comforted by his two other dogs Skeet and Nig, Buck begins to heal. He accomplishes a number of miraculous things for John, saving his life twice and winning a bet that allows him to pay off all his debts. He does not forget his visions of the primitive world, but he is happy at John's side. Along with Hans and Pete, John's partners, the dogs go on an expedition for a lost mine. The work on the trail, the daily hunting, are absolutely delightful for Buck. Though they don't find the mind, they do find gold, and so there is no more work for the dogs to do. Buck ruminates once more on the call that he hears nightly in the forest.

Eventually he starts to sleep away from the camp. He embraces his instincts and wild tendencies, killing his own food and watching out for himself. Buck meets a wolf who befriends him and is quite sad when he returns to the camp. This pattern continues, until one day Buck returns to the camp to find everyone killed by the Yeehats, a Native American tribe. He flies into a rage at the death of beloved John, and kills all the men who do not run away from him. There is no more tie to mankind, so Buck returns to the forest and remains with a pack of wolves. Each year he visits to the valley where John Thornton died, mourning his lost, dearest friend.

The novel opens with Huck telling his story. Briefly, he describes what he has experienced since,The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which preceded this novel. After Huck and Tom discovered twelve thousand dollars in treasure,Judge Thatcher invested the money for them. Huck was adopted by the Widow of Douglas and Miss Watson , both of whom took pains to raise him properly. Dissatisfied with his new life, and wishing for the simplicity he used to know, Huck runs away. Tom Sawyer searches him out and convinces him to return home by promising to start a band of robbers. All the local young boys join Tom's band, using a hidden cave for their hideout and meeting place. However, many soon grow bored with their make-believe battles, and the band falls apart.

Soon thereafter, Huck discovers footprints in the snow and recognizes them as his violent, abusive Pap's. Huck realizes Pap, who Huck hasn't seen in a very long time, has returned to claim the money Huck found, and he quickly runs to Judge Thatcher to "sell" his share of the money for a "consideration" of a dollar. Pap catches Huck after leaving Judge Thatcher, forces him to hand over the dollar, and threatens to beat Huck if he ever goes to school again.

Upon Pap's return, Judge Thatcher and the Widow try to gain court custody of Huck, but a new judge in town refuses to separate Huck from his father. Pap steals Huck away from the Widow's house and takes him to a log cabin. At first Huck enjoys the cabin life, but after receiving frequent beatings, he decides to escape. When Pap goes into town, Huck seizes the opportunity. He saws his way out of the log cabin, kills a pig, spreads the blood as if it were his own, takes a canoe, and floats downstream to Jackson's Island. Once there, he sets up camp and hides out.

A few days after arriving on the island, Huck stumbles upon a still smoldering campfire. Although slightly frightened, Huck decides to seek out his fellow inhabitant. The next day, he discovers Miss Watson's slave, Jim, is living on the island. After overhearing the Widow's plan to sell him to a slave trader, Jim ran away. Jim, along with the rest of the townspeople, thought Huck was dead and is frightened upon seeing him. Soon, the two share their escape stories and are happy to have a companion.

While Huck and Jim live on the island, the river rises significantly. At one point, an entire house floats past them as they stand near the shore. Huck and Jim climb aboard to see what they can salvage and find a dead man lying in the corner of the house. Jim goes over to inspect the body and realizes it is Pap, Huck's father. Jim keeps this information a secret.

Soon afterwards, Huck returns to the town disguised as a girl in order to gather some news. While talking with a woman, he learns that both Jim and Pap are suspects in his murder. The woman then tells Huck that she believes Jim is hiding out on Jackson's Island. Upon hearing her suspicions, Huck immediately returns to Jim and together they flee the island to avoid discovery.

Using a large raft, they float downstream during the nights and hide along the shore during the days. In the middle of a strong thunderstorm, they see a steamboat that has crashed, and Huck convinces Jim to land on the boat. Together, they climb aboard and discover there are three thieves on the wreck, two of whom are debating whether to kill the third. Huck overhears this conversation, and he and Jim try to escape, only to find that their raft has come undone from its makeshift mooring. They manage to find the robbers' skiff and immediately take off. Within a short time, they see the wrecked steamship floating downstream, far enough below the water-line to have drowned everyone on board. Subsequently, they reclaim their original raft, and continue down the river with both the raft and the canoe.

As Jim and Huck continue floating downstream, they become close friends. Their goal is to reach Cairo, where they can take a steamship up the Ohio River and into the free states. However, during a dense fog, with Huck in the canoe and Jim in the raft, they are separated. When they find each other in the morning, it soon becomes clear that in the midst of the fog, they passed Cairo.

A few nights later, a steamboat runs over the raft, and forces Huck and Jim to jump overboard. Again, they are separated as they swim for their lives. Huck finds the shore and is immediately surrounded by dogs. After managing to escape, he is invited to live with a family called the Grangerford's. At the Grangerford home, Huck is treated well and discovers that Jim is hiding in a nearby swamp. Everything is peaceful until an old family feud between the Grangerford's and the Shepherdson's is rekindled. Within one day all the men in the Grangerford family are killed, including Huck's new best friend, Buck. Amid the chaos, Huck runs back to Jim, and together they start downriver again.

Further downstream, Huck rescues two humbugs known as the Duke and the King. Immediately, the two men take control of the raft and start to travel downstream, making money by cheating people in the various towns along the river. The Duke and the King develop a scam they call the Royal Nonesuch, which earns them over four hundred dollars. The scam involves getting all the men in the town to come to a show with promises of great entertainment. In the show, the King parades around naked for a few minutes. The men are too ashamed to admit to wasting their money, and tell everyone else that the show was phenomenal, thus making the following night's performance a success. On the third night, everyone returns plotting revenge, but the Duke and King manage to escape with all their ill gotten gains.

Further downriver, the two con men learn about a large inheritance meant for three recently orphaned girls. To steal the money, the men pretend to be the girls' British uncles. The girls are so happy to see their "uncles" that they do not realize they are being swindled. Meanwhile, the girls treat Huck so nicely that he vows to protect them from the con men's scheme. Huck sneaks into the King's room and steals the large bag of gold from the inheritance. He hides the gold in Peter Wilks's (the girls' father) coffin. Meanwhile, the humbugs spend their time liquidating the Wilks family property. At one point, Huck finds Mary Jane Wilks, the eldest of the girls, and sees that she is crying. He confesses the entire story to her. She is infuriated, but agrees to leave the house for a few days so Huck can escape.

Right after Mary Jane leaves, the real Wilks uncles arrive in town. However, because they lost their baggage on their voyage, they are unable to prove their identities. Thus, the town lawyer gathers all four men to determine who is lying.The King and the Duke fake their roles so well that there is no way to determine the truth. Finally, one of the real uncles says his brother Peter had a tattoo on his chest and challenges the King to identify it. In order to determine the truth, the townspeople decide to exhume the body. Upon digging up the grave, the townspeople discover the missing money Huck hid in the coffin. In the ensuing chaos, Huck runs straight back to the raft and he and Jim push off into the river. The Duke and King also escape and catch up to rejoin the raft.

Farther down the river, the King and Duke sell Jim into slavery, claiming he is a runaway slave from New Orleans. Huck decides to rescue Jim, and daringly walks up to the house where Jim is being kept. Luckily, the house is owned by none other than Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally. Huck immediately pretends to be Tom. When the real Tom arrives, he pretends to be his younger brother,Sid Sawyer . Together, he and Huck contrive a plan to help Jim escape from his "prison," an outdoor shed. Tom, always the troublemaker, also makes Jim's life difficult by putting snakes and spiders into his room.

After a great deal of planning, the boys convince the town that a group of thieves is planning to steal Jim. That night, they collect Jim and start to run away. The local farmers follow them, shooting as they run after them. Huck, Jim, and Tom manage to escape, but Tom is shot in the leg. Huck returns to town to fetch a doctor, whom he sends to Tom and Jim's hiding place. The doctor returns with Tom on a stretcher and Jim in chains. Jim is treated badly until the doctor describes how Jim helped him take care of the boy. When Tom awakens, he demands that they let Jim go free.

At this point,Aunt Polly appears, having traveled all the way down the river. She realized something was very wrong after her sister wrote to her that both Tom and Sid had arrived. Aunt Polly tells them that Jim is indeed a free man, because the Widow had passed away and freed him in her will. Huck and Tom give Jim forty dollars for being such a good prisoner and letting them free him, while in fact he had been free for quite some time.

After this revelation, Jim tells Huck to stop worrying about his Pap and reveals that the dead man in the floating house was in fact Huck's father. Aunt Sally offers to adopt Huck, but he refuses on the grounds that he had tried that sort of lifestyle once before, and it didn't suit him. Huck concludes the novel stating he would never have undertaken the task of writing out his story in a book, had he known it would take so long to complete.