In this chapter, Huck, Jim, the Duke and the Dauphin are
escaping after ripping off a town with their fake performances. As the two crooks are
sleeping, Jim is on the raft moaning and groaning, and Huck realizes that he misses his
family. Jim shares a story about hitting his daughter when she did not deserve it
because he told her to shut the door, and the little girl didn't hear him because
scarlet fever had left her deaf. Huck's epiphany is that he realizes that Blacks can
love their families as much as Whites. He also realizes that Jim is much more noble than
most of the Whites with whom he and Jim have come into contact and this increases his
inner conflict because he still remembers that Jim is a runaway slave and that he, Huck,
is helping Jim escape. Once again, Huck has a guilty conscience with regard to
Jim.
The themes addressed are racism and conscience, Huck's
continual conflict. Huck is learning that racism is wrong and his guilty conscience is
teaching him this lesson the more time he spends with Jim.
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