Previous Next

Summary: Part One, Chapters 23–25

Part One, Chapter 23

Due to choppy waters, Jim, Huck, the Duke, and the King stay ashore the next day. The Duke and the King lounge about, discussing their plan to stop at a saloon in the next town, while Jim and Huck prepare fish. The King refuses to call Jim by his actual name, a fact which greatly upsets Huck. When they finally arrive at the town, Jim sees slaves working in a potato field, and the King instructs him not to limp so that he can sell him for a good price. They locate the tavern, and after demanding that Huck and Jim stay put, the Duke and the King head inside. Huck asks Jim if they should run, but Jim knows that they would get caught. As they continue to sit outside the saloon, however, they discuss ways to distance themselves from the Duke and the King. Huck tries asking a passing white man how to get to the Mississippi River, but his drunken answer proves rather useless. Although Huck eventually confesses that he does not have the energy to run any more, Jim knows that he could keep going but needs a plan. 

Part One, Chapter 24

Huck and Jim fall asleep outside the saloon, and they wake up when the Duke and the King finally emerge. They force Huck and Jim down to the livery where they ask Easter, an old Black man, to shackle Jim for the night. He obliges, but when the Duke and the King leave, he reveals that he has extra keys to the shackles and frees Jim. Easter invites him and Huck to sleep on a bed of hay, and after Huck falls asleep, they discuss Jim’s situation. Jim emphasizes that Huck is trying to help him escape, but Easter warns that white people cannot always be trusted. Huck wakes up enough to reveal that he overheard Jim’s conversation with Easter. Jim attempts to reassure Huck, leading to a poignant moment in which Huck finally comes to understand why Jim employs different ways of speaking depending on the context. 

Part One, Chapter 25

The Duke and the King return to the livery the next morning and find Jim, unshackled, asleep in the hay. Outraged by his release, the Duke lashes Easter, and he collapses to the ground. A large white man hears the commotion and comes into the livery, and he is furious to find that a stranger has beaten his slave. Mr. Wiley refuses to accept the Duke’s justification as to why he lashed Easter, and after inquiring about Jim’s ability to work as a blacksmith, declares that he will keep him until Easter has healed. Huck begs to stay with Jim, but Mr. Wiley refuses. The Duke and the King take Huck with them, using him as leverage to keep Jim from running away.

Previous section Part One, Chapters 20–22 Next section Part One, Chapters 26–29

Take a Study Break