Huck and Jim

            In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the two main characters Huck and Jim were basically given the short end of the stick by society, and even their. To help Jim escape from slavery they had to use every trick in the book to avoid being caught, even when it wasn't necessary. An example of this is in chapter thirty-three when Huck runs into the ever-scheming Tom Sawyer. Tom says, " "What! Why Jim is ."" Until almost the end of the book the reader does not know what Tom was going to say at the end of his sentence. Tom was going to tell Huck that Jim was already free, because his owner had set him free in her will. Obviously Tom had some sort of scheme up his sleeve to explain why he failed to tell Huck that Jim was already free and then need not steal him from his captors.
             The scheme that Tom had in mind was that he could have a real adventure and help Huck steal Jim out of slavery without actually risking getting in trouble by the law or even their families. Tom wanted to go about getting Jim out by making the situation as difficult as possible, an example of this is in chapter thirty-four when Tom said "That's more LIKE," he says. ""It's real mysterious, and troublesome, and good," he says; "but I bet we can find a way that's twice as long. There ain't no hurry; let's keep on looking around."" Tom does not seem to comprehend that Jim is an actual human being and not a possession lying around with no feelings, plans, or needs in life, but that is just the way that society conformed Tom to think about slaves and African Americans. Tom found many ways to elongated Jim's stay in slavery, whether it was making rope ladders or putting rats in his living quarters, Tom definitely made Jim's situation worse than it already was. When Huck got the nerve to ask Tom why he was making the situation so difficult he came up with many reasons such as customs and rules. " " Jim's a nigger, and wouldn't understand the reasons for it, and how it's the custom in Europe; so we'll let it go.