The last chapters

Ugh... Tom Sawyer. I can't decide if the fact that he knew Jim was free makes what he did worse or not. On one hand, Tom was the one enslaving Jim and putting him in danger through his extravagant, pointless, schemes. On the other hand, since Jim was already free all of this time, there wasn't really any hurry for them to escape, anyway. If Jim actually needed to escape for his freedom, then it would have meant Tom held his desire for imagination and adventure above Jim's well-being. I don’t know if I explained what I am thinking correctly. It's bad either way you look at it. Regardless, Tom should have never done what he did.

After Tom told Huck that Jim was already free, I thought it was interesting that Huck said, "I couldn't ever understand, before, until that minute and that talk, how he could help a body set a nigger free, with his bringing up" (p. 279.) This makes me feel that I may have been too hard on Tom; I forget that he is even younger than Huck. Yes, his actions were degrading towards Jim, but I can't really blame him if that's the only way of thinking he has ever known... what was instilled in his mind at a young age. But I wonder how different Huck's bringing up was than Huck’s. If Huck was able to value Jim, despite his upbringing, I wonder if Tom could change for the better, too.

I also noticed how unselfish Jim is. The fact he was so worried about Tom’s well-being and wanted him to see a doctor demonstrates he really cares about him. He was also putting his freedom at risk in the process.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that it was Pap’s body Jim and Huck came across in the beginning. It was nice of Jim to try to shield this from Huck but it seemed like Huck didn’t really care, anyway.