Chapter 13: "The Light Has Shown The Way"

Contributor: Melinda Borgens

A Summary of Events

Jim and Huck are stuck on board a wrecked ship where a gang appears to be in a hideout.  Both try to search for their lost raft that got away in the storm.  The gang members converse over a large amount of money beneath the deck of the ship.  Huck and Jim take the stolen items onto their raft they retrieved.  Huck helps out a watchman aboard a ferry boat where he saves the watchman’s niece.  Huck leaves to find Jim hiding on an island, where no one will find them with the gang’s stolen items.

Characters Involved

Huck  Jim  Ferry boat watchman

Two Discussion Questions

Gangs seem to be a significant part of the novel, as well as in Huck’s life. In what ways do you think the gang is or will be a part of the novel and Huck himself in the future?  Why do you suppose Huck begins crying when he finds the watchman aboard the ferry boat?

Two Important Passages

“Then Jim manned the oars, and we took out after our raft. Now was the first time that I begun to worry about the men-I reckon I hadn’t had time to before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself, yet, and then how would I like it?” (72)  -Throughout the time that Huck spends aboard the wrecked ship listening to the conversations and strategies of the gang, he realizes how much similar this life was to his own with Tom. Even though their gang never harmed anyone or stole anything, Huck sees the predicaments that such a group could get into. Putting himself into their shoes makes him see what his life could have been like, had they retreated to such a lifestyle.

“But take it all around, I was feeling ruther comfortable on accounts of taking all this trouble for that gang, for not many would a done it. I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions, because rapscallions and dead beats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in.” (75)  -Huck lives for the adventures life throws at him, or quite frankly, for the adventures he throws at himself. Ever since he has left Tom, Huck always says how much Tom would like this adventure or the next. But even with out him, Huck’s ways of embellishing his own life seems more of a reality. All the things that were taught to him by the widow or Mrs. Watson are all coming back to him during those chaotic times. Those chaotic times, however, are where he knows he’s doing something dangerous but at the same time they’re done right and with sensibility.

Controversial Elements

Huck always seems to be in the foreground when he exposes himself during the adventures, while Jim is hiding to save both himself and Huck.  Huck speaks plenty of his “family” when he does a good thing or just wishes to reminisce on his childhood as he travels further away from home.