Chapter 40: "BAAAA!"
Contributor: Kenny Robinson 
A Summary of Events
  • Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas are scared by a letter sent to their house. 
  • Later Huck sees local farmers with guns in the front room of the house.
  • Huck goes to warn Jim and Tom of this, but Tom is excited about this. 
  • Then the shed is attacked by the men. 
  • Tom, Huck, and Jim escape through a hole the cut in the wall. 
  • Tom gets caught on the fence trying to escape and the men fire at them. 
  • They get away, but Tom is shot in the leg and then Jim says to take him to a doctor. 
Characters Involved
  • Aunt Sally 
  • Uncle Silas 
  • Huck 
  • Tom 
Two Discussion Questions
  • What is Tom’s attitude after he was shot? 
  • Was Tom’s escape the right thing to do, when he knew Jim was free?
Two Important Passages
  • "NOW, old Jim, you're a free man again, and I bet you won't ever be a slave no more."

 - This quote lets us no for sure that Jim is a free and and is going to escape to the north. This brings us to the end of our journey, almost anyways. 

  • “I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he'd say what he did say—so it was all right now, and I told Tom I was a-going for a doctor. He raised row about it, but me and Jim stuck to it and wouldn't budge; so he was for crawling out and the raft loose himself; but we wouldn't let him. Then he give us a piece of his mind, but it didn't do no good.” 

- This shows how much Huck has changed through out the novel to respect Jim this much at the end. To refer to him as white inside is like calling him one of his own race.

Controversial Elements
  • How does Twain being back all of theses characters and then make this escape plan work, it is almost impossible, with all of the characters coming back and then and angry mob of farmers waiting to shoot at the first sign of trouble?