Escape from Alcatraz, aka the Phelps's Farm

Aunt Sally Greets Him

After the king sells Jim back into slavery for $40, Huck asks a boy where Jim was sold.  He learns that the king sold Jim to Silas Phelps.  Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where Jim is, hoping that he can make things right, so he does not have to go to hell for helping a slave.  He decides to tear the letter up and help Jim escape.  He meets up with the duke, who tells him that the king sold Jim to Abram G. Foster, who lives 40 miles back (a lie of course).  Huck then starts walking to the Phelps farm.

When Huck arrives, a woman (Aunt Sally) comes out saying, "It's you, at last!  Ain't it?"  (220).  Huck soon realizes that Aunt Sally thinks that he is Tom, Tom Sawyer to be exact.  Huck leaves the farm to find the real Tom, and Tom thinks that he is a ghost.  Huck tells him that he plans to steal Jim out of slavery, and Tom agrees to help him (Huck is very surprised).  Tom arrives after Huck and pretends to be a stranger, then his own younger brother, Sid.  Huck also learns that the king and duke are tarred and feathered during the performance of the Royal Nonesuch.

The Window of Opportunity

The boys soon deduct where Jim is being held captive.  They go in to see him (thanks to a very superstitious and gullible slave) and tell him that they will help him escape.  Both boys have a plan, but Tom dismisses Huck's plan (prying the board off the window) because it is too simple.  Tom's plan is unnecessarily complicated, and he invents difficulties to make it like the escapes from adventure novels he has read.

Tom makes the plan so complicated that is very funny.  Reading about Tom (manipulating Huck) going way out of his way to make things difficult is entertaining, and it shows how Huck falls so easily into Tom's hands.  (Tom is doing this not to help Jim, but for adventure.)  Finally, everything is ready.

Before the escape, Tom writes letters that say that a dangerous band of cutthroats will try to steal Jim.  The Phelps gather a group of farmers (all with guns, which makes Huck worried and Tom excited), and the trio escapes.  A farmer shoots Tom in the leg during the escape, and Jim refuses to leave until Tom's leg is attended to by a doctor (which is ironic because Jim cares for Tom, but Tom does not care about Jim). 

Tom Sawyer Wounded

Huck gets the doctor and then runs into Uncle Silas.  Aunt Sally is very worried about "Sid."  When Tom is brought back to the house and moves, Aunt Sally is so relieved.  Jim is captured because he helped Tom.  The farmers are angry with Jim, but the doctor stands up for him.  Jim is locked (under more security than before) back in the cabin.  When Tom wakes up, he tells everyone about the escape.  After learning that Jim is back in chains, Tom tells everyone that Jim is a free man.  Apparently, all along, Tom knew that Jim was free because Miss Watson had died and set Jim free in her will.  This shows how selfish Tom is, placing his want for adventure above Jim's freedom.  Aunt Polly then shows up, and it is revealed that "Tom" is Huck, and "Sid" is Tom.  Also, Tom had been stealing and hiding all the letters between the two sisters.


In the end, Tom's leg heals, and Jim is free.  Tom gives Jim $40 for being a prisoner when he did not need to be.  Jim tells Huck that Pap is dead (he was the dead man in the floating house), and Tom tells Huck that Judge Thatcher is still keeping Huck's money for him.  Huck decides to find freedom from society's rules and pressure by living in the West, even though Aunt Sally offered to "civilize" him.  Huck says, "I can't stand it.  I have been there before."  (293).

Pictures:

First picture courtesy of: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/76/old/orig76-h/p7.htm

Second picture courtesy of: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/76/old/orig76-h/p7.htm

Third picture courtesy of: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/lincolnimages/huckfinn355.jpg