[H] Chyna: Chapters 07-10

Huck and Jim’s meeting on the island begins the main story arc of the novel. Huck and Jim, both estranged from society in underlying ways, find themselves sharing a pastoral, dreamlike setting: a safe, peaceful island where food is of an abundance. From this point in the novel forward, their fates are connected. I believe that Jim has had no more say in his own fate as an adult than Huck has had as a child. Freed from the insincerity and prejudice of society, they find themselves in what seems to be a paradise filled with the essences of life at that time; smoking pipes, watching the beautiful river as it flows forever, and feasting on catfish and berries. There are two episodes in these chapters, however, that remind Huck and Jim of the alarming threat from outside and give us the sense that this fantasy on the island is unlikely to last. The first involves the house that floats down the river past the island. The man inside the house has clearly been murdered, and the house bears other marks of human vices: playing cards, whiskey bottles, and obscene graffiti. Although Huck and Jim gather some useful goods from the house, it reminds them that Jackson’s Island is not completely isolated from the outside world. The second incident involves Jim’s rattlesnake bite, a direct result of a dim-witted prank Huck tries to play on Jim. Once again we notice that Huck and Jim are reminded that no vicinity is safe for them at this point in the book. We can also draw a connection between the Garden of Eden and the location of Huck and Jim at this point. First, how was the scenery described to us? We were told that Huck and Jim felt that they were in paradise, smoking pipes and having a good old time; this would be the Garden of Eden. But as we all know that in the Garden there lurked a snake and Adam was bitten because he was unwise.