[H] Jack: Chapters 32-34

In the beginning on chapter 32 occurs, I my opinion, the sickest joke of the entire novel. Sally asks Huck, “Good gracious! anybody hurt?" and Huck replies, “No’m. Killed a nigger.” Huck’s use the word “nigger” is obviously profoundly racist, but not just because of the meaning of the word; it’s the meaning Huck gives this word in this context. Huck is saying that a “nigger” is a no-one, a non-human. The sick joke lies in the response to the query “anybody hurt?” The way Huck’s response is punctuated furthers the racist connotation of his reply. Its should be read “No’m. [PERIOD, stop] Killed a nigger.” The forced pause in the middle of the line is the sick joke because Huck could have just stopped at “No’m.” His addition of the words “killed a nigger” forces home the racist agenda at the time.

In chapter 33, Huck asks for Tom’s help in freeing Jim from captivity. Tome replies, “I'll HELP you steal him!” and Huck then narrates, “Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing speech I ever heard—and I'm bound to say Tom Sawyer fell considerable in my estimation. Only I couldn't believe it. Tom Sawyer a NIGGER-STEALER!” Perhaps, Huck and Tom’s meaning of the word “steal” differ in that Tom is an apparently racist character and it just does not seem right for him to jump at the chance to free a runaway slave. Tom’s meaning of the word “steal” is that he will steal Jim for himself and make Jim his slave.

Tom’s apparent disregard for Jim’s life appears in chapter 34 when he proposes an elaborate plan to “steal” Jim. Huck first proposed a sound plan to get Jim to freedom. However, Tom shot down his plan and proposed his own “fifteen times” more elaborate.
This is another one of Twain’s sick jokes regarding Jim and his condition as a slave.