The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 35 Summary

  • Tom and Huck's big haul is the talk of the town, and soon everyone around is digging under trees and searching haunted houses for buried treasure.
  • Tom and Huck's money is put in the bank, so that each boy has an income of one dollar each weekday, and a quarter every other Sunday – enough to pretty much cover any and all expenses they might have.
  • After all this, Judge Thatcher is left with a high opinion of Tom. Becky immediately runs to Tom and tells him this; apparently the judge sees Tom becoming a great soldier or a lawyer someday…but we're not sure if the judge has very good eyesight.
  • Huck is miserable. He hates being kept clean by the Widow's servants, he hates eating with a knife and fork, he hates going to church and reading and talking "properly" and basically not getting to do anything thing that he wants to do.
  • After three weeks of suffering, Huck finally slips away. Three days later Tom finds him sleeping in a barrel, just like the old days.
  • Tom talks Huck into going back to the Widow Douglas's; when Huck protests and says that he doesn't like his new life, Tom tells him that "everybody does it that way" (35.8).
  • Tom attempts to use reason to change Huck's mind, but eventually he plays to Huck's baser instincts, telling him that even rich people can be robbers. In fact, Tom tells Huck, you need to be respectable to be in Tom Sawyer's Gang.
  • So Huck agrees to go back to the Widow Douglas's, at least for a little while, and the two boys decide that the initiation ceremony for Tom's gang will take place that night, at midnight, and include all the usual oaths and blood and stuff. Huck can't wait to see what happens.