Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter 38 Summary

  • Tom makes Jim carve various inscriptions into the wall before his escape, because that's how it's done in books and history and all that jazz.
  • He then makes up a coat of arms for Jim to draw, along with several "mournful inscriptions" such as: "Here a captive heart busted" (38.18). Pure poetry.
  • In order to make the last few days of Jim's stay as pleasant as possible, they decide they need some rats, snakes, spiders, and everything else they can think of that bites, itches, scratches, or otherwise impedes a man's sleep.