The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 13
We return to the pirating theme in Chapter 13. Tom is so upset and glum, he feels like he has been cast out into the world. He decides to become a pirate again.
He meets up with Joe Harper, and tries to say good-bye. However, Joe has been punished for a crime he didn't commit, or even heard of the objects of which the crime was involved, and he is in as bad as a mood as Tom. He had decided to become a hermit, but changes his mind and decides to become a pirate as well.
The boys hunt down Huckleberry Finn, and he agrees to join the group. They decide to meet that night, and gather supplies throughout the day. Everyone manages to get something, but Huckleberry gets the biggest and best load.
They steal a raft near midnight, while the rafters are in town. They go down the Mississippi River until they reach a small island that's near the farther shore of the river, named Jackson's Island. There's only forests, and no people.
The boys set up a tent to protect their supplies, and then have dinner. Afterwards, Huckleberry smoke using some of the stuff he stole. Then the boys start talking about their new "job", and about the "job" of a hermit. Huckleberry is the first to actually go to sleep.
But Joe and Tom can't quite yet. They still do their prayers, though lying down instead of kneeling. Then their consciences bug them for running away.
And then they are heavily bothered by the fact that they stole important stuff, like food. They try to fight it by reminding said consciences that they had stolen little treats before. But they eventually realize that stealing little stuff is not really "stealing", and that their stealing big food items was. And that there's a command against stealing in the Bible, so it must be bad!
They eventually decide that they would not steal for the rest of their pirate actions. That's when their consciences finally leave them alone. The boys finally go to sleep.
Some things didn't make sense here. Why were the boys bothered with stealing the major food stuffs when they stole treats all the time? Stealing is still stealing, no matter how important or major the item is. So why did the big theft bother the boys, and not the minor stuff?
However, Mark Twain did do a good job with the conscience issue with Huckleberry Finn. Earlier, Mark Twain made it clear that Huckleberry stole stuff pretty much 24/7, and I believe a lot of it is for survival. So it made sense that Huckleberry was able to go to sleep that night without his conscience bothering him.
I still think that Joe needs better work as a character. Admittedly, Joe hasn't been a big character up to this point, but if he was going to be a bigger one, Mark Twain should have used him more. Then we would know his character better, and know if the conscience issue was indeed part of his character, or not.
Tom is definitely not the best-built character. He's shown as the bad boy pretty often. But this soft side has been showing as of late. But this conscience attack, and him doing some good stuff, though quietly, doesn't make the greatest sense. He pulls off big stuff pretty often, but stealing bugs him, especially when he grabs little stuff constantly? And he does his prayers, even when he doesn't have to? It does not make the best sense.
People seem to have major stereotypes even back in those days. At least the boys did! The talk of what a hermit should do seem to point that out pretty well. They were saying that hermits need to do this and that, but I'm pretty sure that they were mixing up some stuff in Bible. And the rest doesn't seem overly likely for a hermit, or really any person, to do.
The boys didn't think in the right terms of time. They were planning for the future, but they forget many major points. Their plans of being pirates needed them to be at sea, and it sounded like they were sticking around that little island! And what did they plan to do once their supplies ran out, or winter came? That was not the best-planned adventure.
Life In Wagon Trains
In the 1800s, as early as the 1840s, people went to the West. Most of them went in wagon trains. The wagons were covered, and were stuffed full of stuff people had brought. There were even pockets sown into the walls to hold stuff!
However, this made the wagons hard to carry, even by healthy oxen. Plus, there were often distractions, like a women giving birth. Therefore, the going was slow. One of the best distances made by a wagon train in one day was only 10 miles!!!
There were a ton of kids in the wagon trains. They were everywhere, and women often fell pregnant and gave birth along the way. The huge amount of kids in the wagon trains actually affected the behavior of the people in those trains. Food was cooked better than it would have usually been. The trains were protected better at night. And it's all because there were kids to take care of in the group.
Group behavior was a major thing in wagon train life. Everyone was one huge family, and shared and tried to take care of each other. But there were downsides... Sometimes, children would go missing and no one truly knew what happened (though they would presume stuff). The group would make the parents continue on and leave the missing kids to whatever fate they truly shared.
Wagon train life was hard and dangerous, especially for kids. Kids could get thrown off the bouncing wagons. The place where the kids could pretend to "drive" was about 5 feet off the ground, so it could hurt when they were thrown off. The kids could even be run over by the wagons! Even common household supplies could be dangerous... if one wasn't careful, even medicine that was just left within the reach of the kids could be lethal!
Weather was a big and obvious other problem. The seasons all had their big problems. Heat was extreme in the summer... so bad, that even a breeze was only heat being blasted about, and even the nights were hot! And the mountain trails could have very bad winters... so bad, that not everyone could get through the very deep snow!
Hunger was a super-major problem. People often starved, and sometimes even to death! Even the kids suffered, though everyone tried to help. Even the kids helped some. In the mountain passes, sometimes the food problem was so major that survivors of one problem would eat the humans who had died in that same problem!!!
The problems were so severe, not everyone made it through. And I don't just mean deaths! Some people came down with very bad mental problems. Some folks would get violent.
Some of these mental problems were more due to strain and stress. But they would have big effects. People would stop trusting others. The changes were sometimes so major, that even the kids would be afraid, even when it was their own parents!
Things seemed to let up somewhat at night. Music would be played around the campfire, and people would dance. Sometimes animal impressions were made. It seems like surviving one more day out in the wilderness made folks feel like they should celebrate.
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