SOURCE: Link, Eric Carl. “Huck the Thief.” Midwest Quarterly 41, no. 4 (summer 2000): 432-47.

In the following essay, Link traces Huck's moral development through his growing awareness of the seriousness of theft.

Fortunately, Tom got shot. It may be lovely to live on a raft, but only when you can live high, hogging watermelons without having to “chaw” over a lot of Tom's “gold-leaf distinctions.” Had the grand evasion gone as planned, had Tom, Huck, and Jim made it to the raft safely, the beauty and simplicity of raft life would have been diminished by Tom's insistence that they leave off “borrowing” the occasional chicken or cantaloupe from local farms. Tom can't even purloin a few candles without leaving five cents on the table for pay. Lighting out for the territory ahead of the rest may be a bittersweet ending to a bittersweet novel, but it beats having to share...