What is the significance of 'Lizabeth's story in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

The placement of this story is significant in itself. At this time, Huck and Jim have stumbled into company with the con men, who will do pretty much anything to make a dollar. When the men learn that there is a reward of $200 for Jim (adjusted for inflation, this equates to somewhere around $6,000 today), this foreshadows that Jim faces trouble with these men.

One morning, Huck awakes to find Jim moaning in his sleep, saying, “Po’ little ’Lizabeth! po’ little Johnny! it’s mighty hard; I spec’ I ain’t ever gwyne to see you no mo’, no mo’!” (Chapter 23). Huck knows that he has been dreaming about his family and decides to ask him some questions about his home life. He understands that Jim has never been away from home and is making an effort to show Jim some kindness.

Jim relates that his daughter had suffered from scarlet fever and had been very sick. After she recovered, he asked her one day to shut the door. She didn't move, and he repeated the request several times. Angered by a daughter he considered disobedient (obedience was deeply developed in slave life as a matter of survival), gave her "a slap [on the] side de head dat sont her a-sprawlin’." As Elizabeth began crying, a wind slammed the door shut behind her, and she never moved. At this point, Jim realized that his daughter had lost her hearing as a result of her illness and was devastated. This memory haunts him even in his sleep.

Through this story, both Huck and the reader appreciate the humanity that binds us all together. Jim loves his family. He acknowledges his own mistakes. He wants to be a better person. And he deserves to have these opportunities by being a free man and returning home to the family he loves.

What is the significance of 'Lizabeth's story in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

One significance of this story is the way it reflects on Jim and his humility. The story, importantly, demonstrates that Jim's humility is not borne out of his "social condition" as a slave, but instead stems from his experience with his family. 

Lizabeth, Jim's deaf daughter, taught Jim a potent lesson about assumptions, compassion, and empathy. He had thought his daughter was not minding his instructions and he went so far as to strike the young girl. Then he discovered that she could not hear his instructions. She was deaf. 

Jim is naturally saddened and humbled by this experience. In his willingness to recount the story to Huck, Jim demonstrates that this humility is now fully incorporated into his character. This humility contrasts with Huck's continuing juvenile tricks and slight abuses of Jim and Jim's patience.