Student Question
Why did Huck and Tom stay silent about the graveyard incident in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?
Quick answer:
Tom and Huck decide to keep mum about the graveyard incident because they are afraid of the wrath of Injun Joe. Huck's statement that "Injun Joe would kill us..." is a reflection of the racism that is so prevalent in Huckleberry Finn. It is especially interesting to note that neither Tom nor Huck even considers the possibility that Injun Joe may have been framed for his crime, or that Muff Potter may have actually committed it. It is also important to remember that this is an account told by a white boy, so one can not be surprised at the way things are portrayed in this novel.
Tom and Huck decide to keep mum about the graveyard incident because they are afraid of the wrath of Injun Joe. If the boys do tell and things happen as they should, Injun Joe will hang, but if, for some reason, that didn't happen, they are afraid of reprisal. Tom and Huck figure that since Muff Potter was drunk and had "just got (a) whack when Injun Joe done it", they are actually the only witnesses to the crime. If they tell, Huck observes that Injun Joe would "kill us some time or other, just as dead sure as we're a-laying here...we got to keep mum...that Injun devil wouldn't make any more of drownding us than a couple of cats, if we was to squeak 'bout this and they didn't hang him".
Tom and Huck make a pact to keep what they have seen a secret. They feel that their oath of...
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silence is important enough that it must be sealed with their blood. Tom writes their declaration on a piece of pine shingle, and the boys prick their thumbs with a sewing needle and squeeze out enough blood to seal it with their initials (Chapter X).
Why did Tom and Huck decide not to reveal what they saw in the graveyard?
In chapter 6 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Tom meets up with Huckleberry Finn on his way to school. They talk about different ways to get rid of warts. Huckleberry is carrying a dead cat, and he says that he plans to take it to the graveyard at midnight. According to Huck, when some devils come to take the soul of an evil person, the cat will follow the devils and the warts will follow the cat.
In chapter 9, Tom sneaks out of his house shortly before midnight and accompanies Huck to the graveyard. In the graveyard, Tom and Huck find Muff Potter, Doctor Robinson, and Injun Joe talking to each other. They're digging up a grave, and they get to fighting about payment. The doctor knocks down Potter with a gravestone, and then Injun Joe stabs the doctor with Potter's knife and kills him. Injun Joe then puts the knife in Potter's hand, as if Potter has committed the murder.
In chapter 10, Tom and Huck run away to the old tannery. Because they are afraid that Injun Joe will kill them too, they swear a blood oath that they won't tell anybody what they saw in the graveyard.