7. Full question inside (spoiler warning)

[Jen]

7. The revelation at the novel’s end that Tom has known all along that Jim is a free man is startling. Is Tom inexcusably cruel? Or is he just being a normal thirteen-year-old boy? Does Tom’s behavior comment on society in some larger way?

[Lynn]

The revelation is cruel. But the novel is an ever evolving adventure. To have revealed that would have shifted the novel considerably.

[John]

"Is Tom inexcusably cruel? Or is he just being a normal thirteen-year-old boy?" You ask as if they were exclusive alternatives. He is being inexcusably cruel. There is a reason child soldiers are so frequently sought after. Thirteen-year-olds can be vicious.

[Kristel]

I think Tom being a 13 y/o boy (not as mature as Huck has become) is still too immature to understand the significance of withholding that information. It really contrasts how some attitudes toward Jim differ from other peoples.