Also, if Huck had fought for Jim, and Huck and Jim hadn't followed Tom's plan to free Jim, Tom might have gotten angry and left, which would have meant they couldn't have found out that Jim was freed. Huck's goal in the novel was to free Jim and all the problems Jim faced were necessary to make this ending a happy ending. There had to be an ending and bringing Tom, Huck's old childhood friend, back into the novel was a brilliant idea. Tom's reappearance in the finale maintained the satirical quality of the story with Tom's romance