Theme: the theme of slavery in the novels of m. Twain contents

2.3.8. The Phelps
Silas and Sally Phelps are Tom Sawyer‟s aunt and uncle, whom Huck encounters on many occasions while he is searching for Jim after the con men have sold him. Sally is the sister of Tom‟s Aunt, Polly. Essentially good people and typical Southerners, the Phelps hold Jim in custody and try to return him to his rightful owner. They keep him in a cabin and another slave takes food to the cabin where Jim is a prisoner “Well, the nigger unlocked the padlock when he went in, and he locked it again when he came out” (Twain 234).
Silas and Sally are the unknowing victims of many of Tom and Huck‟s preparations in their attempts to free Jim. The Phelps are the only intact and functional family in the novel yet they are slaveholders, they own many slaves; “behind her comes her little white children, acting the same way the little niggers was going” (Twain 222).Twain also mentions the good treatments of this family toward strangers even if they own slaves, for example when Tom appears and pretends to look for Mr. Archibald Nichols house“Mr. Archibald Nichols, I presume?” (Twain 229) the old man tells him he is wrong and that his driver has deceived him, but he did not let him go and brings him inside the house for dinner. Twain is giving an image about the hypocrisy of society where people take care of white men whereas they keep their slaves locked inside cabins and they put an end to their freedom.
Sally Phelps‟s sister “Aunt Polly- Tom‟s aunt Polly” (Twain 1) appears at the end of the novel and properly identifies Huck, who has pretended to be Tom Sawyer and Tom, who has pretended to be his own younger brother, Sid.
Mark Twain introduces us to many types of characters; some of them own slaves while others make money from the institution of slavery. We meet Miss Watson, the Grangerford family and the Phelps who own slaves, on the other hand we also meet people like the Duke and the King who profit from the institution of slavery, because there are many markets of slavery where money can be made if you capture a slave (Negelsen NP).