(2) The voice in the passage remains recognizably Huck’s and thus creates
continuity with the dominant code. Here we have the Rule of Partial Conti-
nuity: when the break is restricted to one aspect of the narration, audiences
are less likely to notice it. This Rule is closely tied to the Rule of Dominant
Focus, which, as I suggest below, deserves to be called a Meta-Rule.
(3) The transitions into and out of the break are smooth and matter-of-
fact: it begins in mid-paragraph with the adverb “Afterwards” and ends where
the quotation above ends. The next paragraph accomplishes the transition
back to the present time of the action with a simple “Well,” followed by “when
Tom and me got to the edge of the hill-top” (36). Similarly, the passage does
not call attention to the signs of its break in perceptual field (or vision). Huck’s
knowledge of what Jim said to the other slaves is simply presumed by his act
of narration—nothing is done to explain or justify it. In these ways, Twain
follows the Rule of Self-Assurance: if the narration or other textual elements
do not call attention to the break, audiences are less likely to notice it. To put
this point from the perspective of authors: when you break from the dominant
system, it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission—and, if your break
is relatively unobtrusive, chances are you won’t need to ask for forgiveness.
(4) When we first come upon this passage, the issue of temporality is not a
concern because we do not know the length of the temporal interval between
this night and Pap’s taking Huck from the Widow’s. Even in retrospect, the
vagueness of the temporality will hide the implausibility from most readers.
Here we have the Rule of Temporal Decoding: if the break in the code is
detectable right away, audiences are more likely to notice it than if it is not
detectable until later in the narrative progression.
(5) As I noted above, Twain designs the passage to be amusing because it
communicates the outlandish outcomes of Jim’s imagination working on the
relatively mundane events Huck has just narrated. This aspect of the passage
and its effects points to the Rule of Extraordinary Revelation. If breaking the
code introduces remarkable, marvelous, or otherwise extraordinary material,
audiences are more likely to focus on those revelations than they are on the
deviations from the dominant code. In other words, what is being revealed is
likely to distract attention from how it is being revealed. Even if the extraor-
dinary nature of the disclosures leads rhetorical readers to question its prob-
ability or plausibility, such questioning remains focused on the what rather
than the how of the narration.
(6) The Meta-Rule of Dominant Focus: I previously defined this one as
follows: once an author shapes the textual dynamics to establish a dominant
focus for the audience, the author relies on that focus in the construction of
new elements of the progression. Here I describe it from the perspective of
48 • CHAPTER 2