The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
Chapter Summaries
By Mark Twain
Chapter 1
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Huck lives with the Widow Douglas
Runs away, Tom Sawyer brings him back
Miss Watson and the widow tutor him
Huck talks about how the money in the cave
made them rich
Kills the spider
Runs off with Tom
Chapter 2
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Tom and Huck leave the house
Jim hears them; falls asleep waiting for them
Goes to the cave to be a part of Tom Sawyer's
gang
They become robbers; sign an oath in blood
He goes back home
Chapter 3
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Everyone quits the group
They don't rob or kill anyone
Tom Sawyer talks about genies
Widow tells Huck about Providence
Chapter 4
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Huck knocks over a salt shaker; scared for his
luck
Sells his money to Judge Thatcher for $1.00
Jim tells him his future
Finds his father in his room
Chapter 5
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Huck's father demands Huck's money and tells
him to drop out of school
Widow and Judge Thatcher try to get Huck
away from his father
New judge takes Huck's dad in and makes him
a new man
Dad gets drunk, breaks his arm
Chapter 6
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Pap takes Huck across the Illinois border
They live in a cabin; Huck has no way to
escape
Pap tries to kill Huck, thinking he is an evil
spirit
Chapter 7
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Finds a canoe
Decides to escape
Leaves a trail so people will think he was
killed
Takes everything from the cabin
Leaves in the canoe
Arrives at Jackson Island
Chapter 8
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Huck finds Jim on the island
Jim tells Huck how he ran away from Miss
Watson
Jim tells Huck about good luck and bad luck
and how he used to be rich but lost all his
money
Chapter 9
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Finds the cave
A big storm floods the island
Jim tells Huck about the ghost
Finds the house floating in the water
Finds a dead man inside the house
Removes items from the house
Chapter 10
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Huck touches snake skin
Leaves dead snake on Jim's bed
Snake's mate bites Jim
Jim gets sick for a few days; gets better
Huck dresses up as a girl and practices how to
act
Huck goes to town
Chapter 11
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Huck goes to a woman's house and pretends he
is a girl
Woman tells him her husband is going to
Jackson Island to look for Jim
Discovers he is not a girl
Tells him she will help him
Huck returns to the island and warns Jim
They pack up their camp and leave
Chapter 12
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Huck and Jim leave the island behind
Find a wrecked boat
Huck learns that the people on the boat are
murderers
Huck and Jim's raft floats away and they
become trapped on the boat
Chapter 13
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Huck and Jim get trapped on the wreck
They steal the skiff
Huck tells the watchman about the murderers
on the wreck
Jim and Huck rest on an island
Chapter 14
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Huck and Jim hide
Huck talks about kings
Discuss “Sollermun” and his “million wives”
Huck and Jim argue about different languages
Chapter 15
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The raft gets free and floats away
Huck goes after Jim and the raft
Huck plays a trick on Jim and tells him it was
just a dream
Jim gets hurt, Huck is ashamed
Chapter 16
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Looking for Cairo
Huck climbs onto a boat
Men fight, tell ghost stories
Huck thinks about ratting out Jim
Gets $40 from two men
Doesn't rat out Jim
Loses the canoe
Cannot find Cairo
Raft gets destroyed
Huck cannot find Jim
Chapter 17
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Huck stumbles into someone's yard
People allow him to stay
Huck likes their company
Their dead daughter wrote poetry and drew
pictures
Huck wants to write a poem for her
Chapter 18
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Talked about the family
Buck tries to kill Harney Sheperdson
Sophia Grangerford has Huck go and get her
Testament book
Huck finds Jim
Sophia and Harney get married; run off
Grangerfords and Sheperdsons kill each other
Huck and Jim leave
Chapter 19
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Hide on another island
Run into two men who are being chased down
One man claims he is the Duke of Bridgewater
The other says he is the Dauphin of France
Chapter 20
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They get caught in a storm
Huck, the king, and the duke go to a town
They find a camp meeting
King reveals he was a pirate for 30 years and is
going to convert all pirates
Find a reward for Jim
Decide to tie him up in the day so that they can
travel both days and nights
Chapter 21
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Practice their Shakespeare performance
Go to a town
A man named Boggs goes on a drunken
rampage
Another man kills Boggs
Townspeople want to kill the man
Chapter 22
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Mob goes to Sherburn's house
Sherburn calls them cowards
Huck goes to the circus
Drunken man rides horse; takes off 17 suits,
turns out to be one of the circus people
No one goes to the Shakespeare show
Duke changes up the show
Chapter 23
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King and Duke make a new show
Sell tickets to the show
People hate the show because it's very short
Perform the show first night and second night
Run away on the third so the people can't hurt
them
Jim tells Huck how his daughter had scarlet
fever and it made her deaf
Chapter 24
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Dress Jim up as an Arab
Go to another town
Meet a man
Man tells them how he was waiting for another
man to arrive
Tells them how the man's brother just died
King and Duke pretend to be the man with
other people
Chapter 25
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People in town think the King and the Duke are the
dead man's brothers
Take them to the daughters
They make a big scene about the dead man; everyone
cries
Invite people to dinner
Give all the money to the daughters
Doctor comes -- says they are frauds
No one believes him
Chapter 26
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-Huck stays in a cubby
Tells Joanna about England
She does not believe some of the things he
says
Mary Jane and Susan stand up for Huck
Huck feels guilty
Decides to steal the money back from the King
and Duke and will hide it from them
Chapter 27
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Huck hides the money in the coffin
There is a funeral and the body is buried
King sells the slaves, breaking up the family
Girls are heartbroken
King and Duke ask Huck if he’s been in their
room
Huck tells them he saw the slaves in there a
couple of times
Chapter 28
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Mary Jane upset about the slaves
Huck tells her everything
Mary Jane agrees to leave for the day so the
frauds can't leave
Huck tells other sisters that Mary Jane is
visiting a friend
Auction
Actual uncles show up
Chapter 29
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Townspeople try to figure out who the real brothers
are
Ask them questions
Real brother tells them there is a tattoo on their dead
brother's chest
Dig up the grave
Huck makes a run for it
Finds Jim
King and duke catch up with them
Chapter 30
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King and Duke board the raft
King shakes Huck
King and Duke fight
Get drunk and fall asleep
Huck tells Jim everything
Chapter 31
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The King sells Jim
Huck takes the raft and the canoe and hides
them
Duke tells Huck that Jim is in Lafayette (he's
really at Silas Phelps' place)
Huck goes after Jim
Chapter 32
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Huck goes to the Phelps' farm
Family finds him
Thinks he is Tom Sawyer
Huck goes to town to find Tom
Chapter 33
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Tom Sawyer comes to the house
Kisses his aunt -- she is angry
Tells her he is Sid Sawyer (Tom's brother)
Huck and Tom go to town
King and Duke are tarred and feathered
Chapter 34
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Huck and Tom notice that one of the slaves
takes vittles to a shed
Huck and Tom think Jim is there
Make a plan to help Jim escape
Slave takes them to Jim
Slave tells them witches harass him
Chapter 35
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Tom wants to make Jim's escape very
interesting
Huck thinks Tom is overdoing the escape
Tom explains how everything will work
Huck steals knives for escape
Chapter 36
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Huck and Tom dig a hole and get into Jim's
holding place
Tell Jim about the plan
Tell Nat (a slave) that to keep the witches
away, he must make a witch pie for Jim
Boys put things into pie to help Jim escape
Chapter 37
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Aunt Sally is going crazy because everything
is disappearing
Huck and Tom make the pie for Jim
Chapter 38
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Plan how to make Jim's coat of arms
Draw inscriptions on rocks
Tom tells Jim he needs a prison pet like a
snake or a rat
Tom tells him to plant a flower and water it
with his tears
Chapter 39
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Rats and snakes get loose in the house
Aunt Sally is in a fit
Jim is unable to sleep with the rodents
Huck and Tom start scaring the family with
pictures in blood and anonymous letters
Chapter 40
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Huck and Tom start to leave
Huck is caught
Sees men with guns
Huck, Tom and Jim run
They are chased after
They escape
Tom gets shot in the calf
Huck goes to fetch a doctor
Chapter 41
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Huck gets the doctor
Wakes up and sees they are gone – goes
looking for them
Runs into Uncle Silas
Has dinner with other farmers
Tom is still missing
Everyone is scared
Chapter 42
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Tom is brought home
Jim is locked away
Tom tells Aunt Sally about setting Jim free
Aunt Polly comes – tells Aunt Sally Jim is free
and reveals Tom and Huck’s true identity
Chapter the Last
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Jim is freed
Tom wants to go on Indian territory
Huck learns his father is dead and he does not
need to worry about him trying to steal his
money