The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
Chapters 19-30
Chapter 19
• Huck & Jim are joined by 2 con-men who have
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been run out of a nearby town
One claims to be a Duke to get special
treatment
The second one claims to be a long-lost King to
get even better privileges
The two are only known as the King & the Duke
Jim is fooled by their story but Huck is not
Chap. 14 foreshadowed this with the discussion
of kings
Chapter 20
• K&D pose a threat to H&J since they are white adults •
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shift of power
Huck tells K&D that Jim belongs to him but that he lost
his papers - so the K&D won’t try to turn Jim in as a
runaway slave
Jim takes on a father role: lets Huck sleep-takes his
night watch
K&D go ashore to pull a scam - King pretends to be a
pirate and takes in $ from a poor community at a revival
Duke prints a runaway slave flyer so they can claim they
captured Jim for the reward $ - supposedly so no one
questions Jim being w/them - flyer is worrisome
Chapter 21
• K&D practice really bad Shakespeare scenes &
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plan to put on a show soon
Further south K&D go ashore in Arkansas &
make a handbill advertising their upcoming show
They leave Jim alone, tied up on the raft so
people will think he’s been captured –
uncomfortable & cruel treatment for Jim
Huck witnesses a man (Colonel Sherburn) shoot
and kill a drunk and disorderly man
(Boggs) in cold blood
Chapter 22
• A mob attempts to lynch Col. Sherburn for killing
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Boggs but he shames them with a speech about
the cowardice of mobs – Twain’s commentary on
mob mentality
Huck sees a circus
K&D’s show flops so they make the handbill
more enticing by adding the line “Women and
children not admitted” knowing that the men
would be curious to see what was forbidden Twain’s commentary on human nature
Chapter 23
• We’ll read this short chapter
aloud – two major scenes:
1. Nonesuch Play (scam)
2. Jim’s fatherhood role
Chapter 24
• On their next stop ashore, so they don’t
have to leave Jim tied up, they dress him
as a “sick Arab” so people will avoid him
• The King goes to scout ideas for his next
scam
• The King gets to talking to a man on a
steamboat who tells him of Peter Wilks, a
rich man recently dead, whose brothers
are coming from England to take care of
his estate & their 3 nieces
Chapter 24 continued
• No one has ever seen these brothers
• One is “deef & dumb” and they have been
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delayed in their trip
King decides he and the Duke will pretend to be
the brothers and steal the girls’ inheritance
King pretends to be Harvey Wilks; Duke
pretends to be William, the deaf/mute brother
Huck is forced to participate as their servant
Chapters 25-29
• In these chapters, K&D carry out their scam
• Only one person in town suspects K&D are lying
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– the doctor who was good friends with Peter
Wilks, the dead man
The nieces are totally convinced that K&D are
their uncles from England
K&D could’ve gotten away early with $6000 but
the King got greedy, wanted to sell all the
property to get more money
Chapters 25-29
• Huck feels guilty lying to the Wilks girls so he
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tells the oldest Mary Jane, takes the $6000 back
from K&D, then hides the money in the dead
man’s coffin
Ultimately the real brothers show up and the
town is ready to lynch the King, Duke & Huckfirst time Huck shows real fear in the novel
Huck is able to escape to the raft; he and Jim go
onto the river thinking they have finally left the
King & Duke behind
At the last second, K&D come running to raft
Chapter 30
• K&D are left with no money after their failed
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scam
The King blames Huck for the missing $6000
But the Duke thinks the King took it & threatens
and chokes him until he ultimately confesses to
hiding the money even though Huck had done it
K&D both get drunk & pass out
Huck tells Jim the whole story