14 Things to Know about Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Ch. 17-30 (because it’s Feb. 14th!)
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Chapter 17: Twain satirizes aristocracy through the rich, feuding, slave-owning Grangerford family. They are
superficial, just like their bowl of fake fruit: “On the table in the middle of the room was a kind of a lovely crockery
basket that had apples and oranges…but they warn’t real because you could see where pieces had got chipped off and
showed the white chalk, or whatever it was, underneath” (152).
Chapter 18: Huck is perceptive enough to realize that Col. Grangerford likes the battle with the Shepherdsons, even
though no one remembers why it started, because he sees that when the discussion turns to the feud, “the old
gentleman’s eyes blazed a minute—‘twas pleasure, mainly” (161). In addition to satirizing aristocrats, this chapter
ridicules people who are hypocritical about religion when the men bring guns to church. In terms of character
development, Huck again feels inadequate and guilty about inadvertently helping Sophia and Harney run away: “I
judged I ought to told her father about that paper and the curious way she acted, and then maybe he would ‘a’ locked
her up and this awful mess wouldn’t ever happened” (171).
Chapter 19: Again, Huck uses his most poetic and heartfelt language to express the safety and peace he feels on the
raft. He decides the duke and the king are just conmen, but keeps it to himself, thinking “…it warn’t no use to tell Jim,
so I didn’t tell him” (185). What does this say about Huck’s attitude toward Jim? What does this say about Jim’s life
experience?
Chapter 20: Here again, Twain satirizes religion. The people at the camp meeting are as theatrical as the king and the
duke, whom we know to be fake. At the camp meeting, Huck observes that “you couldn’t make out what the preacher
said any more, on account of the shouting and crying” (193).
Chapter 21: Huck witnesses the confrontation between Boggs and Col. Sherburn. So far, Huck has encountered death
with the floating house, the robbers, Buck, and now Boggs. This section of the book criticizes our attitudes both
toward life (we fight others over petty things) and toward death (we are more concerned with the spectacle than with
the repercussions).
Chapter 22: In a narrative shift, Col. Sherburn delivers a long speech to the mob at his door. He ridicules the “justice”
of the south: “The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is—a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s
born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers” (214).
Chapter 23: Jim questions the authenticity of the king and the duke. Huck tells him that’s just how royalty is: “What
was the use to tell Jim these warn’t real kings and dukes? It wouldn’t ‘a’ done no good; and besides, you couldn’t tell
them from the real kind” (225). This is a scathing critique of royalty. Also, Jim misses his family and reveals the guilt
he felt for yelling at his daughter when he didn’t know she had lost her hearing from illness. It’s ironic that a slave, the
consummate mistreated innocent, feels guilty for mistreating another person when he didn’t know better.
Chapter 24: The Wilks episode attacks the gullibility of humans. Huck is disgusted with the actions of the king and the
duke as they pose as Wilks family members to steal an inheritance, commenting that “it was enough to make a body
ashamed of the human race” (235).
Chapter 25: Ironically, the townspeople don’t trust Dr. Robinson when he tries to tell them the truth. They prefer the
story of the king and the duke to that of a man they’ve known forever. Huck’s attitude toward the actions at the
funeral indicates his growing maturity and moral strength.
Chapter 26: Huck’s efforts to help Mary Jane recover the money reveal his moral development. Before acting, Huck
reflects, “I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind’s made up; I’ll hive that money for
them or bust” (252).
Chapter 27: When the king and duke split up the Wilks family and servants, it is meant to parallel the separation of
families through slavery.
Chapter 28: Huck comes clean with Mary Jane, fulfilling a moral obligation to expose the king and the duke. This
foreshadows his actions with Jim.
Chapter 29: This chapter is mostly about plot. The money is recovered and Huck escapes.
Chapter 30: The king and duke catch up with Huck and Jim after escaping. The duke defends Huck because he
recognizes him as a fellow human being chased by a mob. The king and duke blame each other for the money in the
coffin.