HUCK CHAPTER
PRESENTATIONS
SUMMARIES & QUOTES
Fowler, P. 5
CHAPTER 1
Huck and Tom getting the money they find in the
“…allowed she would sivilize
cave, Widow Douglas takes guardianship of Huck me, but it was rough living in
and tries to civilize him, they are trying to give him the house all the time” (1)
a religious education (praying, thanking/listening
to God)
CHAPTER 2
Huck and Tom play a trick on Jim. Jim is a
celebrity amongst the slaves. The “Tom Sawyer
Gang” forms. They are going to be a gang that
robs and murders people (keep women prisoners)
“Jim was most ruined for a
servant, because he got stuck
up on account of having seen
the devil and been rode by
witches” (6)
CHAPTER 3
Miss Watson tries to explain prayers to Huck.
Rumor that Huck’s Pa has been found dead, but it
later turns out to be a woman dressed as a man.
The gang disbands after no robbing or murdering
actually happens. Huck tells the reader about
game they play where they raid picnics and
pretend they are raiding a caravan of Arabs and
Spaniards.
“I went and told the widow
about it, and she said the thing
a body could get by praying for
it was “spiritual gifts”. This was
too many for me…” (11)
CHAPTER 4
Huck going to school and accepting his religious
“I liked the old ways best, but I
and school education. He sees the boot with the
was getting so I liked the new
cross in the snow, gets Judge Thatcher to take
ones too, a little bit” (15)
control of the money he has. Jim has the oracle ox
hairball and tells Huck that there are two angels
surrounding Pa (one good, one bad), but that
Huck is safe for right now. Pa is in Huck’s room.
CHAPTER 5
Pa returns to see Huck, and is not very impressed
by his clothes, and education. Pa goes to the
Judge to get the money back, after Huck tells him
he is not really rich (even though he technically is,
but Thatcher has control of the money). Pa says
he is trying to change, so the new judge takes him
in and helps him. Pa then later gets drunk and
goes back to normal. Thatcher claims the only
real way Pa will be reformed is with a shotgun.
“I’ll learn people to bring up a
boy to put on airs over his own
father and let on to be better’n
what he is” (19)
CHAPTER 6
Pa then sues for custody of Huck, taking him
away from Miss Watson and Widow Douglas. Pa
tells Huck he cannot go to school, but he keeps
going. Pa then kidnaps Huck and takes him to a
cabin in the woods, away from everyone else.
“It was ‘lection day, and I was
just about to go and vote,
myself, if I warn’t too drunk to
get there; but when they told
me there was a state in this
country where they’d let that
nigger vote, I drawed out. I says
I’ll never vote again” (37)
CHAPTER 7
Escape of Huck to Jackson’s Island
“I wish Tom Sawyer was there. I
knowed he would take an
interest in this kind of business,
and throw in the fancy touches”
(43)
CHAPTER 8
Ferryboat carrying family and friends looking for
Huck (or his dead body), fire cannons into the
water and drop bread with mercury in it. Huck
explores the island and spends his time alone.
He then finds Jim (Miss Watson’s slave), who has
run away because he overheard Miss Watson
talking about selling him to another family. He
says he is rich because he now owns
himself/free, and was going to be sold for $800.
“Doan hurt me- don’t! I hain’t
ever done no harm to a ghos’. I
alwuz liked dead people, en
done all I could for ‘em. You go
en git in de river ag’in, whah you
b’longs, en doan’ do nuffin to Ole
Jim, ‘at ‘uz alwuz yo’ fren’ ”
(41)
CHAPTER 9
Huck and Jim are worried about being found on
the island, so they hide the canoe and all their
supplies in a cave they have found.
“Jim this is nice...I wouldn’t
want to be nowhere else but
here” (49)
CHAPTER 10
After finding a bunch of clothes and other items in the
previous chapter, Jim and Huck found about $8 in a
jacket’s pocket. Jim got bit on the heel of his foot by a
rattlesnake. It was Huck’s fault for trying to pull a prank
on Jim and putting a dead rattlesnake on Jim’s bed.
Huck forgot that the rattlesnake’s mate will curl up to
the dead rattlesnake when it dies so there was another
one that was alive on Jim’s bed. Jim’s foot was swollen
and he couldn’t do anything for 4 days and nights. Later,
they caught a catfish that they claimed it to be 6 foot
and 2 inches and over 200 pounds. It would’ve made a
lot of money back at the town, but instead it supplied
the two of them for food. Huck was curious to what the
town was up to and what they were doing. He decided
that they would go canoe over and Huck would dress
like a girl to disguise himself and talk to someone to see
what the recent news was all about in town.
“I said I reckoned I would
slip over the river and
find out what was going
on” (65)
CHAPTER 11
The woman lets Huck in and asks for his name. He replied with a fake
name, Sarah Williams and says he is from Hookerville. They got to talking
and eventually landed on the topic of the murder and pap. “Sarah” asked
who committed the murder and she said at first people thought it was pap
but the suspicion turned to Jim, the runaway. Pap went over to Judge
Thatcher to get money for the hunt, but ended up spending it on alcohol
and got drunk. That night he was with some creepy people and left. This
suspicious action turned the tables again and he was now a suspect
again. There is a $200 reward for pap and a $300 reward for Jim. The
woman kept looking at him curiously and again asked what his name
was. He said his name was Mary Williams. She noticed it was a different
name than before and became even more suspicious. As a cover up, he
said his full name in Sarah Mary Williams. Eventually her suspicions
increase and realizes he is a guy and asked for his male name. He told her
he was an farmer’s apprentice and she questioned him about farm stuff
to make sure he wasn’t lying. He then told her that his name was George
Peters. She lets him go and back at the island Huck makes a decoy fire
because he knows people the woman’s husband is coming to the smoke
that she saw on the island. They pack up all their stuff and head out on a
raft down the river.
“I shoved right into
the timber where
my old camp used
to be, and started a
good fire there on a
high and dry spot”
(73)
CHAPTER 12
They build a wigwam and sail down the river for a ““Git up and hump yourself,
few days, only traveling at night so nobody would Jim! There ain’t a minute to
see them. After a storm one night, they find a
lose. They’re after us!”
crashed steamboat (Walter Scott). They go onto
the boat (to Jim’s objections), and on the wreck,
Huck overhears two robbers threatening to kill a
third so that he won’t “tell.” One of the two
robbers manages to convince the other to let their
victim be drowned with the wreck. The robbers
leave. Huck finds Jim and says they have to cut
the robbers’ boat loose to prevent them from
escaping. Jim responds by telling Huck that their
own raft has broken loose and floated away.
CHAPTER 13
Huck and Jim manage to escape the sinking boat and made it onto the
robbers’ boat. They sneak onto it while the robbers go back to take more
money from the victim. Without the robbers knowing, Huck and Jim flee
the scene and leave the robbers stranded on the sinking ship. Huck starts
to feel bad for the robbers because he thinks that even murderers didn't
deserve to be in the situation he created for the criminals. He puts himself
in the robbers shoes and decides that he must do something to help
them. Huck’s plan is to float down the stormy river with Jim until they see
a light and he will go talk whoever he can find while Jim waits in the boat.
The two of them end up coming across their raft and put all of the stolen
stuff in it. Jim floats down about two miles while Huck goes towards a
village he spotted. He finds a sleeping man, wakes him, and begins to cry.
The man tells Huck that he is the watchman of the boat. It is evident that
the man prides himself in his job. Huck explains that there is a boat wreck
and makes up an outrageous story about how his family was in the boat
and needs help. Huck’s story was very elaborate and convincing enough
for the man to go save the people on the boat. Huck was very proud of his
good deed and feels good about all of the trouble he went through for
those criminals. He waits to see if they are rescued but, sadly, it seems as
though none survived. After this, Huck goes to find Jim and then they go to
sleep.
“I’ll go fix up some
kind of yarn, and get
somebody to go for
that gang and get
them out of their
scrape, so they can be
hung when their time
comes.” (74)
CHAPTER 14
Huckleberry and Jim start looting the ship, The
Walter Scott. They are content with their plunder.
Huck and Jim then discuss their adventures. It is
revealed that, unlike Huck, Jim doesn’t like
adventure. He thinks its too dangerous. Huck
reads, and exaggerates, stories of Kings from a
book he took from the ship. Jim becomes very
intrigued. They argue for a bit about these stories,
especially of King Solomon and Frenchmen. Huck
becomes fed up with disputing with Jim because
of how uneducated he is.
“No Jim; you couldn’t
understand a word they said –
not a single word”
CHAPTER 15
Chapter 15 starts out with Huck and Jim planning
to get a steam boat for travel but then the fog sets
in. Huck starts floating down river getting close to
“steel heads” because of the fog while they are in
the fog Jim starts whooping for Huck. So Huck
start follow his ‘whoop’s and whoops back. He
gets confused while trying to find it though and he
decideds to take a nap after he wakes up all the
fog has cleared and he sees Him so he hurries to
Jim. Then Huck says that everything that
happened was a dream and Jim believes it the
whole time. They then stop by the back and Huck
takes 15 minutes to apologize to Jim.
“I warn’t ever sorry for it
afterward neither I didn’t do
him no more mean tricks, and I
wouldn’t done that one if id ‘a’
knowed it would make him feel
that way”
CHAPTER 16
This chapter starts off with Huck and Jim wondering what they should do. They
were trying to find Cairo and Jim was getting very anxious to get there because
he knew that once they had made it, he would be a free man. Then, Huck
started to think about how he was the person to blame for freeing Jim from
slavery and how Miss Watson only did good for him and started to feel guilty
about freeing her slave. Huck felt so mean and miserable that he wished he was
dead. When Jim thought he had seen Cairo he jumped up and told Huck that he
had to go check it out and see if it really was. Huck's first intentions were to tell
on Jim but when he was leaving him, Jim started to talk about how grateful he
was to have such a trustworthy friend like Huck and that he was Jims only friend.
Huck felt sick, he came across two men in a boat on the hunt for runaway
slaves. Huck once again comes up with a plan to lead the men elsewhere by
giving them the illusion that his pap was in the boat and was ill with smallpox.
They kept on down the river seeing lights that ended up not being Cairo and
finely stopped to think that they had passed Cairo already when they were in the
fog and Jim goes on to explain how this was due to the bad luck of the snake
skin. When it turned daylight they saw that they were in the clear Ohio River.
They took a rest and when they woke up, their canoe was gone. They set off in
the dark night on their raft and see a steamboat coming in the distance. Before
they knew it, the steamboat crashed through their raft. They two boys got
separated and Huck finally reached shore and saw a big double logged house
and was going to run away but there were dogs barking at him and he knew not
to run or something bad would happen to him.
"it's pap that's there,
and maybe you'd
help me tow the raft
ashore where the
light is. He is sick-and
so is mam and Mary
Ann"(101-102).
CHAPTER 17
While dogs were surrounding Huck, a man called out from the
top of a house near him. He told the dogs to go away and
asked whom Huck was. Huck replied with the name “George
Jackson.” The man asked how he got there and Huck again
replied that he came off the crashed steamboat. The man
asked if Huck new the Shepherdsons, and Huck said no. The
man then let him in his house where his family was, the
Grangerford’s, and they classified him as not a Shepherdson.
They checked him for arms, and told him to make himself at
home. They woke up their son, Buck, and he took Huck
upstairs to his room and they told each other about
themselves. Buck says he should stay longer because they’d
have a great time together. Huck observed the house more
and loved the style of it. He then realized that the family had
had a daughter die and they put flowers by her picture every
year on her birthday. He read her beautiful poetry and was
amazed by it. He then realized that her poetry was all about
death that she wrote when she was alive. The chapter ends
with Huck talking about how great the house was, and that
nothing could be better.
“If Emmeline Grangerford
could make poetry like that
before she was fourteen,
there ain’t no telling what
she could ‘a’ done by and
by.” (114)
CHAPTER 18
Huck likes Colonel Grangerford, who has a huge
“All of a sudden bang! bang!
house and over 100 slaves working for him. His
Bang! Goes three or four guns”
children are: Bob, Tom, Charlotte, Sophia, Buck.
(125)
Buck tells Huck that nobody in the two families
can remember why they are feuding, but they just
do. Even when attending church they carry guns in
case there is a fight. Sophia is having a love affair
with Harney Shepherdson (he leaves a note to
meet in a Bible at church). One of the slaves tells
Huck to come at look at some water-moccasins,
but instead leads him to Jim and the raft. Sophia
and Harney run off, which leads to a battle
between the two families, killing many of them.
Huck and Jim are disturbed by the events, so they
take off on their raft.
CHAPTER 19
Huck and Jim meet a couple of cons/actors called “All of a sudden bang! Bang!
the Duke and the Dauphin. The one man was run Bang! Goes three or four guns”
out of town because he was running a
(125)
“temperance revival meeting” (but he drank), the
other sold product to remove tartar off teeth (and
the enamel), so he had to flee. The men join
forces and one pretends to be the Dauphin of King
Louis XVI of France, the other an English Duke.
Huck and Jim go along with the men to stop any
issues/quarrels, and because they are a child and
black man (so they have no power).
CHAPTER 20
The duke and dauphin take over the raft (and the
“he had been in this country so
beds). The duke convinces the dauphin that they
long, and had so much trouble,
should put on a Shakespeare play in the next town. he’d forgot it” (145)
They arrive only to find everyone is at a religious
meeting. The dauphin tells the townspeople that he
is a pirate looking to be reformed and will become
a missionary. The crowd then donate money to his
‘worthy cause’. The duke starts working at the print
store (while the owners/workers are at the religious
meeting), and makes some money. He prints a
wanted ad for the capture of Jim, that they will use
if anyone questions them about why Jim is with
them. They will make the people believe they have
caught Jim and are returning him for the reward.
Jim wants the dauphin to speak French (like Huck
told him a dauphin would), but he says he cannot
remember how to speak French.
CHAPTER 21
The duke and dauphin practice the balcony scene
from Romeo and Juliet after a night of heavy
drinking. The duke practices Hamlet’s soliloquy
(as well as mixing in some lines from Macbeth).
The four of them visit a small town in Arkansas,
where a drunken street fight leads to the death of
a rowdy drunk man and the attempted lynching of
Sherburn.
CHAPTER 22
The lynch mob go to Sherburn’s house, but he
comes out with a rifle (he is standing on the roof
of his porch). He lectures them on being cowards
and the mob mentality that they have exhibited.
He claims that nobody would dare lynch him
during the day. The mob then leaves his house.
Huck goes to the circus later on, but an actor
pretends to be drunk and tries to ride a horse.
Huck is terrified the man will be killed, and does
not realize he is just acting. The duke and dauphin
put on their performance, but only a dozen people
actually come to watch. The next night they put on
another play The King’s Cameleopard or The Royal
Nonesuch with a sign that says no women or
children allowed.
“Sherburn never said a wordjust stood there looking down.
The stillness was awful creepy
and uncomfortable” (156)
CHAPTER 23
It is the night of the play, and the audience is jam packed.
The dauphin is wearing a costume that consists of body
paint and wild accoutrements. The duke and dauphin end
the show quickly, and the audience then gets upset that they
have been conned into thinking this was a proper
performance. Instead of getting mad, they tell everyone in
town how amazing the performance was, so that they will
also be conned/embarrassed by watching the show. They put
on a third performance, but everyone from the last two
nights shows come to get revenge. Jim is upset that the duke
and dauphin are ‘rapscallions’ who rip people off, but Huck
says that lots of people in history got where they are by being
liars/thiefs. Huck knows the duke and dauphin are fakes, but
does not tell Jim. Jim spends the night thinking about his
family, and Huck realizes that Jim loves his family just like
white men love theirs. Jim then tells a story about how he
beat his daughter (Lizabeth) for not listening, but he did not
realize she had gone deaf because of the scarlet fever.
“He was thinking about his
wife and his children, away up
yonder and he was low and
homesick; because he hadn’t
every been away from home
before in his life; and I do
believe he cared just as much
for his people as white folks
does for their’n. It don’t seem
natural, but I reckon its so”
(234)
CHAPTER 24
The Duke and the Dauphin are scheming ways to
make more money out of another town. The four
of them travel by steamboat and meet a man who
tells them about the Wilks family and how the
father of three girls has passed away. He tells
them that Wilks left his brothers and the girls all
his money and property. The man tells the
Dauphin all kinds of details about the Wilks’ lives,
and the Duke and the Dauphin use these details
to trick the town into believing that they are the
dead man’s brother. Huck is very bothered by this
latest con.
“Well, if ever I struck anything
like it, I’m a n*gger. It was
enough to make a body
ashamed of the human race.”
(Pg. 173)
CHAPTER 25
The Duke, the King and Huck are lead to the house where
Peter Wilks used to live and they meet their three ‘neices’.
The Duke and King see Peter in the coffin and start sobbing
and praying, and soon everyone else is crying and making a
big show of their sorrow. Then the kind makes a speech,
everyone leaves and he asks for Peter’s closest friends to
come over for dinner. The King reads aloud the final letter
written by Peter explaining where the money is and what
property is left to the brothers, and they go down in the
cellar and find the money. The King and Duke count the
money and come up $425 short of the amount in the letter.
The decide use money from their previous cons to cover the
difference and avoid suspicion. They give the girls their
share and everyone is excited. The town doctor hears the
King talking and makes an accusation that he is a fraud
based on his horrible English accent, but no one believes
him. The girls prove their belief in the King and the Duke by
trusting them with all of their money to invest as they see
fit, unknowingly returning the money back to the frauds.
“I got another idea. Le’s go
upstairs and count this
money, and then take and
give into the girls”
CHAPTER 26
The group decides to stay in Peter’s old house
with all of the nieces. At dinner that night, Huck
contradicts himself by telling stories about dead
kings that go to church in two different places in
England. He swears that he is telling the truth over
a dictionary. Huck feels guilty that he let the duke
and the king steal the money, so he decides that
he is going to steal the money back, and then
escape. When he is searching for the money in
the king’s room, he hears footsteps and hides in
the closet. He overhears the duke and the king
talking about their plan of taking the gold and
selling the house. When the two re-hide the gold,
Huck sees where they put it, and as soon as they
leave, Huck leaves the closet and takes the gold.
CHAPTER 27
As Huck is walking downstairs with the gold, he
hears more footsteps and runs into the room with
Peter Wilks’ coffin. After he decides to hide the
gold in the coffin, he hides behind the door. As the
funeral starts, there is a lot of noise coming from
the basement, which ends up just being a dog
that caught a rat. As the undertaker nails the
coffin closed, Huck is nervous because he isn’t
sure whether or not someone has taken the gold
out. The king says that he is going to go, because
he church in England is in some trouble. The king
sells off the girls’ slaves, while the duke is uneasy
about the whole thing. The next day the duke and
the king wake up Huck and interrogate him about
the gold, to which Huck says that he saw the
slaves that they sold carrying the gold.
“I can’t ever get it out of my
memory, the sight of them poor
miserable girls and niggers
hanging around each other’s
necks and crying; and I reckon I
couldn’t a stood it all, but would
a had to bust out and tell on
our gang if I hadn’t knowed the
sale warn’t no account and the
niggers would be back home in
a week or two” (135)
CHAPTER 28
In the morning Huck finds Mary Jane crying in her
room. She was upset after the incident with the
slaves, and felt that the trip to England was ruined.
Huck sees her pain and mentions that the slaves will
be reunited within two weeks. After further
questioning, Huck explains that the uncles are just
con men looking to steal their inheritance. Huck has
Mary promise to go to Mr. Lothrop’s and wait until late
at night so that Huck and Jim can get away. She
would know they got away if Huck didn't show up at
eleven that night. Before Mary goes, Huck gives her a
note explaining where he hid the inheritance money.
After Mary leaves, Huck runs into Susan and the
harelip (Joanna) and tells them that Mary went over
the river to care for a sick friend. The girls start to get
suspicious but Huck tricks them into thinking it was a
new illness. The real uncles showed up at the auction
later that afternoon.
“I says to myself, I reckon a
body that ups and tells the
truth when he is in a tight
place is taking considerable
many resks…the truth is
better and actually safer than
a lie… I’m a-going to chance
it; I’ll up and tell the truth this
time”
CHAPTER 29
An older man and a younger man, arrive claiming to be Harvey and
William Wilks, the real brothers, of Peter Wilks. The King insists they are
frauds, but some of the townspeople start to wonder. At the tavern,
Doctor Robinson states that if they are really related to the late Peter
Wilks, the king won't mind getting the bags of gold and giving it to the
doctor for safe keeping until the townspeople determine who is who. The
King, thinking quickly, tells Doctor Robinson that he would give him the
gold if he could but he doesn't have it; he says that the slaves stole it. He
then continues to tell his elaborate story and the old man claiming to be
Harvey Wilks tell his story. The lawyer Levi Bell asks to see samples of
everyone's handwriting; from that, he can tell that the King and the Duke
are frauds. The King says the test is unfair, so one of the "real brothers"
asks the King if he knows what was tattooed on Peter's breast. The King
says it was an arrow, but the man claiming to be Harvey Wilkes states it
was "P-B-W". The townspeople now believe that all four men are frauds
and it is suggested that they all dig up Peter’s corpse and take a look. If
he doesn't have any of those marks, then they are going to lynch them all,
including Huck.They dig up the grave and everyone is in shock to find the
bag of gold. Huck runs for his life down the road. He finds a canoe and
paddles to the raft. Just as Huck is overjoyed at being rid of the King and
the Duke, he hears a noise. It is the King and the Duke paddling towards
them.
“I think its our duty to see
that they don’t get away
from here till we’ve looked
into this thing” (208)
CHAPTER 30
The dauphin nearly strangles Huck out of anger at
his desertion, but the duke stops him. The con
men explain that they escaped after the gold was
found. The duke and the dauphin each believe
that the other hid the gold in the coffin to retrieve
it later, without the other knowing. They nearly
come to blows but eventually make up and go to
sleep.
“I was very glad to hear him say
that; it made me feel much
more easier than what I was
feeling before” (218)
CHAPTER 31
They are all on the raft, trying to get as far away as
they can, and the duke/dauphin try schemes along the
way, none successful. Huck, duke, dauphin go into
town, and have a fight at a tavern. Huck runs back to
the raft, but finds out that Jim has been sold to Silas
Phelps for $40. Huck realizes the dauphin sold Jim,
and decides to write to Tom to have him tell Miss
Watson what happened. Huck knows that she was
going to sell Jim anyway, and that if his story gets out,
he would be embarrassed about helping a slave. He
cannot decide what to do, and decides this is God
punishing him for helping a black man. He finally
decides, after trying to pray and write to Miss Watson,
that “All right then, I’ll go to hell!” and will “steal Jim
out of slavery.” (214). The duke says that Jim is on a
farm of Silas Phelps, but then changes his story and
says he was sold to another town. He says Huck should
make the three day trip to save Jim.
“But there warn’t no answer,
and nobody come out of the
wigwam. Jim was gone!”
(222)
CHAPTER 32
Huck gets to the farm and describes the one- horse cotton
plantation. Huck is jumped by a circle of 15 barking and
howling dogs. A woman immediately runs out and forces
the dogs away. Anther woman, Sally, then comes running
out and hugs Huck with tears in her eyes. She introduces
Huck to her kids as their cousin Tom. Huck goes on
pretending to be Tom, but gets stuck on one question Sally
asks and decides to tell the truth. Before he can, Sally
hides Huck as her husband comes in. She then pulls Huck
out to surprise her husband, introducing him as Tom
Sawyer. Huck then feels relieved, as Tom Sawyer is Huck’s
best friend so he will now know how to answer all their
questions. Huck tells Aunt Sally and her husband about
Tom's family, still pretending to be him. Huck then worries
that the real Tom Sawyer will show up on the steamboat
that just pulled in, as that will ruin his whole plan. Huck
goes to meet Tom before he gets to the farm but tells Sally
and her husband he is just going to get his luggage.
“Now I was feeling pretty
comfortable all down one
side, and pretty
uncomfortable all up the
other” (235)
CHAPTER 33
Huck finds Tom Sawyer coming the opposite direction in a wagon.
Tom sees Huck and thinks that he is a ghost coming to haunt him,
because he heard that Huck was murdered. Huck explains to Tom
that he is not a ghost and they are excited to be reunited at last.
Huck describes to Tom the situation he is in, and asks what they
should do. Tom comes up with a plan. Then, Huck tells Tom that he
is trying to steal Jim out of slavery, and was surprised when Tom
immediately decides to help Huck to free him. Huck takes Tom’s
trunk and returned back to the farm. About a half an hour later
Tom’s wagon arrived at the farm. Huck acts like he does not know
who arrived. Tom asks for Mr. Archibald Nichols although he was
already aware it was not him. The old gentleman invites him into
the house. Tom tells them that he is a stranger from Hicksville, Ohio
named William Thompson. Tom kisses Aunt Sally on the lips and
she gets very angry. Tom tells the aunt and old gentleman that him
and Huck were half brothers and had planned on the boat to go to
the house at separate times and act like they didn’t know each
other. That nigh, Tom and Huck climb out of their bedroom window
and hurried to town to save the King and Duke from getting in
trouble for having their show. When Tom and Huck got to town a
group of angry people with torches are there. They see that the
angry mob had tarred and feathered The King and Duke.
“it WAS the kind and the
duke, though they was all
over tar and feather, and
didn’t look like nothing in the
world that was human – just
looked like a couple of
monstrous big soldierplumes. Well, it made me
sick to see it; and I was sorry
for them poor pitiful rascals,
it seemed like I couldn’t ever
feel any hardness against
them any more in the world. It
was a dreadful thing to see,
human beings CAN be awful
cruel to one another “ (346)
CHAPTER 34
Tom discovers that Jim is being held in a shed on
the farm. Huck makes a plan to steal the key,
save him, and run off at night. Tom makes fun of
his simple plan, and comes up with a crazy plan
that could kill them all. Huck cannot believe that
Tom is going to ruin his reputation to save a slave.
Jim recognizes Huck and Tom, but Tom tells his
guard that it is just the work of witches.
“he told me what it was, and I
see in a minute it was worth
fifteen of mine for style, and
would make Jim just as a free
man as mine would” (244)
CHAPTER 35
Tom is disappointed that Jim was not well
guarded, and that he will invent obstacles to
rescue Jim (because it is too simple right now). He
tells Huck a bunch of things about plotting an
escape and what they may need (a rope ladder, a
moat, and a shirt on which Jim can keep a
journal, presumably written in his own blood.
Sawing Jim’s leg off to free him from the chains
would also be a nice touch). But since they are
pressed for time, they will dig Jim out with large
table knives. Despite all the theft that the plan
entails, Tom reprimands Huck for stealing a
watermelon from the slaves’ garden and makes
Huck give the slaves a dime as compensation.
“Why, drat it, Huck, it’s the
stupidest arrangement I ever
see. You got to invent all the
difficulties” (250)
CHAPTER 36
Huck and Tom begin there attempt to rescue Jim
by tunneling under the Jims cabin with knives.
They soon realize that this is a ineffective way of
getting to Jim. Tom and Huck then begin to steal
household items from Toms aunt to communicate
with Jim. Jim informs the boys that Uncle Silas
and Aunt Sally come into Jims cabin to pray with
them. This gives tom the idea of trying to trick
Nat, (the slave that gives Jim his food) into giving
Jim a ladder. Jim finds this plan to be foolish but
goes along with it. Tom then convinces Nat that he
is a witch and the only way to appease him is by
making a witch pie, Nat is confused and doesn’t
know what a witch pie is. Tom offers to make the
pie for Nat as long as he doesn’t look at what it is
when he is delivering it to Jim.
“When I start in to steal a
nigger, or a watermelon, or a
Sunday-school book, I ain’t no
ways particular how it’s done so
it’s done” (257)
CHAPTER 37
Aunt Sally notices the missing shirt, candles,
sheets, and other articles Huck and Tom steal for
their plan, and she takes out her anger at the
disappearances on seemingly everyone except
the boys. She believes that perhaps rats have
stolen some of the items, so Huck and Tom
secretly plug up the ratholes in the house,
confounding Uncle Silas when he goes to do the
same job. By removing and then replacing sheets
and spoons, the boys confuse Sally so much that
she loses track of how many she has. The baking
of the “witch pie” is a trying task, but the boys
finally finish it and send it to Jim.
“So we put the sheet back on
the line that night, and stole
one out of her closet; and kept
on putting it back and stealing
it again for a couple of days till
she didn’t know how many
sheets she had anymore” (267)
CHAPTER 38
Chapter 38 was a short one, but one in which a
very important idea conveyed to the readers. In
chapter 38, while Huck and Jim are working to
make the pens, Tom starts coming up with all of
these additional requirements for Jim’s escape
plan. Tom decides that Jim must leave behind an
engraving and a coat of arms, as well as tame a
snake for a pet, play music for spiders, rats and
additional snakes, and plant and nurture a flower
with onion induced tears as the only water for the
flower. Jim tried to disagree with Tom and talk
him out of all of these unnecessary and
unpleasant additions but Tom ended up
convincing Jim that it was all necessary.
“Every animal is grateful for
kindness and petting, and they
wouldn’t think of hurting a
person that pets them. Any
book will tell you that”
CHAPTER 39
Tom and Huck infest the Phelps house with rats and “Why didn’t you tell me that was
snakes (that they are putting in Jim’s shed, which
what you’d be doing down there,
now looks like a zoo). Silas has not heard from the
I wouldn’t have cared” (284)
plantation about Jim, so he decides to advertise the
missing/runaway slaves in both New Orleans and
St. Louis newspapers (which Miss Watson would
read). Tom decides to write a threatening letter to
warn the Phelps family of trouble, pretending to
know about a gang that plans to steal Jim. Tom (the
anonymous author of the letter) tells them that he
has found religion, which is why he is writing to
warn them about the gang. Tom also gives great
details about how the gang plans to steal Jim.
CHAPTER 40
This chapter starts off with Tom and Huck packing up
their food for their escape. Tom insists that Huck goes
to the cellar to go a stick of butter and when he does
Aunt Sally catches him. Huck tries to lie to her again
but this time it doesn’t work and Huck is sent to the
setting room but they are met by fifteen farmers with
loaded guns. Then the butter and bread that he stole
was discovered by Aunt Sally and she said that she
wouldn’t have cared if he was doing that and Huck
was sent back up to his room and they made for their
escape. When Tom, Huck and Jim were all together at
a fence, Tom's pants got caught on the thorns and
made a noise when he dropped that the farmer could
hear and then they ran for their lives while being shot
at. When they got far out on their raft, Tom reveals
that he got shot in the calf. Tom thought it was very
heroic. Huck and Jim went to go find a doctor and Tom
had another elaborate plan to steal the doc.
"why didn’t you tell me that was
what you'd be doin down there, I
wouldn’t have cared"