HUCK CHAPTER
PRESENTATIONS
SUMMARIES & QUOTES
Fowler, P. 6
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
The next day Huck is still curious as to what happened to the
dead man they discovered, but Jim tells him not to talk about
it anymore since it could bring bad luck. Later, Huck goes out
to the cavern they are hiding in and finds a rattlesnake. He
kills it and thinks it would be funny to play a prank on Jim by
putting it near his sleeping area. As a result, the dead snake’
mate bites Jim and his leg swells up. To try and minimize the
pain Jim drinks Pa’s whiskey, but he ends up not able to do
anything for several days as the swelling goes down and he
gets better. The next day Huck, not sure of what to do,
decides he wants to go explore. Jim tells him he should cover
up in some disguise so he doesn’t get caught. They decide to
use the clothes they found in the cabin where the dead man
was and dress Huck up into looking like a girl. After practicing
how toa ct like a girl for a little bit, he goes off paddling in the
canoe up the Illinois shore. He then comes across a house
and sees a woman. He then decided to knock on her door to
ask her some questions he has, remembering he is still
dressed as a girl.
“His foot swelled up pretty
big, and so did his leg; but
by and by the drunk begun
to come, and so I judged he
was alright; but I’d druther
been bit with a snake than
pap’s whiskey” (64)
CHAPTER 11
Huck enters the woman’s house and introduces
himself as Sarah Williams and says that he is from
Hookerville. The woman and Huck chat for a while
before the woman gets on the subject of Huck’s
murder. She says that Pap and Jim were both
suspects in the murder and they both ran off the day
after Huck’s death. There is $200 bountry for Pap
and a $300 bounty for Jim. She also mentions that
she saw smoke near Jackson’s Island and that her
husband and a friend are heading over there to hunt
Jim and this makes Huck uneasy. The woman
catches Huck in the lie about him being a girl. She
gives him some advice for the road and tells Huck
that her name is Judith Loftus and Huck leaves. He
quickly makes it back to the island, makes a fire to
throw people off their trail, and runs back to the cave
to tell Jim to pack up.
“Git up and hump yourself ,
Jim! There ain’t a minute to
lose. They’re after us!” (73)
CHAPTER 12
They build a wigwam and sail down the river for a
few days, only traveling at night so nobody would
see them. After a storm one night, they find a
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.
“Do you reckon Tom Saywer
would ever go by this thing?
He’d call it an adventure –
that’s what he’ll call it; and he’d
land on that wreck if it was his
last act” (77)
CHAPTER 13
Huck and Jim head for the robbers’ boat. The
robbers put some stolen items in their boat but
leave in order to take some more money from
their victim inside the steamboat. Jim and Huck
take the robbers boat, but then Huck feels bad
because he thinks he might one day be a
murderer. Huck tells a riverboat watchman that
there has been a crash down the river, and he
goes to help. The robber’s boat is the sunk by
Huck and Jim, who then keep going down the
river. Later on they see the Walter Scott floating
by, with no chance of anyone surviving.
“I begun to think how dreadful
it was, even for the murderers”
(82)
CHAPTER 14
Huck and Jim had found the truck that was stolen
off of the wreck from the gang. Inside were tons
of goods like seegars and reading books. Huck
starts to talk about a king, King Sollernmun and
had convinced Jim that all he had to do was talk
and maybe start a war and he would then make a
thousand dollars a month. When all of a sudden
they were interrupted by the sound of steam boat
wheel and went back to their conversation. Huck
then proceeds to explain to Jim that Sollernmun
went to this place called “harem” where he keeps
hundreds of wives. After that Jim and Huck got
into an argument about language and that other
people like, Frenchman speak another language.
The argument ended in a tie.
“Well, he was right; he was
most always right; he had an
uncommon level head for a
nigger” (87)
CHAPTER 15
Huck and Jim start to reach the Ohio River. One
night, Huck, in the canoe, splits apart from Jim
and the raft. Huck tries to go back to the raft but
can not find it. Eventually, Huck finds Jim who is
asleep on the raft. Jim is very happy to find out
Huck is alright. Huck tries to convince Jim that he
dreamt the whole separation. Eventually Jim sees
all the items that had been collected on the raft
while he was asleep. Jim gets mad at Huck for
lying about being separated. Huck eventually
apologizes. He feels bad about tricking Jim.
“Dat truck dah is TRASH; en
trash is what people is dat puts
dirt on de head er dey fren’s en
makes ‘em ashamed” (96)
CHAPTER 16
Huck is starting to feel bad about helping Jim,
because he belongs to someone else. He also
feels guilty that Jim is going to try steal his family
back, because the children belong to someone
else (meaning the white owner). They are also
trying to find Cairo. Huck decides to turn Jim in,
but decides against it when Jim tells him he is his
only friend. A boat comes along that wants to
search their raft for escaped slaves, but Huck
makes up a story about smallpox being on the
boat so they leave. He feels bad for lying to them,
but also knows he would feel bad for turning Jim
in. A steamboat crashes into the raft, breaking it
and separating Huck and Jim. Huck is then
washed ashore only to have a pack of dogs corner
him.
“s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and
give Jim up, would you felt
better than what you do now?
No, says I , I’d feel bad” (102)
CHAPTER 17
Huck meets the owners of the dogs
(Grangerfords) and tells them his name is George
Jackson. They think he is a spy for the
Shepherdsons, and when he tells them he is not,
they let him stay with them. He spends time with
Buck (the younger son). Huck describes the
house, he thinks it is beautiful but it is actually
tacky. He also notes the art of the dead daughter
Emmeline (who paints and writes poems about
dead people). He also learns that some family
members (both Grangerfords and Shepherdsons)
have been killed by the family feuding.
“Poor Emmeline made poetry
about all the dead people when
she was alive, and it didn’t
seem right that there warn’t
nobody to make some about
her now she was gone” (114)
CHAPTER 18
Huck likes Colonel Grangerford, who has a huge
house and over 100 slaves working for him. His
children are: Bob, Tom, Charlotte, Sophia, Buck.
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.
“I was powerful glad to get
away from the feuds, and so
was Jim to get away from the
swamp. We said there warn’t
no home like a raft after all”
(127)
CHAPTER 19
Huck and Jim meet a couple of cons/actors called
the Duke and the Dauphin. The one man was run
out of town because he was running a
“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).
“It didn’t take me long to make
up my mind that these liars
warn’t no kings nor dukes at
all, but just low-down humbugs
and frauds. But I never said
nothing, never let on; kept it to
myself; it’s the best way; then
you don’t have no quarrels, and
don’t get into no trouble” (135136)
CHAPTER 20
The duke and dauphin take over the raft (and the
beds). The duke convinces the dauphin that they
should put on a Shakespeare play in the next town.
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.
“They asked us considerable
many questions; wanted to
know what we covered up the
raft that way for, and laid by in
the daytime instead of
running-was Jim a runaway
nigger? Says I: Goodness
sakes, would a runaway nigger
run suoth?” (136)
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.
“I’m tired of this, but I’ll endure
it till one o’clock. Till one
o’clock, mind-no longer. If you
open your mouth against me
only once after that time you
can’t travel so far but I will find
you.” (152)
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.
“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.” (22)
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 low and homesick;
because he hadn’t ever been
away from home before in his
life; and I do believe he cared
just as much for his people as
white folks do for their’n. It don’t
seem natural, but I reckon its
so” (165-166)
CHAPTER 24
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
left his brother and the girls all his money and
property.
“Hold on a minute, my
servant’ll he’p you with them
bags. Jump out and he’p the
gentlemen, Adolphus” (169)
CHAPTER 25
The Duke, the King and Huck are lead to the house where
Peter Wilks used to live and they meet their three ‘nieces’. 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 king 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 kind and the duke count the money and come up $425
short of the amount in the letter and decide to put in the rest
of the money from their own pocket. They decide to give the
money to the girls to get rid of any suspicions at anyone may
have. They announce it and everyone can’t stop thanking him
and blessing him. The town doctor overhears the talking and
finally makes an accusation that they are frauds based on the
his horrible English accent, but no one believes the doctor. The
girls don’t listen and instead give the King and the Duke all of
their money and ask them to invest it, to prove their trust.
“He is the thinnest kind of
an imposter – has come
here with a lot of empty
names and facts which he
picked up somewhere; and
you take them for proofs”
(180)
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.
“The thing is for you to treat
him kind, and not be saying
things to make him remember
he ain’t in his own country with
his own folks” (185)
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 thought them poor girls and
them niggers would break their
hearts for grief; they cried
around each other, and took on
so it most made me down sick
to see it” (193)
CHAPTER 28
Mary Jane is found by Huck crying in her room
because of all the slaves being sold (and the slave
family being separated). To comfort Mary Jane,
Huck accidentally tells her that they will be
reunited as a family in less than two weeks. Huck
struggles to tell the truth (something he never
normally does). He tells her what happened, and
then she goes to a friend’s house until Huck, the
duke and dauphin leave (Huck is worried that Jim
could be harmed). Huck leaves Mary Jane a note
with the location of the money, and she tells him
that she will always remember/pray for him.
When Huck is leaving, he meets Susan and
Joanna and tells them that MJ has gone to see a
sick friend. There is also a mob outside of the
house, with two people claiming to be the real
Harvey and William Wilks.
“Pray for me! I reckoned if she
knowed me she’s take a job
that was more nearer her size”
(201)
CHAPTER 29
The real Wilks brothers explain why they were
“We’ll do it! And if we don’t find
delayed (Harvey said luggage was lost, and the
them marks we’ll lynch the
brother William broke his arms and could not sign whole gang!” (213)
anything). Doctor Robinson again tells everyone
the duke/dauphin were frauds. They also cannot
produce the money they were given. A lawyer asks
the three men to sign a letter so he can compare
it to letters the real Harvey Wilks wrote. The
duke/dauphin refuse to admit it, and the dauphin
says the duke is playing a trick by disguising his
writing. Harvey and dauphin describe a tattoo that
brother has on chest, but the undertaker says
there was nothing. The coffin is dug up, and the
money found. Huck then escapes, finds Jim, but
are chased by the duke and dauphin on a boat.
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
“All right, then, I’ll go to hell!”
they can, and the duke/dauphin try schemes along the (225)
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.
CHAPTER 32
Huck finds the Phelps house, and meets Sally (she
thinks he is Tom Sawyer, her nephew). Huck tells her
there was a problem with the boat, which is why he has
been delayed. Sally asks if anyone was killed, and he
says no, just a nigger. Huck is concerned that he will
not be able to pretend to be Tom. He tells Sally he is
going to get his luggage from the steamboat, but is
actually going to try find Tom to tell him to keep up the
charade.
“I went right along, not fixing
up any particular plan, but
just trusting to providence to
put the right words in my
mouth when the time came;
for I’d noticed that
providence always did put
the right words in my mouth
if I left it alone” (230)
CHAPTER 33
Huck finds Tom, who thinks he is a ghost and cannot
believe he is actually alive. Tom agrees to help Huck get
Jim back, but Huck is shocked that he would do something
so against societies rules. He claims that “Tom Sawyer fell
considerable in my estimation”. They go back to the
Phelps farm, where Tom pretends to be William Thompson
from Ohio. Tom then tries to kiss aunt Sally, who slaps
him. He laughs and claims to be Tom Sawyer’s halfbrother, Sid Sawyer. They do not mention the runaway
slave Jim. Huck sees the duke and dauphin being taken to
be tarred and feathered, and notes that “human beings
can be awful cruel to one another”. He decides that having
a conscience is not good, because it makes you feel bad.
“But that’s always the
way; it don’t make no
difference whether you
do right or wrong, a
person’s conscience ain’t
got no sense, and just
goes for him anyway”
(242)
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.
“Don’t ever let on to know us.
And if you hear nay digging on
nights, it’s us; we’re going to
set you free” (248)
CHAPTER 35
Tom is disappointed that Jim was not well
“ ‘Good land!’ I says: ‘why, there
guarded, and that he will invent obstacles to
ain’t no necessity for it.’” (251)
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.
CHAPTER 36
Tom and Huck decide the knives are not going to
work to dig Jim out, so they use axes instead. Tom
decides that Jim should write an etch about being
held captive, and throw it for everyone to see. The
next night Tom and Huck dig their way to Jim. Jim
tells them that Silas and Sally have been visiting
with Jim and praying for him. Jim is very confused
about the elaborate plan the boys have invented,
but follows them anyway. The guard (Nat) is
convinced to bake a witch pie to help Jim, and
Tom plans to bake a rope ladder into the pie.
“So we dug and we dug with
the case knives till most
midnight; and then we was dogtired and our hands was
blistered, and yet you couldn’t
see we’d done anything
hardly…it ain’t no use Huck, it
ain’t a-going to work…we got to
dif him out with the picks”
CHAPTER 37
Aunt Sally has noticed that some objects are
missing from her house (shirts, sheets, candles)
and starts taking her anger out on everyone in the
house except for Huck and Tom. She thinks that it
might be rats, so Tom and Huck plug up the
ratholes before Uncle Silas can do it. They also put
back the objects they had taken, which then
confuses Aunt Sally. The boys also realize how
hard it is baking their witch pie, but they manage
to finish it and send it to Jim.
“But he done us a good turn
with the spoon, anyway, without
knowing it, and so we’ll go and
do him one without him
knowing it-stop up his rat
holes” (265)
CHAPTER 38
Jim is told to scratch his coat of arms on the shed
(Tom tells him too). He is basing all his actions on
things he read in books. Tom’s coat of arms in
really funny. He also writes declarations for Jim,
but he is not happy the wall is made of wood and
not stone. They decide to steal a millstone to etch
on, but it is too heavy for them to write on. After
all the work, Huck notes that Tom does a lot more
supervising that actual work. Tom tells Jim to:
tame a rattlesnake in his shake, and grow a
flower and water it with his tears. Jim is starting to
get annoyed with Tom because he is creating
more work and trouble than is really necessary.
He tells them that his great ideas are wasted on
Jim.
“Yes-easy enough. 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” (272-273)
CHAPTER 39
Tom and Huck infest the Phelps house with rats
“Beware trouble is brewing.
and snakes (that they are putting in Jim’s shed,
Keep a sharp lookout”
which now looks like a zoo). Silas has not heard
from the 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
Huck and Tom are sent to bed because Sally and
Silas are nervous about the letter. Fifteen farmers
have then gathered at the house, and attack the
shed after Huck has warned Jim (Tom is excited
about the men). The boys run away, with Tom
being shot in the leg by a stray bullet. They jump
on the hidden raft, and head towards the island.
Jim tells Tom he should see a doctor, since Tom
would do if any of them were shot. Huck believes
that Jim is “white inside” because of this
statement.
“I knowed he was white
inside…” (290