Chapter+Summaries

=Chapter Summaries = 

Character List:
Huck Finn -- the main character or protagonist. He is smart and crafty. He is somewhere between 12-14. Miss Watson -- The sister of Widow Douglas. Old, but kind. Widow Douglas -- The main caretaker of Huck. Wants to "civilize" him. Tries to teach him manners, get him to go to church and school. Jim -- a runaway slave. He is afraid of being sold down the river into a worse part of the South. Very superstitious. Pap -- Huck's father. An alcoholic. Mean and abusive. Tom Sawyer -- gang leader. Friends with Huck. Known by adults as trouble. Literate. Judge Thatcher- The man who keeps Huck's money =Ch. I-IV:=

In these chapters, Huck is introduced to the reader. He is a funny and smart boy who has been taken in by the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. His mother is nowhere to be found, and his father is a drunk and believed dead. These first few chapters introduce the reader to Huck's character and "warm up" the reader to him. The reader also meets Jim, a runaway slave. Jim seems to be very superstitious, but is clearly smart. Tom Sawyer and Huck's other friends are mentioned briefly in a funny vignette when the boys wonder about the rules of forming a gang. Huck endures the Widow Douglas' attempts to 'civilize him, but fears the return of his father. He consults Jim (which shows that Huck and Jim already know each other) about his father's whereabouts. Jim believes Pap will come back. This proves true at the end of ch. IV when Pap appears in Huck's room.

Chapters 8-11 Huck's forgetfulness almost harms Jim's life because Huck pulls a prank of Jim by placing the snake skin at the end of Jim's bed causing it to attract another rattle snake which ends up biting. Before this happens Jim tells Huck how it is bad luck if you touch a rattle snake skin. Huck shows compassions and sympathy towards Jim while he is ill. One night after it had flood, they discover a two story boat house where they come across many useful things but also came across a dead body. Jim did not allow Huck to look a the body for his on sake, this is one of many situation that shows Jim as father figure in Huck's life. Huck and Jim think it’s a good idea for Huck to dress up as a girl and to go into town to find out any news. Huck get information from a women that there is a look out for Jim and Pap that comes with a reward. The lady begins to noticed that Huck is not actually a girl. She gives him a thread and needle and Huck does not know that to do with it but Huck quickly covers his identity up by saying he is an orphan that has ran away. After he quickly escapes because the lady tells him thata people have been seeing smoke over at Jackson's Island.

Chp. __X11__ - __XV1__ In Chapters 12-16, Huck and Jim are enjoying being alone in the wilderness with no one to tell them what to do or how to behave. Huck talks about how, every night he goes ashore and buys them food. He also talks of how he “borrows”/steals food from cornfields, and watermelons, and such. One night they see a steamboat, Huck decides to go inside of it. Inside the steam boat, Huck finds robbers who are trying to take money from another man. Huck thinks that what they’re doing is horrible and so with that he decided to crash their steamboat so, that way they would be stranded. A little while later Huck wasn’t feeling so great about his decision. He realized that just because the men on the steam boat where Robbers doesn’t mean they deserved danger themselves. He put himself in their shoes and when he saw the closet watchman he quickly lied and told him his family was in danger and pointed him to the direction of the robbers in the steam boat, so they could be saved. Later on the next day, Jim and Huck are discussing about kings. They are talking about King Solomon in particular. Jim says he was an unwise king, Huck thinks Jim is just being foolish. They also argue about the French speaking language. Jims thinks it’s silly that all men don’t speak the same language. Huck just lets the argument grow, because he thinks you can’t ever argue with a black person. This chapter shows more of Jim’s logical side and how he has common scene, something that blacks weren’t thought to not have much o **f back then.**

__Chapters XVI-XVIII Summary__

Throughout these two chapters, Mark Twain continues the theme of lying through Huck. Huck's identity to the Grangerfords is a lie. Huck calls himself George Jackson, and introduces himself to Mr. Grangerford as such to then be included in their family and home. The Grangerfords have given Huck a new family. When Huck was with Jim on the river that was a family of Huck's and now Huck has a new family with the Grangerfords. During these chapters, Huck has transitioned his journey from an adventure on the river to now an adventure on land.

__Chapters XXIII - XXV __
====In these chapters, Huck and Jim still with the king and the duke. The king and the duke were very good at fooling people by their natural emotions. They are clever but also evil. While they were moving to another region, they met several people from the town, who told them about the funeral of Peter Wilks, they the king and the duke immediately lied their identity as brother of the dead person. Therefore they all went the that town and met Mary Jane and townspeople. Then, the king and the duke got the heritage money from the Peter Wilks. But the king and the duke put those money "to make up the deffisits." They tricked Mary Jane and other girls that they gave them a money. Suddenly, the most educated person in the town, the Doctor came, and told people the truth, but none of the people believed him. So Mary Jane gave the money to the king and the duke. ====

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapters 32-36

Katie Robbins

// General Discussion Questions: //


 * What two coincidences occur in Chapters 31 and 32? Are they believable? **

The first coincidence is that the family thinks Huck is someone else and they take him in, and it turns out that they think he is Tom Sawyer, Huck’s friend from home. This is pretty un believable because Huck is so far from home, and he happens upon a farm where he goes to steal Jim back, and then they just assume he is tom Sawyer.

The second coincidence is that Tom Sawyer does come along, but this is a little more believable because he was expected, but the whole thing is a little ‘out there’.


 * What new identity does Huck assume now? **

Tom Sawyer (Sid Sawyer?).


 * How is Aunt Sally’s use of the word //mortification// in Chapter 32 and example of a malapropism? What word should she have used? **

Well first off, a malapropism is: an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in [|sound].

When Aunt Sally used mortification she was talking about a cylinder-head blowing out on a boat and a person she had heard about who had died from it. Mortification can also mean gangrene, which would be a reason for amputation.


 * What pranks do the characters play on each other in Chapters 32-34? How do these pranks set the tone for Jim’s escape scene? **

Aunt Sally plays a prank on her husband pretending “Tom” isn’t there yet, but then shows “Tom” (Huck) to him.

Tom pretends to be a stranger, then tells the family he is Sid Sawyer.

I guess it could set the scene because they could think it was all a prank.


 * When Huck sees the king and the Duke tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, he says “It made me sick to see it…Human being can be awful cruel to one another.” What do these comments tell you about Huck? **

It shows you that he is changing, that he no longer just looks out “for Huck” but he is compassionate and feels bad for the King and Duke, even though they were terrible people who did terrible things. It can also show how he is think about slavery at this point in the book as well.


 * How would you describe Aunt Sally? **

I would describe her as very hospitable, and friendly, and she likes to joke around somewhat.


 * Huck says, “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.” What does he mean by this? Do you agree? **

Huck means that something might be technically considered “wrong” but it really is “right”. Yes I think I agree for the most part.


 * Why is Huck so surprised and disappointed that Tom is willing to help steal Jim? **

Huck is so surprised and disappointed that Tom is willing to help him steal Jim because Tom is much more educated than Huck and huck is sad that a fancy person like that would agree to do something considered so bad, which would b esuprising. Also Huck might also be disappointed because Tom is so ‘learned’ that he might come up with a better plan than Huck, which in a way eventually does happen.


 * What do Huck and Tom think of each other’s plans to rescue Jim? Use quotes from the story to support your answer. **

Tom thinks Huck’s plan is too simple and not exciting enough, like it is in books that Tom has read. Pg. 247. “Well, if it ain’t just like you, Huck Finn. You can get up the infant-schooliest ways of going at a thing.”

Huck thinks Tom’s plan is to complicated, and that if a plan will get the job done, it doesn’t matter how complicated or simple it is. Pg. 250 “Ain’t them old crippled picks and things in there good enough to dig a n* (black person/Jim) out with?”


 * Which plan is a farce? Why? **

Tom’s plan is a farce because Tom is using all his ‘book smarts’ that he got from reading all sorts of books that Huck has never read, but he makes his plan way to complicated so that it will take too long and it really increases the chances of them getting caught .It sounds like Twain is sort of making fun of Tom’s plan.


 * In the midst of Tom’s elaborate planning for Jim’s escape, Huck says, “he had forgot me and everything else.” Why does Huck think this? How does this comment reflect on Tom’s character? **

Huck thinks this because Tom was thinking about the plan and about his ideas and so he wouldn’t listen to anything else. It shows that Tom thinks that he is smarter or knows better than Huck, so he doesn’t need to listen to him.


 * According to Huck, when Tom explained the escape plan to Jim, Jim “couldn’t see no sense in the most of it, but he allowed we was white folks and knowed better than him.” Do you think an African American of that time would have thought this? Explain your answer. **

I don’t really think an African American of that time would have thought that, but they might have said they did just because Jim thought the plan was stupid, but he knew that “the white folks” (Tom) wouldn’t listen to him, so he just gave up and then if the plan failed it would be “the white folks’” fault. Jim knew it was no use in arguing.


 * Huck never pretends to be a member of “respectable” society. Yet Mark Twain portrays him as a sensitive, compassionate boy, more concerned with the suffering of others than most of the other characters. What comment on “respectable” society is Twain trying to make? **

Twain is trying to say that a person doesn’t have to be from “respectable” society of be compassionate and care about others. He is trying to say that even though “respectable” society is supposed to be “respectable” they aren’t always respectable, and they aren’t the only respectable people.


 * Who would Twain say was more respectable, Tom or Huck? Why? **

Twain would say Huck is more respectable because he cares about people, has common sense and does thing the most simple and usually logical way. Tom and Huck are basically opposites, and Tom who on the outside would appear to be the more respectable one because of all his reading and such, and Huck doesn’t have much education, but in fact it is the opposite.


 * The critic Leo Marx says, “The most serious motive in the novel, Jim’s yearning for freedom is made the object of nonsense.” Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. **

I guess I agree because when Tom and Huck are arguing it doesn’t really seem to be about how to get Jim out to freedom, but really about how Tom thinks he is better an smarter than Huck, but Huck’s plan is actually better, and they are just arguing, but they don’t really pay attention to what will really get Jim out the best. Tom doesn’t seem to care at all about Jim, he is just in for the adventure of trying to break him out, but he wants to go about it it the most complicated way to make it more exciting, not to make it better for Jim’s escape. Whenever Tom justifies adding something to the plan to make it more complex, it is never about getting Jim out, it is about having and adventure and doing it like people did in books Tom has read.

// Other Questions //


 * What new character appear in your chapters and what are their roles? How does Huck regard them? **

Some new characters are

Aunt Sally- Huck regards her as a nice lady, who assumed he was Tom Sawyer.

Uncle Silas- Huck regards him as a preacher who is kind and really innocent.

Tom Sawyer- Tom Sawyer has appeared before, but not for a long while. Huck regards him as smart, but also too smart that he makes things to complicated.


 * (plot elements chart) What new adventure/s does Huck begin? **

Huck starts the adventure of pretending to be Tom Sawyer.

Huck starts/continues his adventure of breaking Jim out.


 * What previous adventure/s does he end? **

He ends/has ended the any adventures with the Duke and King.


 * In what adventure/s is he engaged in during these chapters? **

Huck is engaged in pretending to be Tom Sawyer, and breaking Jim out.


 * Cite three passages that show what Huck values, likes, dislikes, thinks about, cares about, etc.. reflect upon your choices by telling what you think about Huck in these situations. **

pg. 231 “I was getting so uneasy I couldn’t listen good.” Huck is thinking about this as he is lying to Aunt Sally and he doesn’t even know who he is supposed to be yet. I think this shows how Huck is changing and starting to care about lying, when in the beginning he wouldn’t have even broke a sweat in this situation. Also this situation is sort of like the situation with the King and Duke when they had to come up with all this information about the people they were pretending to be.

Pg. 232 “ But if they was joyful, it warn’t nothing to what I was; for it was like being born again, I was so glad to find out who I was.” In this situation Huck just found out the family thought he was Tom Sawyer, which is a big relief to him because at least he finally knows his name, plus he knows a lot about the Sawyers. I think Huck is really relieved when this happened and he knows exactly what he can talk about and everything becomes much more easy for him. Huck is happy that this has bought him some time.

Pg. 248 “ Now the way I look at it, a hickry bark ladder don’t cost nothing and don’t waste nothing and is just as good to start; and as for Jim he ain’t had not experience and so he don’t care what kind of a-“ In this Huck shows that he thinks that Toms ideas to make everything more complicated and more like all the books Tom has read makes no sense, because as long as the plan gets Jim out, it is fin with Huck. I think this shows how wise Huck is because even though what Tom is saying is technically based on books, Huck still can see that it doesn’t make any real sense.