Transcript Document

HUCK CHAPTER
PRESENTATIONS
SUMMARIES & QUOTES
Fowler, ¾ Block
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
• After escaping the cabin in Ch. 7, Huck lands
the canoe down river on a island. After
spending several peaceful days on the island,
Huck realizes he is not alone.
• He is happy to find out that the other person on
the island is Jim, Miss Watson’s slave. Jim
initially believes Huck is a ghost, but is quickly
convinced that Huck is alive from his tale.
• Jim tells Huck of how he ran away from Miss
Watson because she was going to sell him and
send him to New Orleans.
“When it was dark I set by my
campfire smoking, and feeling
pretty well satisfied; but by and
by it got sort of lonesome” (49).
CHAPTER 9
• Huck and Jim explore the island and set up
camp in a cave in the middle of the island. Jim
predicts a big storm.
• The big storm arrives and the island floods, but
Huck and Jim are safe in their cave.
• A washed-out house floats down the river and
Huck and Jim explore it. They find a dead man
who had been shot. After scavenging the house
for supplies they head back to the island safely.
“Jim said if we had the canoe
hid in a good place, and had all
the traps in the cavern, we
could rush there if anybody was
to come to the island, and they
would never find us” (58)
CHAPTER 10
Huck plays a trick on Jim by hiding a snakeskin in
his bed, and then the snakes mate bites Jim.
Huck decides not to play any other tricks on Jim.
Huck and Jim then decide that Huck should go
into town to find out information, but he cannot go
as himself. He dresses up as a girl. He finds a
woman (in her forties) who might be new to town,
who offers him a snack.
“I made up my mind I wouldn’t
ever take a-holt of a snakes
skin again with my hands, now
that I see what had come of it”
(pg 64).
CHAPTER 11
Huck spends time with the woman, who tells him
that there is a reward for Jim and a reward for Pa
who has run away with money, and that her
husband is going hunting for him. She also tells
him that they have seen smoke coming from
Jackson’s Island, and they think Jim might be
hiding on the island. The woman guesses that
Huck is not a man by having him throw an object
at a rat.
“Jim never asked no questions,
he never said a word…By that
time everything we had in the
world was on our raft and she
was ready to be shoved out
from the willow cove where she
was hid” (73)
CHAPTER 12
Huck and Jim have now been drifting downriver.
They manage to get their supplies by stealing and
robbing, or hunting what they need. They regret
stealing so much and feel bad, so they get rid of a
few items for moral sacrifice. Jim and Huck come
across a wrecked ship and although Jim tells him
not to, Huck goes on an adventure through the
ship. Huck over hears robbers on the ship and he
warns Jim that they must cut the robbers boat.
Jim then informs Huck that their raft was the one
that is cut off and that it had already drifted
downriver.
“Why, you’d think it was
Christopher C’lumbus
discovering Kingdom Come”
CHAPTER 13
Jim and Huck board the robbers boat while they
are away and sneak off down the river. Huck finds
their boat downriver and stop along the shore to
get help. Huck tells the ferry watchman about the
wreck and Huck is happy of this good deed
because Widow Douglas would be proud. Then
Huck and Jim sink the robber’s boat. The ferry
man investigates the wrecked boat that floated
downstream, and the robbers are dead.
“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”
CHAPTER 14
After the shipwreck, Huck and Jim stole numerous
items, which made them the richest they had ever
been in their whole lives. Huck read to Jim about
the life style of kings and dukes. The story of King
Solomon upset Jim the most. Huck soon realized
Jim was upset with the story and told him a
different one. He then talked to Jim about the
Frenchmen. Jim doesn’t understand why a
Frenchman talks different than an Englishman if
they are both men. Huck realizes that Jim is
impossible to argue with so he stopped.
“Well, he was right; he was
most always right; he had an
uncommon level head for a
nigger” (87)
CHAPTER 15
Huck and Jim were planning on floating to Cairo,
Illinois where they were going to sell the raft, get
on a steam boat, and go way up the Ohio river
until they were free in the states. Then a sudden
fog drifted over the river causing Jim and Huck to
separate around and island. When Huck woke up
he spotted the raft and found Jim asleep. He
woke Jim up and pretended like the fog incident
never happened and that Jim was just dreaming.
After Jim realized the joke Huck was playing, he
called the truck trash and felt ashamed of
himself. Huck felt so bad about how he made Jim
feel he told himself he would never pull a trick on
Jim again.
“I set perfectly still then,
listening to my heart thump,
and I reckon I didn’t draw a
breath while it thumped a
hundred” (92)
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.
“Well, then, says I, what’s the
use you learning to do right
when it’s troublesome to do
right and ain’t no trouble to do
wrong, and the wages is just
the same?” (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.
“I liked all that family, death
ones and all, and warn’t going
to let anything coe between us.
Poor Emeline made poetry all
about 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 dead” (114)
CHAPTER 18
In the beginning of this chapter we were introduced to
Buck’s family: Tom, Charlotte, Bob, and Sophia. We learn
that are highly upper-class, each with their own slave.
They all respect Colonel Grangerford, the master of the
house. Huck soon learns about the feud, after Buck nearly
killed one of the Shepherdsons. Both families attend
church together, but their feud has escalated to the point
where they each keep guns on their laps. A day after
church, Sophia Grangerford asks Huck to get her copy of
the Bible that she left at church. In her bible, Sophia finds
a note from her Shepherdson boyfriend. It spoke of their
plans to run away together. A while later Huck’s new slave
leads him into the woods, where Jim had been hiding, and
Huck is pleasantly surprised to see him again. Huck soon
finds out that Sophia has run away with Harney
Shepherdson. Sophia’s choice to leave caused a deadly
fight between the two families, resulting in Buck’s death,
which Huck is very saddened by. Huck and Jim decide to
leave right after the fight and make their way downstream
on the raft.
“Why, where was you raised?
Don’t you know what a feud is?”
(118).
CHAPTER 19
As Huck and Jim continue down the river, they
meet two men who are running from trouble.
Huck takes them to safety and discovers that they
are both escaping their problems. The younger
man sold a paste that took the enamel off of
teeth and was despised in his village. The older
man ran a non-drinking organization but fled once
others found out he drank. The con artists pretend
to be royalty; the younger man says he is a duke
and the older states he is the dauphin (the long
lost son of King Louis XVI). Huck realizes that the
men are faking their identities but knows better
than to confront them, as he has learned from
Pap.
“If I never learnt nothing else
out of pap, I learnt that the best
way to get along with his kind
of people is to let them have
their own way” (136).
CHAPTER 20
Huck and Jim explain the the Duke and Dauphin
how they came to be alone. Huck has to make up
a very elaborate story of how he, his “brother”, Pa,
and Jim ran away but the brother and Pa died in a
steamboat accident. Huck convinced them that
Jim was not a runaway slave, and when Jim and
Huck stood watch that night the Duke and
Dauphin took their beds. The next morning the
Duke and Dauphin put on a Shakespeare play in
the next town. In order to get money, the Dauphin
tells the townspeople he is a reformed pirate
going back to the Indian Ocean to be a
missionary, so he collects $80. In town, the Duke
prints a flier saying that Jim is their captive, which
will allow them to travel safely by day.
“It was my watch below till
twelve, but I wouldn't a turned
in anyway if I'd had a bed,
because a body don't see such
a storm as that every day in the
week, not by a long sight…then
comes a H-WHACK! – bum!
bum! bumble-umble-um-bumbum- bum-bum ”
CHAPTER 21
The Duke and Dauphin practice many
Shakespeare scenes on the raft, including Romeo
and Juliet, Hamlet, and Richard III. They were
drinking the night before so they mixed up lots of
the lines, but Huck thinks the Duke has lots of
talent. They stop in a town in Arkansas where the
Duke passes around playbills, and Huck sees
Sherburn shoot a drunk man. The townspeople
decide to lynch Sherburn because of the
shooting.
“Well, by and by somebody said
Sherburn ought to be lynched.
In about a minute everyone was
saying it; so away they went,
mad and yelling, and snatching
down every clothesline they
could come to to do the
hanging” (pg155)
CHAPTER 22
The whole town is outside of Sherburn’s house. The
townspeople were acting very wild and noisy, they broke his
fence. All of the sudden he comes out of his house with a
gun, everyone gets quite, and he laughs this evil laugh. He
then starts to talk to them. He calls everyone a coward, and
says they are not full men. After that the crowd “washed
back sudden, they broke apart, and went tearing off every
which way”. Then huck goes to the circus, he had the most
amazing time ever. Some drunk man tried to ride a horse,
he was making a commotion. The ring master then decided
to let him ride the horse because he saids he can ride just
as good as anyone. After riding the horse for a long time,
the drunk man stands up and takes off his clothes and
turns out he was tricking everyone and was actually one of
the ring-masters men. The ring-master seemed very
embarrassed. The Duke has his show, only 12 people show
up they all end up laughing at them and leaving before it is
over. The chapter finishes by the Duke thinking less of the
Arkansaw people.
“I ain’t opposed to spending
money on circuses, when
there ain’t no other way, but
there ain’t no use in wasting it
on them." (195)
CHAPTER 23
The Duke waits for place to fill up. It took no time because it fills up quickly,
he then gives a quick speech praising the tragedy. Then the show starts, the
king walks out naked covered in rainbow paint. Everyone in the building starts
crying laughing. They end the show very suddenly and everyone is angry
because they got cheated out of their money. So they wanted to get the rest
of the town cheated out of their money also so they praise the tragedy and
then all new people come the second night. Those people are also mad
because they were cheated out of their money. The third night all of the town
comes but this time they bring “sickly eggs, and rotten cabbage by the dozen”
Huck and the Duke realize this so they flee the town, hop on the raft and
travel downstream. They made $465 dollars in just 3 nights. Jim and Huck
have a conversation about the duke, Jim says he does not want any more of
him, but they will keep them because they will make Jim and Huck rich. Jim
has yet to realize that they are not real kings or dukes. Huck explains how Jim
is talking to himself while Huck is asleep about his kids and wife. The chapter
ends by Jim talking about how he asked his daughter to close a door she was
standing in front of, and she just stood there smiling at him. He got really
mad and slapped her. Then a little while later the door slammed shut behind
her and she didn't even move. That was when Jim realized that his daughter
had gone deaf/dumb (lost her ability to hear/speak) because of her scarlet
fever, and so he had been getting mad at her and slapped her for no reason,
and he feels really horrible about this. This story helps Huck to realize that
Jim loves his family just as much as any white man loves their family.
“I do believe he [Jim]
cared just as much for
his people as white folks
does for their’n. It don’t
seem natural, but I
reckon it’s so.” (206)
CHAPTER 24
The Duke and the King began thinking about how they will
con the next town. Jim complains about being tied up all
day. The Duke’s solution was to dress Jim up in King
Lear’s outfit and then paint his face blue. The Duke also
made a sign for him that said “Sick Arab—but harmless
when not out of his head.” The King decided to go the
next town and see if he could make any money, he didn’t
have a plan though. They all bought new clothes and put
them on. Huck noticed how important the King looked in
nice clothes. The King and Huck get on a ferry and talk to
a man about how Peter Wilks has died. The King talks to
him for a long time and he makes sure to remember
every detail. Especially about the two brothers who were
suppose to come to town and recover his belongings. The
King retells the story to the Duke and they decided to
impersonate the two brothers. They get off the boat and
pretend to be sad once they are told of Peter’s death and
they even fake hand gestures that we suppose to be sign
language (one of the brothers was suppose to be deaf).
Huck is disgusted by the scene.
“Then the duke took and wrote
out a sign on a shingle so: Sick
Arab-but harmless when not out
of his head. And he nailed that
shingle to a lath, and stood the
lath up four or five foot in front
of the wigwam. Jim was
satisfied”(167-168).
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.
“Here is my answer.” She
hove up the bag of money
and put it in the kings hands,
and says, "Take this 6000
dollars, and invest for me
and my sisters any way you
want to, and don’t give us no
receipt for it”(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.
"Because Mary Jane 'll be in
mourning from this out; and
first you know the nigger that
does up the rooms will get an
order to box these duds up and
put 'em away; and do you
reckon a nigger can run across
money and not borrow some of
it?" (188)
CHAPTER 27
As Huck is walking downstairs with the gold, he
“There warn’t no more popular
hears more footsteps and runs into the room with man in town than the
Peter Wilks’ coffin. After he decides to hide the
undertaker was” (192)
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.
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,
though I ain’t had no experience,
and can’t say for certain; but it
looks so to me, anyway; and yet
here’s a case where I’m blest if
it don’t look to me like the truth
is better and actuly safer than a
lie” (197)
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.
““The hole biln’of m’s
frauds!Le’s duck em!
Le’s drown ‘em!le’s ride
‘em on a rail!” and
everybody was whooping
at one, and there was a
rattling pow-wow. But the
lawyer he jumps on the
table and yells, and says:
“Gentlemen- gentlemen!
Hear me just a word- just
a single word- if you
PLEASE! There’s one way
yet- let’s go and dig up
the corpse and look”(..)
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 never see such an old ostrich
for wanting to gobble
everything and I atrusting you
all the time, like you was my
own father. You ought to been
ashamed of yourself to stand
by and hear it saddled on to a
lot of poor niggers, and you
never say a word for ‘em. It
makes me feel ridiculous to
think I was soft enough to
believe that garbage.” (218219)
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.
“I took . . . up [the letter I’d
written to Miss Watson], and
held it in my hand. I was atrembling, because I’d got to
decide, forever, betwixt two
things, and I knowed it. I
studied a minute, sort of
holding my breath, and then
says to myself: ‘All right then,
I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up”
(225).
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.
“Providence had stood by
me this fur all right, but I
was… tight arground now. I
see it warn’t a bit of use to
try to go ahead… here’s
another place where I got to
resk the truth” (pg. 233)
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.
“I was sorry for them
poor pitiful rascals… It
was a dreadful thing to
see. Human beings can
be awful cruel to one
another.” (pg. 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.
“This nigger had a goodnatured, chuckle-headed face,
and his wool was all tied up in
little bunches with thread. That
was to keep witched off. He
said the witches was perstering
him awful these nights, and
making him see all kinds of
strange things, and hear all
kinds of strange words and
noises, and he didn’t believe he
was ever witched so long
before in his life. He got so
worked up, and got to running
on so about his troubles, he
forgot all about what he’d been
a-going to do” (247)
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.
“It don’t make no difference how
foolish it is, it’s the RIGHT way—and
it’s the regular way. And there ain’t
no OTHER way, that ever I heard of,
and ive read all the books that
gives any information about these
things. They always dig out with a
case-knife—and not through dirt,
mind you; generally its through
solid rock. And it takes them
weeks and weeks and weeks, and
for ever and ever. Why, look at one
of them prisoners in the bottom
dungeon of the Castle Deef, in the
harbor of Marseilles, that dug
himself out that way; how long was
HE at it, you reckon?” (255)
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.
“so we dug with the case-knives
till most midnight; and then we
was dog tired, and our hands
was blistered and yet you
couldn’t see we done anything
hardly. . . It aint no use, Huck it
aint going to work. . . We gotta
dig him out with picks (219).”
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.
"Ther's six CANDLES gone -that's what. The rats could a
got the candles, and I reckon
they did; I wonder they don't
walk off with the whole place,
the way you're always going to
stop their holes and don't do it;
and if they warn't fools they'd
sleep in your hair, Silas -YOU'D never find it out; but you
can't lay the SPOON on the
rats, and that I know. [pg 250}
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.
“’…and when you’ve played
about two minutes, you’ll see
all the rats, and snakes, and
spiders and things begin to feel
worried about you, and come.
And they’ll just fairly swarm
over you, and have a noble
good time.’” “’ Yes dey will I
reck’n, Mars Tom, but what
kine er time is Jim
havin?’”(274)
CHAPTER 39
Huck and Tom spend the next day catching creatures to
live with Jim. They first get rats, but Aunt Sally’s son frees
them by accident and both Tom and Huck receive
beatings for bringing rats into her house. At the end of the
day, they gather some snakes and put them in a bag, but
after dinner, they discover all the snakes escaped in the
house as well. Uncle Silas decides to start advertising Jim
as a runaway slave in local newspapers, because no one
answered his earlier letters. Since the plantation he wrote
to never existed, it makes sense that he never received a
reply. Tom and Huck then figure out how to stop Silas by
threatening him with anonymous letters. Tom and Huck
first plant a letter stating, “Beware. Trouble is brewing.
Keep a sharp lookout.” The next night, they post a letter
containing a skull and crossbones, and a picture of a
coffin. Tom then writes another letter. Pretending to be a
member of a gang of robbers who are planning to steal
Jim from the family, he warns them that the gang will be
coming late at night from the north to get Jim. The family
is scared and doesn’t know what to do.
“So Tom he wrote the nonamous
letter, and I smouched the yaller
wench’s frock that night, and
put it on and shoved it under the
front door, the way Tom told me
to. It said: Beware. Trouble is
brewing. Keep a sharp lookout.”
(280)
CHAPTER 40
The townspeople take the letter seriously, and over fifteen
armed farmers sit in the house waiting for the robbers to
come. Huck is scared for their safety when he slips out the
window and tells Tom they have leave immediately or they
will be shot. Tom gets very excited when he hears about
how many people came to catch them. Then, all three start
to run, and the farmers shoot after them. When they get to
a dark area, Huck, Jim, and Tom hide behind a bush and
let the whole pack of farmers and dogs run past them.
Once safe, they went to the raft, and Tom tells Jim he is a
free man again, and that he will always be a free man
from now on. Jim thanks him and tells him it was a great
escape plan. Tom then shows them where he got a bullet
in the leg, but Jim is worried for Tom’s health. Jim tells Tom
that he is not going to move until they get a doctor there
and make sure he is safe. Tom gets mad at both of them
and yells, but Huck ignores him and gets the canoe ready
to go to town. Tom makes him promise to blindfold the
doctor before bringing him back to their hiding place.
“I knowed he was white
inside, and I reckoned he’d
say what he did say – so it
was all right now, and I told
Tom I was a-going for a
doctor.” (287)