The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884
Mark twain wrote two major classics of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyerand Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.He suffered several personal problems including; loosing his son at a toddler, his daughter dying at the age of 24 due to spinal meningitis his youngest daughter was diagnosed with severe epilepsy and died at the age of 29. Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years, "Much of the last decade of his life, he lived in hell,"
Mark twain wrote two major classics of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyerand Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.He suffered several personal problems including; loosing his son at a toddler, his daughter dying at the age of 24 due to spinal meningitis his youngest daughter was diagnosed with severe epilepsy and died at the age of 29. Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years, "Much of the last decade of his life, he lived in hell,"
The adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St. Petersburg", inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived. The book is written in third person from the point of view of protagonist Tom Sawyer looking back on his childhood with Huck; it was inspired by Twains childhood.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Historical
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Geographical
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Literary
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literary heritage
Took 7 years to write
Samuel Langhorne Clemens.. Mark Twain, twain from the depth of the river twain measured therefore marked as twain- river boat captain
Set in 1840's missori was slave owning
- black peo-ple, regional accents ebonics
BANKRUPT lost in invesments with his writing and lectures, Henry Regers then took on his debt
1896 DEPRESSION daughter dying, wife 1904 died, 1909 corruption took place he then died in 1910.
Adventure of tom sawyer (1st book) lost tomantic belief of America
-critics
Samuel Langhorne Clemens.. Mark Twain, twain from the depth of the river twain measured therefore marked as twain- river boat captain
Set in 1840's missori was slave owning
- black peo-ple, regional accents ebonics
BANKRUPT lost in invesments with his writing and lectures, Henry Regers then took on his debt
1896 DEPRESSION daughter dying, wife 1904 died, 1909 corruption took place he then died in 1910.
Adventure of tom sawyer (1st book) lost tomantic belief of America
-critics
Chapter 1
The first chapter starts to talk about the Adventure of Tom Sawyer and how Mark Twain known by this novel but later on we realize by talking about the Adventure of Tom Sawyer we start to identify he’s the narrator in which he begins to introduce himself by saying ‘aint no matter’, he starts to stretch out and exaggerate by pretending to be someone talking about himself. We also start to familiarize ourselves with the way he speaks, as he starts to make words up and uses different language portraying the background information of archaic dialect and pigeon English For example ‘I lit out’ instead of leave. We learn that Tom Sawyer ended with Tom and Huckleberry finding a stash of gold some robbers had hidden in a cave. The boys received $6,000 apiece, which the local judge, Judge Thatcher, put into a trust The money in the bank now accrues a dollar a day from interest. Then, the Widow Douglas adopted and tried to “ civilize” Huck but he couldn't stand it so he threw on his old rags and ran away. He has since returned because Tom Sawyer told him he could join his new band of robbers if he would return to the Widow “and be respectable''
Chapter 2
Huck and Tom go traipsing through the dark. They pass the kitchen and see Jim, Miss Watson’s slave ( pre-Civil War South) sitting by the window. In the text, Twain frequently uses the word ‘nigger’ to refer to the black slaves. This is a testament to the times, Jim hears the boys scuffling around and comes outside to investigate; Huck and Tom freeze and try to hide.'when you can’t move, you always itch all over the place'Jim, determined to find out what the noise was, sits down outside to wait and falls asleep. Huck and Tom decide to play a prank on Jim. Tom goes into the kitchen to take a candle to see by and leaves five cents on the table for payment. When he comes back, he takes Jim’s hat off his (sleeping) head and hangs it on the branch above him. Huck tells us that later, when Jim finally wakes up, he tells everyone he was visited by witches who rode him all around the world. But back to the night at hand. After setting the prank in motion, Tom and Huck pick up a few more of their friends and bring the boys to a cave in the woods. Fortunately, all Tom Sawyer does is start a gang and, in a bout of creativity and selflessness, call it "Tom Sawyer’s Gang."This is endearing until the boys have to sign a blood oath, which no one seems to have any qualms about. Tom reveals he got the idea from books about pirates and robbers and so forth. Someone thinks it would be a good idea to kill the family of any boy that breaks the oath.All agree. This creates some difficulties for Huck; we find that his father used to lay drunk with the hogs and is nowhere to be found these days, which would render killing him a problem.
Chapter 3
Huck gets in trouble for his clothes being dirty, and once again it is suggested that he is likely going to hell. Miss Watson counters that Huck should pray for spiritual gifts, like helping other people. Huck doesn't see any advantage in this, so he drops the subject. Next we hear about Huck’s father, a.k.a. "Pap," an abusive alcoholic that everyone thinks is dead Tom Sawyer’s gang gets together and plays cops n’ robbers. Huck makes a point of telling us that no one really dies or gets robbed – it’s all just in good fun. (Like violent video games, which we know do absolutely no harm to young people.) We see one of their games in particular: Tom gathers them all up in a hurry to report that there’s a band of "A-rabs" with chests of treasure coming through town, and that they need to go attack. Huck is disappointed to see that the band isn't made up of "A-rabs" so much as townspeople on a Sunday school picnic. Tom responds that Huck would be able to see the A-rabs, if only he had read Don Quixote. Then he would realize that their enemy magicians had made the band appear to be a Sunday school picnic. He explains to Huck all the rules about magicians and genies and magic lamps. After testing another of Tom’s theories by rubbing old lamps and rings but failing to summon a genie, Huck judges that most of Tom’s stories have been “lies.”
Huck gets in trouble for his clothes being dirty, and once again it is suggested that he is likely going to hell. Miss Watson counters that Huck should pray for spiritual gifts, like helping other people. Huck doesn't see any advantage in this, so he drops the subject. Next we hear about Huck’s father, a.k.a. "Pap," an abusive alcoholic that everyone thinks is dead Tom Sawyer’s gang gets together and plays cops n’ robbers. Huck makes a point of telling us that no one really dies or gets robbed – it’s all just in good fun. (Like violent video games, which we know do absolutely no harm to young people.) We see one of their games in particular: Tom gathers them all up in a hurry to report that there’s a band of "A-rabs" with chests of treasure coming through town, and that they need to go attack. Huck is disappointed to see that the band isn't made up of "A-rabs" so much as townspeople on a Sunday school picnic. Tom responds that Huck would be able to see the A-rabs, if only he had read Don Quixote. Then he would realize that their enemy magicians had made the band appear to be a Sunday school picnic. He explains to Huck all the rules about magicians and genies and magic lamps. After testing another of Tom’s theories by rubbing old lamps and rings but failing to summon a genie, Huck judges that most of Tom’s stories have been “lies.”
Chapter 4
Against all expectations, Huck’s been getting’ civilized! One morning, Huck spills some salt at breakfast. But before he can throw it over his shoulder (it’s a superstition thing), Miss Watson stops him and tells him not to be foolish.Huck knows this means there is bad luck to come.He goes outside and sees tracks in the snow; someone came up to the garden and then stopped before going inside. Examining one of the tracks, Huck sees a cross in the heel made out of nails – a sign to keep off the devil.After seeing this, Huck hauls it to Judge Thatcher’s as fast as he can, with one eye over his shoulder the whole way. Clearly, he knows something we don’t.When he gets to the Judge’s, he says he wants to give him all the money (his six-thousand-dollar share of the money found in the cave).The Judge wants to know why, but Huck skirts the issue on the grounds that he doesn't want "to tell no lies."The Judge ponders for a moment and decides that what Huck really wants to do is sell his property over to the Judge; this way the transaction is legal and Huck is safe. (This will all make sense soon, don’t worry).Huck agrees, signs a document, gets a dollar as pay for all his property, and leaves.On his way back home, he tells us about Jim and his magic hairball. It’s a fortune-telling magic hairball.So Huck goes to Jim to have his fortune read by the magic hairball. He says he saw his Pap’s tracks in the snow and now he’s scared.Jim drops the hairball on the floor, but sadly, this is insufficient to make the thing talk. Clearly, the hairball needs some money.One counterfeit quarter later, the hairball tells Huck (via Jim’s interpretation, of course), that his Pap doesn't know what to do. He’s got a good angel on one shoulder and a bad one on the other, and it’s hard to say who he’ll listen to at any given time.Jim rather profoundly observes that sometimes Huck’s life will be good and sometimes bad; sometimes he’ll be sick, but he’ll always get better.Huck goes back home to his bedroom where abusive, drunk Pap is sitting, waiting for him to come home.
Against all expectations, Huck’s been getting’ civilized! One morning, Huck spills some salt at breakfast. But before he can throw it over his shoulder (it’s a superstition thing), Miss Watson stops him and tells him not to be foolish.Huck knows this means there is bad luck to come.He goes outside and sees tracks in the snow; someone came up to the garden and then stopped before going inside. Examining one of the tracks, Huck sees a cross in the heel made out of nails – a sign to keep off the devil.After seeing this, Huck hauls it to Judge Thatcher’s as fast as he can, with one eye over his shoulder the whole way. Clearly, he knows something we don’t.When he gets to the Judge’s, he says he wants to give him all the money (his six-thousand-dollar share of the money found in the cave).The Judge wants to know why, but Huck skirts the issue on the grounds that he doesn't want "to tell no lies."The Judge ponders for a moment and decides that what Huck really wants to do is sell his property over to the Judge; this way the transaction is legal and Huck is safe. (This will all make sense soon, don’t worry).Huck agrees, signs a document, gets a dollar as pay for all his property, and leaves.On his way back home, he tells us about Jim and his magic hairball. It’s a fortune-telling magic hairball.So Huck goes to Jim to have his fortune read by the magic hairball. He says he saw his Pap’s tracks in the snow and now he’s scared.Jim drops the hairball on the floor, but sadly, this is insufficient to make the thing talk. Clearly, the hairball needs some money.One counterfeit quarter later, the hairball tells Huck (via Jim’s interpretation, of course), that his Pap doesn't know what to do. He’s got a good angel on one shoulder and a bad one on the other, and it’s hard to say who he’ll listen to at any given time.Jim rather profoundly observes that sometimes Huck’s life will be good and sometimes bad; sometimes he’ll be sick, but he’ll always get better.Huck goes back home to his bedroom where abusive, drunk Pap is sitting, waiting for him to come home.
Chapter 5
Alcoholic, abusive Pap does what all alcoholic, abusive fathers do: he drinks and abuses Huck. This time he is looking for money and trying to stop his son from gaining an education, life, civilized upbringing, culture, knowledge, and everything else that he himself doesn't have. As such, he demands that Huck stop going to school and stop learning about religion. He even tears up one of his schoolbooks. When he demands money, Huck is all, "Money? What money?" Now we get it – this is why Huck handed his money over to the Judge. Pap does manage to steal the last dollar Huck has, which he uses to get drunk in town. The next day, still drunk, Pap harasses the judge about getting Huck’s money. Judge Thatcher turns him down and tries to get the court to officially remove him from a position as Huck’s legal guardian. Unfortunately, there’s a new judge in town who doesn't know how bad this guy is, and he refuses. Pap threatens to beat Huck senseless if he doesn't get some money, so Huck scrapes together $3, which Pap promptly drinks. He then wanders around town causing trouble until he gets jailed. This new judge in town for some unknown reason believes in such myths as the tooth fairy and man’s inherent goodness. He thinks Pap is just reaching out for help. Claiming he can reform the man, he takes him in and gives him a bed and a new jacket. Pap promptly sells the jacket for liquor, after which the judge comments that maybe you could reform a man with a shotgun, but that’s about it.
Chapter 6
Pap has started a court case to try and get Huck’s $6,000. The trial keeps dragging on, and all the time Huck has to keep getting money for his father to avoid beatings. Still, Pap keeps getting drunk and abuses Huck when he catches him. His father finally kidnaps him (if you can call it "kidnapping" when it’s his own son) and takes him to live on the river in a lovely little shack with all the modern luxury of a swinging door and floorboards. During his stay, Huck gets regular beatings. He can’t run off, because every time Pap leaves he locks Huck inside.All and all, however, Huck gets used to life in the shack by the river. It’s not that bad, he says, since he gets to live in the wild as he likes and there’s no one around to scold him about manners and spitting and so forth. So everything’s great – except for the beatings and that one time he was locked up for three days straight. Finally, during one instance of his solitary confinement, Huck finds an old wood-saw and goes to work at a slab of wood on the back wall of the cabin. He hides the saw when Pap comes home acting even less pleasant than usual. He’s angry that Judge Thatcher is dragging out the trial as long as possible. He’s also worried that the Widow will try to get custody again and win this time, now that he’s made an utter idiot of himself about town. This makes Huck nervous, too – he’s gotten accustomed to this life again and doesn't want to go back to civilization. He decides to run away just as soon as he can. That night, Pap gets roaring drunk and comes back home absolutely covered in mud from lying in the gutter. He starts cussing out everything, from the government (who won’t let him have his rights) to Judge Thatcher (who won’t let him have Huck’s $6,000) to black men who are educated (who he thinks shouldn't be allowed to know more than he does). In fact, having learned that some states let black men vote, he decides he’ll never vote again. Pap continues to drink, fall down, hurt himself, and act the poster child for racism and bigotry. Huck falls asleep and wakes up to see Pap in a delirious fit, screaming about snakes and the devil. After some more bouts of sleeping, crying, and screaming, Pap jumps up and starts chasing Huck around the cabin, calling him the "Angel of Death."He runs himself ragged and goes to sleep again; Huck picks up the rifle and sits down with it pointed at Pap, in case he wakes up and tries to murder his son again.
Pap has started a court case to try and get Huck’s $6,000. The trial keeps dragging on, and all the time Huck has to keep getting money for his father to avoid beatings. Still, Pap keeps getting drunk and abuses Huck when he catches him. His father finally kidnaps him (if you can call it "kidnapping" when it’s his own son) and takes him to live on the river in a lovely little shack with all the modern luxury of a swinging door and floorboards. During his stay, Huck gets regular beatings. He can’t run off, because every time Pap leaves he locks Huck inside.All and all, however, Huck gets used to life in the shack by the river. It’s not that bad, he says, since he gets to live in the wild as he likes and there’s no one around to scold him about manners and spitting and so forth. So everything’s great – except for the beatings and that one time he was locked up for three days straight. Finally, during one instance of his solitary confinement, Huck finds an old wood-saw and goes to work at a slab of wood on the back wall of the cabin. He hides the saw when Pap comes home acting even less pleasant than usual. He’s angry that Judge Thatcher is dragging out the trial as long as possible. He’s also worried that the Widow will try to get custody again and win this time, now that he’s made an utter idiot of himself about town. This makes Huck nervous, too – he’s gotten accustomed to this life again and doesn't want to go back to civilization. He decides to run away just as soon as he can. That night, Pap gets roaring drunk and comes back home absolutely covered in mud from lying in the gutter. He starts cussing out everything, from the government (who won’t let him have his rights) to Judge Thatcher (who won’t let him have Huck’s $6,000) to black men who are educated (who he thinks shouldn't be allowed to know more than he does). In fact, having learned that some states let black men vote, he decides he’ll never vote again. Pap continues to drink, fall down, hurt himself, and act the poster child for racism and bigotry. Huck falls asleep and wakes up to see Pap in a delirious fit, screaming about snakes and the devil. After some more bouts of sleeping, crying, and screaming, Pap jumps up and starts chasing Huck around the cabin, calling him the "Angel of Death."He runs himself ragged and goes to sleep again; Huck picks up the rifle and sits down with it pointed at Pap, in case he wakes up and tries to murder his son again.
Chapter 7
Huck falls asleep holding the gun and is woken by his father; he lies and says he was guarding against a robber in the night. Pap, in the midst of one extraordinary hangover, doesn't remember the night before anyway, so it’s all good. Outside, Huck sees the river rising and knows it’s June. He implies that he’s starting to miss town. As luck would have it, he finds a drift-canoe coming down the river (that is, a canoe with no one in it, for those of you who don’t speak Huck). He hides it where his father won’t find it and plans to run away in it later. Back at home, Pap gathers up some lumber and takes it to town to sell for money (read: whiskey). While he’s gone, Huck gathers up supplies and leaves through the hole he sawed in the back of the cabin. Then he does what every normal boy dreams about at least once in his childhood: he fakes his own death. Huck beats down the door to the cabin and spreads pig’s blood everywhere to make the cabin look like a robbery/murder-scene. Huck loads up the canoe and paddles out in the river in the pitch-black darkness. In the nail-biting scene that follows, Huck has to lie down still in his canoe as his father paddles by right next to him – returning from town in his own skiff. Because of the darkness and possibly his stupidity, Pap is oblivious to the empty canoe less than six inches from his path. Once he is out of danger’s way, Huck chills out in his canoe, smokes a pipe, and looks at the stars. It’s all very picturesque and beautiful as he listens to the men on a nearby ferry conversing. He then paddles out to the uninhabited Jackson’s Island, an all-inclusive resort destination in the middle of the river.
Huck falls asleep holding the gun and is woken by his father; he lies and says he was guarding against a robber in the night. Pap, in the midst of one extraordinary hangover, doesn't remember the night before anyway, so it’s all good. Outside, Huck sees the river rising and knows it’s June. He implies that he’s starting to miss town. As luck would have it, he finds a drift-canoe coming down the river (that is, a canoe with no one in it, for those of you who don’t speak Huck). He hides it where his father won’t find it and plans to run away in it later. Back at home, Pap gathers up some lumber and takes it to town to sell for money (read: whiskey). While he’s gone, Huck gathers up supplies and leaves through the hole he sawed in the back of the cabin. Then he does what every normal boy dreams about at least once in his childhood: he fakes his own death. Huck beats down the door to the cabin and spreads pig’s blood everywhere to make the cabin look like a robbery/murder-scene. Huck loads up the canoe and paddles out in the river in the pitch-black darkness. In the nail-biting scene that follows, Huck has to lie down still in his canoe as his father paddles by right next to him – returning from town in his own skiff. Because of the darkness and possibly his stupidity, Pap is oblivious to the empty canoe less than six inches from his path. Once he is out of danger’s way, Huck chills out in his canoe, smokes a pipe, and looks at the stars. It’s all very picturesque and beautiful as he listens to the men on a nearby ferry conversing. He then paddles out to the uninhabited Jackson’s Island, an all-inclusive resort destination in the middle of the river.
Chapter 8
Huck passes the next three days on Jackson Island, but admits that he’s feeling pretty lonesome. As time goes by, Huck senses he’s not alone on the island, and by "sense" we mean he finds someone else there, namely Jim, Miss Watson’s slave and the man with the magic hairball. Jim immediately assumes that Huck is a ghost and begs that he not hurt him. Huck convinces him that he’s not actually dead, which is harder than it sounds. The pair catches a fish and cooks it for dinner. After they eat, Huck wants to know why Jim is on the island. Before he’ll say, Jim makes him promise not to tell. He then reveals that he has run off, which, as a slave, he was definitely not allowed to do. Huck is shocked, but knows he has to keep his word to Jim not to tell. Jim continues to explain: he overheard Miss Watson planning to sell him to New Orleans – this would have separated him from his family. So he ran away – on the same night that Huck did so himself. In the interactions that follow, we see that Jim is the most superstitious guy ever. Birds fly by, so he knows it’s going to rain. Catching said birds would mean death. Counting said birds would mean bad luck. Etc. Huck asks why there are so many bad luck signs and so few good luck signs; Jim says there’s no reason to know about good luck ahead of time –what do you want to do, avoid it? He adds that, because he has a hairy chest, he’s going to be rich someday. He tells a story of $10 he once had but, through a series of bad "investments," lost. However, he makes the point that, if Miss Watson was going to sell him for $800, he’s actually pretty rich already
Huck passes the next three days on Jackson Island, but admits that he’s feeling pretty lonesome. As time goes by, Huck senses he’s not alone on the island, and by "sense" we mean he finds someone else there, namely Jim, Miss Watson’s slave and the man with the magic hairball. Jim immediately assumes that Huck is a ghost and begs that he not hurt him. Huck convinces him that he’s not actually dead, which is harder than it sounds. The pair catches a fish and cooks it for dinner. After they eat, Huck wants to know why Jim is on the island. Before he’ll say, Jim makes him promise not to tell. He then reveals that he has run off, which, as a slave, he was definitely not allowed to do. Huck is shocked, but knows he has to keep his word to Jim not to tell. Jim continues to explain: he overheard Miss Watson planning to sell him to New Orleans – this would have separated him from his family. So he ran away – on the same night that Huck did so himself. In the interactions that follow, we see that Jim is the most superstitious guy ever. Birds fly by, so he knows it’s going to rain. Catching said birds would mean death. Counting said birds would mean bad luck. Etc. Huck asks why there are so many bad luck signs and so few good luck signs; Jim says there’s no reason to know about good luck ahead of time –what do you want to do, avoid it? He adds that, because he has a hairy chest, he’s going to be rich someday. He tells a story of $10 he once had but, through a series of bad "investments," lost. However, he makes the point that, if Miss Watson was going to sell him for $800, he’s actually pretty rich already
Chapter 9
He and Jim head towards the middle of an island and find a cavern. After hiding their canoe and supplies, they take shelter there during a storm and eat dinner. Huck declares he is so happy to be sitting there hanging out with Jim, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. In return, Jim says, "I told you so!" about the rain. Things go on this way for a while. Huck and Jim are happy as they are, but they can’t go out in daylight lest someone spot them. One night, the two men come upon a makeshift house floating down the river (it was flooded and dislodged in the storm). They climb in and Jim finds a dead body. He tells Huck not to look at the man’s face, as it’s "too gashly." The two take as many supplies as they can from the house and head back to Jackson’s Island.
He and Jim head towards the middle of an island and find a cavern. After hiding their canoe and supplies, they take shelter there during a storm and eat dinner. Huck declares he is so happy to be sitting there hanging out with Jim, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. In return, Jim says, "I told you so!" about the rain. Things go on this way for a while. Huck and Jim are happy as they are, but they can’t go out in daylight lest someone spot them. One night, the two men come upon a makeshift house floating down the river (it was flooded and dislodged in the storm). They climb in and Jim finds a dead body. He tells Huck not to look at the man’s face, as it’s "too gashly." The two take as many supplies as they can from the house and head back to Jackson’s Island.
Chapter 10
Huck reminds him that, the day before, Jim had predicted bad luck on account of Huck touching a snakeskin with his hand. And here they are having scored a slew of supplies (and $8) from a dead man’s floating house! Bad luck ''schmad luck'' he says But Jim insists the bad luck is on its way. Three days later, Huck plays a prank on Jim; he kills a rattlesnake and puts it in Jim’s bed to scare him. Unfortunately, the rattlesnake’s mate comes and lies down with its dead partner; when Jim gets into bed, he is bitten. Huck feels awful but isn't about to let on that the whole thing is his fault. He follows Jim’s detailed instructions to ward off any more bad luck. Jim slugs away at some leftover whiskey to help the pain, and Huck declares he’d rather be bitten by a rattlesnake then drink any of that stuff. Now we get to the good stuff: Jim decides that Huck should dress up like a girl and go to town to try and find some news. Huck thinks this is a great idea. He puts on a dress (part of the supplies he and Jim found in the floating house), paddles in, and comes to the door of a little shanty. Through the window he can see a middle-aged woman sitting alone and knitting – prime bait for his scheme.
Huck reminds him that, the day before, Jim had predicted bad luck on account of Huck touching a snakeskin with his hand. And here they are having scored a slew of supplies (and $8) from a dead man’s floating house! Bad luck ''schmad luck'' he says But Jim insists the bad luck is on its way. Three days later, Huck plays a prank on Jim; he kills a rattlesnake and puts it in Jim’s bed to scare him. Unfortunately, the rattlesnake’s mate comes and lies down with its dead partner; when Jim gets into bed, he is bitten. Huck feels awful but isn't about to let on that the whole thing is his fault. He follows Jim’s detailed instructions to ward off any more bad luck. Jim slugs away at some leftover whiskey to help the pain, and Huck declares he’d rather be bitten by a rattlesnake then drink any of that stuff. Now we get to the good stuff: Jim decides that Huck should dress up like a girl and go to town to try and find some news. Huck thinks this is a great idea. He puts on a dress (part of the supplies he and Jim found in the floating house), paddles in, and comes to the door of a little shanty. Through the window he can see a middle-aged woman sitting alone and knitting – prime bait for his scheme.
Chapter 11
Huck is welcomed in by this woman and tells her his name is Sarah Williams. He starts right in with a completely fabricated story about his mother being sick, etc., etc. The woman is a chatty bird and tells "Sarah" all about the big news in town: the murder of Huck Finn. At first, she says, everyone thought Huck’s Pap was the man responsible, but then they decided it was Jim, since he ran away on the same night of the murder. There’s a reward out for both men: $200 for Pap, who ran away, afraid of getting lynched, and $300 for Jim. The woman is sure that Huck’s father will wait for the murder business to die down, come back after about a year, and get Huck’s $6,000 without anyone batting an eye. She reports that the hunting party is going to check out Jackson’s Island this very night, since she’s recently seen smoke coming from that direction. Huck gets all nervous and fidgety, and the woman is suspicious. She asks for the girl’s name again, and Huck answers, "Mary Williams." He clarifies: Mary is his middle name, so he sometimes goes by that. The woman goes back to talking about herself and her family and her personal problems, and the two of them have some fun throwing lead at the various rats infesting her house. Unfortunately, Huck does an all-around awful job of acting like a girl, and the jig is up. The woman calls him on his fib – she says she knows he is a runaway apprentice. Huck is all, "Aw, shucks, you caught me" and spins another yarn about being mistreated. Still, the women isn't yet satisfied. She asks Huck a series of questions about country life to test his new story. Of course, Huck knows all about cows and horses and so on, so he passes with flying colors. The woman, who finally introduces herself as Mrs. Judith Loftus, tells "George Peters" (Huck’s new fake name) that next time he wants to pretend to be a girl, he should thread a needle properly. Huck hauls it back to Jackson’s Island and shouts at Jim that they have to leave before the hunting party shows up.
Chapter 12
Some nights, Huck lands at a nearby town to buy food or occasionally steal a chicken. His father, he says, told him that you might as well steal a chicken whenever you can, because if you don’t want it yourself, you can give it away! also said that stealing was really "borrowing," as long as you "intended" on giving it "back" sometime. The widow, on the other hand, correctly identifies this as "stealing." Jim thinks a compromise would be best; they should pick three things they won’t steal anymore, and everything else will be fine. Shortly after, the pair comes across a wrecked steamship in the midst of a thunderstorm. Huck wants to land and plunder, but Jim is hesitant. There may be a watchman on board, he says. Still, Huck is insistent. Tom Sawyer wouldn't be scared of a steamboat, he says, so why should they be? This is evidently a convincing argument. They both amble on board, only to overhear three robbers, two of them preparing to kill the third man. Jim skeeters off to the raft, but Huck inches closer to the voices to see what’s going on. We get some more info: Jake Packard is the man with the gun; he’s trying to convince his buddy Bill to kill the third man, Jim Turner. It seems Jake is afraid Jim will "turn state’s evidence." Jake has a better idea: instead of shooting Bill, they should plunder the rest of the steamboat and then wait for him to drown when the boat goes under. This way, they’ll have clean consciences! Huck hustles out to Jim and tells him they should hurry and get the sheriff. This would be a great idea, but the raft has broken loose in the storm and gone off down the river.
chapter 13
Needless to say, Huck is dismayed at being stuck on a sinking ship with three robbers, two of whom have no qualms about murdering their friend. But he determinedly resolves that "it warnt no time to be statementing." The pair makes their way down to the far end of the ship and find the robbers’ skiff. As the robbers approach, they hide in the darkness and watch Jake and Bill load it up with the stolen supplies. When the two robbers go back for more, Huck and Jim jump into the skiff and start off down the river, in pursuit of their own raft, which is surely just ahead. Everything is great, except that Huck starts to have a moral crisis about leaving the men to die on the sinking steamship. He decides that as soon as they see lights on the shore, they’ll stop and send someone back to the ship to help. They catch up to their loose raft and recover it. Huck leaves Jim with the raft and the plunder from the ship and heads for shore in the skiff. He soon comes upon a ferryboat at the outset of a little town and greets the watchman. It’s time for Huck, master of deception, to work some magic. Huck breaks down in tears and pretends that his family is stuck on the steamship and in mortal peril. He hams this up quite a bit, as we've seen Huck is prone to do. The watchman is all, "Great Scott!" He’d loved to help, but he doesn't know who is going to pay for the trouble it will take to go over and rescue these folks. Huck pretends that one of the women stuck on the ferry is the niece of the richest man in town. The watchman takes off. Huck knows he should beat it, too, but he feels like he has to stay and make sure the men are OK first. He stops to congratulate himself on being such a good guy – he wishes the widow could see. By the time the wreck comes floating toward him on the river, it looks like no one survived. Still, Huck isn’t too heavy-hearted over the dead robbers. If they can stand it, he says, so can he.
Huck is welcomed in by this woman and tells her his name is Sarah Williams. He starts right in with a completely fabricated story about his mother being sick, etc., etc. The woman is a chatty bird and tells "Sarah" all about the big news in town: the murder of Huck Finn. At first, she says, everyone thought Huck’s Pap was the man responsible, but then they decided it was Jim, since he ran away on the same night of the murder. There’s a reward out for both men: $200 for Pap, who ran away, afraid of getting lynched, and $300 for Jim. The woman is sure that Huck’s father will wait for the murder business to die down, come back after about a year, and get Huck’s $6,000 without anyone batting an eye. She reports that the hunting party is going to check out Jackson’s Island this very night, since she’s recently seen smoke coming from that direction. Huck gets all nervous and fidgety, and the woman is suspicious. She asks for the girl’s name again, and Huck answers, "Mary Williams." He clarifies: Mary is his middle name, so he sometimes goes by that. The woman goes back to talking about herself and her family and her personal problems, and the two of them have some fun throwing lead at the various rats infesting her house. Unfortunately, Huck does an all-around awful job of acting like a girl, and the jig is up. The woman calls him on his fib – she says she knows he is a runaway apprentice. Huck is all, "Aw, shucks, you caught me" and spins another yarn about being mistreated. Still, the women isn't yet satisfied. She asks Huck a series of questions about country life to test his new story. Of course, Huck knows all about cows and horses and so on, so he passes with flying colors. The woman, who finally introduces herself as Mrs. Judith Loftus, tells "George Peters" (Huck’s new fake name) that next time he wants to pretend to be a girl, he should thread a needle properly. Huck hauls it back to Jackson’s Island and shouts at Jim that they have to leave before the hunting party shows up.
Chapter 12
Some nights, Huck lands at a nearby town to buy food or occasionally steal a chicken. His father, he says, told him that you might as well steal a chicken whenever you can, because if you don’t want it yourself, you can give it away! also said that stealing was really "borrowing," as long as you "intended" on giving it "back" sometime. The widow, on the other hand, correctly identifies this as "stealing." Jim thinks a compromise would be best; they should pick three things they won’t steal anymore, and everything else will be fine. Shortly after, the pair comes across a wrecked steamship in the midst of a thunderstorm. Huck wants to land and plunder, but Jim is hesitant. There may be a watchman on board, he says. Still, Huck is insistent. Tom Sawyer wouldn't be scared of a steamboat, he says, so why should they be? This is evidently a convincing argument. They both amble on board, only to overhear three robbers, two of them preparing to kill the third man. Jim skeeters off to the raft, but Huck inches closer to the voices to see what’s going on. We get some more info: Jake Packard is the man with the gun; he’s trying to convince his buddy Bill to kill the third man, Jim Turner. It seems Jake is afraid Jim will "turn state’s evidence." Jake has a better idea: instead of shooting Bill, they should plunder the rest of the steamboat and then wait for him to drown when the boat goes under. This way, they’ll have clean consciences! Huck hustles out to Jim and tells him they should hurry and get the sheriff. This would be a great idea, but the raft has broken loose in the storm and gone off down the river.
chapter 13
Needless to say, Huck is dismayed at being stuck on a sinking ship with three robbers, two of whom have no qualms about murdering their friend. But he determinedly resolves that "it warnt no time to be statementing." The pair makes their way down to the far end of the ship and find the robbers’ skiff. As the robbers approach, they hide in the darkness and watch Jake and Bill load it up with the stolen supplies. When the two robbers go back for more, Huck and Jim jump into the skiff and start off down the river, in pursuit of their own raft, which is surely just ahead. Everything is great, except that Huck starts to have a moral crisis about leaving the men to die on the sinking steamship. He decides that as soon as they see lights on the shore, they’ll stop and send someone back to the ship to help. They catch up to their loose raft and recover it. Huck leaves Jim with the raft and the plunder from the ship and heads for shore in the skiff. He soon comes upon a ferryboat at the outset of a little town and greets the watchman. It’s time for Huck, master of deception, to work some magic. Huck breaks down in tears and pretends that his family is stuck on the steamship and in mortal peril. He hams this up quite a bit, as we've seen Huck is prone to do. The watchman is all, "Great Scott!" He’d loved to help, but he doesn't know who is going to pay for the trouble it will take to go over and rescue these folks. Huck pretends that one of the women stuck on the ferry is the niece of the richest man in town. The watchman takes off. Huck knows he should beat it, too, but he feels like he has to stay and make sure the men are OK first. He stops to congratulate himself on being such a good guy – he wishes the widow could see. By the time the wreck comes floating toward him on the river, it looks like no one survived. Still, Huck isn’t too heavy-hearted over the dead robbers. If they can stand it, he says, so can he.
Chapter 14
Huck is all excited about the adventures they keep having, but Jim is pretty sure he’d rather not have any more near-death experiences. Part of the loot they got from the steamship was a load of books. Huck reads some of them to Jim and, in doing so, gets into a conversation about dukes and kings and the like. He tells Jim about all the pomp and circumstances surrounding these kinds of men. Jim is amazed. He says he’s never heard of kings before – except for "Sollermun" (i.e., Solomon, from the Bible). Jim is skeptical that kings can get all the riches they want just by sitting around all day. Huck confirms that this is the case. They also hang around their harem, he says, which is like a garage for their thousands of wives. Jim says that, if Solomon indeed had a thousand wives, he wasn't actually that smart after all, because he’d have to listen to the women gabbing all the time. Besides, he says, Solomon made that stupid decision about splitting the kid in two. Amazingly, and despite the fact that all he did was complain about it at the time, Huck remembers what the Widow taught him from the Bible. He tries to explain the wisdom of Solomon to Jim. But Jim is adamant in his misunderstanding: Solomon is stupid for wanting to cut a child in half, because half a child isn't good to anybody. He continues: Solomon was so wasteful of children because he had about eight million kids himself. If he only had two kids, he wouldn't be so eager to go chopping them in half. Next, they talk about language. Huck explains that a Frenchman doesn't speak the same way they do. Jim thinks this is ridiculous: All cats talk the same. All dogs talk the same. Why shouldn't all men talk the same? This is a good point. But Huck misses the fact that Jim is actually incredibly logical and declares that, "you just can’t learn a nigger to argue."
Huck is all excited about the adventures they keep having, but Jim is pretty sure he’d rather not have any more near-death experiences. Part of the loot they got from the steamship was a load of books. Huck reads some of them to Jim and, in doing so, gets into a conversation about dukes and kings and the like. He tells Jim about all the pomp and circumstances surrounding these kinds of men. Jim is amazed. He says he’s never heard of kings before – except for "Sollermun" (i.e., Solomon, from the Bible). Jim is skeptical that kings can get all the riches they want just by sitting around all day. Huck confirms that this is the case. They also hang around their harem, he says, which is like a garage for their thousands of wives. Jim says that, if Solomon indeed had a thousand wives, he wasn't actually that smart after all, because he’d have to listen to the women gabbing all the time. Besides, he says, Solomon made that stupid decision about splitting the kid in two. Amazingly, and despite the fact that all he did was complain about it at the time, Huck remembers what the Widow taught him from the Bible. He tries to explain the wisdom of Solomon to Jim. But Jim is adamant in his misunderstanding: Solomon is stupid for wanting to cut a child in half, because half a child isn't good to anybody. He continues: Solomon was so wasteful of children because he had about eight million kids himself. If he only had two kids, he wouldn't be so eager to go chopping them in half. Next, they talk about language. Huck explains that a Frenchman doesn't speak the same way they do. Jim thinks this is ridiculous: All cats talk the same. All dogs talk the same. Why shouldn't all men talk the same? This is a good point. But Huck misses the fact that Jim is actually incredibly logical and declares that, "you just can’t learn a nigger to argue."
Chapter 15
When a heavy fog rolls in, Huck goes ahead in the canoe and gets separated from Jim and the raft. Jim whoops to Huck, but in the fog and confusion he still can’t make his way back. So he panics for a bit and then just goes to sleep. The next day the fog has lifted and Huck finds Jim, who has also been sleeping. He lies down on the raft and wakes Jim, pretending that he’s been there asleep the whole night and that the fog incident was all a dream. Jim is all, "Argh, I had the strangest dream!" and Huck is all, "Really?" So Jim narrates the story, only he "paint[s] it up considerable" with exaggerations. Then he sees the leaves and smashed up oar on the raft, and realizes that in fact the incident was not a dream. Huck is still in stitches, but Jim is genuinely hurt. He says he thought Huck had died in the fog and was just miserable over the whole thing. He sulks off. Huck realizes his trick was a mean one. He works himself up to go apologize, which he finds particularly difficult to do because Jim is black. Still, he says, he’s glad he did.
When a heavy fog rolls in, Huck goes ahead in the canoe and gets separated from Jim and the raft. Jim whoops to Huck, but in the fog and confusion he still can’t make his way back. So he panics for a bit and then just goes to sleep. The next day the fog has lifted and Huck finds Jim, who has also been sleeping. He lies down on the raft and wakes Jim, pretending that he’s been there asleep the whole night and that the fog incident was all a dream. Jim is all, "Argh, I had the strangest dream!" and Huck is all, "Really?" So Jim narrates the story, only he "paint[s] it up considerable" with exaggerations. Then he sees the leaves and smashed up oar on the raft, and realizes that in fact the incident was not a dream. Huck is still in stitches, but Jim is genuinely hurt. He says he thought Huck had died in the fog and was just miserable over the whole thing. He sulks off. Huck realizes his trick was a mean one. He works himself up to go apologize, which he finds particularly difficult to do because Jim is black. Still, he says, he’s glad he did.
Chapter 16
This moral crisis has to do with the fact that he is stealing Miss Watson’s slave. After all, he reasons, Miss Watson taught him books and religion and manners and all, and he’s repaying her by stealing her property. In the midst of this crisis, Jim rambles on about what he’s going to do once he gets to a free state. He says he’ll save up his money until he has enough to go back south and buy his wife and his two children from the farms around Miss Watson’s. If that doesn't work, he says, he’ll just steal them. This bothers Huck even more, all this talk of "stealing" the "property" of his neighbors. When he spots lights at the shore and paddles out in the canoe, he’s dead set at turning Jim in again. But then, as Huck’s paddling away, Jim calls out to him about how he (Huck) has been such a good friend and how he’ll always be grateful. This bothers Huck’s conscience as much as anything, and when he’s stopped by a raft several yards later, he can’t bring himself to turn in his friend. The men on the raft are looking for runaway slaves themselves and want to inspect the raft that Huck has left behind. Very cleverly, Huck pretends it’s his Pap back there with the small-pox – contagious small-pox, that is. This does the trick: the men take off but leave Huck with two twenty-dollar gold pieces to help out. But trouble continues; they can’t seem to figure out where Cairo is, and they wonder if they passed it in the fog.
This moral crisis has to do with the fact that he is stealing Miss Watson’s slave. After all, he reasons, Miss Watson taught him books and religion and manners and all, and he’s repaying her by stealing her property. In the midst of this crisis, Jim rambles on about what he’s going to do once he gets to a free state. He says he’ll save up his money until he has enough to go back south and buy his wife and his two children from the farms around Miss Watson’s. If that doesn't work, he says, he’ll just steal them. This bothers Huck even more, all this talk of "stealing" the "property" of his neighbors. When he spots lights at the shore and paddles out in the canoe, he’s dead set at turning Jim in again. But then, as Huck’s paddling away, Jim calls out to him about how he (Huck) has been such a good friend and how he’ll always be grateful. This bothers Huck’s conscience as much as anything, and when he’s stopped by a raft several yards later, he can’t bring himself to turn in his friend. The men on the raft are looking for runaway slaves themselves and want to inspect the raft that Huck has left behind. Very cleverly, Huck pretends it’s his Pap back there with the small-pox – contagious small-pox, that is. This does the trick: the men take off but leave Huck with two twenty-dollar gold pieces to help out. But trouble continues; they can’t seem to figure out where Cairo is, and they wonder if they passed it in the fog.
Chapter 17
A man calls off the dogs, saving Huck, who introduces himself as “George Jackson.” The man invites “George” into his house, where the hosts express an odd suspicion that Huck is a member of a family called the Shepherdsons. Eventually, Huck’s hosts decide that he is not a Shepherdson. The lady of the house tells Buck, a boy about Huck’s age, to get Huck some dry clothes. Buck says he would have killed a Shepherdson had there been any Shepherdsons present. Buck tells Huck a riddle, but Huck does not understand the concept of riddles. Buck says Huck must stay with him and they will have great fun. Huck, meanwhile, invents an elaborate story to explain how he was orphaned. Buck’s family, the Grangerfords, offer to let Huck stay with them for as long as he likes. Huck innocently admires the house and its humorously tacky finery, including the work of a deceased daughter, Emmeline, who created unintentionally funny sentimental artwork and poems about people who died. Settling in with the Grangerfords and enjoying their kindness, Huck thinks that “nothing couldn’t be better” than life at the comfortable house.
A man calls off the dogs, saving Huck, who introduces himself as “George Jackson.” The man invites “George” into his house, where the hosts express an odd suspicion that Huck is a member of a family called the Shepherdsons. Eventually, Huck’s hosts decide that he is not a Shepherdson. The lady of the house tells Buck, a boy about Huck’s age, to get Huck some dry clothes. Buck says he would have killed a Shepherdson had there been any Shepherdsons present. Buck tells Huck a riddle, but Huck does not understand the concept of riddles. Buck says Huck must stay with him and they will have great fun. Huck, meanwhile, invents an elaborate story to explain how he was orphaned. Buck’s family, the Grangerfords, offer to let Huck stay with them for as long as he likes. Huck innocently admires the house and its humorously tacky finery, including the work of a deceased daughter, Emmeline, who created unintentionally funny sentimental artwork and poems about people who died. Settling in with the Grangerfords and enjoying their kindness, Huck thinks that “nothing couldn’t be better” than life at the comfortable house.
Chapter 18
The next day, he tells us, is a day he doesn’t care to talk about too much. This doesn’t bode well. First off, it turns out that Miss Sophia has run off (we’re guessing it was sometime around half-past two, which is a big "Uh-oh" realization for Huck). Worse still, she ran off to marry Harney Shepherdson. Now the Grangerford men are all packing up their guns to go get her back before Harney takes her across the river. Even Buck is gone. Huck, feeling rather guilty, takes off toward the river looking for Buck. In the woods, he finds Buck and his nineteen-year-old cousin Joe in a gunfight with the Shepherdsons; he climbs a tree for safety. When the scuffle is over, he calls down to Buck, who relates the news to him: his father is dead, and so are his two brothers. Just then, there is another explosion of gunfire, and Huck sees Buck and Joe shot down dead. He doesn’t want to tell us any more details, Huck says, because he doesn’t like to talk about this and he had enough dreams about it as it is. Feeling as though this is all his fault (because he helped deliver the conspiratorial note to Sophia), Huck cries a bit and, after the attackers are gone, covers up the faces of the two dead bodies. He decides he doesn’t want any more to do with these people. He runs to Jim, who is mighty glad to see that Huck isn’t dead. They take off on the raft back along the Mississippi River. Finally, Huck can relax. There’s no home like a raft, he says, where everything is "free and easy."
Chapter 19
So they’re back in the raft. Huck spends some time describing the beautiful surroundings on the river. It’s quite lovely, should you feel inclined to READ YOUR BOOK. Also, he and Jim tend to be naked. A lot. Just go with it – it’s part of the whole "being one with nature" thing.One morning, just as it’s getting light, Huck finds a canoe and paddles to shore to look for some berries. Just then, two men come tearing through the bush, running towards the water. He thinks they’re after him or Jim, but it turns out they’re on the lam themselves. Of course Huck, having a soft spot for criminals, helps them hide and takes them aboard the raft with Jim. OK, so one of these guys is old, around seventy, and pretty ratty-looking. The other is around thirty, and equally ratty. We soon see that these guys don’t even know each other; they’re just two criminals that met while running away from the law. The younger man reveals that he was selling a kind of toothpaste that accidentally-kinda-sorta took the enamel off people’s teeth. The older man got in similar trouble for running a scam himself. He ran a "temperance revival meeting" (which is much like Alcoholics Anonymous, except without the anonymity and it’s actually more a scam than helpful in any way) until it got out that he was quite the drinker himself. So that was that. The two men decide that working together would likely be more lucrative than scamming each other. It’s a match made in con-artist heaven. Then the young man starts crying and using ridiculous words like "Alas." He reveals that he’s actually royalty. A duke, in fact. Actually, he’s the Duke of Bridge water. Of course, this means that Huck and Jim have to call him "Your Lordship" and serve him and all that jazz.
So they’re back in the raft. Huck spends some time describing the beautiful surroundings on the river. It’s quite lovely, should you feel inclined to READ YOUR BOOK. Also, he and Jim tend to be naked. A lot. Just go with it – it’s part of the whole "being one with nature" thing.One morning, just as it’s getting light, Huck finds a canoe and paddles to shore to look for some berries. Just then, two men come tearing through the bush, running towards the water. He thinks they’re after him or Jim, but it turns out they’re on the lam themselves. Of course Huck, having a soft spot for criminals, helps them hide and takes them aboard the raft with Jim. OK, so one of these guys is old, around seventy, and pretty ratty-looking. The other is around thirty, and equally ratty. We soon see that these guys don’t even know each other; they’re just two criminals that met while running away from the law. The younger man reveals that he was selling a kind of toothpaste that accidentally-kinda-sorta took the enamel off people’s teeth. The older man got in similar trouble for running a scam himself. He ran a "temperance revival meeting" (which is much like Alcoholics Anonymous, except without the anonymity and it’s actually more a scam than helpful in any way) until it got out that he was quite the drinker himself. So that was that. The two men decide that working together would likely be more lucrative than scamming each other. It’s a match made in con-artist heaven. Then the young man starts crying and using ridiculous words like "Alas." He reveals that he’s actually royalty. A duke, in fact. Actually, he’s the Duke of Bridge water. Of course, this means that Huck and Jim have to call him "Your Lordship" and serve him and all that jazz.
Chapter 20
Huck makes up a story to explain Jim’s presence. He’s not a runaway slave, he says, but since everyone thinks he is it’s just easier for them to travel at night. The con-men inspect the raft and decide that, being royalty and all, they deserve the best sleeping spots inside the makeshift wigwam. That night there’s a lightning storm, and Huck and Jim have to sit outside on the raft to keep watch while the "royalty" sleep. Huck doesn’t mind; he likes watching the storm. He ends up going to sleep while Jim takes over the watch. Shortly after, the duke and the king start planning their con, a series of Shakespearian performances. The king says he doesn’t know anything about "play-actin’," so the duke explains to him all about Romeo and Juliet. They decide that the king will play Juliet and the duke Romeo. The two cons head into town, informing Huck that they’re going to set up a way for them to travel in the daylight without worrying about Jim. Huck, wisely, elects to go with them. Not that these guys aren’t trustworthy or anything. The town is nearly deserted, and the men are informed that everyone is at a "camp-meeting" about two miles away. (It’s a religious gathering.) Huck and the king leave the duke at a printing-office (which is part of the plan to help Jim) and head to this camp-meeting. When they get there, the preacher is preaching, with lots of "Amen!" and "Hallelujah!" responses. The king simply can’t resist. He begins preaching and shouting himself, and soon enough he’s got everyone worked up in a religious frenzy and taking up a collection on his behalf (because he is a "reformed" and "changed" man, thanks to the Lord, etc., etc). And that’s how the king returns to the raft with $87.75 , and a three-gallon jug of whisky. The duke shows up and for three seconds is all proud of himself for conning about nine bucks – that is, until he sees the king’s score.
Huck makes up a story to explain Jim’s presence. He’s not a runaway slave, he says, but since everyone thinks he is it’s just easier for them to travel at night. The con-men inspect the raft and decide that, being royalty and all, they deserve the best sleeping spots inside the makeshift wigwam. That night there’s a lightning storm, and Huck and Jim have to sit outside on the raft to keep watch while the "royalty" sleep. Huck doesn’t mind; he likes watching the storm. He ends up going to sleep while Jim takes over the watch. Shortly after, the duke and the king start planning their con, a series of Shakespearian performances. The king says he doesn’t know anything about "play-actin’," so the duke explains to him all about Romeo and Juliet. They decide that the king will play Juliet and the duke Romeo. The two cons head into town, informing Huck that they’re going to set up a way for them to travel in the daylight without worrying about Jim. Huck, wisely, elects to go with them. Not that these guys aren’t trustworthy or anything. The town is nearly deserted, and the men are informed that everyone is at a "camp-meeting" about two miles away. (It’s a religious gathering.) Huck and the king leave the duke at a printing-office (which is part of the plan to help Jim) and head to this camp-meeting. When they get there, the preacher is preaching, with lots of "Amen!" and "Hallelujah!" responses. The king simply can’t resist. He begins preaching and shouting himself, and soon enough he’s got everyone worked up in a religious frenzy and taking up a collection on his behalf (because he is a "reformed" and "changed" man, thanks to the Lord, etc., etc). And that’s how the king returns to the raft with $87.75 , and a three-gallon jug of whisky. The duke shows up and for three seconds is all proud of himself for conning about nine bucks – that is, until he sees the king’s score.
Chapter 21
Waking up after a night of drinking, the duke and dauphin practice the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and the sword fight from Richard III on the raft. The duke also works on his recitation of the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet, which he doesn't know well at all, throwing in lines from other parts of Hamlet and even some lines fromMacbeth. To Huck, however, the duke seems to possess a great talent. Next, the group visits a one-horse town in Arkansas where lazy young men loiter in the streets, arguing over chewing tobacco. Huck gives a detailed, absurd description of the town. The duke posts handbills for the theatrical performance, and Huck witnesses the shooting of a rowdy drunk by a man, Sherburn, whom the drunk has insulted. The shooting takes place in front of the victim’s daughter. A crowd gathers around the dying man and then goes off to lynch Sherburn.
Waking up after a night of drinking, the duke and dauphin practice the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and the sword fight from Richard III on the raft. The duke also works on his recitation of the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet, which he doesn't know well at all, throwing in lines from other parts of Hamlet and even some lines fromMacbeth. To Huck, however, the duke seems to possess a great talent. Next, the group visits a one-horse town in Arkansas where lazy young men loiter in the streets, arguing over chewing tobacco. Huck gives a detailed, absurd description of the town. The duke posts handbills for the theatrical performance, and Huck witnesses the shooting of a rowdy drunk by a man, Sherburn, whom the drunk has insulted. The shooting takes place in front of the victim’s daughter. A crowd gathers around the dying man and then goes off to lynch Sherburn.
Chapter 22
So the angry mob makes its way over to Sherburn’s house. Sherburn promptly steps out on his porch with a double-barreled gun, calm and composed. He proceeds to stare the mob down, which is pretty impressive if you think about it. Then he laughs at them and proceeds, in what again is an oddly Shakespearean moment, to deliver a soliloquy of sorts. Essentially, he says that the mob doesn’t have the balls to lynch anyone, much less a man like himself. They’re all cowards, he says, except for that one guy Buck Harkness, but even he is only half of a man. While we may think taunting an angry mob is a questionable decision, it seems to work in this case. The mob leaves with its tails between its collective legs. Well, since that’s all done with, let’s all go to the circus! And what a fine circus it is – horsemen and dancers and beautiful women and all. About halfway through, a drunken man tries to make his way into the center of the stage. The ringmaster tries and fails to stop the drunk as he climbs on one of the circus horses, which tears about the stage. While everyone else is laughing at the man’s near-death, Huck is concerned for his safety, at least until he jumps off the horse, sober as can be, sheds seventeen suits from underneath his overcoat and reveals himself to be, actually, part of the act. That night, the duke and the king perform their Shakespeare to a group of poor, uneducated Arkansas townsfolk. Wonder of wonders, they don’t get it. In fact, they don’t like it at all. So the con artists rethink their plan. They put up a sign for the next night that essentially says "Low-Brow Comedy Show! XXX-Rated!"
So the angry mob makes its way over to Sherburn’s house. Sherburn promptly steps out on his porch with a double-barreled gun, calm and composed. He proceeds to stare the mob down, which is pretty impressive if you think about it. Then he laughs at them and proceeds, in what again is an oddly Shakespearean moment, to deliver a soliloquy of sorts. Essentially, he says that the mob doesn’t have the balls to lynch anyone, much less a man like himself. They’re all cowards, he says, except for that one guy Buck Harkness, but even he is only half of a man. While we may think taunting an angry mob is a questionable decision, it seems to work in this case. The mob leaves with its tails between its collective legs. Well, since that’s all done with, let’s all go to the circus! And what a fine circus it is – horsemen and dancers and beautiful women and all. About halfway through, a drunken man tries to make his way into the center of the stage. The ringmaster tries and fails to stop the drunk as he climbs on one of the circus horses, which tears about the stage. While everyone else is laughing at the man’s near-death, Huck is concerned for his safety, at least until he jumps off the horse, sober as can be, sheds seventeen suits from underneath his overcoat and reveals himself to be, actually, part of the act. That night, the duke and the king perform their Shakespeare to a group of poor, uneducated Arkansas townsfolk. Wonder of wonders, they don’t get it. In fact, they don’t like it at all. So the con artists rethink their plan. They put up a sign for the next night that essentially says "Low-Brow Comedy Show! XXX-Rated!"
Chapter 23
Then one brilliant guy reminds them that they don’t want to look foolish in front of the rest of the townspeople for wasting their money. A much better plan would be to get everyone else to see the show tomorrow and then lynch the duke and the king. The mob is all, "Good idea!" So the duke and king clean up for a second night in a row. On the third night, the townspeople arrive with a vengeance. And lots of rotten fruit for throwing purposes. Unfortunately, the duke and the king have absconded with the money from all three nights’ worth of shows – $465. So our gang of four is back on the raft and moving along the river once again. In private (which we imagine is a difficult condition to obtain on a small raft with four people), Jim tells Huck that these men are clearly "rapscallions." Huck responds that all kings are rapscallions – like "Henry the VIII," who used to chop off all his wives' heads. Of course, Huck exaggerates a bit and generally mixes up his history, but still, the boy has a point. That night, Jim stays awake during his watch, while Huck sleeps. When Huck wakes up at daybreak, he finds Jim in the midst of misery. Turns out, Jim is homesick for his family. He tells Huck a story about his daughter: he once asked her to close the door to their house, but she ignored him. He asked her again, only to find that she still wouldn’t obey him. Mad as hell, he hit her across the head, only to find out later that the child was deaf and couldn’t hear him in the first place. Of course, Jim still feels terrible about the whole thing, especially now that he’s separated from his family.
Then one brilliant guy reminds them that they don’t want to look foolish in front of the rest of the townspeople for wasting their money. A much better plan would be to get everyone else to see the show tomorrow and then lynch the duke and the king. The mob is all, "Good idea!" So the duke and king clean up for a second night in a row. On the third night, the townspeople arrive with a vengeance. And lots of rotten fruit for throwing purposes. Unfortunately, the duke and the king have absconded with the money from all three nights’ worth of shows – $465. So our gang of four is back on the raft and moving along the river once again. In private (which we imagine is a difficult condition to obtain on a small raft with four people), Jim tells Huck that these men are clearly "rapscallions." Huck responds that all kings are rapscallions – like "Henry the VIII," who used to chop off all his wives' heads. Of course, Huck exaggerates a bit and generally mixes up his history, but still, the boy has a point. That night, Jim stays awake during his watch, while Huck sleeps. When Huck wakes up at daybreak, he finds Jim in the midst of misery. Turns out, Jim is homesick for his family. He tells Huck a story about his daughter: he once asked her to close the door to their house, but she ignored him. He asked her again, only to find that she still wouldn’t obey him. Mad as hell, he hit her across the head, only to find out later that the child was deaf and couldn’t hear him in the first place. Of course, Jim still feels terrible about the whole thing, especially now that he’s separated from his family.
Chapter 24
The cons dress up Jim as an Arab so he won’t be discovered as a runaway slave. Still, in case the outfit isn’t enough (they used some of the props from their King Lear supplies), they put a sign on him that says "Sick Arab–but harmless when not out of his head." The two con men are eager to pull off another con; they want to try The Royal Nonesuch gig again, but they’re afraid news of the scam might have spread along the river by now. The king decides he’ll just drop into the next village and "trust in Providence" to lead him the right way. He and Huck dress themselves up nicely in some new clothes and decide to arrive in town by steamboat (for appearance’s sake). They soon run into a young man from the country who takes them towards the boat and spills all the town gossip on the way. Turns out, a wealthy man named Peter Wilks has just died. While he was sick, he had sent for his brothers William (a deaf mute) and Harvey (a preacher in England). But they haven’t shown up yet, which means they missed the chance to say good-bye to their brother before he passed. Still in town, however, are Peter’s three nieces – Mary Jane (19), Susan (15), and Joanna (14, has a harelip). The king is immensely interested (mostly because dead people equals money, in the inheritance sense) and pumps this guy for all the information he’s got. When they get to the steamboat, the king bids good-bye to the young man but doesn’t get on the boat with Huck as planned. Instead, he sends Huck to fetch the duke, and the two conmen hatch a plot. So of course the duke and king decide to play the part of the dead man’s brothers. They travel to town and make a big stink over the fact that Peter died before they arrived. (The king is playing the part of the preacher, with a British accent and all, and the duke plays William, the deaf mute.) Watching the two men blubber on and lament their dear, beloved dead "brother," Huck comments that, "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." Well said, Huck.
The cons dress up Jim as an Arab so he won’t be discovered as a runaway slave. Still, in case the outfit isn’t enough (they used some of the props from their King Lear supplies), they put a sign on him that says "Sick Arab–but harmless when not out of his head." The two con men are eager to pull off another con; they want to try The Royal Nonesuch gig again, but they’re afraid news of the scam might have spread along the river by now. The king decides he’ll just drop into the next village and "trust in Providence" to lead him the right way. He and Huck dress themselves up nicely in some new clothes and decide to arrive in town by steamboat (for appearance’s sake). They soon run into a young man from the country who takes them towards the boat and spills all the town gossip on the way. Turns out, a wealthy man named Peter Wilks has just died. While he was sick, he had sent for his brothers William (a deaf mute) and Harvey (a preacher in England). But they haven’t shown up yet, which means they missed the chance to say good-bye to their brother before he passed. Still in town, however, are Peter’s three nieces – Mary Jane (19), Susan (15), and Joanna (14, has a harelip). The king is immensely interested (mostly because dead people equals money, in the inheritance sense) and pumps this guy for all the information he’s got. When they get to the steamboat, the king bids good-bye to the young man but doesn’t get on the boat with Huck as planned. Instead, he sends Huck to fetch the duke, and the two conmen hatch a plot. So of course the duke and king decide to play the part of the dead man’s brothers. They travel to town and make a big stink over the fact that Peter died before they arrived. (The king is playing the part of the preacher, with a British accent and all, and the duke plays William, the deaf mute.) Watching the two men blubber on and lament their dear, beloved dead "brother," Huck comments that, "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." Well said, Huck.
Chapter 25
The first thing Huck tells us about the people in town is that Mary Jane, the oldest of the nieces, is beautiful. And a red-head. The nieces fall for the plot hook, line, and sinker. They embrace the duke and king as their long-absent uncles. Huck thinks it’s disgusting the way the duke and king kneel and pray over the dead body, pretending to be distraught. The king is so easily able to deceive the town because of all the information he got from the young man he met earlier. The king repeats all the names he heard of the various townsfolk as though he read them in letters from Peter. Then they get to the business of the will; Peter allotted $3,000 and the house to the three nieces, and another three thousand and other property (worth seven grand) to his brothers. The two conman go down into the cellar where the six thousand in gold is hidden. They’re all Scrooge-McDuck-excited and get to counting it right away. The money ends up being short: it’s not quite six thousand as it should be. Actually, it’s $415 short. The cons are worried that the townsfolk will start to get suspicious if money is missing; they might think the brothers stole it. So the duke suggests making up the deficit using their own money – the profits from The Royal Nonesuch. Wait a minute…this smells like…like…FORESHADOWING! The duke decides it would be even more impressively magnanimous of them to go upstairs and publicly give all $6,000 to the girls. The king does so, but being the king, of course, he has to couch the presentation in all sorts of pomp and circumstance – British pomp, of course.
The first thing Huck tells us about the people in town is that Mary Jane, the oldest of the nieces, is beautiful. And a red-head. The nieces fall for the plot hook, line, and sinker. They embrace the duke and king as their long-absent uncles. Huck thinks it’s disgusting the way the duke and king kneel and pray over the dead body, pretending to be distraught. The king is so easily able to deceive the town because of all the information he got from the young man he met earlier. The king repeats all the names he heard of the various townsfolk as though he read them in letters from Peter. Then they get to the business of the will; Peter allotted $3,000 and the house to the three nieces, and another three thousand and other property (worth seven grand) to his brothers. The two conman go down into the cellar where the six thousand in gold is hidden. They’re all Scrooge-McDuck-excited and get to counting it right away. The money ends up being short: it’s not quite six thousand as it should be. Actually, it’s $415 short. The cons are worried that the townsfolk will start to get suspicious if money is missing; they might think the brothers stole it. So the duke suggests making up the deficit using their own money – the profits from The Royal Nonesuch. Wait a minute…this smells like…like…FORESHADOWING! The duke decides it would be even more impressively magnanimous of them to go upstairs and publicly give all $6,000 to the girls. The king does so, but being the king, of course, he has to couch the presentation in all sorts of pomp and circumstance – British pomp, of course.
Chapter 26
Huck digs himself into a hole making up contradictory stories about famous dead kings that go to his church in two different places in England. Oops. He ends up having to swear he’s telling the truth over a book. He does it only because it’s a dictionary and not the Bible. Meanwhile, Mary Jane overhears her sister giving their guest a hard time and lights into her about her lack of manners. This makes Huck feel guilty about letting the duke and king rob such a nice girl of her money. So Huck decides that he just can’t allow such low-down thievery to take place right under his nose. He decides to steal the money, hide it, escape, and tell Mary Jane the whole thing by letter once everything has quieted down and the duke and king are out of the picture. He heads upstairs and starts hunting around the king’s room for the dough. course, this is a fictional story, and we all know that in stories anyone who’s ever hunting around someone else’s room and hears footsteps has to hide in the closet. So Huck is hanging out behind Mary Jane’s dresses in the back of the closet and listening in while the duke and the king (owners of aforementioned footsteps) talk about their plan. The duke is nervous, particularly since the doctor spoke out against them in public. He wants to take the cash and split. The king, on the other hand, isn’t satisfied with taking the cash when there’s almost $10,000 in property to be sold off first. The duke isn’t too comfortable with this idea, either – he doesn’t want to leave these poor orphans without a cent and without a house. Of course, the king has an answer for this: after they’ve left, when everyone figures out they’re not the real brothers, any sale of property will be invalidated. In other words, the girls will get their stuff back, and whoever bought the property in the first place will be the only ones to suffer. The duke likes the sound of that, and the two men proceed to move the gold to a new hiding spot in the room. (Which is great for Huck to know.) When the conmen leave, Huck darts out of his hiding place and takes the gold.
Huck digs himself into a hole making up contradictory stories about famous dead kings that go to his church in two different places in England. Oops. He ends up having to swear he’s telling the truth over a book. He does it only because it’s a dictionary and not the Bible. Meanwhile, Mary Jane overhears her sister giving their guest a hard time and lights into her about her lack of manners. This makes Huck feel guilty about letting the duke and king rob such a nice girl of her money. So Huck decides that he just can’t allow such low-down thievery to take place right under his nose. He decides to steal the money, hide it, escape, and tell Mary Jane the whole thing by letter once everything has quieted down and the duke and king are out of the picture. He heads upstairs and starts hunting around the king’s room for the dough. course, this is a fictional story, and we all know that in stories anyone who’s ever hunting around someone else’s room and hears footsteps has to hide in the closet. So Huck is hanging out behind Mary Jane’s dresses in the back of the closet and listening in while the duke and the king (owners of aforementioned footsteps) talk about their plan. The duke is nervous, particularly since the doctor spoke out against them in public. He wants to take the cash and split. The king, on the other hand, isn’t satisfied with taking the cash when there’s almost $10,000 in property to be sold off first. The duke isn’t too comfortable with this idea, either – he doesn’t want to leave these poor orphans without a cent and without a house. Of course, the king has an answer for this: after they’ve left, when everyone figures out they’re not the real brothers, any sale of property will be invalidated. In other words, the girls will get their stuff back, and whoever bought the property in the first place will be the only ones to suffer. The duke likes the sound of that, and the two men proceed to move the gold to a new hiding spot in the room. (Which is great for Huck to know.) When the conmen leave, Huck darts out of his hiding place and takes the gold.
Chapter 27
Huck is all tiptoeing around downstairs when, quite expectedly, he hears more footsteps. He darts into the parlor where the deceased Peter Wilks is laid out in his coffin. This seems a reasonable enough place to hide the gold, so he shoves the bag in under the dead man’s hands. Huck himself hides behind the door (of the parlor, not the coffin) while Mary Jane comes in and cries a bit over Peter’s body. Then Huck tiptoes out again and worries for a good three paragraphs or so about what he’s going to do now that the money is tucked in with the stiff. Then it’s time for the funeral. Huck spends some time telling us all about the undertaker, who "slid[es] around in his black gloves with his softy soothering ways, […] making no more noise than a cat" and adding that "he was the softest, glidingest, stealthiest man I ever see; and there warn’t no more smile to him than there is to a ham." As the Reverend begins the service, there’s a big hullabaloo coming from the basement, and a dog is barking its head off. The undertaker takes care of it, surfacing from the cellar with a rat, which he lets everyone in on so they can satisfy their curiosity as to why the dog was barking, which can be a distracting incident at any funeral, as we all know. Huck very wisely comments that this was a good call on the undertaker’s part, and that really he’s the most popular man in town. Getting rather nervous as the ceremony draws to a close, Huck sweats like a madman while the undertaker…slowly…nails the coffin closed without even looking inside. Except Huck isn’t sure whether the money is still in the coffin or whether someone’s taken it out. Yes, that does complicate things a bit. The king declares that, really, he must be going, since his church back in England is in desperate need of their preacher. On account of his hurried departure, he has to start selling off the property right away, including the girls’ house, since according to the plan, they’re coming with their two uncles back to England. The king sells off the girls’ slaves without consideration for keeping the black families together. This puts everyone off, since it’s basically an inhumane thing to do (even in this culture that sees black people as property). The duke is a bit uneasy about this whole thing, but what with playing a deaf-mute and all, he doesn’t really say anything. The next day – the day of the planned property auction – the king and the duke wake Huck up and interrogate him. It seems they’re missing their gold, and they’re trying to figure out if he’s the one that stole it. Huck is all, "Not me," but he does say that he saw the black slaves (the ones that have just been sold and aren’t around anymore) go into the king’s room. The king is all "Oh no!" and Huck is all, "I’m so clever!" since the scapegoats aren’t there to get interrogated or punished.
Huck is all tiptoeing around downstairs when, quite expectedly, he hears more footsteps. He darts into the parlor where the deceased Peter Wilks is laid out in his coffin. This seems a reasonable enough place to hide the gold, so he shoves the bag in under the dead man’s hands. Huck himself hides behind the door (of the parlor, not the coffin) while Mary Jane comes in and cries a bit over Peter’s body. Then Huck tiptoes out again and worries for a good three paragraphs or so about what he’s going to do now that the money is tucked in with the stiff. Then it’s time for the funeral. Huck spends some time telling us all about the undertaker, who "slid[es] around in his black gloves with his softy soothering ways, […] making no more noise than a cat" and adding that "he was the softest, glidingest, stealthiest man I ever see; and there warn’t no more smile to him than there is to a ham." As the Reverend begins the service, there’s a big hullabaloo coming from the basement, and a dog is barking its head off. The undertaker takes care of it, surfacing from the cellar with a rat, which he lets everyone in on so they can satisfy their curiosity as to why the dog was barking, which can be a distracting incident at any funeral, as we all know. Huck very wisely comments that this was a good call on the undertaker’s part, and that really he’s the most popular man in town. Getting rather nervous as the ceremony draws to a close, Huck sweats like a madman while the undertaker…slowly…nails the coffin closed without even looking inside. Except Huck isn’t sure whether the money is still in the coffin or whether someone’s taken it out. Yes, that does complicate things a bit. The king declares that, really, he must be going, since his church back in England is in desperate need of their preacher. On account of his hurried departure, he has to start selling off the property right away, including the girls’ house, since according to the plan, they’re coming with their two uncles back to England. The king sells off the girls’ slaves without consideration for keeping the black families together. This puts everyone off, since it’s basically an inhumane thing to do (even in this culture that sees black people as property). The duke is a bit uneasy about this whole thing, but what with playing a deaf-mute and all, he doesn’t really say anything. The next day – the day of the planned property auction – the king and the duke wake Huck up and interrogate him. It seems they’re missing their gold, and they’re trying to figure out if he’s the one that stole it. Huck is all, "Not me," but he does say that he saw the black slaves (the ones that have just been sold and aren’t around anymore) go into the king’s room. The king is all "Oh no!" and Huck is all, "I’m so clever!" since the scapegoats aren’t there to get interrogated or punished.
Chapter 28
Mary Jane is upset about the slaves being sold (families were broken up). Huck, overcome by her misery and, more importantly, her beauty, breaks down and confesses everything to her. Together they devise a plan. Or rather, Huck devises a plan and Mary Jane goes along with it. The plan is, Mary Jane goes for the night to stay with Mr. Lothrop, because the girl’s got the poker face of a five-year-old with a sugar high. (In other words, she wouldn’t be able to hide her emotions from the duke and king.) Huck says that there is someone else whose life hangs in the balance here (meaning Jim, though he doesn't say as much to Mary Jane), and that’s why he needs time to escape before the situation plays out. He tells her that later that night she should sneak back to the house and shine a candle in the window. If Huck doesn’t show up, it means he’s escaped (with Jim), and she can blow the whistle all she wants on the two frauds. Huck then takes a piece of paper and writes down "Royal Nonesuch, Bricksville," so the duke and king can pay their dues for that little scam as well. Then he remembers the money; he doesn't want to distress the girl by telling her the cash got stowed in the coffin with Peter’s body, so he writes this down, too, and tells her not to look at the paper until she’s already on the road to Mr. Lothrop’s. Mary Jane is all, "OK, sounds good to me," so she takes off, adding that she’ll pray for Huck.
Mary Jane is upset about the slaves being sold (families were broken up). Huck, overcome by her misery and, more importantly, her beauty, breaks down and confesses everything to her. Together they devise a plan. Or rather, Huck devises a plan and Mary Jane goes along with it. The plan is, Mary Jane goes for the night to stay with Mr. Lothrop, because the girl’s got the poker face of a five-year-old with a sugar high. (In other words, she wouldn’t be able to hide her emotions from the duke and king.) Huck says that there is someone else whose life hangs in the balance here (meaning Jim, though he doesn't say as much to Mary Jane), and that’s why he needs time to escape before the situation plays out. He tells her that later that night she should sneak back to the house and shine a candle in the window. If Huck doesn’t show up, it means he’s escaped (with Jim), and she can blow the whistle all she wants on the two frauds. Huck then takes a piece of paper and writes down "Royal Nonesuch, Bricksville," so the duke and king can pay their dues for that little scam as well. Then he remembers the money; he doesn't want to distress the girl by telling her the cash got stowed in the coffin with Peter’s body, so he writes this down, too, and tells her not to look at the paper until she’s already on the road to Mr. Lothrop’s. Mary Jane is all, "OK, sounds good to me," so she takes off, adding that she’ll pray for Huck.
Chapter 29
Then they ask the duke and king to hand over the bag of money until they can figure things out. Of course, there is no money. The king explains that the slaves stole it just before they were sold. Naturally, no one believes them. They start questioning Huck, who tries to tell them stories about England and fails miserably in his lying. They take out some old letters that Peter Wilks had saved; letters from his brother Harvey. Now comes a handwriting test. Unfortunately, neither the king nor the real Harvey can match the writing. The real Harvey explains that the letters were written by William and therefore not in his own hand. Rather inconveniently, the real William has a broken hand and can’t supply a writing sample. The real Harvey then has a brilliant idea – he knows what was tattooed on his brother’s chest; does the king know? Although it is clearly time to fold the hand and leave the table, the king won’t give up. He responds that it is a thin, blue arrow. The real Harvey says that no, it was actually Peter’s initials (P-B-W). The guys who buried the body don’t recall noticing any ink job, so clearly the only thing to do is dig up the body. Everyone marches to the graveyard, with no chance of escape on the way. Of course, the first thing they find when they open the coffin is the bag of gold. Huck is all, "Later!" and runs away as fast as he can. While he’s sprinting by the house, he sees the light in the window, which means Mary Jane is home and can soon clear up matters.
Then they ask the duke and king to hand over the bag of money until they can figure things out. Of course, there is no money. The king explains that the slaves stole it just before they were sold. Naturally, no one believes them. They start questioning Huck, who tries to tell them stories about England and fails miserably in his lying. They take out some old letters that Peter Wilks had saved; letters from his brother Harvey. Now comes a handwriting test. Unfortunately, neither the king nor the real Harvey can match the writing. The real Harvey explains that the letters were written by William and therefore not in his own hand. Rather inconveniently, the real William has a broken hand and can’t supply a writing sample. The real Harvey then has a brilliant idea – he knows what was tattooed on his brother’s chest; does the king know? Although it is clearly time to fold the hand and leave the table, the king won’t give up. He responds that it is a thin, blue arrow. The real Harvey says that no, it was actually Peter’s initials (P-B-W). The guys who buried the body don’t recall noticing any ink job, so clearly the only thing to do is dig up the body. Everyone marches to the graveyard, with no chance of escape on the way. Of course, the first thing they find when they open the coffin is the bag of gold. Huck is all, "Later!" and runs away as fast as he can. While he’s sprinting by the house, he sees the light in the window, which means Mary Jane is home and can soon clear up matters.
Chapter 30
Huck makes up a story to explain his running away so the duke and king won’t think he was trying to betray them. Of course, then the question arises: how did the gold get into the coffin? The duke and the king, reminding us that there is not only no honor, but no trust among thieves, turn on each other, each thinking his partner was trying to make off with the cash. The duke starts strangling the king. To avoid asphyxiation, the king "confesses" to stealing and hiding the cash. Then they get drunk together and pass out in the raft’s wigwam, with all forgotten and forgiven in a haze of booze. Huck tells Jim the whole story.
Huck makes up a story to explain his running away so the duke and king won’t think he was trying to betray them. Of course, then the question arises: how did the gold get into the coffin? The duke and the king, reminding us that there is not only no honor, but no trust among thieves, turn on each other, each thinking his partner was trying to make off with the cash. The duke starts strangling the king. To avoid asphyxiation, the king "confesses" to stealing and hiding the cash. Then they get drunk together and pass out in the raft’s wigwam, with all forgotten and forgiven in a haze of booze. Huck tells Jim the whole story.
Chapter 31
Huck goes to shore and inquires as to whether anyone, by chance, has seen a black man dressed in a combination of King Lear and Arab attire. Yes, in fact, someone has. This someone (just some random man from town) tells Huck that an older man – a stranger – caught the runaway slave and sold him for $40. Huck puts two and two together and realizes that the king sold Jim for a measly $40 to get his drunk on. He then gets all pensive and torn-up inside about what to do now. He can’t write home to Miss Watson, since she’ll be upset that he helped steal her slave. Now that he thinks about it, this is really God slapping him in the face for stealing someone else’s property. So he gets down on his knees to pray, determined to write a letter home explaining everything. But Huck then concludes, quite insight-fully that "you can’t pray a lie." He realizes that he doesn't want to send Jim back home. He wants to help set him free. So he concludes that, FINE, he’ll just GO to hell. Then he hides the canoe underwater by loading it with rocks and sets out to the farm of Silas Phelps, the man to whom the king sold Jim. the way, Huck runs into the duke nailing up a poster for The Royal Nonesuch. Huck plays dumb ("Where’s Jim gone to?") and the duke confesses that 1) the king sold him, and 2) he drank up all the money from the endeavor. Huck begins crying, but does so because Jim was his property and it wasn’t their right to sell him. The duke feels bad and says he’ll tell Huck where to find his slave: just go to Silas Ph– But then he cuts himself off, thinking better of telling the truth. Instead, he tells Huck that Jim is on a farm forty miles in the wrong direction. Huck, who knows better, thanks him and heads for Silas Phelps’s place.
Huck goes to shore and inquires as to whether anyone, by chance, has seen a black man dressed in a combination of King Lear and Arab attire. Yes, in fact, someone has. This someone (just some random man from town) tells Huck that an older man – a stranger – caught the runaway slave and sold him for $40. Huck puts two and two together and realizes that the king sold Jim for a measly $40 to get his drunk on. He then gets all pensive and torn-up inside about what to do now. He can’t write home to Miss Watson, since she’ll be upset that he helped steal her slave. Now that he thinks about it, this is really God slapping him in the face for stealing someone else’s property. So he gets down on his knees to pray, determined to write a letter home explaining everything. But Huck then concludes, quite insight-fully that "you can’t pray a lie." He realizes that he doesn't want to send Jim back home. He wants to help set him free. So he concludes that, FINE, he’ll just GO to hell. Then he hides the canoe underwater by loading it with rocks and sets out to the farm of Silas Phelps, the man to whom the king sold Jim. the way, Huck runs into the duke nailing up a poster for The Royal Nonesuch. Huck plays dumb ("Where’s Jim gone to?") and the duke confesses that 1) the king sold him, and 2) he drank up all the money from the endeavor. Huck begins crying, but does so because Jim was his property and it wasn’t their right to sell him. The duke feels bad and says he’ll tell Huck where to find his slave: just go to Silas Ph– But then he cuts himself off, thinking better of telling the truth. Instead, he tells Huck that Jim is on a farm forty miles in the wrong direction. Huck, who knows better, thanks him and heads for Silas Phelps’s place.
Chapter 32
The farm in question is a small "one-horse cotton plantation." Huck decides to "trust in Providence" and just march right up to the door. Good call; when he gets to the door, the lady of the house is all, "It’s you!" and he’s all, "Um, sure!" Huck tells her (Aunt Sally) that the boat he came on ran aground and that’s why he’s a little late. Also, he hid his baggage, which is why he doesn’t have any on him. When Silas comes home, we find out that Aunt Sally believes Huck to be her nephew, none other than Tom Sawyer. Huck, pleased as punch, plays right along. Since he knows all of Tom’s family, it’s easy to play the part and gab on about the relatives back home. Having learned his lesson with the Wilks brothers, Huck recalls that, when you’re pretending to be someone, you have to worry about the real version turning up. So he hurries off (under pretense of getting his baggage) to try and intercept the real Tom Sawyer.
The farm in question is a small "one-horse cotton plantation." Huck decides to "trust in Providence" and just march right up to the door. Good call; when he gets to the door, the lady of the house is all, "It’s you!" and he’s all, "Um, sure!" Huck tells her (Aunt Sally) that the boat he came on ran aground and that’s why he’s a little late. Also, he hid his baggage, which is why he doesn’t have any on him. When Silas comes home, we find out that Aunt Sally believes Huck to be her nephew, none other than Tom Sawyer. Huck, pleased as punch, plays right along. Since he knows all of Tom’s family, it’s easy to play the part and gab on about the relatives back home. Having learned his lesson with the Wilks brothers, Huck recalls that, when you’re pretending to be someone, you have to worry about the real version turning up. So he hurries off (under pretense of getting his baggage) to try and intercept the real Tom Sawyer.
Chapter 33
Huck finds Tom, who comes to the only reasonably logical conclusion possible when he sees his dead best friend: that he is a ghost. They have this lengthy dialogue that goes something like this: "You’re a ghost!" "No I’m not!" "Yes you are!" until Tom accepts that his friend is in fact alive. Huck starts to tell him about Jim, but he’s worried that Tom, being such an upstanding gentleman, will look down on the fact that he’s been helping to steal a slave. But Tom is all, "No worries, I’ll help you steal him!" which confuses Huck a bit. Apparently, he thinks, Tom isn’t so moral and upstanding after all. They go back to Aunt Sally’s and Tom introduces himself as some random stranger. They take him in. Over dinner, he kisses Aunt Sally randomly, which she finds rude and "owdacious" until Tom is all, "Just kidding! I’m your other nephew, Sid Sawyer!" Everyone has a good laugh, and they all go back to dinner. In the ensuing banter, we find out that some con artists have come to town under pretense of putting on a show. It seems some of the townspeople knew about the scam in advance, and now they’re setting up to give it to the no-good-fellers. Huck, fearing for the lives of the duke and king lights out to town – but he’s too late. The men have been tarred and feathered, so that’s that. He remarks that "human beings can be awful cruel to one another." On the way back to the farm, he feels guilty about what happened to the conmen. This is something he doesn’t understand, since the duke and king were such jerks to begin with. Conscience, he thinks, just seems to bug you no matter what you do.
Huck finds Tom, who comes to the only reasonably logical conclusion possible when he sees his dead best friend: that he is a ghost. They have this lengthy dialogue that goes something like this: "You’re a ghost!" "No I’m not!" "Yes you are!" until Tom accepts that his friend is in fact alive. Huck starts to tell him about Jim, but he’s worried that Tom, being such an upstanding gentleman, will look down on the fact that he’s been helping to steal a slave. But Tom is all, "No worries, I’ll help you steal him!" which confuses Huck a bit. Apparently, he thinks, Tom isn’t so moral and upstanding after all. They go back to Aunt Sally’s and Tom introduces himself as some random stranger. They take him in. Over dinner, he kisses Aunt Sally randomly, which she finds rude and "owdacious" until Tom is all, "Just kidding! I’m your other nephew, Sid Sawyer!" Everyone has a good laugh, and they all go back to dinner. In the ensuing banter, we find out that some con artists have come to town under pretense of putting on a show. It seems some of the townspeople knew about the scam in advance, and now they’re setting up to give it to the no-good-fellers. Huck, fearing for the lives of the duke and king lights out to town – but he’s too late. The men have been tarred and feathered, so that’s that. He remarks that "human beings can be awful cruel to one another." On the way back to the farm, he feels guilty about what happened to the conmen. This is something he doesn’t understand, since the duke and king were such jerks to begin with. Conscience, he thinks, just seems to bug you no matter what you do.
Chapter 34
Tom and Huck discern that Jim is being held in a hut near to the farmhouse. They debate over which plan would be best to steal him and escape. Huck’s idea is fairly basic: steal Jim, leave on the raft. But Tom and his overdeveloped sense of adventure aren’t satisfied. He wants to dig Jim out of the hut. So they head to the hut and meet Nat, one of the Phelps’ slaves, who is incredibly superstitious (he’s afraid of witches). The boys whisper to Jim to maintain hope, and that, since doors are for suckers, they’re going to dig him out
Tom and Huck discern that Jim is being held in a hut near to the farmhouse. They debate over which plan would be best to steal him and escape. Huck’s idea is fairly basic: steal Jim, leave on the raft. But Tom and his overdeveloped sense of adventure aren’t satisfied. He wants to dig Jim out of the hut. So they head to the hut and meet Nat, one of the Phelps’ slaves, who is incredibly superstitious (he’s afraid of witches). The boys whisper to Jim to maintain hope, and that, since doors are for suckers, they’re going to dig him out
Chapter 35
As evidenced by his disdain for doors, Tom is one of those people who likes to make life a little harder than it should be. Because of this tendency, Tom devises lots of weird, literary-based strategies to help Jim escape. First he wants a saw to take off the leg from Jim’s bed (that’s where he’s chained up). Huck cleverly remarks that you could simply lift up the bed, but like doors, such actions are for suckers. Then he wants to actually saw Jim’s leg off. And make a moat around the cabin. And bake Jim a pie with a rope ladder hidden inside. All of this is necessary, he insists, since that’s how they do it in adventure books. Huck steals some supplies (shirt, sheet) from the Phelpses. He tries to call it "borrowing," but Tom, who apparently is now all morals, tells him that, in fact, it’s stealing, so let’s just call a horse a horse. However, he also says that the stealing is OK, since everyone knows prisoners get a free pass to steal what they need.
As evidenced by his disdain for doors, Tom is one of those people who likes to make life a little harder than it should be. Because of this tendency, Tom devises lots of weird, literary-based strategies to help Jim escape. First he wants a saw to take off the leg from Jim’s bed (that’s where he’s chained up). Huck cleverly remarks that you could simply lift up the bed, but like doors, such actions are for suckers. Then he wants to actually saw Jim’s leg off. And make a moat around the cabin. And bake Jim a pie with a rope ladder hidden inside. All of this is necessary, he insists, since that’s how they do it in adventure books. Huck steals some supplies (shirt, sheet) from the Phelpses. He tries to call it "borrowing," but Tom, who apparently is now all morals, tells him that, in fact, it’s stealing, so let’s just call a horse a horse. However, he also says that the stealing is OK, since everyone knows prisoners get a free pass to steal what they need.
Chapter 36
As ambitious as he was to start with, Tom starts to realize that digging thirty-foot tunnels is tough work, especially when you don’t want to use a shovel. He concedes to practicality, as long as they can pretend they dug him out with a knife and not a pickaxe. Huck takes this as a sign that Tom is just full of principles. The boys include Jim in plotting their various machinations, many of which include hiding things like brass candlesticks in his food. When Nat (the superstitious slave) starts getting suspicious, the boys exploit his superstitions and blame all the mysterious happenings on witches. But, they tell him, he shouldn't worry. They’ll bake a witch’s pie to placate the spirits.
As ambitious as he was to start with, Tom starts to realize that digging thirty-foot tunnels is tough work, especially when you don’t want to use a shovel. He concedes to practicality, as long as they can pretend they dug him out with a knife and not a pickaxe. Huck takes this as a sign that Tom is just full of principles. The boys include Jim in plotting their various machinations, many of which include hiding things like brass candlesticks in his food. When Nat (the superstitious slave) starts getting suspicious, the boys exploit his superstitions and blame all the mysterious happenings on witches. But, they tell him, he shouldn't worry. They’ll bake a witch’s pie to placate the spirits.
Chapter 37
Because plotting day-by-day to help a man escape from imprisonment isn’t enough to keep these boys occupied, they also play some pranks on Silas and Sally. In an oh-so-comical scene that follows, they continuously steal and replace a spoon while Aunt Sally tries to count how many there are. It’s a knee-slappin’ good time. While Aunt Sally goes quietly insane, the boys finally get around to baking that witch’s pie. They hide a rope ladder in it to give to Jim and pretend the endeavor took nine months.
Because plotting day-by-day to help a man escape from imprisonment isn’t enough to keep these boys occupied, they also play some pranks on Silas and Sally. In an oh-so-comical scene that follows, they continuously steal and replace a spoon while Aunt Sally tries to count how many there are. It’s a knee-slappin’ good time. While Aunt Sally goes quietly insane, the boys finally get around to baking that witch’s pie. They hide a rope ladder in it to give to Jim and pretend the endeavor took nine months.
Chapter 38
Tom makes Jim carve various inscriptions into the wall before his escape, because that’s how it’s done in books and history and all that jazz. He then makes up a coat of arms for Jim to draw, along with several "mournful inscriptions" such as: "Here a captive heart busted." Pure poetry. In order to make the last few days of Jim’s stay as pleasant as possible, they decide they need some rats, snakes, spiders, and everything else they can think of that bites, itches, scratches, or otherwise impedes a man’s sleep
Tom makes Jim carve various inscriptions into the wall before his escape, because that’s how it’s done in books and history and all that jazz. He then makes up a coat of arms for Jim to draw, along with several "mournful inscriptions" such as: "Here a captive heart busted." Pure poetry. In order to make the last few days of Jim’s stay as pleasant as possible, they decide they need some rats, snakes, spiders, and everything else they can think of that bites, itches, scratches, or otherwise impedes a man’s sleep
Chapter 39
They set out to capture spiders, etc., but accidentally let the creatures loose in the house, which of course results in much screaming and jumping up on tables on the part of Aunt Sally. Jim is all, "Hey, stop putting live animals in bed with me," but Tom is having none of it. Three weeks later, they have finally sawed the leg (unnecessarily) off the bed (which was a better alternative than sawing off Jim’s leg), and nearly gotten sick from eating all the sawdust in order to hide the evidence. Don’t try this at home. Meanwhile, Silas has been writing letters to the supposed owners of Jim (based on false information from the king) Because he hasn’t gotten any responses, he starts advertising around to stir up some interest. Huck realizes that they have limited time before the news reaches Miss Watson back home. Tom, ever helpful, writes a "nonnamous" letter to the Phelps family that reads, "Beware. Trouble is brewing. Keep a sharp lookout." Sure, that should help things. Then they draw a skull and crossbones on the door in blood, which understandably freaks the family out to no end. On the night the boys are planning to steal Jim, Tom writes a detailed letter identifying himself as a thief and declaring that his fellow-thieves are getting ready to steal the slave who is tied up in Silas’s hut – all so that his escape will be more thrilling
They set out to capture spiders, etc., but accidentally let the creatures loose in the house, which of course results in much screaming and jumping up on tables on the part of Aunt Sally. Jim is all, "Hey, stop putting live animals in bed with me," but Tom is having none of it. Three weeks later, they have finally sawed the leg (unnecessarily) off the bed (which was a better alternative than sawing off Jim’s leg), and nearly gotten sick from eating all the sawdust in order to hide the evidence. Don’t try this at home. Meanwhile, Silas has been writing letters to the supposed owners of Jim (based on false information from the king) Because he hasn’t gotten any responses, he starts advertising around to stir up some interest. Huck realizes that they have limited time before the news reaches Miss Watson back home. Tom, ever helpful, writes a "nonnamous" letter to the Phelps family that reads, "Beware. Trouble is brewing. Keep a sharp lookout." Sure, that should help things. Then they draw a skull and crossbones on the door in blood, which understandably freaks the family out to no end. On the night the boys are planning to steal Jim, Tom writes a detailed letter identifying himself as a thief and declaring that his fellow-thieves are getting ready to steal the slave who is tied up in Silas’s hut – all so that his escape will be more thrilling
Chapter 40
That night, the boys are sent upstairs to bed right after dinner, since everyone’s all in a sweat about the brewing trouble. Tom puts on Aunt Sally’s frock so he can pretend to be Jim’s mother. Shortly after dinner Huck sneaks downstairs to steal some food for their escape trip. Aunt Sally bumps into him right after he steals some butter, so to hide it he puts it…under his hat. Suspicious, she takes him into the sitting room where about fifteen farmers are sitting and waiting with guns. Still, the butter-on-the-head plan is working just swell until it melts. Aunt Sally, ever practical and calm, exclaims that Huck has brain fever and that his insides are squirming out of his head. Sadly, Hugh Laurie/Dr. House makes no appearances before she snatches the hat off Huck’s head and sees the melting butter. Her suspicions satisfied, she sends Huck back to bed. He hurries out the window and finds Tom and Jim in the cabin, all set to go. But before they can leave, the small hut is surrounded by the farmers and their guns. They start creeping outside, and the fifteen farmers, apparently not the most observant folks in the world, flat-out miss them in the dark. Unfortunately, Tom’s pants catch on a rail and rip. The noise alerts the men and chaos follows. They send the dogs running after the thieves, which would be a great thief-catching device if the thieves weren’t boys that they dogs knew and loved. They make it to the raft and they’re all happy and relieved and everything is perfect except that Tom was SHOT. In the leg. But he’s pleased with himself, on account of all the adventure-prowess that having a bullet wound denotes. Realizing that they can’t escape while Tom has a bullet in his leg, they decide Huck should get a doctor, blindfold the doctor, swear him to secrecy, and force him to help. Meanwhile, Jim can hide in the woods so the doctor won’t see him.
That night, the boys are sent upstairs to bed right after dinner, since everyone’s all in a sweat about the brewing trouble. Tom puts on Aunt Sally’s frock so he can pretend to be Jim’s mother. Shortly after dinner Huck sneaks downstairs to steal some food for their escape trip. Aunt Sally bumps into him right after he steals some butter, so to hide it he puts it…under his hat. Suspicious, she takes him into the sitting room where about fifteen farmers are sitting and waiting with guns. Still, the butter-on-the-head plan is working just swell until it melts. Aunt Sally, ever practical and calm, exclaims that Huck has brain fever and that his insides are squirming out of his head. Sadly, Hugh Laurie/Dr. House makes no appearances before she snatches the hat off Huck’s head and sees the melting butter. Her suspicions satisfied, she sends Huck back to bed. He hurries out the window and finds Tom and Jim in the cabin, all set to go. But before they can leave, the small hut is surrounded by the farmers and their guns. They start creeping outside, and the fifteen farmers, apparently not the most observant folks in the world, flat-out miss them in the dark. Unfortunately, Tom’s pants catch on a rail and rip. The noise alerts the men and chaos follows. They send the dogs running after the thieves, which would be a great thief-catching device if the thieves weren’t boys that they dogs knew and loved. They make it to the raft and they’re all happy and relieved and everything is perfect except that Tom was SHOT. In the leg. But he’s pleased with himself, on account of all the adventure-prowess that having a bullet wound denotes. Realizing that they can’t escape while Tom has a bullet in his leg, they decide Huck should get a doctor, blindfold the doctor, swear him to secrecy, and force him to help. Meanwhile, Jim can hide in the woods so the doctor won’t see him.
Chapter 41
Huck takes the canoe and finds the doctor and makes up a story: Tom got shot by his dream. The doctor, skeptical to say the least, agrees to go. Since there’s only room for one person in the canoe, Huck has to stay behind and fret about things. He frets so much that he falls asleep. When he wakes up the next morning, he hightails it home and runs smack into Uncle Silas. Of course, he and Sally have been up all night scared about him and "Sid." He makes up a story that he and Sid were out hunting for the runaway slave. He goes home to find a group of women with Aunt Sally, all speculating about how crazy the runaway slave was, an opinion based on all the crazy stuff they found in his cabin (the work of Tom Sawyer, of course). Aunt Sally then remembers that she locked the boys in their room. But, in that case, how did they get out? Huck explains sheepishly that they went out the window, and Aunt Sally starts worrying all over again about where Sid could be. He feels guilty about making the poor woman sick with worry. He swears (to himself) to be good. You know, from now on.
Huck takes the canoe and finds the doctor and makes up a story: Tom got shot by his dream. The doctor, skeptical to say the least, agrees to go. Since there’s only room for one person in the canoe, Huck has to stay behind and fret about things. He frets so much that he falls asleep. When he wakes up the next morning, he hightails it home and runs smack into Uncle Silas. Of course, he and Sally have been up all night scared about him and "Sid." He makes up a story that he and Sid were out hunting for the runaway slave. He goes home to find a group of women with Aunt Sally, all speculating about how crazy the runaway slave was, an opinion based on all the crazy stuff they found in his cabin (the work of Tom Sawyer, of course). Aunt Sally then remembers that she locked the boys in their room. But, in that case, how did they get out? Huck explains sheepishly that they went out the window, and Aunt Sally starts worrying all over again about where Sid could be. He feels guilty about making the poor woman sick with worry. He swears (to himself) to be good. You know, from now on.
Chapter 42
The next morning, Tom/Sid has yet to return. Silas suddenly remembers to give Sally a letter from her sister (Polly, who takes care of Tom), but before she can open it, they all spot several figures approaching the farm. And the figures are: Jim, wearing the stolen calico dress (!?) and tied up; Tom Sawyer lying on a mattress; the doctor; and a mob of curious folks. Everyone wants to hang Jim as an example, but the doctor stops them and tells his story: when he found "Sid" to fix his leg, he couldn’t do anything without a second pair of hands. Sid was clearly getting worse and worse, and finally Jim stepped out of hiding – even though he knew it would mean his own recapture – to save the boy’s life. Everyone’s super-grateful, so they decide not to kill Jim. But they do lock him back up in the shed. They put Tom to bed and wait for him to wake up and feel chirpy, which he does the next morning. He then explains everything to his Aunt, about how they set Jim free and sent the anonymous notes, etc. He’s quite proud of himself, but is Aunt is none too pleased. When Tom hears that Jim has been thrown back in captivity, he flips out. Jim is free, he says, so they ought to let him go. Everyone essentially says, "What!?’ He explains that Miss Watson died two months ago and, feeling guilty and likely fearing hell, set Jim free in her will. Everyone is happy, although Silas is probably wondering if he’ll get his $40 back, and no one seems to lament the news that, in fact, Miss Watson is dead. Adding to the fun times, Aunt Polly shows up, which blows everyone’s fake identities. Huck declares that now he can respect Tom’s morality again since he knows he wasn’t trying to free someone else’s property. We find out that Tom’s been hiding all the letters that Aunt Polly had sent to her sister.
The next morning, Tom/Sid has yet to return. Silas suddenly remembers to give Sally a letter from her sister (Polly, who takes care of Tom), but before she can open it, they all spot several figures approaching the farm. And the figures are: Jim, wearing the stolen calico dress (!?) and tied up; Tom Sawyer lying on a mattress; the doctor; and a mob of curious folks. Everyone wants to hang Jim as an example, but the doctor stops them and tells his story: when he found "Sid" to fix his leg, he couldn’t do anything without a second pair of hands. Sid was clearly getting worse and worse, and finally Jim stepped out of hiding – even though he knew it would mean his own recapture – to save the boy’s life. Everyone’s super-grateful, so they decide not to kill Jim. But they do lock him back up in the shed. They put Tom to bed and wait for him to wake up and feel chirpy, which he does the next morning. He then explains everything to his Aunt, about how they set Jim free and sent the anonymous notes, etc. He’s quite proud of himself, but is Aunt is none too pleased. When Tom hears that Jim has been thrown back in captivity, he flips out. Jim is free, he says, so they ought to let him go. Everyone essentially says, "What!?’ He explains that Miss Watson died two months ago and, feeling guilty and likely fearing hell, set Jim free in her will. Everyone is happy, although Silas is probably wondering if he’ll get his $40 back, and no one seems to lament the news that, in fact, Miss Watson is dead. Adding to the fun times, Aunt Polly shows up, which blows everyone’s fake identities. Huck declares that now he can respect Tom’s morality again since he knows he wasn’t trying to free someone else’s property. We find out that Tom’s been hiding all the letters that Aunt Polly had sent to her sister.
Chapter 43- last chapter
Tom gives Jim $40 to compensate him for every atrocity he suffered, including: being a prisoner; living with spiders, snakes, and other creepy critters; being threatened with amputation; eating minimal amounts of food for a month. Jim remarks on his very good fortune, which he chalks up to his having a hairy chest. Finally, remember that dead guy near Jackson’s Island way back when this crazy adventure started? Turns out that was Huck’s father, so Huck doesn’t have to worry about him showing up and being drunk and abusive anymore. Judge Thatcher, unlike Miss Watson, hasn’t died. He still has Huck’s $6,000 back home, which, at the going rate for prisoners, is enough to fund about 150 more mock rescues. Pack up the raft, Tom. Huck plans to head out west, because he’s already tried heading south and that didn’t really accomplish anything. Plus, the country is growing out there, so there should be plenty of "adventures."
Tom gives Jim $40 to compensate him for every atrocity he suffered, including: being a prisoner; living with spiders, snakes, and other creepy critters; being threatened with amputation; eating minimal amounts of food for a month. Jim remarks on his very good fortune, which he chalks up to his having a hairy chest. Finally, remember that dead guy near Jackson’s Island way back when this crazy adventure started? Turns out that was Huck’s father, so Huck doesn’t have to worry about him showing up and being drunk and abusive anymore. Judge Thatcher, unlike Miss Watson, hasn’t died. He still has Huck’s $6,000 back home, which, at the going rate for prisoners, is enough to fund about 150 more mock rescues. Pack up the raft, Tom. Huck plans to head out west, because he’s already tried heading south and that didn’t really accomplish anything. Plus, the country is growing out there, so there should be plenty of "adventures."