Chapter 1:
The novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ begins with the narrator (who is later identified as Huckleberry himself) states that we may know of him through another book written by “Mr Mark Twain” called ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’. The character Huck quickly asserts that it “ain’t no matter” if the reader has not heard of him. In Huck’s opinion the author Twain mostly told the truth in the previous book, with some “stretchers”* thrown in. Although it is known that everyone –except Tom’s Auntie Polly, the Window Ms Douglas and maybe a few of the other girls tell lies once in a while. In the first chapter we learn that the novel of Tom Sawyer ended with Tom and Huck discovering a stash of gold some robbers had hidden in a cave, in hope no one would find it. As a result of the find the two boys each received $6,000 worth of gold, which was kept in a trust by the local judge, Thatcher. The money in the bank now accrues as much as a dollar each day from interest. Then in the book the Widow, Ms Douglas adoped Huck and tried to “sivilize” (civilise) young Huck, but he could not stand this, so as a means of escape he put on his old ragged clothes and ran away. But he soon returned because Tom Sawyer said to him he could join his new band of robbers, and so he returned to the Widow and vowed to be “respectable”.
The Widow who adopted Huck is known to frequently bemoan her failure to reform Huck, and he particularly cringes at the fact that he has to “grumble” (pray) over the food before every meal. This is because the Widow is a firm Christian. The Widow tries to teach Huck about the prophet Moses, but he loses interest when he learns that Moses is in-fact dead. The Widow refuses to let Huck smoke, but will allow him to use snuff and approves of it because she uses it herself. Her sister Miss Watson attempts to give Huck spelling lessons, but these efforts are not in vain as Huck learns to read much to the Widow and her sister’s delight.
Huck feels he is especially restless because of the Widow and her sister’s constant attempts to improve his behaviour. When Miss Watson tells Huck about the “bad place” known as Hell he blurts out that he would like to go there, as he wants a change of scenery. His proclamation causes an uproar, and but Huck does not see the point of going to the “good place” known as Heaven, and decides to not bother in trying to get there. He keeps this sentiment a firm secret, because he does not want to cause even more trouble with Miss Watson and the Widow. When Huck asks Miss Watson if his friend Tom Sawyer will go to Heaven, she tells him there is no chance on earth that Tom would make it to Heaven, and Huck is glad as he wants Tom to go with him to Hell, because he “wanted him and me (Tom) to be together”.
Huck soon grew tired of the Widow's attempts to "sivilize" him, and threw on (changed into) his old rags and ran away. He since returns after Tom promises Huck can join his new band of robbers.
One night after a prayer session with Miss Watson and the household slaves, Huck goes to bed. But he feels “so lonesome” that he “most wished” he was “dead”. He gets shivers from hearing the sounds of nature through his window, and seeing a spider crawling up his shoulder he flicks it off with his finger, and it falls into a candle’s flame shrivelling up in the flame. This is a bad omen and this frightens him, so much that he finds as much good luck charms and power as he can. Just after midnight Huck hears movement below his window and hears a “me-yow” sound, and after realising it is Tom replies back with the same call. He then climbs out the window onto the garden shed, and finds Tom waiting for him in the yard.
Chapter 2:
Tom and Huck tiptoe through the Widow’s garden, but Huck trips on a root as he passes by the kitchen window. Jim, one of the Widow’s slaves hears the noise from inside and goes to investigate. Tom and Huck are forced to crouch down on the ground and try to remain as still as they possibly can, but Huck is struck by a series of uncontrollable and unbearable itches which often happens when he is in a situation “where it won’t do for you to scratch”. Jim says aloud that he will stay on his ground until he discovers the source of the disturbance, but falls asleep after several minutes. Tom wants to tie Jim up, but Huck who is thinking in a more practical manner objects, so as a result Tom settles by playing a trick on Jim by putting his hat on a tree branch over his head. Tom also sneaks into the kitchen and steals candles, despite Huck objecting because they will be at risk of getting caught but Huck leaves five cents to pay for the candles.
Huck tells the readers that after they escape the garden Jim tells everyone that some witches flew him around and put a hat atop of his head. Jim works on the tale further and becomes a local celebrity among the slaves who enjoy witch stories. Huck wears around his neck the five-cent piece Tom left for the candles, calling it a charm from the devil with the power to cure sickness. Huck notes in a somewhat sarcastic manner that Jim nearly became so “stuck up” from his new found celebrity that he is unfit to be a servant any longer.
Meanwhile Huck and Tom meet up with a number of other boys and they all take a boat to a large cave, where Tom names his new band of robbers “Tom Sawyer’s Gang.” A rule is made that all the members of the gang must sign an oath in their own blood, vowing among a number of other things to kill the family of any member who reveals the gang’s secrets. The boys all think it is “a real beautiful oath” they have taken, and Tom admits that he discovered part of it from books he had read. The boys almost kick Huck out of the gang because he has no family members aside from his drunkard father who is never around, but remember he has his guardian the Widow. Tom says that the gang must capture and ransom people, but none of the boys know what the word “ransom” means. Tom assumes that it means to keep the victims captive until they die, and in response to one boy’s question he tells the group that woman are not to be harmed or killed, but should be kept at the hideout where the boy’s manners will charm the women into falling in love with them. When one of the boys begins to cry out of homesickness and threatens to give away the gang’s secrets, Tom is forced to keep him quiet with a bribe of five cents. They all agree as a gang to meet again someday, but never on a Sunday as one of the boys has jobs to do that day and meeting on a Sunday would be blasphemous. Huck manages to get back home, and retires to bed just before the crack of dawn.
Chapter 3:
After the Widow punishes Huck for dirtying his new clothes during his night out with his friend Tom, Miss Watson tries to explain a religious prayer to him. But soon Huck loses interest and gives up on it after some of his prayers are left un-answered. Watson calls him a fool, but the Widow later explains that prayers bestows spiritual gifts such as acting selflessly to help others in need. Huck however cannot see any advantage in such ‘gifts’ and resolves to forget the matter. The two women often take Huck aside to preach him religious discussions, in which the Widow describes a wonderful God, while Watson describes a terrible one. Huck as a result concludes that there are two Gods and decides he would much rather belong to the Widow’s God, if he would take him but Huck considers this as unlikely because of his bad qualities.
Meanwhile a rumour circulates around Holden’s town that Huck’s father who has not been seen in a year, is dead. A corpse was found in the river, possibly killed by drowning, and the body is found face down. The body is thought to be Huck’s father because of its “ragged” appearance. The face however of the body was unrecognizable due to decay. At first Huck is relieved that is father is ‘dead’, because his father had been a drunk who beat him even when he was sober, although Huck stayed hidden from him most of the time he was around. However Huck hears a further description of the body that was found, and realises that the body is not his father. The body turns out to be a woman dressed in men’s clothes. Huck as a result of this news worries that his father will soon turn up.
A month of Tom’s gang passes and Huck along with the rest of the boys quit, because with only slight robberies and no killings going on the gang’s existence is pointless. Huck tells the readers about one of Tom’s more notable games, in which Tom pretended that a caravan of Arabs and Spaniards was camping nearby with hundreds of camels and elephants. The ‘caravan’ turned out to be a Sunday-school picnic, although Tom explains that it really is a caravan of Arabs and Spaniards - only the two clans were enchanted. The gang’s raid on the picnic netted the boys only a few doughnuts and jam, but certainly gave them a fair amount of trouble. After testing another of Tom’s theories, one being that if you rub old lamps and rings you will summon a genie, but this never occurred no matter how hard Huck tried. Huck soon judges that most of Tom’s stories are fictional ‘lies’.
Chapter 4:
Over the next few months Huck begins to make progress in school, and adjusts to his new life with the widow and her sister Miss Watson. One winter morning he notices a series of boot tracks in the snow near his house, and he discovers that within one of the heel prints there is the shape of two nails crossed to ward of the devil. Immediately recognising this mark Huck runs to Judge Thatcher, and he sells his fortune which is the money he and Tom recovered in the other novel Tom Sawye, which the Judge had been managing for him) for a dollar. The Judge is befuddled by this action.
That night Huck goes to see Jim, who claims he possess a giant, magical hairball obtained from a oxen’s stomach. Huck tells Jim that he has discovered his father’s tracks in the snow near the house, and asks Jim if the ball will tell him what his father wants. Jim throws the ball in the air, and it lands on the floor. Bending down to listen to ‘what the ball has to say’ Jim shakes his head sadly, and tells Huck that the ball ‘needs money to talk’. Huck admits he only has a counterfeit quarter, hands it to Jim who places it underneath the hair ball. Jim then puts his ear to the ball and says that Huck’s father has two angels, one black angel and one white angel, representing evil and good. Jim states that the hairball cannot say which angel will conquer in the ability to control Huck’s father, but reassures he is safe for the time being. It also tells Jim that Huck will have much happiness and sorrow in his life, he will marry a poor woman, divorce her and then marry a wealthy woman. It also states he should stay well clear of the water, since this is where he will meet his death. That night when Holden returns home he climbs into his room through his window, and to his horror inside his room, sitting on his bed is a man he hoped he would never see again. The man in question is in fact Huck’s father Pap.
Chapter 5:
The sight of his father is very frightening to Huck. The nearly fifty-year-old man has ghastly skin which is a disgusting shade of white, almost liked a corpse. Huck notices his father’s “starchy” clothes. Noticing his son is looking down upon him, Huck’s father Pap wonders out loud if Huck thinks himself as better than his own father and makes a promise to take Huck “down a peg”. Pap also promise also to teach the Widow not to “meddle” with his son’s life and his right as his biological family member to Huck. Pap is also outraged that Huck has become the first person in his whole family to learn to read, and also questions Huck about the fact he is known as rich as he has heard around the town. When Huck denies this he calls his son a lier, but Huck is adamant that he has no money left. Huck tells him he only has a dollar to his name, and Pap forces Huck to give him the money regardless if it is all he has got, as he wants to buy whiskey to get drunk with.
The following day Pap shows up at the Judge’s court house and demands Huck’s money, claiming that as Huck’s FATHER he has the RIGHT to the money. The Judge and the Widow try to get custody of Huck, and refuse to let Pap get to the money, but their battle is lost when the new judge in the town refuses to separate a father and son from each other. Pap goes on a drunken spree, and is arrested as a result and lands himself a place in jail. The new judge of the town takes Pap into his home, and tries to reform him, but the judge and his wife prove that they are very weepy and moralizing. Eventually Pap ‘sees the light’ and repents his ways claiming he will be a fantastic role model and father to Huck, but this oath does not last. He soon gets drunk and the new judge decides that the only way to reform Pap for good… is with a shotgun.
Chapter 6:
In chapter six Pap sues Judge Thatcher for his son’s fortune, and after finding out Huck is still attending school threatens to beat him senseless if he carries on going to school. Huck ignores this threat and continues to attend in secret, with his main aim being to spite his father. Pap goes on a number of drunken binges, and it is clear to Huck his father will never change. One day Huck is kidnapped by his own father who takes him deep into the woods, hiding them both in a secluded cabin on the shore of the Illinois river. He locks Huck inside the cabin while he rambles outside, and goes to get drunk. After searching around the cabin Huck eventually finds a old saw, and makes a hole in the wall. He soon decides he is going to escape from his father and the Widow, but his plan is scuppered when his father returns to the cabin as Huck is about to break free.
Huck’s father complains that Judge Thatcher is delaying the trial to prevent him from getting his hands on Huck’s fortune, and he has heard his chances of getting the money are good but if he gets the money he will surely lose custody of Huck. To take his mind of this matter Pap rants about a mixed-race man in town, and states he is disgusted that this man is allowed to vote in his home town of Ohio. Pap also states he is angry also that the mixed-race man is under legal protection from being sold into slavery like other African and Caribbean men and women until he has been in Missouri for a maximum six months. After waking up from a drunken sleep Pap hallucinates and chases Huck with a knife, screaming at him calling him the “Angel of Death”, but stops suddenly and passes out. Huck grabs a rifle he found in the cabin, points it at his heavily intoxicated sleeping father and waits.
Chapter 7:
Waking up from his rest completely unaware of his drunken rage, Pap sends Huck out to check if any fish have been caught on the lines he placed out on the river. While doing as his father instructed Huck discovers a canoe drifting in the river, seizes it and hides it in the woods ready for his escape. When Pap leaves for the day locking Huck in the cabin, Huck waits for his father to leave and starts to saw his way out of the cabin. Collecting food, cookware, a rifle and other items of value from the cabin Huck takes them out to the canoe and places them inside it.
Huck then hides the hole he has cut in the wall, and taking his rifle looks through the whole to see the outside of the cabin in search of something to shoot. A wild boar catches his eye, and he takes aim and claims its life with one pull of the trigger. Next he smashes in the door of the cabin and brings the dead boar into the room, slitting its throat so that all its blood bleeds onto the cabin’s dirt floor. Huck then places the knife he used to slit the boar’s throat on the bed, and drags the body out to the river and throws it in waiting for it to sink to the bottom without a trace. He then goes to the canoe and waits for the moon to rise in the sky, hiding from his father who would arrive at any time. He cooks up a plan to paddle to Jackson’s Island out on the river. He soon starts to paddle and as the canoe drifts down the river Huck sees his father, and hides in the canoe as it drifts past him. He is not seen by his father much to Huck’s relief. Eventually he washes ashore onto Jackson’s Island, but is careful not to be seen by anyone.
Chapter 8:
The morning after Huck stages his ‘death’ a ferry boat passes Jackson Island, and on board the boat there is Huck’s pap, Judge Thatcher, Thatcher’s daughter Bessie, Tom Sawyer, Tom’s aunt Polly and plenty more people on board. They are all searching for Huck and discussing his apparent ‘murder’. In an attempt to locate Huck’s corpse they launch cannonballs across the water, and throw bread with mercury inside over the side of the boat so that it will float on the water. Huck who is still hiding carefully on the Island catches one of the loaves of bread, and carefully eats it avoiding the mercury inside. He is pleased that his ‘search party’ are using high-quality bread to search for him, but after he witnesses the Widow crying on the boat and the sadness of the people on the boat who care about him he begins to feel guilty because he has upset them.
Huck spends the next three peaceful days alone on the Island, and he lives on berries and fish to survive. Huck is very happy because he is able to smoke whenever he wishes to, and to pass the time he spends his nights counting ferryboats and stars on the tranquil river. On his fourth day of being on the Island he decides to explore, and while exploring he discovers a camp fire. This shocks him because it means he is not alone on this Island. Investigating he finds it is Jim the slave of the Widow’s sister. He is delighted to have found Jim and approaches him, which causes Jim to become scared. Jim thinks that Huck is a ghost, and so begs him not to hurt him but Huck assures Jim he is not a ghost and he means no harm to him.
Huck tells Jim he is pleased that he is not alone on this Island, but is shocked when Jim admits he has run away because the Widow’s sister was planning to sell him for $800 to a slave trader. If this sale had taken place he would have been sent to New Orleans and been separated from his family, so Jim ran away before the sister had a chance to decide whether or not to sell him for the $800. After settling down in each other’s company Jim and Huck discuss superstitions, of which Huck finds Jim is well-versed. They also talk about Jim’s failed investments of which most of them had been scams. Jim despite having so many failed investments says he is not too disappointed by his failures, since he still has hairy arms and a hair covered chest which according to his superstitions is a sign of future wealth.
Chapter 9:
The novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ begins with the narrator (who is later identified as Huckleberry himself) states that we may know of him through another book written by “Mr Mark Twain” called ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’. The character Huck quickly asserts that it “ain’t no matter” if the reader has not heard of him. In Huck’s opinion the author Twain mostly told the truth in the previous book, with some “stretchers”* thrown in. Although it is known that everyone –except Tom’s Auntie Polly, the Window Ms Douglas and maybe a few of the other girls tell lies once in a while. In the first chapter we learn that the novel of Tom Sawyer ended with Tom and Huck discovering a stash of gold some robbers had hidden in a cave, in hope no one would find it. As a result of the find the two boys each received $6,000 worth of gold, which was kept in a trust by the local judge, Thatcher. The money in the bank now accrues as much as a dollar each day from interest. Then in the book the Widow, Ms Douglas adoped Huck and tried to “sivilize” (civilise) young Huck, but he could not stand this, so as a means of escape he put on his old ragged clothes and ran away. But he soon returned because Tom Sawyer said to him he could join his new band of robbers, and so he returned to the Widow and vowed to be “respectable”.
The Widow who adopted Huck is known to frequently bemoan her failure to reform Huck, and he particularly cringes at the fact that he has to “grumble” (pray) over the food before every meal. This is because the Widow is a firm Christian. The Widow tries to teach Huck about the prophet Moses, but he loses interest when he learns that Moses is in-fact dead. The Widow refuses to let Huck smoke, but will allow him to use snuff and approves of it because she uses it herself. Her sister Miss Watson attempts to give Huck spelling lessons, but these efforts are not in vain as Huck learns to read much to the Widow and her sister’s delight.
Huck feels he is especially restless because of the Widow and her sister’s constant attempts to improve his behaviour. When Miss Watson tells Huck about the “bad place” known as Hell he blurts out that he would like to go there, as he wants a change of scenery. His proclamation causes an uproar, and but Huck does not see the point of going to the “good place” known as Heaven, and decides to not bother in trying to get there. He keeps this sentiment a firm secret, because he does not want to cause even more trouble with Miss Watson and the Widow. When Huck asks Miss Watson if his friend Tom Sawyer will go to Heaven, she tells him there is no chance on earth that Tom would make it to Heaven, and Huck is glad as he wants Tom to go with him to Hell, because he “wanted him and me (Tom) to be together”.
Huck soon grew tired of the Widow's attempts to "sivilize" him, and threw on (changed into) his old rags and ran away. He since returns after Tom promises Huck can join his new band of robbers.
One night after a prayer session with Miss Watson and the household slaves, Huck goes to bed. But he feels “so lonesome” that he “most wished” he was “dead”. He gets shivers from hearing the sounds of nature through his window, and seeing a spider crawling up his shoulder he flicks it off with his finger, and it falls into a candle’s flame shrivelling up in the flame. This is a bad omen and this frightens him, so much that he finds as much good luck charms and power as he can. Just after midnight Huck hears movement below his window and hears a “me-yow” sound, and after realising it is Tom replies back with the same call. He then climbs out the window onto the garden shed, and finds Tom waiting for him in the yard.
Chapter 2:
Tom and Huck tiptoe through the Widow’s garden, but Huck trips on a root as he passes by the kitchen window. Jim, one of the Widow’s slaves hears the noise from inside and goes to investigate. Tom and Huck are forced to crouch down on the ground and try to remain as still as they possibly can, but Huck is struck by a series of uncontrollable and unbearable itches which often happens when he is in a situation “where it won’t do for you to scratch”. Jim says aloud that he will stay on his ground until he discovers the source of the disturbance, but falls asleep after several minutes. Tom wants to tie Jim up, but Huck who is thinking in a more practical manner objects, so as a result Tom settles by playing a trick on Jim by putting his hat on a tree branch over his head. Tom also sneaks into the kitchen and steals candles, despite Huck objecting because they will be at risk of getting caught but Huck leaves five cents to pay for the candles.
Huck tells the readers that after they escape the garden Jim tells everyone that some witches flew him around and put a hat atop of his head. Jim works on the tale further and becomes a local celebrity among the slaves who enjoy witch stories. Huck wears around his neck the five-cent piece Tom left for the candles, calling it a charm from the devil with the power to cure sickness. Huck notes in a somewhat sarcastic manner that Jim nearly became so “stuck up” from his new found celebrity that he is unfit to be a servant any longer.
Meanwhile Huck and Tom meet up with a number of other boys and they all take a boat to a large cave, where Tom names his new band of robbers “Tom Sawyer’s Gang.” A rule is made that all the members of the gang must sign an oath in their own blood, vowing among a number of other things to kill the family of any member who reveals the gang’s secrets. The boys all think it is “a real beautiful oath” they have taken, and Tom admits that he discovered part of it from books he had read. The boys almost kick Huck out of the gang because he has no family members aside from his drunkard father who is never around, but remember he has his guardian the Widow. Tom says that the gang must capture and ransom people, but none of the boys know what the word “ransom” means. Tom assumes that it means to keep the victims captive until they die, and in response to one boy’s question he tells the group that woman are not to be harmed or killed, but should be kept at the hideout where the boy’s manners will charm the women into falling in love with them. When one of the boys begins to cry out of homesickness and threatens to give away the gang’s secrets, Tom is forced to keep him quiet with a bribe of five cents. They all agree as a gang to meet again someday, but never on a Sunday as one of the boys has jobs to do that day and meeting on a Sunday would be blasphemous. Huck manages to get back home, and retires to bed just before the crack of dawn.
Chapter 3:
After the Widow punishes Huck for dirtying his new clothes during his night out with his friend Tom, Miss Watson tries to explain a religious prayer to him. But soon Huck loses interest and gives up on it after some of his prayers are left un-answered. Watson calls him a fool, but the Widow later explains that prayers bestows spiritual gifts such as acting selflessly to help others in need. Huck however cannot see any advantage in such ‘gifts’ and resolves to forget the matter. The two women often take Huck aside to preach him religious discussions, in which the Widow describes a wonderful God, while Watson describes a terrible one. Huck as a result concludes that there are two Gods and decides he would much rather belong to the Widow’s God, if he would take him but Huck considers this as unlikely because of his bad qualities.
Meanwhile a rumour circulates around Holden’s town that Huck’s father who has not been seen in a year, is dead. A corpse was found in the river, possibly killed by drowning, and the body is found face down. The body is thought to be Huck’s father because of its “ragged” appearance. The face however of the body was unrecognizable due to decay. At first Huck is relieved that is father is ‘dead’, because his father had been a drunk who beat him even when he was sober, although Huck stayed hidden from him most of the time he was around. However Huck hears a further description of the body that was found, and realises that the body is not his father. The body turns out to be a woman dressed in men’s clothes. Huck as a result of this news worries that his father will soon turn up.
A month of Tom’s gang passes and Huck along with the rest of the boys quit, because with only slight robberies and no killings going on the gang’s existence is pointless. Huck tells the readers about one of Tom’s more notable games, in which Tom pretended that a caravan of Arabs and Spaniards was camping nearby with hundreds of camels and elephants. The ‘caravan’ turned out to be a Sunday-school picnic, although Tom explains that it really is a caravan of Arabs and Spaniards - only the two clans were enchanted. The gang’s raid on the picnic netted the boys only a few doughnuts and jam, but certainly gave them a fair amount of trouble. After testing another of Tom’s theories, one being that if you rub old lamps and rings you will summon a genie, but this never occurred no matter how hard Huck tried. Huck soon judges that most of Tom’s stories are fictional ‘lies’.
Chapter 4:
Over the next few months Huck begins to make progress in school, and adjusts to his new life with the widow and her sister Miss Watson. One winter morning he notices a series of boot tracks in the snow near his house, and he discovers that within one of the heel prints there is the shape of two nails crossed to ward of the devil. Immediately recognising this mark Huck runs to Judge Thatcher, and he sells his fortune which is the money he and Tom recovered in the other novel Tom Sawye, which the Judge had been managing for him) for a dollar. The Judge is befuddled by this action.
That night Huck goes to see Jim, who claims he possess a giant, magical hairball obtained from a oxen’s stomach. Huck tells Jim that he has discovered his father’s tracks in the snow near the house, and asks Jim if the ball will tell him what his father wants. Jim throws the ball in the air, and it lands on the floor. Bending down to listen to ‘what the ball has to say’ Jim shakes his head sadly, and tells Huck that the ball ‘needs money to talk’. Huck admits he only has a counterfeit quarter, hands it to Jim who places it underneath the hair ball. Jim then puts his ear to the ball and says that Huck’s father has two angels, one black angel and one white angel, representing evil and good. Jim states that the hairball cannot say which angel will conquer in the ability to control Huck’s father, but reassures he is safe for the time being. It also tells Jim that Huck will have much happiness and sorrow in his life, he will marry a poor woman, divorce her and then marry a wealthy woman. It also states he should stay well clear of the water, since this is where he will meet his death. That night when Holden returns home he climbs into his room through his window, and to his horror inside his room, sitting on his bed is a man he hoped he would never see again. The man in question is in fact Huck’s father Pap.
Chapter 5:
The sight of his father is very frightening to Huck. The nearly fifty-year-old man has ghastly skin which is a disgusting shade of white, almost liked a corpse. Huck notices his father’s “starchy” clothes. Noticing his son is looking down upon him, Huck’s father Pap wonders out loud if Huck thinks himself as better than his own father and makes a promise to take Huck “down a peg”. Pap also promise also to teach the Widow not to “meddle” with his son’s life and his right as his biological family member to Huck. Pap is also outraged that Huck has become the first person in his whole family to learn to read, and also questions Huck about the fact he is known as rich as he has heard around the town. When Huck denies this he calls his son a lier, but Huck is adamant that he has no money left. Huck tells him he only has a dollar to his name, and Pap forces Huck to give him the money regardless if it is all he has got, as he wants to buy whiskey to get drunk with.
The following day Pap shows up at the Judge’s court house and demands Huck’s money, claiming that as Huck’s FATHER he has the RIGHT to the money. The Judge and the Widow try to get custody of Huck, and refuse to let Pap get to the money, but their battle is lost when the new judge in the town refuses to separate a father and son from each other. Pap goes on a drunken spree, and is arrested as a result and lands himself a place in jail. The new judge of the town takes Pap into his home, and tries to reform him, but the judge and his wife prove that they are very weepy and moralizing. Eventually Pap ‘sees the light’ and repents his ways claiming he will be a fantastic role model and father to Huck, but this oath does not last. He soon gets drunk and the new judge decides that the only way to reform Pap for good… is with a shotgun.
Chapter 6:
In chapter six Pap sues Judge Thatcher for his son’s fortune, and after finding out Huck is still attending school threatens to beat him senseless if he carries on going to school. Huck ignores this threat and continues to attend in secret, with his main aim being to spite his father. Pap goes on a number of drunken binges, and it is clear to Huck his father will never change. One day Huck is kidnapped by his own father who takes him deep into the woods, hiding them both in a secluded cabin on the shore of the Illinois river. He locks Huck inside the cabin while he rambles outside, and goes to get drunk. After searching around the cabin Huck eventually finds a old saw, and makes a hole in the wall. He soon decides he is going to escape from his father and the Widow, but his plan is scuppered when his father returns to the cabin as Huck is about to break free.
Huck’s father complains that Judge Thatcher is delaying the trial to prevent him from getting his hands on Huck’s fortune, and he has heard his chances of getting the money are good but if he gets the money he will surely lose custody of Huck. To take his mind of this matter Pap rants about a mixed-race man in town, and states he is disgusted that this man is allowed to vote in his home town of Ohio. Pap also states he is angry also that the mixed-race man is under legal protection from being sold into slavery like other African and Caribbean men and women until he has been in Missouri for a maximum six months. After waking up from a drunken sleep Pap hallucinates and chases Huck with a knife, screaming at him calling him the “Angel of Death”, but stops suddenly and passes out. Huck grabs a rifle he found in the cabin, points it at his heavily intoxicated sleeping father and waits.
Chapter 7:
Waking up from his rest completely unaware of his drunken rage, Pap sends Huck out to check if any fish have been caught on the lines he placed out on the river. While doing as his father instructed Huck discovers a canoe drifting in the river, seizes it and hides it in the woods ready for his escape. When Pap leaves for the day locking Huck in the cabin, Huck waits for his father to leave and starts to saw his way out of the cabin. Collecting food, cookware, a rifle and other items of value from the cabin Huck takes them out to the canoe and places them inside it.
Huck then hides the hole he has cut in the wall, and taking his rifle looks through the whole to see the outside of the cabin in search of something to shoot. A wild boar catches his eye, and he takes aim and claims its life with one pull of the trigger. Next he smashes in the door of the cabin and brings the dead boar into the room, slitting its throat so that all its blood bleeds onto the cabin’s dirt floor. Huck then places the knife he used to slit the boar’s throat on the bed, and drags the body out to the river and throws it in waiting for it to sink to the bottom without a trace. He then goes to the canoe and waits for the moon to rise in the sky, hiding from his father who would arrive at any time. He cooks up a plan to paddle to Jackson’s Island out on the river. He soon starts to paddle and as the canoe drifts down the river Huck sees his father, and hides in the canoe as it drifts past him. He is not seen by his father much to Huck’s relief. Eventually he washes ashore onto Jackson’s Island, but is careful not to be seen by anyone.
Chapter 8:
The morning after Huck stages his ‘death’ a ferry boat passes Jackson Island, and on board the boat there is Huck’s pap, Judge Thatcher, Thatcher’s daughter Bessie, Tom Sawyer, Tom’s aunt Polly and plenty more people on board. They are all searching for Huck and discussing his apparent ‘murder’. In an attempt to locate Huck’s corpse they launch cannonballs across the water, and throw bread with mercury inside over the side of the boat so that it will float on the water. Huck who is still hiding carefully on the Island catches one of the loaves of bread, and carefully eats it avoiding the mercury inside. He is pleased that his ‘search party’ are using high-quality bread to search for him, but after he witnesses the Widow crying on the boat and the sadness of the people on the boat who care about him he begins to feel guilty because he has upset them.
Huck spends the next three peaceful days alone on the Island, and he lives on berries and fish to survive. Huck is very happy because he is able to smoke whenever he wishes to, and to pass the time he spends his nights counting ferryboats and stars on the tranquil river. On his fourth day of being on the Island he decides to explore, and while exploring he discovers a camp fire. This shocks him because it means he is not alone on this Island. Investigating he finds it is Jim the slave of the Widow’s sister. He is delighted to have found Jim and approaches him, which causes Jim to become scared. Jim thinks that Huck is a ghost, and so begs him not to hurt him but Huck assures Jim he is not a ghost and he means no harm to him.
Huck tells Jim he is pleased that he is not alone on this Island, but is shocked when Jim admits he has run away because the Widow’s sister was planning to sell him for $800 to a slave trader. If this sale had taken place he would have been sent to New Orleans and been separated from his family, so Jim ran away before the sister had a chance to decide whether or not to sell him for the $800. After settling down in each other’s company Jim and Huck discuss superstitions, of which Huck finds Jim is well-versed. They also talk about Jim’s failed investments of which most of them had been scams. Jim despite having so many failed investments says he is not too disappointed by his failures, since he still has hairy arms and a hair covered chest which according to his superstitions is a sign of future wealth.
Chapter 9: