ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
BY MARK TWAIN
Chapter 1
Huckleberry Finn begins where things left off after The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck and Tom Sawyer had become rich from all of the treasure they discovered and the Widow Douglas has adopted Huck. She tries to civilize Huck in many different ways,
including giving him new, clean clothes, teaching him about the Bible and God,
and trying to educate him on things like spelling and reading. The Widow
Douglas' sister, Miss Watson, even comes to try and help.
Huck is not comfortable with their civilized ways; he just wants to be
in his old rags and smoke.
Huck goes up to bed and is lonely and scared. He hears all sorts of
creepy noises outside and this frightens him. Soon, he hears the sound of a
cat's meow, and he knows that it is Tom. Huck meows back, climbs out the
window, slips into the trees,
and sees Tom waiting there for him.
Chapter 2
Tom and Huck creep into the trees and climb down to the widow's garden.
They see Miss Watson's slave, Jim, sitting at the kitchen door. They
try to be quiet so Jim won't hear them, but Jim hears noises anyway. He keeps
on asking, "Who's there?" Huck itches all over and tries not to
scratch himself so he doesn't make any noise. Tom plays a joke on Jim and
secretly hangs his hat above his head. Afterwards, Jim tells stories to all the
other slaves about how witches bewitched him that night.
Tom and Huck eventually make it to the top of the hill. They go down the
hill and meet up with a couple of their buddies. They all go down the river and
Tom shows them a hole in the hill; it opens up into a cave and they all go in.
Tom tells them that they're going to start a band of robbers called "Tom Sawyer's Gang." Everyone has to take an
oath to the group and write their names in blood. There is talk over what
they'll do if any of them tell the gang's secrets to others. Tom suggests that
they kill the person and the person's family as a consequence for violating
gang secrets. A question arises over what to do about Huck. He doesn't really
have a family, just a drunkard for a father, Pap, who Huck never sees.
Huck offers Miss Watson as a replacement. They all talk about what
they're going to do as robbers and Tom insists that they have to do what is
written in the books, including holding people for ransom.
"'Ransomed? What's that?'
'I don't know. But that's what they do. I've
seen it in books; and so of course that's what we've got to do.'
'But how can we do it if we don't know what it
is?'
'Why blame it all, we've got to do it. Don't I
tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in
the books, and get things all muddled up?'" Chapter 2, pg. 9
Tom is elected first captain, they end the meeting, and discuss a next
time to meet. They all go home.
Chapter 3
Miss Watson
yells at Huck for dirtying his clothes. The widow washes him off and Huck feels
guilty about it.
Huck wonders about praying. Miss Watson tells him if he prays, he will
get what he wants. Huck says he prayed for fishhooks once for days and he never
got them. The widow explains that he should pray for spiritual gifts.
Huck explains about his father. He hasn't seen him for more than a year;
this is fine with Huck because his father used to beat him. At one point,
everyone thought he drowned in the river, but Huck knew better; he knows Pap
isn't dead.
The gang plays for about a month and they all resign because they
haven't robbed or killed anyone. Tom makes up a story about Spaniards and Arabs
coming to town with camels and diamonds. He makes a plan to rob them, but when
the gang gets there, it is just a Sunday school picnic.
Tom and Huck argue over genies. Huck doesn't believe in them, but Tom
insists that they exist. Huck tries rubbing a tin lamp, but nothing happens,
just as he thought.
Chapter 4
It is winter and about 3 or 4 months have passed. Huck has been going to
school most of the time. He is getting used to his new ways: going to school
and living a 'civilized' life. He still sometimes misses the old ways of
sleeping in the woods.
Huck sees tracks in the snow. It is a boot with a cross in it to keep off the devil. He
goes to see Judge Thatcher. The judge tells Huck that $150
just came in for him, but Huck insists that the judge take that money plus the
rest of the $6,000. The judge is confused, but Huck
insists he take the money and not ask why.
Huck goes to see Jim, Miss Watson's slave. Jim has a magical hairball
that was removed from the fourth stomach of an ox. Huck pays Jim an old quarter
to make the ball talk and tell him what Pap is doing back in town. The footprints
that Huck saw were Pap's. Jim says that the ball says that Huck will have
trouble and joy in his life. He also says that Pap is around, but he isn't sure
what he is going to do yet.
Chapter 5
Huck's father is all worn out. He looks old, his clothes and shoes are
rags, and his face is a sickening whitish color. They talk for a while and Pap
gets angry. He is mad that Huck can read and is better than his own father now
that he is educated and wears nice clothes. He wants Huck's money because he
heard that Huck is rich, but Huck swears he doesn't have any money. Pap makes
him give him the only money that Huck has in his pocket ($1).
He goes and gets drunk. Pap tries to get the money from Judge Thatcher,
but the judge refuses to give it to him. The judge and the widow try to get
custody over Huck, but the court (with a new judge) rules against it; the court
doesn't want to separate a family.
Pap gets thrown in jail and when he comes out, he goes to live with the
new judge. The judge gives him new clothes, food, and a place to sleep. He
tries to reform Huck's father, but it doesn't work. He sells his new coat for
money to buy alcohol, falls out of the window, and breaks his arm.
Chapter 6
Pap causes all sorts of trouble around town. To spite the widow, he
kidnaps Huck and takes him to a deserted log cabin in the woods. He locks Huck
in so he can't escape. Pap gets drunk and beats Huck, but Huck starts to get
used to this new life. He is allowed to curse and be wild, unlike at the
widow's. He also doesn't miss school, books, and Miss Watson.
Eventually, Huck gets sick of being beaten so much, so he decides to
figure out a way to escape. He starts to saw off a wooden leg of the table, but
he hears Pap's gun in the woods and stops. When Pap comes back, he curses
everyone in the town for how long the custody trial over Huck and Huck's $6,000 is
taking. He tells Huck to go to the boat and collect the food, whisky, and
ammunition that he just brought back from the town. He goes down to the boat
and plans to escape that night when Pap is good and drunk. He plans to maybe go
across the country, but he definitely does not want to go back to the Widow's.
That night, Pap gets drunk and curses the government for the predicament
he's in. He also yells about black people being allowed to vote. He eventually
falls asleep, but it isn't a sound sleep, so Huck waits. He waits so long that
he falls asleep too. When he wakes up, Pap yells about snakes biting him on the
cheek and neck, but there really aren't any snakes. He falls asleep again,
mumbling about dead people coming to get him. He wakes up and chases Huck
around the house with his knife. He almost kills Huck, but he slips
by. Pap rests a minute and falls asleep again. Huck takes down Pap's gun, loads
it, points it at him, and waits for him to wake up.
Chapter 7
Pap wakes up and wants to know what Huck is doing with his gun. Huck
says that someone tried to come into the house and he grabbed it for
protection.
Huck goes down to the river to see about a fish for breakfast;
instead, he finds a canoe floating down the river along with a lot of other
debris, including big pieces of wood. He grabs the canoe and hides it, so he
can use it to escape later.
Pap goes to town to try and sell some of the wood they collected from
the river. Huck uses this time to plan his escape. He loads up the canoe with
food, ammunition, Pap's gun, matches, and a few other essentials. Then,
Huck kills a pig.
He bloodies up the house and axe with this pig to make it look as though
a robber came into the house and killed Huck. Huck doesn't want anyone to chase
after him once he sets sail down the river. He makes two false trails, one
leading to the river, and the other leading to a lake. He eventually gets into
the canoe, and starts down the river. He decides he'll go to Jackson's Island,
where he can rest along the shore by day and go into town at night.
He falls asleep, and when he wakes up he hears noises on the river. It
is Pap rowing back from town, after selling the wood. Huck ducks down in his
canoe and floats by unnoticed by Pap. He makes it to Jackson's Island, pulls the canoe ashore, and rests
before breakfast.
Chapter 8
Huck wakes up and hears booming noises.
It is a ferry with everyone from town on it, looking for his carcass. They get
close to him, but they don't see him.
He spends the next couple of days on the island. He likes it, but he gets lonely
sometimes. He fishes, hunts, and gathers fruit and berries. He comes across a
campfire that is smoking and gets nervous, so he hides in a tree. He leaves the
Missouri bank and paddles over to the Illinois shore. He feels better over
there, until he hears more noises and a man's voice. Huck leaves and goes back
to his old place. He looks around and comes across a fire and sees a man lying
next to it. When the man gets up, Huck sees that it is Miss Watson's slave Jim. Jim thinks he is seeing a ghost,
but Huck assures him that he isn't dead. They make breakfast and talk.
Jim tells Huck that Miss Watson was going to sell him, so he ran off. He
tells Huck all about his escape and how he found out Huck was dead. They talk
about superstitions and signs. Jim is certain that one day he'll be rich again
because he has hairy arms. Jim says he feels rich already because he owns
himself, now that he is free.
"'Yes-en I's rich now, come to look at it.
I owns mysef, en I's wuth eight hund'd dollars. I wisht I had de money, I
wouldn' want no'.'" Chapter 8, pg. 52
Chapter 9
Jim and Huck go exploring around the island. They find a cavern and
bring some of their stuff in it so it doesn't get wet from the approaching
rain. They eat a good dinner and rest in the cavern while it rains. It is a big
storm, but it ends quickly.
The river rises and is full of debris. One night, Huck and Jim notice a
two-story house floating by.
They wait for daylight to explore it. They find a dead man in the house.
Jim covers his face so Huck doesn't have to look at it. They find all sorts of
things in the house, including whisky bottles, women's and men's clothing, a
boy's old straw hat, a broken bottle, an old chest, a sun-bonnet, and masks.
They steal knives, candles, old medicine, a bed-quilt,
beeswax, buttons, fishhooks, and a wooden leg. They leave the house and paddle
back to their side of the shore, the Illinois shore.
Chapter 10
Huck wants to know about the dead man and who shot him, but Jim won't
talk about it. He says it will bring bad luck.
A couple of days prior to this, Huck touched a snakeskin with his hands
and Jim said that bad luck would come. It finally did. Huck recounts the story
of what happened to bring the bad luck.
Huck went into the cavern for some tobacco and found a rattlesnake in
it. He killed it and put it on Jim's blanket for some fun. When Jim went to lie
down on the blanket that night, the snake's mate bit Jim on the heel.
Jim drinks himself drunk so as to ease the pain of the bite. He is drunk
for a few days, and the swelling finally goes away. They fish and catch a huge
catfish as big as a man.
Huck wants to know what has been going on in the town. He dresses up as
a girl with the clothes they stole from the house. He rows over to town and
comes across a beat up house in the woods. He looks through the window and sees
a woman, about forty years old, who he's never seen before. He knocks and hopes
that she won't recognize he's not really a girl.
Chapter 11
Huck goes inside the house and talks with the woman for a while about
what has been going on around town. Pap supposedly disappeared, and some
people think he may have killed Huck for Huck's money. Some others think Jim
did it and there is a $300 reward out for him. The woman thinks that Jim might
be over at Jackson's Island because she saw smoke over there. Her husband and
another man went to check it out. Huck gets very nervous because the woman
notices he is a boy. She can tell by the way he throws, threads a needle, and
catches things in his lap (close-legged).
He makes
up a story
that he ran away from a mean old farmer that took care of him. Huck says that
he meant to go to Goshen, and the woman tells him that he is in St. Petersburg.
Huck says he has to be on his way. Before he goes, she quizzes him about farm
things to see if he is lying, but he knows all of the answers. She fixes him a
snack and tells him her name, Judith Loftus, in case he needs her, and he
leaves.
Huck runs back to the canoe and paddles back to Jim in the cavern. He
wakes Jim up, they load up the raft with all of their stuff, and they shove
off.
Chapter 12
Huck and Jim travel all night on the raft and finally stop on the
Illinois shore. They stay there all day and are thankful that no one found them
out. Jim makes a wigwam on the raft for when it rains. They make an extra oar,
a dirt mound to make a fire on, and a stick to hang a lantern on.
Huck and Jim make a habit of traveling the river at night and resting by
day. They spend the next couple of nights going down the river.
Every so often when they are by a village, Huck will go into a cornfield
and borrow food.
"Mornings, before daylight, I slipped into
corn fields and borrowed a watermelon, or a mushmelon, or a punkin, or some new
corn, or things of that kind. Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow
things, if you was meaning to pay them back, sometime; but the widow said it warn't
anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it." Chapter
12, pg. 72
There is a big storm one night and they see a steamboat that crashed
against a rock. Huck wants to go on it and explore
it, but Jim is against doing that. He eventually gives in to Huck because Huck
says there might be some money on the boat they can collect. They go on, but
they see a light and hear voices. Jim gets nervous and says he's going back to
the raft, but Huck stays to listen. He crawls to where he can see the men. He
sees two men (one with a gun and the other with the light) standing over a man
that is tied up on the floor. The man with the gun wants to shoot the man on
the floor, but the other man standing doesn't want him to. They walk over to
where Huck is, so he hides. He hears them talk some more. They decide to gather
the money from the boat along with some other goods, and then move onto their
own boat, allowing the wreck with the tied up man to wash away down the river.
Huck yells Jim's name out and tells him that there are murderers on the
boat. He says that they need to find the men's boat and shove it off so they
can't get
away.
"'Quick, Jim, it ain't no time for fooling
around and moaning; there's a gang of murderers in yonder, and if we don't hunt
up their boat and set her drifting down the river so these fellows can't get
away from the wreck, there's one of 'em going to be in a bad fix. But if we
find their boat we can put all of 'em in a bad fix - for the Sheriff 'll get
'em . . . '" Chapter 12, pg. 77
Huck tells Jim to get their raft, but Jim says it broke loose and is
gone.
Chapter 13
Huck and Jim find the men's boat and glide down the river. They search
for their raft. Huck feels bad about the men in the wreck and so he comes up
with a plan to fix it. However, the rain prevents him from carrying the plan
out.
They come across a captain and Huck makes up a story about the gang on the
wreck. He pleads for the captain to go and rescue the gang, and he agrees. Huck
knows that what he did is a good thing, and he is proud of himself for it.
Huck and Jim sink the boat, hide the raft, and sleep.
Chapter 14
The boat that they stole had all sorts of things in it, including books,
cigars, clothes and boots. Huck reads Jim some of the books. They are all about
kings and dukes and what they do.
im likes the way it all sounds; it sounds high and mighty. They argue
about King Solomon, and the famous biblical story about him cutting the child
in half to see who the real mother was. They also argue over why French people
speak the way they do and why they speak differently than Americans. Jim
doesn't understand the sense in it so Huck eventually quits trying to teach
him.
Chapter 15
Huck and Jim are almost at the bottom of
Illinois, near the city Cairo. They want to stop there, sell the
raft, and make their way up the Ohio River into the free states.
One night, Huck goes to tie the raft to the shore, but the current is
too strong and it breaks loose. Huck searches the river for it (because Jim and all of
their stuff is on it) but the fog is too thick. They holler back and forth
because they can't see each other. Huck falls asleep and when he wakes up, he
sees Jim asleep on the raft.
He gets on the raft and pretends to have just woken up. Jim is so
excited to see Huck alive, but Huck tells him that he was there the whole time,
and makes Jim feel stupid. Huck says that he was either drunk or dreaming, but
that he has been there the whole time and he doesn't know what Jim is talking
about. Jim finally figures out that Huck made a fool out of him because he sees
the leaves and rubbish on the raft. He gets mad and goes into the wigwam. Huck feels guilty for making Jim
feel so bad.
Humanity 5: Huck lies to Jim and he believes
it. When Jim finds out the truth, he is upset. Huck feels guilty for being mean
to Jim, and playing that trick on him. He says that he could have kissed Jim's
foot to take back what he did.
Humanity 6: Huck starts to feel guilty that he
is helping free Miss Watson's slave. He says that he thinks he is mean and he
doesn't think that she deserves to have her slave stolen. After all, she never
did anything to him.
Humanity 7: Huck feels that someone should take
the time to write poetry about Emmeline Grangerford, recently deceased, since
she always took the time to write about other people who died. He even tries to
write the poetry himself, but it doesn't turn out right.
Humanity 8: To see people shooting at each
other makes Huck sick to his stomach. He sees it as an act against humanity and
he simply cannot relate or understand how humans can treat each other in such
an uncivil manner.
Humanity 9: Huck feels bad for a complete
stranger at the circus. People laugh and make fun of this man; Huck sees this
as rude.
Humanity 10: Even though Huck needs money, he starts
to feel bad about the Wilks girls having their money stolen from them by the
King and the Duke. His conscience tells him that it just isn't right and they
shouldn't be doing it. So, he decides that he is going to get it back for them.
Humanity 11: When Huck sees the King and the
Duke tarred and feathered, even though he hates them and thinks they are awful
people, he can't help but to feel bad for them. It makes him sick how people
can be so cruel to one another.
Topic
Tracking: Picaresque
Picaresque is a type of novel that deals with the adventures of a rascal
(in this case, Huck Finn). Picaresque is a term commonly used to describe this
book. It involves the combination of various elements. The hero of the book
(known as the Picaro) is a realist and someone who adapts easily to new
situations. Other characters often represent a combination of wildness and
civility, and the setting often reveals humans and nature coexisting in
harmony.
Picaresque 1: Huck comes from an illegitimate family (a drunkard father),
which is characteristic of the Picaro.
Picaresque 2: This is the first instance where
a pig is mentioned. There is a constant mention of animals throughout the book,
mostly of pigs and dogs. This combination of animals and humans is an example
of wildness and civility being intertwined.
Picaresque 3: Dogs are mentioned here, just
another example of animals and humans existing in the book together.
Picaresque 4: Huck is so confused by the way
the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons interact with each other. They seem to be
civilized, and yet they go around shooting each other. This is an example of
how civility can mask violence and wildness.
Picaresque 5: After Huck finally makes it back to the raft and is going
down the river, he feels so good. It is comfortable for him to be on the river;
it is where he feels most like himself. He interacts with nature on a very
intimate level.
Picaresque 6: This is another example of Huck and nature existing
together. When he watches the storm, he is mesmerized by it.
It is almost as if he is a part of the storm. Huck feels perfectly
comfortable just sitting in the rain.
Picaresque 7: This is another mention of dogs and pigs. They are
everywhere around the town, running wild in the streets; the townspeople don't
think anything of it. They just live around them, peacefully coexisting.
Picaresque 8: Colonel Sherburn, another person similar to the
Grangerfords and Shepherdsons, appears very civil and distinguished. However,
he shoots a man dead, and this makes Huck sick. It is the irony between what is
civil and what is wild that confuses Huck.
Picaresque 9: Huck is a realist, a defining characteristic of the
Picaro. He wants to rescue Jim in the easiest, most realistic way, something
that Tom, a romantic, cannot accept. For him, Jim's escape has to be a big
show, riddled with nonsensical tactics that just make the situation more
complicated than it has to be.
Chapter 16
They continue to travel by night and sleep during the day. Jim keeps
talking about getting to Cairo because once he does, he will be on his way to
being a free man. Huck starts to feel guilty for not turning Jim in. He feels
bad because he says Miss Watson never did anything to Huck that
deserved her slave being taken away.
Conscience says to me 'What had poor Miss
Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes
and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you
could treat her so mean? . . .' I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I
most wished I was dead." Chapter 16, pg. 97
Huck decides he's going to turn Jim in, but when two men (who are
looking for runaway slaves) on a raft float by, he tells them that the man on
his raft is white. When they say they're going to check for themselves, Huck
tells them that it's his Pap, and he's very sick. The two men assume it's
smallpox, and they leave without checking the raft. Out of sympathy, they
give Huck $20 before they go.
Huck goes back on the raft and finds Jim hiding in the water. He had
heard the men say that they were coming to check the raft.
They get on the raft and continue to look for Cairo. They think they may
have passed it in the fog and they attribute their bad luck to Huck's touching
the snakeskin.
Finally, they think they've made it to Cairo; they plan on waiting until
dark to paddle the canoe upstream. They sleep all day and when they come back
to get the canoe, it's gone. Huck and Jim plan on buying another canoe when
they get a chance.
Huck and Jim are on the raft when they notice a big steamboat coming
their way. They light the lantern so the boat knows they're there,
but the boat still comes right for them. They jump off of the raft right as the
steamboat plows through the middle of it. Huck comes up out of the water and
sees no sign of Jim. He climbs up the bank and sees a log house. Dogs come
barking at him and he refuses to move.
Chapter 17
Someone from the house hears the dogs barking and asks, "Who's
there?" Huck says his name is George Jackson and he just fell off of the
steamboat. The man asks Huck if he is a Shepherdson, and Huck says he's never even
heard of them. The man tells some boys in the house to get the candle and their
guns. They carefully let Huck enter the house and when they see him, they see
that he isn't a Shepherdson. The mother tells Buck (a boy about 13 or 14, the same age
as Huck) to go and get Huck some dry clothes. He gets Huck the clothes and
tells him that he can stay there forever and they can play together.
Huck makes
up a story
about how he used to live on a farm, how his father died, and how he came to be
there now. They tell him he can have a home there as long as he wants. They
make him a delicious meal and they all talk.
Huck thinks their house is the nicest he's ever seen before in the
country. He is impressed with all of their stuff: the tables, fireplace,
clocks, baskets, books, and pictures. He is especially interested in the
paintings and poetry that their dead daughter, Emmeline made. She wrote all about dead
people, and since she is now dead, Huck thinks that it is only fair that
someone should take the time to write about her. He tries it, but isn't
satisfied with his work.
Chapter 18
Huck describes the Grangerfords in detail. The father, Col.
Grangerford, is tall and thin with black hair and black eyes. He is very
handsome, with a well-mannered and commanding personality. There are two sons,
Tom and Bob, who are older and look just like the father. Then there is the
younger son, Buck, who is just like Huck. There are also two sweet, beautiful
daughters, Miss Charlotte and Miss Sophia. The mother is just like them and
is very sweet. They also had three other sons and a daughter, Emmeline, all who
have died.
There is another family, the Shepherdsons, who live near the
Grangerfords.
Huck and Buck run into one of the Shepherdson boys, Harney Shepherdson, and Buck tries to shoot him. They
run home and tell Buck's father. Buck tells Huck all about the feud that's been
going on for the past thirty years between the two families. They keep trying
to kill one another because of a legal dispute over land that happened thirty
years ago.
Miss Sophia asks Huck to sneak over to the church and get her Testament
that she left there. He goes and finds a note in the book that says, "Half
past two." When he brings it home to her, she is very excited and she
tells Huck it is only a bookmark.
Buck's slave takes Huck down to the river to supposedly show him some
water moccasins, but when he gets there, he is reunited with Jim. Jim is so
happy to see Huck. He tells Huck that the night the boat crashed into the raft,
he was behind Huck the whole time. He didn't want to shout because he didn't
want to get caught. He's been hiding out in the woods this whole time fixing
their raft and preparing to leave. The slaves have been bringing him food and
letting him know how Huck is doing.
Huck goes back to the house and when he wakes up the next morning,
everyone is gone and there is an odd stillness. He asks one of the slaves what
is going on and he tells him that Miss Sophia ran off with Harney Shepherdson
and there is a big fight going on because of it. Huck sneaks into the woods and
hides in a tree to watch the feud. He sees men being shot at and chased and he
hears gunshots and cursing. Buck sees Huck and he tells him that his father and
two brothers were killed. Huck is horrified at the violence.
"It made me so sick I most fell out of the
tree. I ain't agoing to tell all that happened - it would make me sick again if
I was to do that. I wished I hadn't ever come ashore that night, to see such
things . . ." Chapter 18, pg. 127
Chapter 19
Huck goes over to the shore one day to collect berries and he sees two
men being chased by dogs. He helps them escape into his canoe and they all
talk. One of the men is older, around seventy, and he was being chased for
spending his time and money getting drunk. The other man, around thirty, was
being chased for selling a product that not only took the tartar off of your
teeth, but the enamel as well.
The young man tells them all that he is really a Duke, the Duke of Bridgewater. He says that it would make him
feel better if they all address him as "Your Grace, My Lord, or Your
Lordship." Also, they should wait on him at dinner. Huck and Jim feel bad
for him, so they wait on him and act like servants.
The older
man tells
them all that he is really a King, and is a descendant from the Kings
of France. He too wants to be treated like a King by being called "Your
Majesty" and expects to be waited on first at meals. Jim and Huck conform
and act like servants to him too.
Huck eventually realizes that the two men are liars, but he doesn't say
anything about it. He feels the best way to deal with these type of people is
to allow them to have their own way.
Chapter 20
The King and the Duke wonder what Huck is doing with a black man, and
they ask if he is a runaway slave. Huck makes up a story about Jim being his
slave from back in Missouri. He says that he had a Pa and a brother, but they
fell off of the raft when a steamboat crashed into it, and they never came up
out of the water.
It starts to look like a big storm is approaching. The rain and the
lightening pick up. The King and the Duke take Jim and Huck's beds and Huck and
Jim are left outside in the rain to keep watch over the raft. Huck loves the
storm and can't get enough of it.
The Duke comes up with a plan to make some money. Being knowledgeable in the
theater, he says that he's going to teach the King all about Romeo and Juliet, and Richard III. They will do a
reenactment and charge people for the show. The Duke will be Romeo and the King
will be Juliet. The Duke will be Richard III and the King will be Richmond. He explains a little bit of the plays
to the King.
The Duke comes up with a plan so that they can travel with Jim during
the day. The Duke, the King, and Huck stop at a town and look for a printing
office. A slave tells them that everyone in the town is gone to a town meeting
in the woods. They find the printing office, but no one is around. The Duke
stays and the King and Huck go off to the meeting. At the meeting, they see
preachers preaching about sin to a big crowd of people. They all scream and
shout "amen!" The King gets up there and tells the town of Pokeville that he is an ex-pirate of the
Indian Ocean who found his true path; he is going to dedicate his life to
converting other pirates to this true path of life. Everyone cries for him and
he ends up collecting $87.75 and a jug of whisky. Later, the King and Huck meet
up with the Duke who has made $9.50 from doing printing jobs. He also printed
out a sign that had a picture of a runaway slave on it with a reward under it
for $200. Now, they can travel during the day, and if anyone asks them what
they're doing with a slave, they can show them the picture and say they are
going to collect the reward money.
The King and the Duke are drunk and Jim tries to get the King to speak
French so he can hear what it sounds like.
Chapter 21
The King and the Duke practice Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. The
Duke says that they need something to answer encores with so he tries to teach
the King Hamlet's soliloquy. They practice the plays for a while and then
arrive at the town in which they plan to perform. It is an old, beat-up country
town in Arkansas. They are having a circus come there that night, and it is the
perfect night for the show. The Duke has some show bills with the plays and
prices on them; they go about putting them up around town.
The town's streets are all mud. Pigs and dogs are everywhere.
A drunk man named Boggs comes to town on his horse cursing and yelling about how
people are going to die. He approaches and startles Huck, but the townspeople
tell Huck he is harmless. Boggs says that he is looking for Colonel Sherburn. He finds him and Sherburn warns
him to leave before something bad happens. Boggs keeps yelling and someone goes
to get his daughter to try and knock some sense into him. Sherburn comes
outside again and shoots Boggs twice, just as his daughter runs up to him.
Sherburn drops his pistol and walks off. Boggs is taken to a drug store
where Bibles are placed under his head and on his chest; he dies with everyone
watching in the window (including Huck), trying to get a look. Someone says
that Sherburn should be lynched and the crowd becomes more and more
belligerent.
Chapter 22
A mob of townspeople run up to Sherburn's house, making like they're going to
lynch him. He comes outside and talks about how all people, in both the North
and South, are cowards. He says that they're not really going to lynch him or
do anything to him because they are all cowards.
"Your newspapers call you a brave people
so much that you think you are braver than any other people - whereas you're
just as brave, and no braver." Chapter 22, pg. 161
Huck watches the mob and then goes over
to the circus. He is in awe with the dancing and
how pretty the women look. The clown is a big hit too. A drunken man gets into
the ring and says that he can ride better than anybody. He tries it and makes a
fool out of himself. Huck feels really bad for him.
Suddenly, the drunken man gets up and starts shedding his clothes to
reveal a well-dressed, handsome gentleman. He gets back on the animal and rides
it like gold. He fools the entire audience, and
everyone laughs.
The King and the Duke perform their play that night, but
only about twelve people show up, only to leave early. The Duke figures that
the people can't handle Shakespeare, so he decides to have another play, one
that is a "low comedy." It is called "The King's
Camelopard" or "The Royal Nonesuch." At the bottom of the
handbill, it says that women and children are not admitted. The Duke thinks
that this will get people to show up.
Chapter 23
The King and the Duke prepare for the show and that night the audience
is filled with men. The Duke gets on stage and goes on and on about the
tragedy. Then, out comes the King, naked and with paint all over him. Everyone
laughs and enjoys it. The King leaves the stage and after a pause, the audience
begins to wonder if that was the entire show. They start to feel cheated, like
the show was not what they expected. They all get up to go after the King and
the Duke, but one man suggests a different idea: everyone in the audience
should invite the rest of the town to come and see the show for the next two
night, and be cheated just like they were.
The next two nights the show is sold out. On the third night, however,
it is the same crowd from the first two nights. Huck notices that their pockets
are stuffed with rotten eggs and cabbages. Huck knows that they are going to
throw the eggs and cabbages on them if they perform the play. He and the Duke
sneak out just before the show starts and make their way to the raft and down
the river. Just as they think that the King is having a pretty bad time dealing
with all of those people back at the theater (considering that Huck and the
Duke snuck away without telling the King about the eggs and cabbages), he peeks
his head out of the wigwam. He had made it back to the raft after all, by
sneaking away just like Huck and the Duke. The King and the Duke laugh about
how they fooled that town. Altogether, they made $465.
Jim and Huck talk about Kings. Jim
thinks that the King and the Duke are just jokers, but Huck assures him that
that's how all kings have been throughout history. Despite his historical
assurances, Huck gets the actual facts all jumbled up.
They float down the river and Huck hears Jim talking about how he misses
his family. He's never been away from home before. He tells Huck about how he
hit his little four-year-old girl once because she wouldn't listen to him and
shut the door. Since realizing that she was deaf and dumb, he has felt intense
guilt for treating her so badly.
Chapter 24
The King and the Duke want to try the Nonesuch play again, but they are
afraid that the towns down the river will have heard the news from the last
town. Jim asks if there is a way for him to contribute, instead of staying on
the raft tied up (to make it look like he was captured for the reward). In
response, the Duke paints his face blue, dresses him in a King Lear outfit, and
posts a sign by the wigwam that says "Sick Arab-but harmless when not out of
his head." This should keep people away from him.
They all get new clothes and get dressed really nice. The King and Huck
get into the canoe and come across a man who tells them all about the late Peter Wilks. The man asks the King if he is
Harvey Wilks, the preacher from England and Peter Wilks' brother, who he hasn't
seen in years. The King tells him he is Reverend Alexander Blodgett. The man
also tells the King that Peter Wilks had wanted to see his brothers Harvey and
William (the younger being deaf and dumb) before he died. They sent a letter to
Harvey in England but no one has heard from him. Supposedly, there is a will
made out to Harvey explaining how Peter's estate is to be divided amongst some
nieces (Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna). It tells where he hid all of his money
($3000-$4000 in cash) too.
The King tells Huck to go and get the Duke and bring him over. When the
Duke gets there, the King tells him everything that the young man told him
about the Wilks family. As the King practices an English accent, he asks the
Duke how he is at playing deaf and dumb. Together, they take a boat up a couple
of miles and ask some strangers where Peter Wilks lives. The townspeople inform
the King of Peter Wilks' death; the King cries and says that he was his
brother. All of the people feel so sorry for the King and the Duke. It makes
Huck sick of the human race to see such liars.
"Well, if I ever struck anything like it,
I'm a nigger. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." Chapter 24, pg. 178
Chapter 25
They arrive at Peter Wilks' house and everyone greets them with open
arms. The King and the Duke cry and sob and make like they're very upset over
the loss of their brother. The King gives a speech thanking everyone for their
kindness and invites a few of Peter's close friends to stay for dinner and help
with the ashes. Some of the friends, Rev. Hobson, Dr. Robinson, and the lawyer
Levi Bell, are out of town. The rest are present and ready to help.
Mary Jane gets the letter that explains how
Peter's estate is to be divided up. The King reads it aloud. The house and
$3000 goes to the girls.
Harvey and William get the tanyard (Peter's successful business),
houses, and land worth $7000, and $3000 in gold. The will also explains where
the $6000 cash is hidden - in the cellar. The King and the Duke go down to the
cellar and count the money. It comes up a little short, and they don't want the
family to think they're greedy or that the money was stolen, so they make up
the difference with some of the Nonesuch profits. Then, the Duke suggests that
they go upstairs, count the money in front of everyone, and give it all to the
girls. That's what they do and everyone kisses and hugs them and thinks of them
as such wonderful people.
Suddenly, Dr. Robinson arrives and says that the King does an awful
English accent, insisting he is a fraud. Everyone, including the girls, still
believes the King. In fact, the neices believe in them so much that they give
the money back to the King and Duke to invest for them. The doctor says that
they will be sorry for not listening to his warning.
Chapter 26
Mary Jane gives the King and the Duke rooms to sleep in. The King gets
to stay in her room (she will stay in her sister's room), the Duke gets another
room, and Huck (the King's servant) gets a cubby. They all eat dinner and it is
delicious. Huck and the one daughter Joanna (who has a hair-lip) talk in the
kitchen. Huck gets flustered a couple of times, and has to get himself out of
the screw-ups he tells. She makes him swear on a dictionary that he hasn't told
her a bunch of lies. Mary Jane and Susan walk in and Mary Jane reprimands
Joanna for telling Huck, a stranger in their house, that he just told lies. She
says that it is rude to accuse someone and make them feel bad. She apologizes
to Huck.
Huck starts to feel guilty that such sweet girls are having their money
stolen by two liars.
He thinks about what he can do to help them. Huck decides that he'll
steal the money himself, hide it somewhere in the house, and then when he's off
down the river, he'll write them a letter telling them everything, including
where the money is hidden. He starts to look around for the money. He goes into
the Duke's room, but thinks better of it. The King probably has it in his room.
So, Huck goes in there, but he can't find it, and decides that the best thing
is to eavesdrop on their conversation. He hears the King and the Duke coming
and hides behind Mary Jane's frocks. The Duke suggests that they sneak out of
there early in the morning with the money that they have. The King is against
this idea because he wants the rest of the property money. The Duke finally
gives in, but says that they should hide the money in a better place because
the slave could come in and steal it. They reach for the money, which is very
close to where Huck is standing, and move it to the straw tick under the
feather bed. They leave the room and Huck takes the cash up to his cubby. He
wants to hide the money somewhere outside of the house because when the King
and the Duke find out it's missing, they will turn the house upside down
looking for it. He waits until late at night when everything is settled, sneaks
down the ladder and out of his cubby.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário