The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

As Tom and Huck creep around the side of the house, sneaking past Miss Watson’s slave Jim as he dozes beneath a tree. In passing, Tom slips the hat off Jim’s sleeping head and hangs it on a tree, a trick that Jim will later extrapolate into an act of extravagant, status-enriching witchery.

On a hill above the village, Tom and Huck meet some other boys, and Tom makes them all sign oaths to become a band of robbers called Tom Sawyer’s Gang. Among the extravagant bylaws of this oath is the promise to kill the family of any boy who betrays the band, yet the boys note that Huck doesn’t have any family except a reprobate father who “hasn’t been seen in these parts for a year or more” (16). Huck offers Miss Watson as recompense, and the boys are satisfied. The gang get mired in an argument about what exactly robbers do, about the meaning of the word “ransom,” and about the duties of chivalry, all of which are answerable to the books Tom Sawyer has read but only partially understood. The gang head home. Upon his return, Huck discovers that he has dirtied his new clothes.

Miss Watson scolds Huck for ruining his clothes and commits him to praying. The practical Huck wonders about the efficacy of prayer, noting that when he prayed for a fishing pole, he found a fishing line but no hooks. He further notes that, among the devout, diligent prayer doesn’t seem to amount to any material benefit. When Miss Watson further clarifies that prayer bestows “spiritual gifts” such as inspiration toward altruistic works, Huck considers it but decides that he “can’t see no advantage about it—except for other people” and decides against prayer (19).

Huck gets news that people downriver have found the drowned body of his missing father. This is happy news for Huck, as his father was an abusive alcoholic, but he soon concludes that the evidence of pap’s death is inconclusive and worries that pap will show up again to hassle him.

A month passes, in which time Tom Sawyer’s Gang plays at robberies, fueled largely by imagery derived from Tom’s adventure novels. Tom’s explanation for the mundanity of their careers becomes increasingly implausible, involving genies and enchanted, invisible diamond caravans. Soon, the demoralized gang breaks up. A frustrated Huck decides that such incredible stories “had all the marks of a Sunday School” (22).

A few months into winter, Huck decides that he can tolerate the schooling and home comforts pressed upon him by his caretakers. Soon after, he finds tracks in the snow, a sign of someone lingering near the widow’s house. Considering this a bad sign, Huck races to Judge Thatcher’s house and implores him to take the money he’s been keeping on Huck’s account. Judge Thatcher works out a token deal with him, and gives Huck a dollar allowance against the interest.

Later that evening Huck consults Jim about the matter, asking if Jim thinks pap will stick around or leave. Jim says he will consult with a hairball he claims is possessed by a prophetic spirit. Jim says there are two angels, light and dark, hovering above Huck’s father just as they hover above Huck. He warns Huck to stay away from the water.

Returning to his room, Huck finds his father waiting for him.

Huck had always been afraid of his father, but due to pap’s present pathetic and poor appearance, Huck observes, “I warn’t scared of him worth bothering about” (27).

pap remarks with contempt and jealousy at Huck’s appearance, education, and comfort. Huck’s newfound ability to read and write confounds pap the most, and the old man claims that no one in the family has ever been able to read before. pap demands Huck’s money, but Huck says he no longer has it. pap takes the dollar from Huck and says that he’s going into town for whiskey. pap spends the rest of the day drunk, harassing Judge Thatcher about the money.

Judge Thatcher and the widow Douglas take the issue of Huck’s guardianship to a judge, but a new judge in town rules against them. pap continues to harass Huck for money and spends it on liquor in town. After causing a ruckus, pap is thrown in jail for a week. The new judge takes pap in to reform him, giving him new clothes and a hot meal. It appears to work, and pap signs a pledge to never drink again. Later, he sells the new clothes for more liquor, alienating himself from the kindly judge.

For weeks, pap ties up the issue of Huck’s money in the courts, threatening regular beatings unless Huck goes to Judge Thatcher to bring him drinking money. Eventually, the widow lays down the law and forbids pap from stepping foot on her property.

As a result, pap kidnaps Huck, taking him three miles upriver to the Illinois shore, locking him in, and keeping him under armed watch in a secluded cabin. Huck comes to enjoy the unstructured days with the exception of the occasional beatings he receives from pap. Two or so months pass, and “it was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study” (32). Yet the beatings become more frequent, and after Huck is locked in the house for three days straight, he decides to escape by sawing out a section of the wall hidden behind a draft blanket. Before he can finish, pap returns, complaining that guardianship of Huck may yet be turned back over to the widow Douglas. He bids Huck fill a raft with provisions and announces his intention to hide further down the river. He gets drunk and rants about the government. Later, he wakes up with delirium tremens and tries to murder Huck before passing out again. Huck loads a gun and waits for his father to wake again, intending to shoot him should he wake violently.

pap awakes not remembering the evening before; Huck informs him that he saw a robber earlier and fetched the gun. pap commands Huck to catch a fish for breakfast. The river has risen, bringing with it valuable flotsam. Before long, Huck catches an abandoned canoe and hides it among some brush.

Later, pap locks Huck in and goes to town to sell some driftwood. Huck escapes through the hole he made and fills his canoe with provisions. Hunting for birds, Huck comes across a wild pig and shoots it. Using the pig’s blood, Huck fabricates an elaborate murder scene with his clothes and hair, and tracks leading away from the river.

That night Huck escapes downriver with his canoe. He has a near run-in with an oblivious pap, and another with a ferry. Huck is very knowledgeable about the river’s currents and adept at exploiting them. Finally, near morning, Huck lands on Jackson Island. He hides there and takes a nap before breakfast.