cramped clothing, and before every meal had to "grumble" over the food
before they could eat it. She tried to teach him about Moses, until Huck
found out he was dead and lost interest. Meanwhile, she would not let him
smoke; typically, she disapproved of it because she had never tried it, but
approved of snufi since she used it herself. Her slim sister who wears
glasses, Miss Watson, tried to give him spelling lessons.
Meanwhile, Huck was going stir-crazy, made especially restless by the
sisters' constant reminders to improve his behavior. When Miss Watson told
him about the "bad place," Hell, he burst out that he would like to go
there, as a change of scenery. Secretly, Huck really does not see the point
in going to "the good place" and resolved then not to bother trying to get
there.
When Huck asked, Miss Watson told him there was no chance Tom Sawyer
would end up in Heaven. Huck was glad "because I wanted him and me to be
together." One night, after Miss Watson's prayer session with him and the
slaves, Huck goes to bed feeling "so lonesome I wished I was dead." He gets
shivers hearing the sounds of nature through his window. Huck accidentally
icks a spider into a candle, and is frightened by the bad omen. Just after
midnight, Huck hears movement below the window, and a "me-yow" sound, that
he responds to with another "me-yow." Climbing out the window onto the
shed, Huck finds Tom Sawyer waiting for him.
Chapters 2-3 Summary
Huck and Tom tiptoe through the garden. Huck trips on a root as he
passes the kitchen. Jim, a "big" slave, hears him from inside. Tom and Huck
crouch down, trying to stay still. But Huck is struck by an uncontrollable
itch, as always happens when he is in a situation, like when he's "with the
quality," where it is bad to scratch. Jim says aloud that he will stay put
until he discovers the source of the sound, but after several minutes falls
asleep. Tom plays a trick on Jim{putting his hat on a tree branch over his
head{and takes candles from the kitchen, over Huck's objections that they
will risk getting caught. Later, Jim will say that some witches ew him
around the state and put the hat above his head as a calling card. He
expands the tale further, becoming a local celebrity among the slaves, who
enjoy witch stories. He 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. Jim nearly becomes so stuck-up from his newfound celebrity that
he is unfit to be a servant.
Meanwhile, Tom and Huck meet up with a few other boys, and take a boat
to a large cave. There, Tom declares his new band of robbers, "Tom Sawyer's
Gang." All must sign in blood an oath vowing, among other things, to kill
the family of any member who reveals the gang's secrets. The boys think it
"a real beautiful oath." Tom admits he got part of it from books. The boys
nearly disqualify Huck, who has no family but a drunken father who can
never be found, until Huck offers Miss Watson. Tom says the gang must
capture and ransom people, though nobody knows what "ransom" means.
Tom assumes it means to kill them. But anyway, it must be done since
all the books say so. When one boy cries to go home and threatens to tell
the group's secrets, Tom bribes him with five cents. They agree to meet
again someday, just not Sunday, which would be blasphemous. Huckleberry
makes it back into bed just before dawn.
Miss Watson tries to explain prayer to Huckleberry in Chapter Three.
Huckleberry gives up on it after not getting what he prays for. Miss Watson
calls him a fool, and explains prayer bestows spiritual gifts like sel
essness to help others. Huck cannot see any advantage in this, except for
the others one helps. So he resolves to forget it. Widow Douglas describes
a wonderful God, while Miss Watson's is terrible. Huck concludes there are
two Gods. He would like to belong to Widow Douglas's, if He would take him
– unlikely because of Huck's bad qualities.
Meanwhile, a rumor circulates that Huck's Pap, who has not been seen in
a year, is dead. A corpse was found in the river, thought to be Pap because
of its "ragged" appearance, though the face is unrecognizable. At first
Huck is relieved. His father had been a drunk who beat him when he was
sober, though Huck stayed hidden from him most of the time. Soon, however,
Huck doubts his father's death, and expects to see him again.
After a month in Tom's gang, Huck quit along with the rest of the boys.
There was no point to it, without any robbery or killing, their activities
being all pretend. Once, Tom pretended a caravan of Arabs and Spaniards
were going to encamp nearby with hundreds of camels and elephants. It
turned out to be a Sunday school picnic. Tom explained it really was a
caravan of Arabs and Spaniards - only they were enchanted, like in Don
Quixote. Huckleberry judged Tom's stories of genies to be lies, after
rubbing old lamps and rings with no result.
Chapters 4-6 Summary
In Chapter Four, Huckleberry is gradually adjusting to his new life,
and even making small progress in school. One winter morning, Huck notices
boot tracks in the snow near the house. Within one heel print is the shape
of two nails crossed to ward off the devil. Huck runs to Judge Thatcher,
looking over his shoulder as he does. He sells his fortune to the surprised
Judge for a dollar. That night Huck goes to Jim, who has a magical giant
hairball from an ox's stomach. Huck tells Jim he found Pap's tracks in the
snow and wants to know what his father wants. Jim says the hairball needs
money to talk, and so Huck gives a counterfeit quarter. Jim puts his ear to
the hairball, and relates that Huck's father has two angels, one black and
one white, one bad, one good. It is uncertain which will win out. But Huck
is safe for now. He will have much happiness and much sorrow in his life,
will marry a poor and then a rich woman, and should stay clear of the
water, since that is where he will die. That night, Huck finds Pap waiting
in his bedroom!
Pap's long, greasy, black hair hangs over his face. The nearly fifty-
year-old man's skin is a ghastly, disgusting white. Noticing Huck's
"starchy" clothes, Pap wonders aloud if he thinks himself better than his
father, promising to take him "down a peg." Pap promises to teach Widow
Douglas not to "meddle" and make a boy "put on airs over his own father."
Pap is outraged that Huck has become the first person in his family to
learn to read. He threatens Huck not to go near the school again. He asks
Huck if he is really rich, as he has heard, and calls him a liar when he
says he has no more money.
He takes the dollar Huck got from Judge Thatcher. He leaves to get
whiskey, and the next day, drunk, demands Huck's money from Judge Thatcher.
The Judge and Widow Douglas try to get custody of Huck, but give up after
the new judge in town refuses to separate a father from his son. Pap lands
in jail after a drunken spree. The new judge takes Pap into his home and
tries to reform him. Pap tearfully repents his ways but soon gets drunk
again. The new judge decides Pap cannot be reformed except with a shotgun.
Pap sues Judge Thatcher for Huck's fortune. He also continues to
threaten Huck about attending school, which Huck does partly to spite his
father. Pap goes on one drunken binge after another. One day he kidnaps
Huck and takes him deep into the woods, to a secluded cabin on the Illinois
shore. He locks Huck inside all day while he goes out. Huck enjoys being
away from civilization again, though he does not like his father's beatings
and his drinking. Eventually, Huck finds an old saw hidden away. He slowly
makes a hole in the wall while his father is away, resolved to escape from
both Pap and the Widow Douglas. But Pap returns as Huck is about to finish.
He complains about the "govment," saying Judge Thatcher has delayed the
trial to prevent Pap from getting Huck's wealth. He has heard his chances
are good, though he will probably lose the fight for custody of Huck. He
further rails against a biracial black visitor to the town. The visitor is
well dressed, university- educated, and not at all deferential. Pap is
disgusted that the visitor can vote in his home state, and that legally he
cannot be sold into slavery until he has been in the state six months.
Later, Pap wakes from a drunken sleep and chases after Huck with a knife,
calling him the "Angel of Death," stopping when he collapses in sleep. Huck
holds the ri e against his sleeping father and waits.
Chapters 7-10 Summary
Huck falls asleep, to be awakened by Pap, who is unaware of the night's
events. Pap sends Huck out to check for fish. Huck finds a canoe drifting
in the river and hides it in the woods. When Pap leaves for the day, Huck
finishes sawing his way out of the cabin. He puts food, cookware,
everything of value in the cabin, into the canoe. He covers up the hole in
the wall and then shoots a wild pig. He hacks down the cabin door, hacks
the pig to bleed onto the cabin's dirt oor, and makes other preparations so
that it seems robbers came and killed him. Huck goes to the canoe and waits
for the moon to rise, resolving to canoe to Jackson's Island, but falls
asleep. When he wakes he sees Pap row by. Once he has passed, Huck quietly
sets out down river. He pulls into Jackson's Island, careful not to be
seen.
The next morning in Chapter Eight, a boat passes by with Pap, Judge and
Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer, his Aunt Polly, some of Huck's young friends,
and "plenty more" on board, all discussing the murder. They shoot cannon
over the water and oat loaves of bread with mercury inside, in hopes of
locating Huck's corpse. Huck, careful not to be seen, catches a loaf and
eats it.
Exploring the island, Huck is delighted to find Jim, who at first
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