HUCK
FINN
PLOT
SUMMARY
(Abridged)
1.
In
The
Adventures
of
Tom
Sawyer,
Huck
and
Tom
came
into
some
money.
2. Since Huck's father, Pap, is usually drunk and abusive, Huck is sent to live with the Widow Douglas who plans to civilize the boy.
3. Judge Thatcher manages Huck's money and gives the boy an allowance.
4. Huck's dad shows up when he learns that his son has money and takes Huck away to a cabin.
5. Huck fakes his own death and escapes from the cabin.
6. Huck runs into Jim, Miss Watson's slave who is running away because he thinks he is going to be sold.
7. Huck and Jim agree to travel down the Mississippi River together to gain their freedom-- Jim from slavery & Huck from his father.
8.
While
traveling
down
the
river
the
two
experience
many
adventures,
the
first
is
a
dead
man
in
a
house
that
has
been
washed
into
the
river.
Jim
refuses
to
let
Huck
see
the
dead
man.
9. Next, the pair board a wrecked steamboat and discover a band of robbers who are about to kill one of their members. Huck and Jim escape unnoticed but must take the robbers' small boat because their raft has broken loose and drifted away. Huck shows his humanity when he becomes concerned that the robbers will drown on their sinking ship. Huck persuades a ferry watchman to rescue the men on the ship, but to do so he lies to the man, telling him that a young, rich lady is on the wreck.
10. Huck and Jim become separated one foggy night with an island between them. When Huck rejoins Jim, he plays a trick on Jim, telling Jim that he dreamed the incident. Jim s hurt by the lie rather than fooled. He tells Huck he was very worried, and a guilt-ridden Huck apologizes. This is a turning point to their relationship; now, they are friends.
11. A tense moment occurs when a boat of slave hunters paddles toward the raft. Huck cuts them off and sends them running by lying again. This time he says that his ill father is on the raft and needs help. The men give Huck forty dollars and paddle away before they catch Jim's illness. (IRONY... Huck is rewarded for lying!)
12. Back on the river, Huck and Jim are almost run over by a large riverboat. They dive to opposite sides and are separated again.
13. Huck ends up at the Grangerford home. They are a southern family who have been feuding with the Sheperdsons for years, although they do not know why. IRONICALLY, they go to church to learn about brotherly love, but keep their guns with them during the sermon. Miss Sophia Grangerford elopes with Harney Sheperdson, which incites another gun battle between the warring families. As bullets fly, young Buck Grangerford is shot and killed. Huck moves on to a new adventure, angered over the foolishness of feuding.
14. In chapter XIX, Huck and Jim meet two shady con men who are running away from an angry crowd. The Duke and King do not know each other, but both claim to be royalty. They travel with Huck and Jim and land in a small town where Huck witnesses the town drunk be shot by Colonel Sherburn. Sherburn has no patience for Bogs, the drunk. The town's people decide to take matters into their own hands and storm to Sherburne's house to lynch (hang) him. When Sherburn points a shotgun at the crowd, they back down and he calls them cowards.
15. The Duke and King decide to "earn" some money by putting on a play for the townspeople in the next town. The play is called "The Royal Nonesuch." The play is short and the people get angry.
16. The next scam the Duke and King try to carry out involves a dead man named Peter Wilks. Details for that adventure can be found here: Peter Wilk's adventure.
17. In the final adventure, Huck finally is able to separate from the Duke and King, Unfortunately, when Huck returns to the raft, Jim is gone. Further investigation reveals that the King sold Jim for forty dollars. Huck finds him locked up at the Phelps farm. He goes to the farm and is welcomed by people who believe he is Tom Sawyer. When the real Tom arrives, he introduces himself as Sid Sawyer. The two boys come up with an elaborate plot to free Jim, even though they can easily take the key.
18. At the end of the book Aunt Polly arrives at the Phelp's home. She tells the family that Jim has been set free by the Widow Douglas, who has died. Aunt Sally Phelps wants to adopt Huck , but he thinks heading west would be wiser.