The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6 – Question 1 Why does Pap kidnap Huck, and where does he take him? Pap kidnaps Huck to show the Widow Douglass who Huck’s boss is. Pap takes Huck to an old log hut on the Illinois shore.

Question 2 What does Huck enjoy about being with his father? Huck enjoys not being “civilized.” He says it was lazy and jolly. He could smoke, fish, and cuss. He did not have to go to school, take a bath, or wear clean clothes. What does Huck not get used to? Huck does not enjoy the beatings because Pap became to handy with a hickory switch. He also locked him up for hours and days at a time when he went to town to get drunk.

Question 3 When he is locked up, how does Huck try to get out of the cabin? Huck cannot get out of the cabin. The window is not big enough for a dog, he can’t climb the “chimbly” because it is too narrow, and the door has thick oak slabs. He does use a rusty saw without a handle and saws a section out of the cabin wall where Pap cannot see.

Question 4 What does Pap complain about when he returns drunk from town? Pap returns from town and complains about the “gov’ment” and the law. He complains about Judge Thatcher threatening to take his own son away from him now that Huck is old enough to do something for him. Pap is angered about a “mulatter” and shows his prejudice and bad character. He was complaining about the man being given the right to vote. The “mulatter” was a college professor who was well-dressed and intelligent. Pap says he would vote if he weren’t too drunk when election day came around.

Question 5 Who is the Angel of Death? Discuss this incident. In Pap’s drunken state, he calls Huck the Angel of Death. He attacks Huck in the cabin with a knife and tries to kill him. Huck eventually escapes when Pap, who is tired out from chasing him, falls asleep. Huck gets the loaded gun down and points it toward Pap and fell asleep waiting for Pap to stir again.

Chapter 7 – Question 1 What does Huck plan to do with the canoe he finds? Huck considered giving the canoe to Pap, but he decided to hide it for his escape.

Question 2 Why does Huck not want to be with either Pap or the Widow Douglass? Huck does not want to be with Pap because he is abusive and a drunk. Life with Pap is lonely when he gets closed up in the cabin. Huck does not want to live with the Widow Douglass because she is too civilized, and he does not feel comfortable in that environment either.

Question 3 Discuss Huck’s escape. Be specific: methods, plans, and destination. Pap goes to town to sell logs and Huck escapes. He gets out of a hole in the cabin wall that he had sawed. He cleans out the place, shoots a pig, smashes the door with an ax, and cuts the pig’s throat with ax allowing it to bleed on the ground in the cabin. He drags sacks with rocks to river (Huck’s “body”), puts his hair on a bloody ax, dumps the pig corpse in the river, and leaves a trail of corn meal out to the lack (“tracks” of killers). He then takes the canoe to Jackson’s Island.

Why is the cannon being fired? Chapter 8 – Question 1 Why is the cannon being fired? The cannon was fired over the water’s surface to make Huck’s “carcass” rise to the top of the river.

Question 2 How does the superstition with the quicksilver/ bread come true? Superstition stated that quicksilver put in loaves of bread and floated on the water would go to a “drownded” carcass and stop. Huck caught the second loaf that came by and ate it. Ironically, the bread had “found” him.

Question 3 After nearly tripping over a snake, what does Huck discover that scares him? After tripping over a snake, Huck discovers ashes of a campfire still smoking. Someone had recently been there.

Question 4 Who does Huck find, and what does this person believe Huck to be? Huck finds Jim on the island. Jim believes Huck is a ghost because he has heard about Huck’s “murder.”

Question 5 Why is Huck no longer lonesome? Why is this person (#4) on the island? How does Huck react to this news? He is no longer lonesome because he finds Jim. Jim is on the island. He runs off because Miss Watson treats him “pooty rough” and was going to sell him to New Orleans. Huck says people may call him an abolitionist, but he won’t tell.

Question 6 Discuss superstition: birds, hairy arms/ breast. Birds flying in a pattern or formation and chickens indicate rain. Catching a bird will cause a death. Hairy arms and breast indicates that you will someday be rich.

Question 7 Why does Jim feel that he is rich? Jim says he is rich because he now “owns” himself. He would have been worth $800.00 to Miss Watson if he had been sold.

Where do Jim and Huck take shelter? Chapter 9 – Question 1 Where do Jim and Huck take shelter? Huck and Jim take shelter in a cavern.

Question 2 Describe the flooding of the river. How deep was the flooding? The river levels rose for ten or twelve days until it spilled over the banks. The water was three or four foot deep on the island in the low places and on the Illinois bottom.

What does Jim discover in the floating house? Question 3 What does Jim discover in the floating house? Inside the floating house, Jim finds a dead man who is naked and shot in the back.

Question 4 Why will he not let Huck see it? Jim tells Huck not to look at the man’s face. He says it is “too gashly.” He quickly covers the body with some old rags, and Huck turns to investigate other items on the house.

Question 5 What kinds of things do Huck and Jim take from the floating house? Items include: old greasy cards, whiskey bottles, masks, pictures made with charcoal, dirty calico dresses, a sun bonnet, women’s underclothes, men’s clothing, straw hat milk bottle with a rag stopper, an old chest, an old hair trunk with the hinges broken, an old tin lantern, a butcher knife, candles, a tin candlestick, a gourd, a tin cup, a bed- quilt, pins, thread, needles, a hatchet, some nails, a fish line with hooks, a dog collar, a horseshoe, vials of medicine, a curry comb, a fiddle bow, and a wooden leg.

Chapter 10 – Question 1 Why does Jim not want to talk about the dead man? Jim says it is bad luck to talk about a dead man.

Question 2 What joke does Huck play on Jim? Huck found a rattlesnake and killed it, and curled it up at the foot of Jim’s sleeping blanket.

Question 3 What happens as a result of Huck’s joke? Jim goes to bed. The snake’s mate finds the dead rattlesnake and bites him. Jim is deliriously ill for four days and nights. Huck does not let him know that it is his fault, but he is remorseful. Jim blames this bad luck on Huck’s touching a snakeskin earlier.

Question 4 Who is Hank Bunker, and why does Huck consider him foolish? Hank Bunker looked at the new moon over his left shoulder. He does it and then brags about it. In less than two years, he got drunk and fell off the shot-tower and spread himself out so he was a kind of layer. They slid him edgeways between two barn doors for a coffin and buried him.

Question 5 Describe Huck’s appearance when he goes on shore to get information. Huck went to shore for information dressed as a girl. This shows how willing Huck is to effect a new identity even for a short time.