Summary: Chapter 4
Over the next few months, Huck begins to adjust to his
new life and even makes some progress in school. One winter morning,
he 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 immediately recognizes this mark and runs to Judge Thatcher.
Huck sells his fortune (the money he and Tom recovered in Tom
Sawyer, which the Judge has been managing for him) to the
befuddled Judge for a dollar.
That night, Huck goes to Jim, who claims to possess a
giant, magical hairball from an ox’s stomach. Huck tells Jim that
he has found Pap’s tracks in the snow and wants to know what his
father wants. Jim says that the hairball needs money to talk, so
Huck gives Jim 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 and one good. It is uncertain which angel will win
out, but Huck is safe for now. He will have much happiness and sorrow
in his life, he will marry a poor woman and then a rich woman, and
he should stay clear of the water, since that is where he will die.
That night, Huck finds Pap waiting for him in his bedroom.
Read a translation of
Chapter 4 →
Summary: Chapter 5
Pap is a frightening sight. The nearly fifty-year-old
man’s skin is a ghastly, disgusting white. Noticing Huck’s “starchy”
clothes, Pap wonders out loud if Huck thinks himself better than
his father and promises to take Huck “down a peg.” Pap promises
to teach Widow Douglas not to “meddle” and is outraged that Huck
has become the first person in his family to learn to read. Pap
asks if Huck is really as rich as he has heard and calls his son
a liar when Huck replies that he has no more money. Pap then takes
the dollar that Huck got from Judge Thatcher and leaves to buy whiskey.
The next day, Pap shows up drunk and 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 and son. Pap eventually lands in jail after a drunken spree. The
new judge takes Pap into his home and tries to reform him, but the
judge and his wife prove to be very weepy and moralizing. Pap tearfully
repents his ways but soon gets drunk again, and the new judge decides
that the only way to reform Pap is with a shotgun.
Read a translation of
Chapter 5 →
Summary: Chapter 6
Pap sues Judge Thatcher for Huck’s fortune and continues
to threaten Huck about attending school. Huck continues to attend, partly
to spite his father. Pap goes on one drunken binge after another.
One day, he kidnaps Huck, takes him deep into the woods to a secluded
cabin on the Illinois shore, and locks Huck inside all day while
he rambles outside. Eventually, Huck finds an old saw, makes a hole
in the wall, and resolves to escape from both Pap and the Widow
Douglas, but Pap returns as Huck is about to break free.
Pap complains that Judge Thatcher has delayed the trial
to prevent him from getting Huck’s wealth. He has heard that his
chances of getting the money are good but that he will probably
lose the fight for custody of Huck. Pap continues to rant about
a mixed-race man in town; Pap is disgusted that the man is allowed
to vote in his home state of Ohio, and that legally he cannot be
sold into slavery until he has been in Missouri six months. Later,
Pap wakes from a drunken sleep and chases after Huck with a knife,
calling him the “Angel of Death” but stopping when he passes out.
Huck holds a rifle pointed at his sleeping father and waits.
