Chronologic order of series of events in huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn’s fictional story begins with Huckleberry who will be referred thereof as Huck and Tom Sawyer getting a lump sum of money from a cave some robbers had hid the money. Huck is under the watchful eye of a widow called Douglas. Miss. Douglas and Miss. Watson are trying their best to have Huck be civilized which really pisses him off (Pauline & Twain, 2006). When Huck asks whether he can smoke, Miss Douglas discourages him telling him that smoking is a dirty and mean project despite her taking some snuff. Huck later escapes this confinement with the help of tom who has just started a gang.
The two go off to live on their fortune on the banks of the Mississippi. Huck meets Jim, who is the slave of Miss Watson on Jackson’s Island. Apparently, Jim escaped from the custody of his master when he overheard that Miss Watson had plans to sell him to a place where slave conditions are tougher than his current place (Pauline & Twain, 2006). Huck decides not to sell out Jim after listening to his life stories and the two live together looking for a raft to sail down the river. Jim’s plan is to get to Ohio which is a free state so that he can later buy off his family’s freedom.
When Huck learns of the search being carried out for Jim after he went dressed like a girl in town, the two get on to their raft and sail downstream leaving the island. On their way downstream the raft capsizes as it is swamped by a steamship. Jim and Huck find themselves on separate paths as a result of this. Huck finds himself in a feud between two families, the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. Apparently, these two families have been having a blood feud for 30 or so years (Czolgosz & Twain, 2011). Huck lives with the Grangerfords for a while befriending Buck Grangerford a boy who is almost his age. When the feud fires up after Sophia Grangerford disappears with Harney Shepherdson, Huck is lucky to escape alive after all the males from the Grangerford’s side are killed (Matthews, 1999). He later meets Jim and continues their adventurous journey south. Huck and Jim later are joined by two men, when claiming to be a duke and the other claiming to be a prospective king.
The two men are extremely cunning. They at one time stage a very poor play “The Royal Nonesuch” which they charge their audience 50 cents each. They also print fake dollar bills to protect Jim and at one time paint Jim’s entire body with blue paint and claim that he is a sick Arab (Czolgosz & Twain, 2011). The King, the duke, Huck and Jim continue with their journey south on the third night after the town people realized that they were being duped.
On reaching the next town the two that is the king and the duke try to fool the people in this town. They decide to impersonate the Peter Wilks brothers. Peter Wilks apparently had just died and thus the two were trying to impersonate these brothers to get some money from Peter Wilks estate. He is claimed to be a rich man. One man suspects foul play of the two but does not have substantial evidence to prove to the town people.
Their plans though are thwarted by Huck who after being treated very well by the Wilk’s daughters decides to steal back the money. Fearing that he would be discovered, he hides the money in the coffin of Wilk who is buried the next day with the money. The real brothers arrive later and everyone in town gets confused. In fact the deaf and mute brother has his arm tied in a sling and thus could not have possibly put his signature anywhere. When the coffin is exhumed and the money found in the coffin, more confusion sets in allowing the king and the duke to escape. The two later join Huck and Jim and sail on.
Huck leaves the rest of the pack for a while. The king decides to sell Jim for $40 to Silas and Sally Phelps plantation. These are Tom’s aunt and uncle. Huck resolves to rescue Jim as he is annoyed by King’s betrayal (Czolgosz & Twain, 2011). Since Tom is expected to visit, Huck pretends to be Tom. When Tom finally comes, he agrees to join Huck and pretends to be his younger brother Sid. The plot fails as Tom is shot forcing Jim to stay behind. Jim is returned to the Phelps where later events move in quick succession. Jim is apparently a free man after Miss Watson freed him in her will before she died. Huck’s father is dead and so Huck can return Home safely though he has plans to escape to the Indian territory to avoid being put under sally’s custody. This is how the story comes to a dramatic end.
References
Czolgosz, W. B. & Twain, M. (2011). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim.
New York: Simon & Schuster.
Matthews, S. (1999). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York:
Barron’s Educational Series.
Pauline, F., & Twain, M. (2006). Huckleberry Finn. London:
Evans Brothers.
