The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Plot Summary (Edexcel A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Plot Summary

1. Huckleberry Finn introduces himself as a character from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
2. Huck and Tom discovered a robber's cache of gold and became rich.
3. Huck now lives with Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, who impose a strict lifestyle on him.
4. Huck resents the "sivilized" life but stays with Widow Douglas to join Tom's gang.
5. Huck follows the Widow's rules to play robbers with Tom and the other boys.
6. Huck's father, Pap, reappears and demands Huck's fortune.
7. The Widow and Judge Thatcher fail to gain custody of Huck.

8. Pap kidnaps Huck and takes him across the Mississippi River to an isolated cabin.
9. Huck is locked up and suffers from Pap's drunken rages and beatings.
10. Huck escapes by faking his death and canoes to Jackson's Island.
11. Huck finds Jim, a runaway slave from Miss Watson, on the island.
12. Huck and Jim inhabit Jackson's Island, fishing and exploring.

13. Disguised as a girl, Huck learns that slave hunters are searching for Jim.
14. Huck and Jim leave the island on their raft, aiming for the free states.
15. They miss their route due to fog and Huck struggles with the decision to turn Jim in.
16. Huck decides to help Jim and they continue their journey.
17. A steamboat crashes into their raft, separating them.
18. Huck is taken in by the Grangerford family, who are feuding with the Shepherdsons.
19. The feud escalates to bloodshed after a Grangerford girl elopes with a Shepherdson boy.
20. Huck reunites with Jim and they continue downriver on the repaired raft.

21. Huck and Jim meet two con men, who claim to be a duke and a king.
22. The con men take over the raft and conduct scams along the way.
23. The duke and king pose as brothers of a deceased man, Peter Wilks, to claim his inheritance.
24. Huck feels guilty and exposes the con men.
25. The real brothers of Peter Wilks arrive and the con men are revealed as frauds.
26. Huck and Jim escape but the duke and king catch up with them.
27. The con men sell Jim to a local farmer, Silas Phelps, claiming Jim is a runaway.
28. Huck learns Jim's location and decides to save him, even if it means going to hell.
29. Huck arrives at the Phelps farm and is mistaken for Tom Sawyer by Aunt Sally.
30. Huck intercepts Tom Sawyer and they plan to free Jim.

31. Tom concocts an elaborate plan to free Jim, which they follow.
32. Jim, Huck, and Tom escape but Tom is shot in the leg.
33. Jim sacrifices his freedom to help Tom, and Huck fetches a doctor.
34. The doctor insists on bringing Jim back to the Phelps farm.
35. Tom reveals that Miss Watson had freed Jim in her will and that she died two months earlier.
36. Jim reveals that Pap is dead, and Huck still has his fortune with Judge Thatcher.
37. Huck decides to go West to avoid being "sivilized" again.