The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows Huck, a boy escaping his violent father, and Jim, a man fleeing slavery, as they float down the Mississippi River on a raft. Their journey through towns full of liars, swindlers and feuding families forces Huck to choose between what society has taught him and his own conscience.
Huck narrates in his own vernacular voice, and the book follows The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Huckleberry Finn | Narrator, a runaway boy |
| Jim | Man escaping slavery |
| Pap Finn | Huck's drunken, violent father |
| Tom Sawyer | Huck's imaginative friend |
| The Duke and the King | Two con men |
| Widow Douglas and Miss Watson | Sisters who try to civilize Huck |
| The Grangerfords | Family locked in a feud |
| Aunt Sally Phelps | Tom's aunt |
How does Huck run away?
Living with the Widow Douglas, Huck chafes at clean clothes and manners. His father, Pap, reappears wanting Huck's money, kidnaps him and locks him in a cabin. Huck fakes his own death and escapes to Jackson's Island. There he finds Jim, Miss Watson's enslaved worker, who ran away when he heard he would be sold down the river.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens on the river?
They travel by raft at night toward the Ohio River and freedom, but miss it in thick fog. Huck plays a cruel trick on Jim and apologizes. He stays with the Grangerford family, whose feud with the Shepherdsons ends in a massacre. He and Jim escape back to the river.
↑ Back to the topWho are the Duke and the King?
Two con men come aboard, claiming to be a lost duke and the heir to the French throne. They swindle towns with fake plays and false shows. They pose as the British brothers of a dead man named Peter Wilks to steal his daughters' inheritance. Huck, who likes the eldest daughter, hides the money and helps expose them.
↑ Back to the topWhat is Huck's great decision?
The King sells Jim to a farmer named Phelps for a reward. Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson to tell her where Jim is, as he has been taught a good boy must. Then he remembers their kindness to each other on the river, tears up the letter and decides to free Jim, even if everyone thinks it wrong.
↑ Back to the topHow does Huckleberry Finn end?
At the Phelps farm, Huck is mistaken for Tom Sawyer, Aunt Sally's nephew. Tom arrives and pretends to be his brother Sid. Tom insists on an absurd escape plan out of adventure books, and during the escape he is shot in the leg. Jim stays to help the doctor and is captured again. Tom then reveals that Miss Watson died two months earlier and freed Jim in her will. Jim tells Huck that Pap is dead. Aunt Sally offers to adopt Huck, but he plans to head west to the Indian Territory before anyone can civilize him.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.