Summary of Chapters
In the beginning of the first chapter, everyone in the small town goes to give their condolences to the Wilks girl. Everyone is convinced from the con men that her uncle is dead. The con men give the girl a letter from her brother that says he is giving $3,000 to his daughters and $3,000 to his brothers. The con men find out that Wilks doesn't actually have as much money as they though he did. To cover up their mistake they make a big show of giving Mary Jane, the oldest sister, all of the money. At this point the preacher figures out they are frauds and calls them out but Mary Jane doesn't believe him. The dauphin ends up staying at the Wilks' house. Huck eats with the Wilks, and gets his knowledge of England questioned by Joanna. Joanna asks Huck if it is all a lie, but the sisters shush her and tell her to be more polite. Then Huck goes into the dauphine's room and finds the money. Huck hides the money into Peter Wilks' coffin. Mary Jane comes into the room as Huck is hiding the money. Huck doesn't get an opportunity to move the money, so when the funeral comes the money is still in the coffin. During the funeral no one opens the coffin and no one knows that there is money hidden inside it, so the coffin gets buried. The con man tells the Wilks sisters that he will pay for them to move to England, and then he sells all of their estate and slaves. The dauphine notices that the money is missing but Huck convinces him the slaves took it. The next morning Huck sees Mary Jane crying and finds out it is because she is upset that the family of slaves was seperated. Huck tells Mary Jane the truth to make her feel better. Huck and Mary Jane make a plan to allow Huck to get away with Jim before exposing the con men. Huck also tells Mary Jane where the money is. Mary Jane is very thankful to Huck. Huck runs into the two other sisters and convinces them to go to visit a sick friend so that they wont run into the con men. Later during an auction of the families stuff, an angry mob storms through town. The real Wilks brothers are in the mob.
Reflections
During this chapter you could tell that Huck is starting to get a sense of right and wrong. He is no longer just doing what is practical, he is learning to make decisions based on morals. I was happy that Huck warned Mary Jane, it shows that he does care about what happens to other people. I think Huck should ditch the con men. He knows that they are terrible people, and they have overstayed their welcome. Huck is starting to be afraid of the consequences of the con men's actions. I hope that Jim gets more involved in the story later, I'm starting to miss his superstitions and personality.