Chapter 1-3 Summary
When the book starts, Huckleberry Finn, the main character, tells us what happened to him in the last book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck and Tom and found a lot of money, six thousand dollars in gold for each of them. The Widow took Huck in and is trying to civilize him. Huck tried to run away at one time, but Tom promised Huck if he would stay he could join Tom's band of robbers. The Widow's sister tries to teach Huck proper manners, but she isn't doing very well. Huck is longing to get away from the boring routine he is stuck in and start an adventure. In the beginning of the next chapter Huck sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night and is smoking when he hears Tom Sawyer. Tom and Huck meet up, but they make a noise and one of the slaves hears them and comes out to see who they are. The two boys hide until the slave falls asleep and then Tom decides to play a prank on the slave and he moves his hat so the slave thinks that witches took control of him. Then Tom and Huck meet up with some other boys to make their band of robbers and they make a set of rules as well as elect Tom as the head of their group. Finally Huck sneaks back home to the widow's house. In the next chapter, Huck wakes up and gets yelled at by Miss Watson because his clothes are dirty. Then we learn some of the back story of Huck's father. Huck's father was found dead in a river, but Huck doesn't believe that he is dead because he was floating face up. Huck talks about how the boys played robber, but they never actually killed anybody or stole anything, the just pretended. Huck talk's about a time where they attacked a huge group of Arabs, but it turned out to be an elementary class. Tom told Huck that it was because they had magicians hiding them, but Huck doesn't really believe Tom.
Reflections on Chapters 1-3
Right now I think that the story is a little slow. I also wish that we had read Tom Sawyer before we moved on to Huck Finn. I think that although uncivilized Huck is a very down to earth character. Although he is young he has a wisdom of someone much older than him. His years of fending for himself have made him stronger, but also resistant to change even if it is for the better. Huck is almost alienated from the other kids due to his lack of parents and imagination. I felt bad for Huck when the kids almost didn't let him join their band of robbers because he had no family to kill. Huck's lack of connection to other kids prevents him from being a leader, although he has good ideas. Huck is almost quite at times even though he may be skeptical of things. Huck thinks things through a lot more than the younger boys especially when Tom tells him that there were Genies that were hiding the Arabs. Huck is constantly questioning things and although he doesn't tell Tom, Huck has a much more practical outlook on life.