Episode 3: Chapters 8-11

Summarise: The entire chapter is mostly spent on Jackson Island. It starts when Huck wakes up on the island after he had ran away from his father and faked his death. That morning a ferryboat passes the Island that has Pap, Judge Thatcher, Tom Sawyer, Tom’s aunt Polly, some of Huck’s young friends, and more on board, all discussing Huck’s murder. They shoot cannonballs over the water and float loaves of bread with quicksilver inside, in hopes of finding Huck’s corpse. Huck, catches one of the loaves and eats it, but he feels guilty that he has upset those who care about him. Huck spends three days on the island, living on berries and fish. He spends his nights counting ferryboats and stars. On the fourth day, while exploring the island, Huck finds Jim, who at first thinks Huck is a ghost. Huck is happy he will not be alone on the island but shocked when Jim explains that he has run away. Jim says that he overheard Miss Watson discussing selling him for $800 to a slave trader who would take him to New Orleans. Jim and Huck talk about superstition, and Jim’s failed investments, most of which have been scams. Jim is not too disappointed by his failures, since he still has his hairy arms and chest, which, according to his superstitions, are a sign of future wealth.

In order to make a hiding place should visitors arrive on the island, Jim and Huck take the canoe into a large cave in the on the island. The two safely wait it out a storm inside the cave. The river floods, and a washes out a house down the river past the island. Inside, Jim and Huck find the body of a man who has been shot. Jim and Huck make off with some odds and ends from the house. Huck has Jim hide in the bottom of the canoe so that he won’t be seen, and they make it back to the island safely.

Huck wonders about the dead man, but Jim warns that it’s bad luck. Huck already has bad luck by finding and handling a snake’s shed skin. Sure enough when Huck plays a joke by putting a dead rattlesnake in Jim's bed, its mate comes and bites Jim. Jim’s leg swells but gets better after several days of rest and whisky drinking. A while later, Huck decides to go ashore to get information about what has happened. Jim agrees, but has Huck disguise himself as a girl (Mary Sarah Williams), using one of the dresses they took from the house. Huck practices his girl impersonation and then goes for the Illinois shore. In a shack, he finds a woman who appears to be a newcomer to the town. Huck is relieved because she will not be able to recognize him. The woman lets Huck and he introduces himself as “Sarah Williams”. She reveals that Pap was a suspect in Huck's murder and that some townspeople nearly killed him. Then, people began to suspect Jim because he ran away the same day Huck was killed. This was because he spent the money the judge gave him to find Huck, on whiskey. Now there is a $200 reward for him. Meanwhile, there is a $300 bounty out for Jim. The woman has noticed smoke over Jackson’s Island and has told her husband to look for Jim there. He planed to go there tonight with another man and a gun.

The woman looks at Huck suspiciously and asks his name. He says, “Marry Williams.” When the woman asks about the change, he tries saying his full name is “Marry Sarah Williams.” Finally, she asks him to reveal his real male identity, saying she understands that he is a runaway and she will not turn him in. Huck says his name is George Peters. She tells Huck to send for her, Mrs. Judith Loftus, if he has trouble. Back at the island, Huck builds a decoy campfire far from the cave and then returns to the cave to tell Jim they must leave. And so they did.

Characters: Huck (Marry Sarah Williams & George Peters are aliases of Huck's own invention), Jim, Tom, Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, Pap, and Mrs. Judith Loftus.

Major theme: Rebirth - Jim escapes slavery and starts a new like as a free man. Huck escapes his father and becomes free.       appearance vs. reality - Huck pretender to be two different people. Jim thinks Huck is a ghost when he is really alive.

Importance: Huck is good and making up different personality's, not really girls, but it shows that he is good at making things up on the spot.

lit devises: Huck has many different persona's????