Huckleberry Finn Notes | Chapter 6

Pap causes all sorts of trouble around town. To spite the widow, he kidnaps Huck and takes him to a deserted log cabin in the woods. He locks Huck in so he can't escape. Pap gets drunk and beats Huck, but Huck starts to get used to this new life. He is allowed to curse and be wild, unlike at the widow's. He also doesn't miss school, books, and Miss Watson.

Topic Tracking: Conformity 3

Eventually, Huck gets sick of being beaten so much, so he decides to figure out a way to escape. He starts to saw off a wooden leg of the table, but he hears Pap's gun in the woods and stops. When Pap comes back, he curses everyone in the town for how long the custody trial over Huck and Huck's $6,000 is taking. He tells Huck to go to the boat and collect the food, whisky, and ammunition that he just brought back from the town. He goes down to the boat and plans to escape that night when Pap is good and drunk. He plans to maybe go across the country, but he definitely does not want to go back to the Widow's.

That night, Pap gets drunk and curses the government for the predicament he's in. He also yells about black people being allowed to vote. He eventually falls asleep, but it isn't a sound sleep, so Huck waits. He waits so long that he falls asleep too. When he wakes up, Pap yells about snakes biting him on the cheek and neck, but there really aren't any snakes. He falls asleep again, mumbling about dead people coming to get him. He wakes up and chases Huck around the house with his knife. He almost kills Huck, but he slips by. Pap rests a minute and falls asleep again. Huck takes down Pap's gun, loads it, points it at him, and waits for him to wake up.