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We are lucky to present you
Short Summaries of the Books
You Have to Read in the course of
the English Literature by Stulov
Thursday, April 3 2002
Contents
1. AN OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT FROM THE 17TH TO THE 20TH CENTURIES 2
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 5
3. ALL THE KING’S MEN 13
4. CATCH-22 22
5. Catcher in the Rye 31
6. FAREWELL TO ARMS 35
7. Grapes of Wrath 41
8. Great Gatsby 46
9. Long Day's Journey Into the Night 49
10. Moby Dick 53
11. Scarlet Letter 63
12. Slaughterhouse Five 67
13. Sound and the Fury 73
14. Streetcar Named ”Desire” 87
AN OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT FROM THE 17TH TO THE 20TH CENTURIES
Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the
history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a half,
America was merely a group of colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard
of the North American continent--colonies from which a few hardy souls
tentatively ventured westward. After a successful rebellion against the
motherland, America became the United States, a nation. By the end of the
19th century this nation extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico,
northward to the 49th parallel, and westward to the Pacific. By the end of
the 19th century, too, it had taken its place among the powers of the world-
-its fortunes so interrelated with those of other nations that inevitably
it became involved in two world wars and, following these conflicts, with
the problems of Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile, the rise of science and
industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and feeling, wrought many
modifications in people's lives. All these factors in the development of
the United States molded the literature of the country.
The 17th century
American literature at first was naturally a colonial literature, by
authors who were Englishmen and who thought and wrote as such. John Smith,
a soldier of fortune, is credited with initiating American literature. His
chief books included A True Relation of . . . Virginia . . . (1608) and The
generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624).
Although these volumes often glorified their author, they were avowedly
written to explain colonizing opportunities to Englishmen. In time, each
colony was similarly described: Daniel Denton's Brief Description of New
York (1670), William Penn's Brief Account of the Province of Pennsylvania
(1682), and Thomas Ashe's Carolina (1682) were only a few of many works
praising America as a land of economic promise.Such writers acknowledged
British allegiance, but others stressed the differences of opinion that
spurred the colonists to leave their homeland. More important, they argued
questions of government involving the relationship between church and
state. The attitude that most authors attacked was jauntily set forth by
Nathaniel Ward of Massachusetts Bay in The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in
America (1647). Ward amusingly defended the status quo and railed at
colonists who sponsored newfangled notions. A variety of counterarguments
to such a conservative view were published. John Winthrop's Journal
(written 1630-49) told sympathetically of the attempt of Massachusetts Bay
Colony to form a theocracy--a state with God at its head and with its laws
based upon the Bible. Later defenders of the theocratic ideal were Increase
Mather and his son Cotton. William Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation (through 1646) showed how his pilgrim Separatists broke
completely with Anglicanism. Even more radical than Bradford was Roger
Williams, who, in a series of controversial pamphlets, advocated not only
the separation of church and state but also the vesting of power in the
people and the tolerance of different religious beliefs.The utilitarian
writings of the 17th century included biographies, treatises, accounts of
voyages, and sermons. There were few achievements in drama or fiction,
since there was a widespread prejudice against these forms. Bad but popular
poetry appeared in the Bay Psalm Book of 1640 and in Michael Wigglesworth's
summary in doggerel verse of Calvinistic belief, The Day of Doom (1662).
There was some poetry, at least, of a higher order. Anne Bradstreet of
Massachusetts wrote some lyrics published in The Tenth Muse (1650), which
movingly conveyed her feelings concerning religion and her family. Ranked
still higher by modern critics is a poet whose works were not discovered
and published until 1939: Edward Taylor, an English-born minister and
physician who lived in Boston and Westfield, Massachusetts. Less touched by
gloom than the typical Puritan, Taylor wrote lyrics that showed his delight
in Christian belief and experience.All 17th-century American writings were
in the manner of British writings of the same period. John Smith wrote in
the tradition of geographic literature, Bradford echoed the cadences of the
King James Bible, while the Mathers and Roger Williams wrote bejeweled
prose typical of the day. Anne Bradstreet's poetic style derived from a
long line of British poets, including Spenser and Sidney, while Taylor was
in the tradition of such Metaphysical poets as George Herbert and John
Donne. Both the content and form of the literature of this first century in
America were thus markedly English.
The 18th century
In America in the early years of the 18th century, some writers, such
as Cotton Mather, carried on the older traditions. His huge history and
biography of Puritan New England, Magnalia Christi Americana, in 1702, and
his vigorous Manuductio ad Ministerium, or introduction to the ministry, in
1726, were defenses of ancient Puritan convictions. Jonathan Edwards,
initiator of the Great Awakening, a religious revival that stirred the
eastern seacoast for many years, eloquently defended his burning belief in
Calvinistic doctrine--of the concept that man, born totally depraved, could
attain virtue and salvation only through God's grace--in his powerful
sermons and most notably in the philosophical treatise Freedom of Will
(1754). He supported his claims by relating them to a complex metaphysical
system and by reasoning brilliantly in clear and often beautiful prose.But
Mather and Edwards were defending a doomed cause. Liberal New England
ministers such as John Wise and Jonathan Mayhew moved toward a less rigid
religion. Samuel Sewall heralded other changes in his amusing Diary,
covering the years 1673-1729. Though sincerely religious, he showed in
daily records how commercial life in New England replaced rigid Puritanism
with more worldly attitudes. The Journal of Mme Sara Knight comically
detailed a journey that lady took to New York in 1704. She wrote vividly of
what she saw and commented upon it from the standpoint of an orthodox
believer, but a quality of levity in her witty writings showed that she was
much less fervent than the Pilgrim founders had been. In the South, William
Byrd of Virginia, an aristocratic plantation owner, contrasted sharply with
gloomier predecessors. His record of a surveying trip in 1728, The History
of the Dividing Line, and his account of a visit to his frontier properties
in 1733, A Journey to the Land of Eden, were his chief works. Years in
England, on the Continent, and among the gentry of the South had created
gaiety and grace of expression, and, although a devout Anglican, Byrd was
as playful as the Restoration wits whose works he clearly admired.The
wrench of the American Revolution emphasized differences that had been
growing between American and British political concepts. As the colonists
moved to the belief that rebellion was inevitable, fought the bitter war,
and worked to found the new nation's government, they were influenced by a
number of very effective political writers, such as Samuel Adams and John
Dickinson, both of whom favoured the colonists, and Loyalist Joseph
Galloway. But two figures loomed above these--Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
Paine.Franklin, born in 1706, had started to publish his writings in his
brother's newspaper, the New England Courant, as early as 1722. This
newspaper championed the cause of the "Leather Apron" man and the farmer
and appealed by using easily understood language and practical arguments.
The idea that common sense was a good guide was clear in both the popular
Poor Richard's almanac, which Franklin edited between 1732 and 1757 and
filled with prudent and witty aphorisms purportedly written by uneducated
but experienced Richard Saunders, and in the author's Autobiography,
written between 1771 and 1788, a record of his rise from humble
circumstances that offered worldly wise suggestions for future
success.Franklin's self-attained culture, deep and wide, gave substance and
skill to varied articles, pamphlets, and reports that he wrote concerning
the dispute with Great Britain, many of them extremely effective in stating
and shaping the colonists' cause.Thomas Paine went from his native England
to Philadelphia and became a magazine editor and then, about 14 months
later, the most effective propagandist for the colonial cause. His pamphlet
"Common Sense" (January 1776) did much to influence the colonists to
declare their independence. "The American Crisis" papers (December 1776-
December 1783) spurred Americans to fight on through the blackest years of
the war. Based upon Paine's simple deistic beliefs, they showed the
conflict as a stirring melodrama with the angelic colonists against the
forces of evil. Such white and black picturings were highly effective
propaganda. Another reason for Paine's success was his poetic fervour,
which found expression in impassioned words and phrases long to be
remembered and quoted.
The 19th century
Early 19th-century literature
After the American Revolution, and increasingly after the War of 1812,
American writers were exhorted to produce a literature that was truly
native. As if in response, four authors of very respectable stature
appeared. William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper,
and Edgar Allan Poe initiated a great half century of literary
development.Bryant, a New Englander by birth, attracted attention in his
23rd year when the first version of his poem "Thanatopsis" (1817) appeared.
This, as well as some later poems, was written under the influence of
English 18th-century poets. Still later, however, under the influence of
Wordsworth and other Romantics, he wrote nature lyrics that vividly
represented the New England scene. Turning to journalism, he had a long
career as a fighting liberal editor of The Evening Post. He himself was
overshadowed, in renown at least, by a native-born New Yorker, Washington
Irving.Irving, youngest member of a prosperous merchant family, joined with
ebullient young men of the town in producing the Salmagundi papers (1807-
08), which took off the foibles of Manhattan's citizenry. This was followed
by A History of New York (1809), by "Diedrich Knickerbocker," a burlesque
history that mocked pedantic scholarship and sniped at the old Dutch
families. Irving's models in these works were obviously Neoclassical
English satirists, from whom he had learned to write in a polished, bright
style. Later, having met Sir Walter Scott and having become acquainted with
imaginative German literature, he introduced a new Romantic note in The
Sketch Book (1819-20), Bracebridge Hall (1822), and other works. He was the
first American writer to win the ungrudging (if somewhat surprised) respect
of British critics.James Fenimore Cooper won even wider fame. Following the
pattern of Sir Walter Scott's "Waverley" novels, he did his best work in
the "Leatherstocking" tales (1823-41), a five-volume series celebrating the
career of a great frontiersman named Natty Bumppo. His skill in weaving
history into inventive plots and in characterizing his compatriots brought
him acclaim not only in America and England but on the continent of Europe
as well.Edgar Allan Poe, reared in the South, lived and worked as an author
and editor in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond, and New York City. His
work was shaped largely by analytical skill that showed clearly in his role
as an editor: time after time he gauged the taste of readers so accurately
that circulation figures of magazines under his direction soared
impressively. It showed itself in his critical essays, wherein he lucidly
explained and logically applied his criteria. His gothic tales of terror
were written in accordance with his findings when he studied the most
popular magazines of the day. His masterpieces of terror--"The Fall of the
House of Usher" (1839), "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842), "The Cask of
Amontillado" (1846), and others--were written according to a carefully
worked out psychological method. So were his detective stories, such as
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), which historians credited as the
first of the genre. As a poet, he achieved fame with "The Raven" (1845).
His work, especially his critical writings and carefully crafted poems, had
perhaps a greater influence in France, where they were translated by
Charles Baudelaire, than in his own country.Two Southern novelists were
also outstanding in the earlier part of the century: John Pendleton Kennedy
and William Gilmore Simms. In Swallow Barn (1832), Kennedy wrote
delightfully of life on the plantations. Simms's forte was the writing of
historical novels like those of Scott and Cooper, which treated the history
of the frontier and his native South Carolina. The Yemassee (1835) and
Revolutionary romances show him at his best.
The 20th century
Writing from 1914 to 1945
Important movements in drama, poetry, fiction, and criticism took form
in the years before, during, and after World War I. The eventful period
that followed the war left its imprint upon books of all kinds. Literary
forms of the period were extraordinarily varied, and in drama, poetry, and
fiction leading authors tended toward radical technical
experiments.Experiments in dramaAlthough drama had not been a major art
form in the 19th century, no type of writing was more experimental than a
new drama that arose in rebellion against the glib commercial stage. In the
early years of the 20th century, Americans traveling in Europe encountered
a vital, flourishing theatre; returning home, some of them became active in
founding the Little Theatre movement throughout the country. Freed from
commercial limitations, playwrights experimented with dramatic forms and
methods of production, and in time producers, actors, and dramatists
appeared who had been trained in college classrooms and community
playhouses. Some Little Theatre groups became commercial producers--for
example, the Washington Square Players, founded in 1915, which became the
Theatre Guild (first production in 1919). The resulting drama was marked by
a spirit of innovation and by a new seriousness and maturity.Eugene
O'Neill, the most admired dramatist of the period, was a product of this
movement. He worked with the Provincetown Players before his plays were
commercially produced. His dramas were remarkable for their range. Beyond
the Horizon (first performed 1920), Anna Christie (1921), Desire Under the
Elms (1924), and The Iceman Cometh (1946) were naturalistic works, while
The Emperor Jones (1920) and The Hairy Ape (1922) made use of the
Expressionistic techniques developed in German drama in the period 1914-24.
He also employed a stream-of-consciousness form in Strange Interlude (1928)
and produced a work that combined myth, family drama, and psychological
analysis in Mourning Becomes Electra (1931).No other dramatist was as
generally praised as O'Neill, but many others wrote plays that reflected
the growth of a serious and varied drama, including Maxwell Anderson, whose
verse dramas have dated badly, and Robert E. Sherwood, a Broadway
professional who wrote both comedy (Reunion in Vienna [1931]) and tragedy
(There Shall Be No Night [1940]). Marc Connelly wrote touching fantasy in a
Negro folk biblical play, The Green Pastures (1930). Like O'Neill, Elmer
Rice made use of both Expressionistic techniques (The Adding Machine
[1923]) and naturalism (Street Scene [1929]). Lillian Hellman wrote
powerful, well-crafted melodramas in The Children's Hour (1934) and The
Little Foxes (1939). Radical theatre experiments included Marc Blitzstein's
savagely satiric musical The Cradle Will Rock (1937) and the work of Orson
Welles and John Houseman for the government-sponsored Works Progress
Administration (WPA) Federal Theatre Project. The premier radical theatre
of the decade was the Group Theatre (1931-41) under Harold Clurman and Lee
Strasberg, which became best known for presenting the work of Clifford
Odets. In Waiting for Lefty (1935), a stirring plea for labour unionism,
Odets roused the audience to an intense pitch of fervour, and in Awake and
Sing (1935), perhaps the best play of the decade, he created a lyrical work
of family conflict and youthful yearning. Other important plays by Odets
for the Group Theatre were Paradise Lost (1935), Golden Boy (1937), and
Rocket to the Moon (1938). Thornton Wilder used stylized settings and
poetic dialogue in Our Town (1938) and turned to fantasy in The Skin of Our
Teeth (1942). William Saroyan shifted his lighthearted, anarchic vision
from fiction to drama with My Heart's in the Highlands and The Time of Your
Life (both 1939).
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Context
Samuel Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835. He grew up in the town of
Hannibal, Missouri, which would become the model for St. Petersburg, the
fictional town where Huckleberry Finn begins. Missouri was a "slave state"
during this period, and Clemens' family owned a few slaves. In Missouri,
most slaves worked as domestic servants, rather than on the large
agricultural plantations that most slaves elsewhere in the United States
experienced. This domestic slavery is what Twain generally describes in
Huckleberry Finn, even when the action occurs in the deep South. The
institution of slavery figures prominently in the novel and is important in
developing both the theme and the two most important characters, Huck and
Jim.
Twain received a brief formal education, before going to work as an
apprentice in a print shop. He would later find work on a steamboat on the
Mississippi River. Twain developed a lasting afiection for the Mississippi
and life on a steamboat, and would immortalize both in Life on the
Mississippi (1883), and in certain scenes of Tom Sawyer (1876), and
Huckleberry Finn (1885). He took his pseudonym, "Mark Twain," from the call
a steamboat worker would make when the ship reached a (safe) depth of two
fathoms. Twain would go on to work as a journalist in San Francisco and
Nevada in the 1860s. He soon discovered his talent as a humorist, and by
1865 his humorous stories were attracting national attention.
In 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon of New York State. The family
moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to a large, ornate house paid for with the
royalties from Twain's successful literary adventures. At Hartford and
during stays with Olivia's family in New York State, Twain wrote The Gilded
Age, co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner in 1873 and The Prince and the
Pauper (1882), as well as the two books already mentioned. Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn was finally published in 1885. Twain had begun the book
years earlier, but the writing was done in spurts of inspiration
interrupted by long periods during which the manuscript sat in the author's
desk. Despite the economic crisis that plagued the United States then, the
book became a huge popular and financial success. It would become a classic
of American literature and receive acclaim around the world{today it has
been published in at least twenty-seven languages.
Still, at the time of publication, the author was bothered by the many
bad reviews it received in the national press. The book was principally
attacked for its alleged indecency. After the 1950s, the chief attacks on
the book would be against its alleged racism or racial bigotry. For various
reasons, the book frequently has been banned from US schools and children's
libraries, though it was never really intended as a children's book.
Nonetheless, the book has been widely read ever since its first publication
well over a century ago, an exception to Twain's definition of a classic as
"a book which people praise and don't read."
Characters
Huckleberry Finn { The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Huck is
the thirteen or fourteen year-old son of the local drunk in the town of St.
Petersburg, Missouri, at the start of the novel. He is kidnapped by his
father, Pap, from the "sivilizing" in uence of the Widow Douglas and Miss
Watson, and then fakes his own death to escape. He meets Jim on Jackson's
Island. The rest of the novel is largely motivated by two conflicts: the
external con ict to achieve Jim's freedom, and the internal con ict within
Huck between his own sense of right and wrong and society's. Huck has a
series of "adventures," making many observations on human nature and the
South as he does. He progressively rejects the values of the dominant
society and matures morally as he does. Jim { A slave who escaped from Miss
Watson after she considered selling him down river. He encounters Huck on
Jackson's Island, and the two become friends and spend most of the rest of
the novel together. Jim deeply grieves his separation from his wife and two
children and dreams of getting them back. He is an intensely human
character, perhaps the novel's most complex. Through his example, Huck
learns to appreciate the humanity of black people, overcoming his society's
bigotry and making a break with its moral code. Twain also uses him to
demonstrate racial equality. But Jim himself remains somewhat enigmatic; he
seems both comrade and father figure to Huck, though Huck, the youthful
narrator, may not be able to thoroughly evaluate his friend, and so the
reader has to suppose some of his qualities.
The Duke and Dauphin { These two criminals appear for much of the
novel. Their real names are never given, but the younger man, about thirty
years old, claims to be the Duke of Bridgewater, and is called both "the
Duke" and "Bridgewater" in the novel, though for the sake of clarity, he is
only called "the Duke" here. The much older man claims to be the son of
Louis XVI, the executed French king. "Dauphin" was the title given to heirs
to the French throne. He is mostly called "the king" in the novel (since
his father is dead, he would be the rightful king), though he is called
"the Dauphin" in this study guide since the name is more distinctive. The
two show themselves to be truly bad when they separate a slave family at
the Wilks household, and later sell Jim.
Tom Sawyer { Huck's friend, and the protagonist of Tom Sawyer, the
novel for which Huckleberry Finn is ostensibly the sequel. He is in many
ways Huck's foil, given to exotic plans and romantic adventure literature,
while Huck is more down-to-earth. He also turns out to be profoundly
selfish.
On the whole, Tom is identified with the "civilzation" from which Huck
is alienated. Other characters, in order of appearance Widow Douglas and
Miss Watson { Two wealthy sisters who live together in a large house in St.
Petersburg. Miss Watson is the older sister, gaunt and severe-looking. She
also adheres the strongest to the hypocritical religious and ethical values
of the dominant society. Widow Douglas, meanwhile, is somewhat gentler in
her beliefs and has more patience with the mischievous Huckleberry. She
adopted Huck at the end of the last novel, Tom Sawyer, and he is in her
care at the start of Huckleberry Finn. When Miss Watson considers selling
Jim down to New Orleans, away from his wife and children and deep into the
plantation system, Jim escapes. She eventually repents, making provision in
her will for Jim to be freed, and dies two months before the novel ends.
Pap { Huckleberry's father and the town drunk and ne'er- do-well. When
he appears at the beginning of the novel, he is a human wreck, his skin a
disgusting ghost-like white, and his clothes hopelessly tattered. Like
Huck, he is a member of the least privileged class of whites, and is
illiterate. He is angry that his son is getting an education. He wants to
get hold of Huck's money, presumably to spend it on alcohol. He kidnaps
Huck and holds him deep in the woods. When Huck fakes his own murder, Pap
is nearly lynched when suspicions turn his way. But he escapes, and Jim
eventually finds his dead body on an abandoned houseboat.
Judge Thatcher { Judge Thatcher is in charge of safeguarding the money
Huck and Tom won at the end of Tom Sawyer. When Huck discovers his father
has come to town, he wisely signs his fortune over to the Judge. Judge
Thatcher has a daughter, Becky, whom Huck calls "Bessie."
Aunt Polly { Tom Sawyer's aunt and guardian. She appears at the end of
Huckleberry Finn and properly identifies Huck, who has pretended to be Tom;
and Tom, who has pretended to be his brother, Sid (who never appears in
this novel).
The Grangerfords { The master of the Grangerford clan is
"Colonel"Grangerford, who has a wife. The children are Bob, the oldest,
then Tom, then Charlotte, aged twenty- five, Sophia, twenty, and Buck, the
youngest, about thirteen or fourteen. They also had a deceased daughter,
Emme- line, who made unintentionally humorous, maudlin pictures and poems
for the dead. Huckleberry thinks the Grangerfords are all physically
beautiful. They live on a large estate worked by many slaves. Their house
is decked out in humorously tacky finery that Huckleberry innocently
admires. The Grangerfords are in a feud with the Shepardsons, though no one
can remember the cause of the feud or see any real reason to continue it.
When Sophia runs off with a Shepardson, the feud reignites, and Buck and
another boy are shot. With the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons, Twain
illustrates the bouts of irrational brutality to which the South was prone.
The Wilks Family { The deceased Peter Wilks has three daughters, Mary
Jane, Susan, and Joanne (whom Huck calls "the Harelip"). Mary Jane, the
oldest, takes charge of the sisters' afiairs. She is beautiful and kind-
hearted, but easily swindled by the Duke and Dauphin. Susan is the next
youngest. Joanna possess a cleft palate (a birth defect) and so Huck
somewhat tastelessly refers to her as "the Hare Lip" (another name for
cleft palate). She initially suspects Huck and the Duke and Dauphin, but
eventually falls for the scheme like the others.
The Phelps family { The Phelps family includes Aunt Sally, Uncle Silas
and their children. They also own several slaves. Sally and Silas are
generally kind-hearted, and Silas in particular is a complete innocent. Tom
and Huck are able to continue playing pranks on them for quite some time
before they suspect anything is wrong. Sally, however, displays a chilling
level of bigotry toward blacks, which many of her fellow Southerners likely
share. The town
in which they live also cruelly kills the Duke and Dauphin. With the
Phelps, Twain contrasts the good side of Southern civilization with its bad
side.
Summary
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was finally published in 1885. Twain had
begun the book years earlier, but the writing was done in spurts of
inspiration interrupted by long periods during which the manuscript sat in
the author's desk. Despite the economic crisis that plagued the United
States then, the book became a huge popular and financial success. It would
become a classic of American literature and receive acclaim around the
world{today it has been published in at least twenty-seven languages.
Still, at the time of publication, the author was bothered by the many
bad reviews it received in the national press. The book was principally
attacked for its alleged indecency. After the 1950s, the chief attacks on
the book would be against its alleged racism or racial bigotry. For various
reasons, the book frequently has been banned from US schools and children's
libraries, though it was never really intended as a children's book.
Nonetheless, the book has been widely read ever since its first publication
well over a century ago, an exception to Twain's definition of a classic as
"a book which people praise and don't read."
Chapter 1 Summary
The narrator (later identified as Huckleberry Finn) begins Chapter One
by stating that the reader may know of him from another book, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by "Mr. Mark Twain," but it "ain't t no matter" if
you have not. According to Huck, Twain mostly told the truth, with some
"stretchers" thrown in, though everyone{except Tom's Aunt Polly, the widow,
and maybe Mary{lies once in a while. The other book ended with Tom and
Huckleberry finding the gold some robbers had hidden in a cave. They got
six thousand dollars apiece, which Judge Thatcher put in trust, so that
they each got a dollar a day from interest. The Widow Douglas adopted and
tried to "civilise" Huck. But Huck couldn't stand it so he threw on his old
rags and ran away. But he went back when Tom Sawyer told him he could join
his new band of robbers if he would return to the Widow "and be
respectable."
The Widow lamented over her failure with Huck, tried to stufi him into
cramped clothing, and before every meal had to "grumble" over the food
before they could eat it. She tried to teach him about Moses, until Huck
found out he was dead and lost interest. Meanwhile, she would not let him
smoke; typically, she disapproved of it because she had never tried it, but
approved of snufi since she used it herself. Her slim sister who wears
glasses, Miss Watson, tried to give him spelling lessons.
Meanwhile, Huck was going stir-crazy, made especially restless by the
sisters' constant reminders to improve his behavior. When Miss Watson told
him about the "bad place," Hell, he burst out that he would like to go
there, as a change of scenery. Secretly, Huck really does not see the point
in going to "the good place" and resolved then not to bother trying to get
there.
When Huck asked, Miss Watson told him there was no chance Tom Sawyer
would end up in Heaven. Huck was glad "because I wanted him and me to be
together." One night, after Miss Watson's prayer session with him and the
slaves, Huck goes to bed feeling "so lonesome I wished I was dead." He gets
shivers hearing the sounds of nature through his window. Huck accidentally
icks a spider into a candle, and is frightened by the bad omen. Just after
midnight, Huck hears movement below the window, and a "me-yow" sound, that
he responds to with another "me-yow." Climbing out the window onto the
shed, Huck finds Tom Sawyer waiting for him.
Chapters 2-3 Summary
Huck and Tom tiptoe through the garden. Huck trips on a root as he
passes the kitchen. Jim, a "big" slave, hears him from inside. Tom and Huck
crouch down, trying to stay still. But Huck is struck by an uncontrollable
itch, as always happens when he is in a situation, like when he's "with the
quality," where it is bad to scratch. Jim says aloud that he will stay put
until he discovers
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