Huckleberry Finn chapter 15-18 summary

Chapter 15, Jim is hoping to reach Cairo, at the bottom of Illinois where the Ohio river merges with the Mississippi. From there, both he and Huck will be able to take a steamboat upriver and into the free states where Jim will finally be a free man. As they approaching that section of the river, a dense fog arrives. They land on the shore, but before Huck is able to tie up the raft, the raft pulls loose and starts floating downstream with Jim aboard. Huck jumps into the canoe and follows it, but loses sight of it in the fog. He and Jim spend several hours tracking each other by calling out, but a large island finally separates them and Huck is left all alone. The next morning, Huck awakens and luckily manages to catch up with the raft. He finds Jim asleep and wakes him up. Jim is glad to see him, but Huck tries to play a trick on Jim by telling him that the events of the night before were just a dream. Huck finally points out the leaves and debris left from the night before, at which point Jim gets mad at Huck for playing such a mean trick on him. Huck feels terrible about what he did and apologizes to Jim.

Chapter 16, they continue to travel by night and sleep during the day. Jim keeps talking about getting to Cairo because once he does, he will be on his way to being a free man. Huck starts to feel guilty for not turning Jim in. He feels bad because he says Miss Watson never did anything to Huck that deserved her slave being taken away. Huck decides he's going to turn Jim in, but when two men on a raft float by, he tells them that the man on his raft is white. When they say they're going to check for themselves, Huck tells them that it's his Pap, and he's very sick. The two men assume it's smallpox, and they leave without checking the raft. Huck goes back on the raft and finds Jim hiding in the water. He had heard the men say that they were coming to check the raft. They get on the raft and continue to look for Cairo. They think they may have passed it in the fog. Finally, they think they've made it to Cairo and they plan on waiting until dark to paddle the canoe upstream. They sleep all day and when they come back to get the canoe, it's gone. Huck and Jim plan on buying another canoe when they get a chance. Huck and Jim are on the raft when they notice a big steamboat coming their way. They light the lantern so the boat knows they're there, but the boat still comes right for them. They jump off of the raft right as the steamboat plows through the middle of it. Huck comes up out of the water and sees no sign of Jim. He climbs up the bank and sees a log house. Dogs come barking at him and he refuses to move.

Chapter 17, someone from the house hears the dogs barking and asks, "Who's there?" Huck says his name is George Jackson and he just fell off of the steamboat. The man asks Huck if he is a Shepherdson, and Huck says he's never even heard of them. The man tells some boys in the house to get the candle and their guns. They carefully let Huck enter the house and when they see him, they see that he isn't a Shepherdson. The mother tells Buck to go and get Huck some dry clothes. He gets Huck the clothes and tells him that he can stay there forever and they can play together. Huck makes up a story about how he used to live on a farm, how his father died, and how he came to be there now. They tell him he can have a home there as long as he wants.
Huck thinks their house is the nicest he's ever seen before in the country. He is especially interested in the paintings and poetry that their dead daughter, Emmeline made. She wrote all about dead people, and since she is now dead, Huck thinks that it is only fair that someone should take the time to write about her. He tries it, but isn't satisfied with his work.

Chapter 18, Huck describes the Grangerfords in detail. The father, Col. Grangerford, is tall and thin with black hair and black eyes. He is very handsome, with a well-mannered and commanding personality. There are two sons, Tom and Bob, who are older and look just like the father. Then there is the younger son, Buck, who is just like Huck. There are also two sweet, beautiful daughters, Miss Charlotte and Miss Sophia. The mother is just like them and is very sweet. They also had three other sons and a daughter, Emmeline, all who have died. There is another family, the Shepherdsons, who live near the Grangerfords. Huck and Buck run into one of the Shepherdson boys, Harney Shepherdson, and Buck tries to shoot him. They run home and tell Buck's father. Buck tells Huck all about the feud that's been going on for the past thirty years between the two families. They keep trying to kill one another because of a legal dispute over land that happened thirty years ago. Miss Sophia asks Huck to sneak over to the church and get her Testament that she left there. He goes and finds a note in the book that says, "Half past two." When he brings it home to her, she is very excited and she tells Huck it is only a bookmark. Buck's slave takes Huck down to the river to supposedly show him some water moccasins, but when he gets there, he is reunited with Jim. Jim is so happy to see Huck. He tells Huck that the night the boat crashed into the raft, he was behind Huck the whole time. He didn't want to shout because he didn't want to get caught. He's been hiding out in the woods this whole time fixing their raft and preparing to leave. The slaves have been bringing him food and letting him know how Huck is doing. Huck goes back to the house and when he wakes up the next morning, everyone is gone. He asks one of the slaves what is going on and he tells him that Miss Sophia ran off with Harney Shepherdson and there is a big fight going on because of it. Huck sneaks into the woods and hides in a tree to watch the feud. He sees men being shot at and chased and he hears gunshots and cursing. Buck sees Huck and he tells him that his father and two brothers were killed. Huck is horrified at the violence.

In chapter 8 Huck wakes up on Jackson's Island late the next day and hears a cannon being fired. A ferryboat filled with his friends comes down the river firing a cannon in hopes of bringing his dead body to the surface. The search parties have also set loaves of bread filled with mercury afloat, believing the mercury and bread will be attracted to his body. Knowing the loaves will be floating around the area, Huck searches for one and enjoys eating it for lunch.
After a few days, Huck begins exploring the island. While following and hunting a large snake, he accidentally stumbles into a clearing with a still smoking campfire. Out of fear, he retreats to his campsite and paddles over to the Illinois side of the river. However, he soon returns for the night and sleeps poorly as he is overwhelmed with fear for who else might be inhabiting the island.
The next morning Huck decides to find out who else is on the island with him. He paddles his canoe down to the other campsite and hides in the brush. Soon he sees Jim, the slave Tom Sawyer played tricks on. Out of joy for finding a friend on the island, Huck rushes out and greets him. Jim nearly dies of fright when he sees Huck, whom he believes to be dead. Huck tells him the story about how he faked his murder. Jim relates that he overhead Miss Watson telling the widow that she was going to sell him down the river for a good sum of money. To avoid being sold, Jim ran away, and has been hiding out on Jackson's island.
Jim starts to tell Huck about various superstitious signs which the slaves watch out for. When some birds go hopping along the ground, stopping every few feet, Jim comments that means it will rain soon. He also tells Huck a story about how he lost a large sum of money, fourteen dollars at the time, by speculating. First, Jim bought a cow that died, and then invested with another slave who was setting up a "bank." Unfortunately, the bank lost all its money and poor Jim had nothing left.

In chapter 9 Jim and Huck explore the island together and discover a cavern atop a hill in the middle of the island. They paddle their canoe to the base of the hill and then haul their equipment into the cave in order to keep it dry. The storm Jim predicted arrives that night, and the river rises for more than twelve days straight.
Huck and Jim go out on the river at night to pick up drifting logs and other objects that happen to float downstream. One night, they capture a large raft which they will later use to navigate the river after they leave the island. Later on, they see a whole house floating downstream and climb into it to salvage some of the goods. Jim finds Huck's Pap lying dead on the floor of the house, but refuses to let Huck see the man's face and does not reveal that it is Pap. Jim sees Pap was shot in the back while obviously attempting to rob the house.

In chapter 10 Huck is thrilled with all the things they managed to get from the house and tells Jim that he wishes they could have fun like that more often. Huck is also still curious about the man in the house but Jim refuses to talk about him. Huck mentions that he thought they would have bad luck after he brought a snakeskin into the cave, not great luck like what they were having. Always superstitious, Jim warns Huck that the bad luck is still coming.
Three days later, Huck tries to play a trick on Jim by leaving a curled up dead rattlesnake under Jim's blanket. But when Jim crawls into the bed he gets bitten in the ankle by the snake's mate. Huck kills the mate and sheepishly carries both snakes far away from the cave, embarrassed by the results of his behavior. Jim takes the jug of Pap's whiskey and drinks himself into a drunken stupor to avoid feeling the pain of his swollen leg. It takes Jim four entire days to recover from the bite and Huck vows to never touch a snakeskin with his hands again.
In order to catch up on what is happening in the town, Huck dresses up as a girl and goes to the village. He stops at a house where he sees a woman knitting. Since she is new to the town, Huck figures he can talk to her without being recognized.

In chapter 11 Huck is dressed like a girl and knocks on the door of the house. The woman lets him in, believing him to be a young girl. Huck inquires about the area, and the woman talks for over an hour about her problems. She finally gets to the news about Jim and Huck and tells him that there is a three hundred dollar bounty for capturing Jim. Apparently some of the townspeople believe that Jim killed Huck and ran away, while other people believe that Pap killed Huck. She tells Huck that she personally believes Jim is hiding out on Jackson's Island.
Huck becomes nervous at this news and picks up a needle and thread. He does such a poor job of threading the needle that the woman gets suspicious of his gender. Without Huck knowing he is being tested, the woman has him throw a piece of lead at a rat in order to judge his aim. Afterwards, she reveals where Huck went wrong with his "girl" behavior and asks him what his real name is, telling him to be honest. Huck cleverly pretends to be an escaped apprentice hiding in women's clothes to avoid detection. Huck is finally able to extricate himself from the woman and immediately returns to the island. He tells Jim to grab everything and put it in the canoe. Together they shove off, after piling their belongings onto the raft, which they then tow behind them.

In chapter 12 Jim and Huck spend the next few days traveling down the river. They improve the raft by building a wigwam, which will keep them dry and warm. Each night, Huck goes into a nearby town and buys more provisions for the next day. They only travel at night to avoid being seen and questioned. One night, during a strong storm, they see a wrecked steamboat ahead of them. Huck convinces Jim to tie the raft to the boat and climb on board. They are surprised to hear voices, which Huck goes to investigate. There are three robbers on board, two of whom have tied up the third man. Apparently the bound man had threatened to turn them all in to the state. One of the robbers wants to kill him immediately, but the other man restrains him. The two men finally decide to kill their partner by leaving him on the boat and waiting until it sinks.
At this news, Huck scrambles back to rejoin Jim. Together they discover that their raft has come untied and floated away.

Huckleberry Finn Chapters 1-7 Summary

As the book begins, Huck, the narrator, tells us that he and Tom have recently found a large chest full of gold and valuable French postcards, and that now he is living with Widow Douglas, who has taken him in as her son, in her apartment. His father, went to the store for tobacco and whiskey, but never returned. He lets us know that, though he misses him a little after five years of separation, his father often beat him when he was drunk and he would often hide in the woodshed when his father was at home.
Widow Douglas tries to educate Huck, but Huck makes little progress. Huck has other interests, though. He describes a four-story tree-house he has built that includes an ingenious bathroom with crude indoor plumbing. Huck, Tom Sawyer, and two other boys meet regularly in the tree-house to hold a meeting of their club, "The Gang of Four." Tom leads the adventures and pranks, but Huck grows bored of their play. Suddenly, Pap shows up drunk at Widow Douglas' apartment threatening to take Huck's money. He beats Huck viciously with a Hickory stick and assaults the Widow with a curler-tin, then he hauls Huck's battered body off in his ox-cart. When Huck comes to, he strikes his father on the back of the head with half-filled sack of buckwheat and Pap is run over by the wheels of the cart. As his father's body lays lifeless in the wheel-rut, Huck heads for the Mississippi. Near the shore, he is able to obtain a birch-bark canoe and provisions from a local Indian woman, trading them for an old vest button, a tin pennywhistle and some used sealing wax. Before he heads down the river, he cleverly stages his own murder. He kills a deer with his pistol, then smears blood around the shoreline. He tears up his jacket and covers it with blood also, then leaves it beneath a tree.
He quickly loads the canoe with a gallon of kerosene, a large bag of iodized salt, a jar of Gherkins, a toilet-rag, a tube of petroleum jelly, and a some rancid cooking oil, and heads out on the river.

Alas, Babylon

I didnt know what to expect from the way the book had started, which was slow for a good while through the beggining. But as you read more you start to see how they are helping eachother survive and it starts grabbing your attention. It shows people that this could really happen and the failure of humans trying to kill one another, but also them being brought together in an unimaginable story of survival.

Nuclear Bomb Dropped On Sullivan

If there was a nuke bomb dropped in sullivan i would be scared. I would get all of the money i could so I could buy foods. I hear the cockroach's can survive a nuke attack..so then i would buy as many cockroach's as i could and cover myself in them in case of the nuke wave reaching linton. Yes, this would all have to be done fast but i live life fast.