47 pages 1 hour read

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1884

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 8-16

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 8 Summary

Huck wakes up hungry and hears ferryboats sounding the river for his body. Remembering the local superstition that mercury-filled bread dropped in water will hover over a drowned corpse, Huck soon catches some of the bread the sounders drop and feeds himself with it. Soon, the riverboat passes the island while Huck hides in the reeds. Everyone Huck knows is on the boat, seeking out his body. The boat heads back without finding Huck.

For three days Huck fends for himself on Jackson Island. On the third day he stumbles upon evidence of a fresh campfire. This leads him to Jim, who mistakes Huck for a ghost at first. Jim has been away from home since the night after Huck ran away. He is starving, and so they eat together.

Once Huck explains his departure, Jim says he ran away from Miss Watson after overhearing her talk about selling him for $800 to a trader in New Orleans. He used the distraction of Huck’s murder to escape, taking a river route to avoid dogs. After a near run-in with a slave catcher, he hid on the island. Jim cannot show himself in the day and cannot hunt in the dark of night.

Related Titles

By Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

A True Story

Mark Twain

A True Story

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Gilded Age

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

Study Guide

logo

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Invalid's Story

Mark Twain

The Invalid's Story

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The War Prayer

Mark Twain

The War Prayer

Mark Twain