2 The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so, when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So, I went back. The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn’t do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up…
3 Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her…Miss Watson would say, “Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry;” and “Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry—set up straight;” and pretty soon she would say, “Don’t gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry—why don’t you try to behave?”
4 Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome. I went up to my room with a piece of candle, and put it on the table. Then I set down in a chair by the window and tried to think of something cheerful, but it warn’t no use.
5 The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off… Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that’s on its mind and can’t make itself understood, and so can’t rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving…
6 Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go boom—boom—boom—twelve licks; and all still again—stiller than ever. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees—something was a stirring. I set still and listened. Directly I could just barely hear a “me-yow! me-yow!” down there. That was good! Says I, “me-yow! me-yow!” as soft as I could, and then I put out the light and scrambled out of the window on to the shed. Then I slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees, and, sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.
7 We went tiptoeing along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of the widow’s garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn’t scrape our heads…when Tom and me got to the edge of the hilltop we looked away down into the village and could see three or four lights twinkling…We went down the hill and found Jo Harper and Ben Rogers, and two or three more of the boys…We went to a clump of bushes, and Tom made everybody swear to keep the secret, Tom says:
8 “Now, we’ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer’s Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood.”
9 Everybody was willing. So, Tom got out a sheet of paper that he had wrote the oath on, and read it… Some thought it would be good to kill the families of boys that told the secrets. Tom said it was a good idea, so he took a pencil and wrote it in. Then Ben Rogers says:
10 “Here’s Huck Finn, he hain’t got no family; what you going to do ‘bout him?”
11 “Well, hain’t he got a father?” says Tom Sawyer.
12 “Yes, he’s got a father, but you can’t never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard, but he hain’t been seen in these parts for a year or more.”
Which statement provides the best summary of the passage?
A
Huck is having a hard time adjusting to living indoors, becoming "civilized," and wearing new clothes. Huck is lonely, and he is tired of Miss Watson's constant criticism. Tom Sawyer persuades Huck to stay with the widow by telling Huck that Tom will start a band of robbers if Huck goes back home.
B
Huck decides that running away will make him happier than living with the Widow Douglas. He hears a noise outside and discovers that Tom has come to rescue him. Huck wants to live with his father again.
C
Tom Sawyer feels sorry for Huck because Huck is so miserable. Tom decides to start a band of robbers in an effort to make Huck happy. Huck decides to stay with the Widow Douglas.
D
Huck is unhappy that the Widow Douglas treats him like her son. Huck does not want to become civilized, so Huck decides to run away. Tom Sawyer finds Huck, and Tom talks Huck into going back home.
1 answer
The statement that provides the best summary of the passage is:
A
Huck is having a hard time adjusting to living indoors, becoming "civilized," and wearing new clothes. Huck is lonely, and he is tired of Miss Watson's constant criticism. Tom Sawyer persuades Huck to stay with the widow by telling Huck that Tom will start a band of robbers if Huck goes back home.
This summary captures the main themes of Huck's discomfort with civilization and his relationship with Tom Sawyer.
