Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn

Also known as Huck · Huck Finn · Sarah Williams · Mary Williams · Sarah Mary Williams · George Peters · George Elexander Peters · George Jackson

The first-person narrator, a boy who recounts his adventures. He is Tom Sawyer’s friend and Pap Finn’s son; the Widow Douglas has taken him in. He disguises himself as a girl and uses several false names while traveling; at the end, he plans to head for the Territory to avoid being adopted and civilized by Aunt Sally.

Tom Sawyer

Also known as Tom · Sid Sawyer

Huck’s friend and the leader of Tom Sawyer’s Gang, which he forms with Huck and other boys. He joins Huck in trying to free Jim from captivity at the Phelps plantation, not knowing Jim had already been freed in Miss Watson’s will; he later plans more adventures with Huck and Jim.

Mark Twain

Also known as Mr. Mark Twain

The author mentioned by Huck as the writer of the earlier book about Tom Sawyer and Huck.

Aunt Polly

Also known as Aunt Polly

Tom Sawyer’s aunt, mentioned by Huck as someone who never lies. She travels downriver to find Tom, recognizes Huck in Tom’s disguise, and confirms that Miss Watson freed Jim in her will.

Mary

A person mentioned by Huck as someone who never lies; she is also among the people aboard the ferry searching for him.

Widow Douglas

Also known as the widow

A widow who takes Huck in as her son and tries to civilize him. She is Miss Watson’s sister and tried to prevent Jim from being sold.

Miss Watson

The Widow Douglas’s sister, who lives with her and tries to teach and discipline Huck. Jim is her enslaved servant; she planned to sell him to New Orleans, but later freed him in her will before her death.

Moses

A biblical figure whose story Miss Watson teaches Huck.

Jim

Miss Watson’s enslaved servant, who runs away after learning she plans to sell him. He travels with Huck downriver, hoping to reach freedom and reunite with his family; he is resourceful, superstitious, and devoted to Huck. Miss Watson freed him in her will, and after his escape he is treated kindly by the Phelpses and receives forty dollars from Tom.

Jo Harper

One of the boys who joins Tom Sawyer’s Gang; he is elected its second captain. He is among the people aboard the ferry searching for Huck.

Ben Rogers

One of the boys who joins Tom Sawyer’s Gang.

Tommy Barnes

Also known as Little Tommy Barnes

A young member of Tom Sawyer’s Gang who becomes frightened and says he wants to leave.

Deacon Winn

A deacon mentioned by Huck as having lost money on pork; he does not appear directly.

Pap Finn

Also known as Pap · Huck’s father · the old man

Huck’s abusive, alcoholic father, who returns after being absent for over a year and takes Huck to live with him in a cabin. Townspeople suspect he murdered Huck for his money; Jim later identifies him as the dead man found in the floating house.

Judge Thatcher

Also known as the judge

A judge who holds and invests Huck’s money and tries with the Widow Douglas to gain guardianship of him. He gives Pap money to search for Jim.

The new judge

A newly arrived judge who refuses to separate Huck from his father and later tries to help Pap reform. His name is not given.

Pap Finn’s lawyer

Also known as his lawyer

Pap’s unnamed lawyer, who advises him about his lawsuit for Huck’s money.

The new judge’s wife

Also known as the judge’s wife

The unnamed wife of the new judge, who joins her husband in welcoming Pap and becomes emotional during his brief pledge to reform.

The free Black professor from Ohio

Also known as the free nigger from Ohio

An unnamed, nearly white-skinned free Black man whom Pap says he saw in town. Pap reports that he was a college professor, spoke many languages, and could vote in Ohio.

Sowberry Hagan

Also known as old Sowberry Hagan

A man Pap recalls as having been an exceptionally forceful cusser; he does not appear directly.

The ferry landing speaker

An unnamed man at the ferry landing who jokes with another man about the length of the night.

The other ferry landing speaker

An unnamed man at the ferry landing who responds to the joke and says he hopes daylight will come soon.

The third man at the ferry landing

An unnamed man woken by the two speakers; he tells them to leave him alone.

The lumber-raft caller

An unnamed man aboard a large lumber raft who calls out a steering order.

Bessie Thatcher

Judge Thatcher’s relative, who is among the people aboard the ferry searching for Huck.

Sid

A person aboard the ferry searching for Huck; the passage gives no further identifying details.

The ferry captain searching for Huck

Also known as the captain

The unnamed captain of the ferry-boat that searches the river for Huck’s body by firing a cannon.

The dead man in the floating house

Also known as the dead man

An unnamed man found shot in the back in a house floating downriver. Jim and Huck discover his body, but Huck avoids looking at his face; Jim later tells Huck the man was Pap.

Old Hank Bunker

Also known as Hank Bunker

A man Pap says looked over the new moon over his left shoulder, later got drunk, fell from a shot-tower, and died.

The woman in the shanty

Also known as Sarah’s woman · Mrs. Judith Loftus

A sharp-eyed woman about forty, recently arrived in St. Petersburg, who recognizes Huck’s disguise and offers to help him. She shares news about the search for Jim and sends her husband to investigate the island.

The woman’s husband

Also known as Judith Loftus’s husband

An unnamed man whom his wife sends with another man to search Jackson’s Island for Jim.

The woman’s neighbor

Also known as the old couple’s neighbor

An unnamed person from a neighboring log shanty whose remarks about Jackson’s Island lead Mrs. Loftus to suspect Jim is hiding there.

Abner Moore

Also known as Uncle Abner Moore

A supposed uncle invented by Huck as part of his disguise; the woman tells him the town is not Goshen, where he claims the uncle lives.

The man who misdirected Huck

Also known as the drunk man

An unnamed man Huck says gave him wrong directions to Goshen.

The one-legged enslaved man

Also known as the one-laigged nigger

An enslaved man belonging to Mr. Bradish who sets up a bank and takes Jim’s investment; the bank fails.

Mr. Bradish

Also known as old Misto Bradish

The enslaver of the one-legged man who runs a bank in Jim’s account.

Bob

An enslaved man who catches a wood-flat without his enslaver’s knowledge and sells it to Jim’s acquaintance; it is stolen before Jim can collect his investment.

Balum

Also known as Balum’s Ass

A man Jim calls a chucklehead but considers lucky. Jim gives him ten cents to invest, and Balum donates it to the poor.

The preacher

An unnamed preacher whose teaching about lending to the poor prompts Balum to donate Jim’s ten cents.

Jim’s father

Also known as Jim’s old man

Jim’s father, who once became very ill after young birds were caught; Jim’s grandmother took that as a sign he would die.

Jim’s grandmother

Also known as Jim’s old granny

Jim’s grandmother, who predicted his father would die after people caught young birds.

The man shot on the Walter Scott

Also known as Jim Turner

A bound man aboard the wrecked Walter Scott, threatened by Bill and Jake Packard because he has threatened to expose them. He begs them not to kill him.

Bill

One of the two men on the Walter Scott who guard the bound Jim Turner and argues that he should be killed.

Jake Packard

Also known as Packard

One of the men on the Walter Scott, who opposes killing Jim Turner and proposes leaving him aboard the wreck to drown.

Hatfield

Also known as old Hatfield

A man whom Bill says Jim Turner killed in the same way he fears Turner may expose them.

The ferry-boat captain

Also known as the captain · the owner · the mate · the pilot · the watchman · the head deck-hand

An unnamed man who claims to serve every role aboard a small ferry-boat. Huck tricks him into taking the boat to rescue people supposedly stranded on the Walter Scott.

Jim Hornback

Also known as old Jim Hornback

A wealthy man whom the ferry-boat captain says lives outside town and is generous. Huck claims he is Miss Hooker’s uncle to persuade the captain to mount a rescue.

Miss Hooker

A woman Huck invents as a supposed passenger stranded on the Walter Scott, and as Jim Hornback’s niece, to persuade the ferry-boat captain to help.

Miss Hooker’s enslaved woman

Also known as her nigger woman

An unnamed enslaved woman in Huck’s fabricated story, supposedly lost when a horse-ferry drifts into the Walter Scott.

Miss Hooker’s friend

Also known as Miss What-you-may-call-her

An unnamed woman in Huck’s fabricated story, supposedly the person Miss Hooker planned to visit.

The ferryman in Huck’s story

Also known as the ferryman

An unnamed ferryman whom Huck claims was lost when the horse-ferry drifted into the wreck.

Bill Whipple

A man Huck invents as a passenger who supposedly died when a trading-scow struck the Walter Scott.

Christopher Columbus

Also known as Christopher C’lumbus

A historical figure Huck invokes as a comparison for the grand style Tom Sawyer would bring to exploring the wreck.

King Solomon

Also known as Sollermun

A biblical king whom Jim knows about and debates with Huck; Jim questions his wisdom because of his many wives.

Louis Sixteenth

Also known as Louis XVI

A king Huck mentions as having been beheaded in France. Jim discusses his young son, the dolphin, who was imprisoned and reportedly died.

The dolphin

Also known as the little boy

The young son and heir of Louis Sixteenth, whom Huck says was shut in jail and reportedly died there, though some say he escaped to America.

The two men in the skiff

Two unnamed armed men who encounter Huck near a light while searching for five runaway enslaved people. One gives Huck money and advice after Huck claims his father has smallpox.

Parker

Also known as Mr. Parker

One of the armed men in a skiff who questions Huck and gives him twenty dollars after Huck claims his family has smallpox.

John

The other armed man in the skiff with Parker; he also gives Huck twenty dollars.

The man fishing in the skiff

An unnamed man setting a trot-line in a skiff who rudely answers Huck’s question about the town.

Betsy

An enslaved woman in the Grangerford household who is told to get food for Huck.

Saul Grangerford

Also known as Col. Grangerford · the old gentleman

The dignified patriarch of the Grangerford family, who takes Huck into his home. He is embroiled in a long feud with the Shepherdsons.

Rachel Grangerford

Also known as the old lady · Buck’s ma

Saul Grangerford’s kind wife and the mother of Buck, Bob, Tom, Charlotte, and Sophia. She cares for Huck and keeps their deceased daughter Emmeline’s room.

Buck Grangerford

Also known as Buck

A boy about Huck’s age and Saul and Rachel Grangerford’s youngest son. He befriends Huck and is killed in the feud with the Shepherdsons.

Bob Grangerford

Also known as Bob

The oldest Grangerford son, a tall young man who has been wounded in the family feud.

Tom Grangerford

Also known as Tom

The second oldest Grangerford son, a tall young man who has also been hurt in the feud.

Miss Charlotte Grangerford

Also known as Miss Charlotte

Saul and Rachel Grangerford’s proud, beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter. She is fierce when angered and supports her family in the feud.

Miss Sophia Grangerford

Also known as Miss Sophia

Saul and Rachel Grangerford’s gentle, sweet twenty-year-old daughter. She secretly elopes with Harney Shepherdson.

Emmeline Grangerford

Also known as Emmeline

The deceased Grangerford daughter, remembered for her sentimental drawings and poems about people who died. She died young before completing her most ambitious picture.

The daughter who made the crayons

Also known as the Grangerford daughter who made the pictures

An unnamed deceased Grangerford daughter who made the family’s crayon drawings. The passage does not establish whether she is Emmeline, so her identity remains distinct.

Stephen Dowling Bots

Also known as Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec’d

A boy whose death by falling into a well inspired a poem by Emmeline Grangerford; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

The dead person named Whistler

Also known as Whistler

A person whose death inspired one of Emmeline Grangerford’s tributes; she struggled to find a rhyme for the name.

Harney Shepherdson

Also known as young Harney Shepherdson

A young man from the Shepherdson family, which is feuding with the Grangerfords. He elopes with Miss Sophia Grangerford.

Old Baldy Shepherdson

Also known as Baldy Shepherdson

An elderly Shepherdson who killed Buck’s cousin Bud in the feud and was himself killed soon afterward.

Bud Grangerford

Also known as Buck’s cousin Bud

A fourteen-year-old Grangerford cousin killed by Old Baldy Shepherdson during the feud.

Joe Grangerford

Also known as Buck’s cousin Joe · Joe

A slim young Grangerford cousin, about nineteen, who fights alongside Buck during the feud and is killed.

Huck’s enslaved attendant at the Grangerfords

Also known as my nigger · my Jack

An unnamed enslaved man assigned to wait on Huck. He secretly directs Huck to Jim’s hiding place and brings Jim food and news.

Jim’s Jack

Also known as Jack

An enslaved man who helps Jim hide in the swamp and brings him supplies and news; Huck identifies him as the attendant assigned to him at the Grangerfords.

The Grangerford daughter who eloped

Also known as Miss Sophia

A named daughter of Saul and Rachel Grangerford who secretly elopes with Harney Shepherdson. Represented by Miss Sophia Grangerford.

The Grangerford daughter’s dead brothers

Also known as the three sons

Three unnamed Grangerford sons who were killed in the family feud before Huck’s arrival.

The Grangerford family’s three dead sons

Three unnamed sons of Saul Grangerford who were killed before Huck arrives; the passage does not give their names.

The baldhead

Also known as the old man · the king · Your Majesty · the late Dauphin · Looy the Seventeen · the rightful King of France · Capet · Reverend Elexander Blodgett · Elexander Blodgett · Edmund Kean the elder · Edmund Kean the Elder · Mr. Blodgett

An elderly con man, bald with gray whiskers, who joins Huck and Jim on the raft. He impersonates the Dauphin and later poses as Reverend Elexander Blodgett and actor Edmund Kean the Elder.

The young man

Also known as the duke · Your Grace · My Lord · Your Lordship · Bridgewater · the rightful Duke of Bridgewater · Bilgewater · David Garrick the younger · David Garrick the Younger · Garrick the Younger

A younger con man who joins Huck and Jim on the raft. He claims to be the rightful Duke of Bridgewater and poses as actor David Garrick the Younger while staging fraudulent performances.

The two men pursued by dogs

Two unnamed men fleeing a pursuing posse and dogs whom Huck helps escape by canoe. One is elderly and bald with gray whiskers; the other is about thirty and later claims to be a duke.

The sick man in the village

Also known as the sick nigger

An unnamed Black man sunning himself in a back yard who tells the king and Huck that most people are at a camp meeting.

The camp-meeting preacher

Also known as the preacher

An unnamed preacher who leads hymns and urges the crowd to come to the mourners’ bench at the camp meeting.

The young country man with carpet-bags

Also known as the young man

An unnamed traveler carrying two carpet-bags whom the king and Huck pick up in their canoe. He tells them Peter Wilks has died and shares news of the Wilks family and inheritance.

Peter Wilks

Also known as Peter

A recently deceased man whose brothers Harvey and William are expected to inherit his property. He left a letter describing where his money is hidden and how the estate should be divided among George’s daughters.

Harvey Wilks

Also known as Harvey

Peter Wilks’s brother, who lives in Sheffield, England, and is a preacher. Peter longed to see him and left him a letter about the hidden money and estate.

William Wilks

Also known as William · the deaf and dumb one

Peter Wilks’s younger brother, who is deaf and unable to speak. He has never visited America, and Peter wanted to see him before dying.

George Wilks

Also known as George

Peter Wilks’s married brother, who died the previous year along with his wife. His daughters are among the heirs to Peter’s property.

Mary Jane Wilks

Also known as Mary Jane · the red-headed one

George Wilks’s red-haired daughter, nineteen years old. She is kind and trusting, and Huck helps protect her and her sisters from the king and duke’s fraud.

The two unnamed younger Wilks daughters

Also known as George’s girls

The two younger daughters of George and his wife, identified as Susan and Joanna. They are Mary Jane’s sisters and heirs to Peter Wilks’s estate.

George Wilks’s wife

Also known as George’s wife

The unnamed wife of George Wilks, who died with him the previous year.

Susan Wilks

Also known as Susan

George Wilks’s fifteen-year-old daughter and Mary Jane’s sister. She is deceived by the king and duke while they pose as her uncles.

Joanna Wilks

Also known as Joanna · Joanner · the hare-lip · the hare-lip girl

George Wilks’s roughly fourteen-year-old daughter, who has a harelip and devotes herself to good works. She is Mary Jane and Susan’s sister.

Hobson

Also known as Rev. Mr. Hobson · Rev. Hobson · the Reverend Hobson

The Wilks family’s Baptist preacher and a close friend of Peter Wilks. He conducts Peter’s funeral sermon.

Deacon Lot Hovey

Also known as Lot Hovey

A close friend of Peter Wilks, named among the people he trusted and wrote about.

Ben Rucker

Also known as Mr. Ben Rucker

A close friend of Peter Wilks, named among the people he trusted and wrote about.

Abner Shackleford

A close friend of Peter Wilks who helps identify Doctor Robinson when he arrives.

Levi Bell

Also known as the lawyer · Lawyer Bell

A lawyer and close friend of Peter Wilks who returns from Louisville. He investigates the competing claims to the Wilks inheritance.

Doctor Robinson

Also known as Dr. Robinson · the doctor

Peter Wilks’s physician and friend. He recognizes that the king is an impostor and warns Mary Jane and her sisters.

The widow Bartley

Also known as widow Bartley

A friend of the Wilks family who is present during Peter’s funeral and the events that follow.

Mr. Lothrop

A person outside town with whom Mary Jane can stay for several days; the text gives no further identifying information.

Hanner

A person whom Huck falsely claims is gravely ill to explain Mary Jane’s absence. The passage gives no further identifying details.

The Proctors

A family across the river whom the Wilks sisters sometimes visit; Huck uses them in a false explanation for Mary Jane’s absence.

The Apthorps

A wealthy family whom Peter Wilks valued. Huck falsely says Mary Jane has gone to ask them to buy the family house.

The iron-jawed man

Also known as Hines

An unnamed, rough man who challenges the king’s account of when and how he arrived in town. He recognizes Huck and helps expose the con men.

The real Harvey Wilks

Also known as the new old gentleman · the old gentleman

Peter Wilks’s actual brother, a preacher from England. He arrives with William, has his right arm broken, and is initially unable to prove his identity because his baggage is delayed.

The real William Wilks

Also known as the new dummy · the new gentleman

Peter Wilks’s actual younger brother, who is deaf and unable to speak. He arrives with Harvey and can write only with his right hand, which is injured.

Tim Collins

A man who accompanied the king and Huck by canoe to the village, according to Hines.

Ab Turner

One of the men who helped prepare Peter Wilks’s body for burial; he is asked to confirm what was marked on Peter’s chest.

Peter Wilks’s dog

Also known as the dog

An unnamed dog that makes a racket in the cellar during Peter’s funeral. The undertaker quiets it, saying it had caught a rat.

The undertaker

Also known as the long-legged undertaker

An unnamed, unusually quiet and deft undertaker who arranges Peter’s funeral and silences the dog in the cellar.

The undertaker’s man

An unnamed assistant who accompanies the undertaker to prepare Peter’s coffin.

The young woman at the melodeum

An unnamed young woman who plays the melodeum during Peter Wilks’s funeral.

The two nigger traders

Two unnamed traders who buy the enslaved members of the Wilks household from the king, separating a mother from her two sons.

The mother sold by the king

An unnamed enslaved woman from the Wilks household, sold downriver to New Orleans and separated from her two sons.

The two sons sold by the king

Two unnamed enslaved boys from the Wilks household, sold upriver to Memphis and separated from their mother.

The auctioneer

An unnamed auctioneer who conducts the sale of Peter Wilks’s house and property.

The man who identifies the actual brothers

An unnamed man who says he and Ab Turner prepared Peter Wilks’s body for burial.

The crowd at the graveyard

The townspeople who dig up Peter Wilks’s grave to check the tattoo marks and discover the gold bag on his breast. Their discovery lets Huck escape.

The boy who tells Huck Jim was captured

An unnamed boy Huck meets near Pikesville who tells him Jim has been captured and sold for a reward.

The old man who sold Jim

An unnamed older man who captures Jim and sells his claim to Jim for forty dollars before traveling upriver. He is the king, though Huck and Jim do not know the details at first.

Silas Phelps

Also known as Uncle Silas · Mr. Phelps

A farmer, preacher, and owner of the Phelps plantation, where Jim is held captive. He is married to Sally and is Tom Sawyer’s uncle; after Jim is freed, the family shows him kindness.

Sally Phelps

Also known as Aunt Sally · Mrs. Phelps

Silas Phelps’s wife, who mistakes Huck for her nephew Tom and welcomes him warmly. She is Tom Sawyer’s aunt.

Lize

An enslaved woman working in the Phelps household; Aunt Sally tells her to prepare breakfast for Huck.

Jimmy

One of Silas and Sally Phelps’s young children, who is told to ask Lize to set another place at dinner.

Burton

A man to whom Jim reportedly tells the truth about the Royal Nonesuch; Silas Phelps says Burton will inform the townspeople about the show.

The enslaved man who feeds Jim

Also known as Jim’s nigger · Nat

An unnamed enslaved man at the Phelps plantation who brings food to Jim in the locked hut. Tom and Huck call him Nat and trick him into carrying items to Jim.

The Phelps children

Silas and Sally Phelps’s unnamed young children, who are shy around Huck when he arrives pretending to be their cousin.

The Phelps plantation hounds

The dogs at the Phelps plantation that surround Huck when he arrives; an enslaved woman drives them off.

The man with the runaway sheep

An unnamed man in Huck’s invented account to the duke, said to have paid Huck to help catch a sheep.

The man who buys Jim

Also known as Abram Foster · Abram G. Foster

A supposed buyer named by the duke as the man who has Jim. The duke gives Huck a false name and location to keep him away from Jim.

Tom Sawyer’s driver

Also known as the driver

An unnamed man driving Tom Sawyer’s wagon when Tom arrives near Pikesville.

Archibald Nichols

Also known as Mr. Archibald Nichols

A man Tom Sawyer claims to be seeking when he arrives at the Phelps home under the false name William Thompson.

William Thompson

Tom Sawyer’s assumed name when he arrives at the Phelps plantation pretending to be a stranger from Hicksville, Ohio.

The boy who asks to go to the show

An unnamed young Phelps child who asks Silas whether he and Tom and Sid may attend the Royal Nonesuch.

The men who tar and feather the king and duke

The townspeople who attack the king and duke during the Royal Nonesuch and parade them through town tarred and feathered.

The Iron Mask

A prisoner mentioned by Tom Sawyer as an example while planning Jim’s escape; Tom says he wrote messages on tin plates.

The old doctor treating Tom

Also known as the doctor

An unnamed elderly doctor who treats Tom’s bullet wound and praises Jim for helping him care for the injured boy. He keeps the episode quiet and later returns Tom to the Phelps household.

Thomas Franklin Benjamin Jefferson Elexander Phelps

Also known as Little Thomas Franklin Benjamin Jefferson Elexander Phelps

A young Phelps child who opens Tom and Huck’s rat trap, releasing the rats and prompting Aunt Sally’s anger.

Matilda Angelina Araminta Phelps

A Phelps child whom Aunt Sally calls by her full name while disciplining her at breakfast.

The young enslaved woman at the Phelps plantation

Also known as the young yaller wench

An unnamed young enslaved woman whose dress Huck steals for Tom and Huck’s escape plan.

Lady Jane Grey

A historical figure Tom cites as an example of a prisoner whose escape should follow elaborate conventions.

Guildford Dudley

Also known as Gilford Dudley

A historical figure Tom cites alongside Lady Jane Grey while arguing for elaborate escape customs.

Northumberland

Also known as old Northumberland

A historical figure Tom cites as another example of a prisoner.

William the Conqueror

A historical king mentioned in Tom and Huck’s account of the Phelps family’s heirloom warming-pan.

Mrs. Hotchkiss

Also known as old Mrs. Hotchkiss · Sister Hotchkiss

A talkative local woman who examines the Phelps cabin after Jim’s escape and speculates about how the escape was carried out.

Mrs. Damrell

Also known as old Mrs. Damrell · Sister Damrell

A local woman who discusses the rag ladder and other evidence found in Jim’s cabin after his escape.

Sister Utterback

A local woman whom Mrs. Hotchkiss mentions while recounting her theories about Jim’s escape.

Brother Penrod

Also known as Brer Penrod

A local man who wonders how the grindstone got into Jim’s cabin.

Brother Hightower

Also known as Brer Hightower

A local man who comments on the bed-leg sawed through during the escape preparations.

Brother Marples

Also known as Brother Marples

A local man who remarks on the writing covering Jim’s shirt.

Sister Ridgeway

A local woman whom Aunt Sally addresses while describing how frightened she was during the escape scare.

Sister Dunlap

A local woman whom Mrs. Hotchkiss repeatedly cites as someone she spoke with about the escape.