CHAPTER 18 Practice Quiz — The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 18
How does Huck describe Colonel Grangerford's physical appearance?
He is very tall and slim with a dark-pale complexion, clean-shaved thin face, deep-set black eyes, high forehead, black straight hair to his shoulders, and always wears spotless white linen with a mahogany cane with a silver head.
What is the morning ritual the Grangerford family observes?
The whole family rises when the Colonel and his wife come down. Tom and Bob mix bitters for their father, they all bow and say "Our duty to you, sir, and madam," then drink together. Buck and Huck receive water with a mite of whisky or apple brandy.
What happens when Buck and Huck encounter Harney Shepherdson on the road?
Buck shoots at Harney from behind a bush, knocking off his hat. Harney grabs his gun and rides toward them, but the boys flee through the woods. Harney rides away without shooting them.
How does Buck define a feud?
A man quarrels with another man and kills him, then the other man's brother kills him, then brothers on both sides go for each other, then cousins chip in, and eventually everybody is killed off and the feud is over.
What does Buck say started the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud?
It started about thirty years ago with trouble about something, then a lawsuit. The man who lost the suit shot the man who won. Buck does not know what the original dispute was about.
What secret favor does Miss Sophia ask of Huck?
She asks him to go back to the church and retrieve her Testament, which she says she left in the seat between two other books, and not tell anybody about it.
What does Huck find inside Miss Sophia's Testament?
A small piece of paper with "Half-past two" written on it in pencil.
How does Huck reunite with Jim?
Huck's enslaved attendant, Jack, lures him into the swamp on the pretext of showing him water moccasins. In a hidden clearing, Huck finds Jim sleeping.
What happened to the raft after the steamboat collision?
It survived with damage to one end. Enslaved people found it caught on a snag and hid it in a creek among the willows. Jim claimed it and paid them ten cents apiece, then repaired it and stocked it with new supplies.
What triggers the final battle between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons?
Miss Sophia's elopement with Harney Shepherdson. When the family discovers she has run off in the night, the Grangerford men ride out with guns to try to catch and kill Harney.
How does Buck die?
Buck and his cousin Joe are cornered behind a woodpile at the steamboat landing. The Shepherdsons slip through the woods and attack from behind without their horses. The boys jump into the river but are shot as they swim.
What does Huck do after witnessing the massacre?
He stays in the tree until dark, then finds Buck and Joe's bodies at the river's edge, pulls them ashore, covers their faces, and cries over Buck. He then flees to Jim and the raft.
How does Colonel Grangerford react when Buck shoots at Harney from behind a bush?
His eyes blaze with pleasure, then his face smooths down. He gently says he does not like shooting from behind a bush and asks why Buck did not step into the road.
How does Miss Sophia react when she hears Harney was not hurt?
She initially turns pale when Buck tells his tale but the color comes back to her face when she learns the man was not hurt, foreshadowing her secret attachment to Harney.
How does Jim demonstrate resourcefulness in Chapter 18?
While hiding in the swamp, Jim buys pots, pans, and food as he gets the chance, repairs the raft at night, claims it from the enslaved people who found it, and prepares to leave at a moment's notice.
How does the church scene illustrate the theme of hypocrisy?
Both feuding families bring guns to a sermon about brotherly love, praise the sermon afterward, and discuss faith and good works — while preparing to kill each other. The gap between their professed Christianity and their actions is Twain's satirical point.
What does the raft symbolize at the end of Chapter 18?
Freedom, safety, and genuine human connection. Huck says other places seem "cramped up and smothery" but on a raft you feel "mighty free and easy and comfortable." It contrasts with the violence and hypocrisy found on shore.
How does the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud parallel Romeo and Juliet?
Two aristocratic families are locked in a deadly feud no one fully understands, and a young couple from opposing families (Sophia and Harney) try to escape through elopement, triggering a final catastrophe. Unlike Shakespeare, the lovers survive.
What is ironic about Buck's explanation of what started the feud?
He cannot remember what caused the original dispute or which family started the killing — yet he is willing to shoot a Shepherdson on sight. The irony highlights how inherited hatred can persist without any rational basis.
How does Twain use understatement in the massacre scene?
Huck says "I ain't agoing to tell all that happened — it would make me sick again if I was to do that." By refusing to describe the violence, Twain makes it more powerful than graphic detail would.
What similes does Twain use to describe Colonel Grangerford's temperament?
He compares the Colonel to sunshine (when in a good mood) and a cloud-bank (when angered), and says when lightning began to flicker from under his eyebrows, "you wanted to climb a tree first, and find out what the matter was afterwards."