CHAPTER 27 Practice Quiz — The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 27
Where does Huck hide the bag of stolen gold?
Inside Peter Wilks's coffin, tucked under the lid just past the dead man's crossed hands.
Who enters the parlor while Huck is hiding the money in the coffin?
Mary Jane. She kneels beside the coffin and cries for her father.
Why does Huck decide not to write to Mary Jane about the money?
He fears that if someone else has already taken the bag, Mary Jane would dig up the coffin, find nothing, and Huck could be jailed.
How does Huck describe the undertaker's demeanor at the funeral?
He says the undertaker was "the softest, glidingest, stealthiest man I ever see" with "no more smile to him than there is to a ham."
What disrupts the Reverend Hobson's funeral sermon?
A dog creates an enormous racket in the cellar, fighting with a rat, drowning out the preacher.
How does the undertaker resolve the disturbance during the funeral?
He glides along the wall, goes down to the cellar, silences the dog with a whack, then returns and whispers, "He had a rat!"
What literary technique does Twain use in the funeral scene with the undertaker and the dog?
Dark comedy and social satire. The absurd interruption and the crowd's satisfaction at the trivial explanation mock the superficial solemnity of funeral rituals.
What does the king claim as his reason for needing to settle the estate quickly?
He says his congregation in England is worried about him and he must hurry home.
What promise does the king make to the Wilks girls?
He promises to take them home to England with him and the duke, where they will live among their own relations.
How is the enslaved family separated in Chapter 27?
The two sons are sold up the river to Memphis, and their mother is sold down the river to New Orleans.
Why does Huck not intervene to stop the sale of the enslaved family?
He knows the sale is fraudulent and believes the enslaved people will return home within a week or two once the scheme is exposed.
How does the town react to the separation of the enslaved family?
Many townspeople speak out against it, calling it "scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way."
What does Huck tell the king and duke about who took the money?
He says he saw the enslaved workers entering the king's room on the morning of the funeral, implying they stole the money.
What is ironic about the duke's reaction to Huck's lie about the enslaved workers?
The duke praises the enslaved people's "histrionic talent" for pretending to be sorry about leaving, not realizing their grief was completely genuine.
What does the phrase "mum's the word" mean when the king says it after learning the money is gone?
It means they must keep silent about the missing money and not let anyone know it has disappeared.
What does Chapter 27 reveal about the deteriorating relationship between the king and the duke?
They argue and blame each other for the loss—the duke blames the king for rushing the sale, and the king blames the duke for not speaking up—showing their alliance is built purely on greed.
What is a "melodeum" as mentioned in the funeral scene?
A melodeon—a small pump organ. Huck describes the one at the funeral as "sick," "pretty skreeky and colicky," adding to the comic tone.
How does Huck's moral reasoning in Chapter 27 foreshadow events later in the novel?
His guilt over the enslaved family's separation and his attempts to do right by the Wilks girls foreshadow his climactic moral decision in Chapter 31 to help Jim escape slavery.
What does the coffin symbolize in Chapter 27?
The coffin symbolizes the boundary between Huck's moral intentions and his inability to control outcomes. Hiding the money there represents a desperate act of conscience whose results remain uncertain.
What is the effect of Huck's use of dialect and informal language throughout Chapter 27?
It reinforces Huck's authenticity as a narrator, creates humor through understatement and malapropism, and grounds the moral weight of the events in the voice of an uneducated but deeply perceptive boy.