CHAPTER 9 Practice Quiz — The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 9
What natural shelter do Huck and Jim find on Jackson's Island?
A large cavern near the top of a forty-foot steep ridge, big enough to fit two or three rooms.
Why does Jim want to move their supplies into the cavern?
To hide from anyone who comes to the island and to keep their things dry from the coming rain.
How does Jim predict that rain is coming?
He observes that the little birds are behaving as if it is going to rain, saying "Chickens knows when it's gwyne to rain, en so do de birds."
What do Huck and Jim eat during the thunderstorm?
Fish and hot corn-bread, cooked on a fire at the flat area by the cavern door.
How long does the river continue to rise after the storm?
Ten or twelve days, until it overflows the banks and floods the low areas of the island.
What do Huck and Jim catch one night from the flooded river?
A section of a lumber raft made of nice pine planks, about twelve feet wide and fifteen or sixteen feet long.
What large object comes floating down the river on another night?
A two-story frame house, tilted over considerably, drifting on the west side of the river.
What do Huck and Jim find in the far corner of the floating house?
A dead man, naked, who has been shot in the back. Jim estimates he has been dead two or three days.
What does Jim tell Huck about the dead man's face?
He tells Huck not to look at the dead man's face because "it's too gashly" and covers the body with old rags.
How does Jim demonstrate a parental role in this chapter?
He predicts the storm and insists on preparing for it, protects Huck from seeing the dead man's face, and reminds Huck that he would have been stranded without Jim's help.
What does Huck's statement "I wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here" reveal about his character?
It shows Huck's contentment with life outside of civilization and his growing comfort in his companionship with Jim.
Why does Huck make Jim lie down and cover up with the quilt on the way home?
So that people on shore will not be able to tell that a Black man is in the canoe, reflecting the danger Jim faces as a runaway slave.
How does the Mississippi River function as both provider and destroyer in Chapter 9?
It provides useful materials like the raft and salvageable goods, but also carries the floating house with the dead man, symbolizing both opportunity and death.
What do the contents of the floating house suggest about civilization?
The whisky bottles, greasy playing cards, black cloth masks, vulgar charcoal drawings, and murdered man suggest that civilization harbors violence and moral corruption.
How does the cavern scene contrast with the floating house scene?
The cavern represents safety, comfort, and natural harmony, while the floating house represents the violence and degradation of civilized society.
Identify two similes Twain uses in the thunderstorm passage.
"Dark as sin" comparing the darkness to wickedness, and thunder "like rolling empty barrels down stairs" comparing the rumbling sound to a familiar household noise.
What example of personification appears in the storm description?
The tree branches are described as "tossing their arms as if they was just wild," giving the trees human limbs and emotions.
What is foreshadowed by Jim's refusal to let Huck see the dead man's face?
It foreshadows the revelation in the final chapter that the dead man is Pap Finn, Huck's abusive father.
What dramatic irony exists in the floating house scene?
Jim recognizes the dead man as Pap Finn but conceals this from Huck; the reader does not learn the truth until the last chapter.
How big is Jackson's Island according to Huck?
Three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide.
Name three specific items Huck and Jim salvage from the floating house.
A Barlow knife worth two bits, tallow candles, and a ratty old bed-quilt (other valid answers include a hatchet, tin lantern, fish-line, buckskin, wooden leg, etc.).
What happens to the animals on the island during the flood?
Rabbits, snakes, and other animals become so tame from hunger that you could paddle up and put your hand on them, except for snakes and turtles which slid off into the water.