The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapters 38 and 39 Questions and Answers
by Mark Twain

Study Questions
1. How were pens and saws made by Jim and Huck?

2. What does Tom decide to use for the coat of arms and the mournful inscriptions?

3. What does Jim threaten to do if Tom forces him to live with rattlesnakes?

4. What does Tom substitute for the rattlesnakes?

5. What animal bites him? What does he do with the blood?

6. How is Jim supposed to water his flower?

7. What happens to the rats under Aunt Sally’s bed? How does Aunt Sally feel about them?

8. Where do the garter snakes go after they crawl out of the bag in the boys’ bedroom?

9. Why does Jim have trouble sleeping at night?

10. What does Tom’s last anonymous letter reveal?

Answers
1. Pens were filed out of candlesticks, and the saw was made out of a case knife.

2. Tom decides to use the grindstone at the mill.

3. Jim threatens to leave rather than risk his life with rattlesnakes.

4. Tom substitutes garter snakes for rattlesnakes. Jim agrees even though he is not happy about that either.

5. Whenever a rat bites Jim, he uses the blood to write on his shirt that is used as a journal.

6. Jim is given an onion to water his flower with his own tears.

7. The little Phelps child opens the cage door and lets the rats out. They run all over the bedroom and frighten Aunt Sally.

8. The garter snakes are spread all over the house. They hang from the rafters and drop into plates and on people’s necks.

9. Jim cannot sleep because the rats, snakes, and spiders are bothering him all day and all night.

10. The letter says that a “desperate gang of cutthroats” will come to steal Jim exactly at midnight.