Question

In the chapter of Huck Finn: Explain the pun in the last sentence of this chapter: "By the time I got there the sky was beginning to get a little gray in the East; so we struck for an island, and hid the raft, and sunk in the skiff, and turned in and slept like dead people." (pg. 81)

Answer 1

The pun in the last sentence of the Huck Finn chapter is that the characters "slept like dead people," a humorous comparison between their deep sleep and the stillness of death, reflecting the dual nature of their experiences with the beauty and harshness of life along the river.

Step-by-step explanation:

The pun in the last sentence of the chapter of Huck Finn is that Huck and his companion are so exhausted that they "slept like dead people." Mark Twain often employs wit and humor in his writing, and this phrase is a playful commentary on how their deep sleep could be likened to the immobility and tranquility of the deceased, which could also be a dark humor reflection on the perilous situations they repeatedly find themselves in throughout the novel. The sentence may reflect themes within the chapter where nature harbors both beauty and a grim reality, as TWAIN contrasts the natural world's serenity with the challenging experiences of the characters.