- Huck now lives with the widow Douglas, but hates it and runs away. Tom Sawyer convinces him to return so he can join their gang. - Huck and Tom wake up Jim, the widow's slave. They play a trick on Jim by taking off his hat and setting it on a tree branch. Jim thinks he's been bewitched and later gains fame as a witch expert. - The widow Douglas and Miss Watson try to teach Huck religion but fail. -Huck recognizes his father's boot print outside his house and immediately sells his money to the judge for a dollar. -Huck's dad is angry that Huck has learned how to read. He goes to Judge Thatcher's and demands Huck's money. The widow tries to adopt Huck, but the new judge in town doesn't want to separate a father and son
Time Period
The Book took place in 1895 why we know this for sure because in this book they are still slaves and then they still think it is okay to use the n word, we also know that it takes place in the south because the way they talk and there speech, it is very different then our is now.
Narrator Influence
The Book is narrated by a 12 year old boy so the way it is written is a little different way partly because it is a different time period and they live in the southern states.
Chapters 5-11
Explain Why Pap Has Huck locked up
Before Pap locked him up he would have Huck go make money for him and then Pap would take the money to go get drinks. Pap has Huck locked up because he needs money and he does not want Huck to go to school, Huck wants to go to school and learn his religion, culture, education and life but his dad doesn't want him to do that all his father wants is to drink and his addiction makes him abusive and harmful to Huck. The judge was trying to get Huck away from Pap but now there is a new judge in town who doesn't believe what Huck is saying is true.
Create a Visual of how Huck escapes the Shanty
Explain What it means to be an Abolitionist? Why is it Huck is Concerned about being called one?
The Definition Of Abolitionist is: a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Huck is concerned about being called this because The word abolitionist is despised in the South, where most people own slaves. This is ironic because Huck, is in fact, acting as an abolitionist in his desire to aid Jim in his journey to freedom.
3 Things that give Huck away when he tries to be a girl. 3 things that would give a boy away and 3 things that would give a girl away in our time.
The three things that gave Huck Finn away was first his voice he didn't sound very much like girl, the second thing that gave him away was She has him try to kill a rat by throwing a lump of lead at it, and he nearly hits the rat, increasing her suspicions. The last thing that gave him away was he messed up his "name" when she asked again. In this generation if a girl tired to be a guy people would notice because of 1 body type, 2 girls wear a lot of makeup and most of the times guys tend not to, 3 girls are much more mature then boys are. If a guy tires to be a girl you could tell because 1 girls tend to be short and guys tend to be taller then most, 2 guys have a much different voice then girls do. lastly guys are usually mire muscular then girls.
Chapters 12-16
What is the story of King Solomon and his Child? How does Jim interpret thet story?
King Solomon had many wives and 2 were claiming that they were the mother to one of his children, King Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting to cut the baby in two. With this strategy he was able to figure out which one was the true mother. One begged not to cut the baby in half and the other approved instantly.
Jim interprets this by foucusing on the one child and the king would have respected his children more if he didn’t have so many
When Jim wakes up after their separation in the fog, what does Jim's reaction to Huck's joke tell us about him? How do you feel about about Jim at this point
When he wakes up after the separation in the fog Jim is shocked to see Huck. Jim is very happy to know Huck was ok he thought they had drifted so far apart that he had lost Huck forever. Huck plays a joke in Jim making him think that everything that happened that night before the drifted apart was all just a dream. With Jim was so happy to see Huck he told him he treats him almost as family.
Jim is very superstitious. From a historical standpoint, why do you think this?
I feel like him is actully a really good person who cares a lot about people he likes, yes even tho he is have a slave but I feel like that is how everything was in their time period.
jim is very super stupid because I’m that time period people with colored skin weren’t accepted and didn’t get the same education or freedom they were still basically slaves. Jim is black and doesn’t know of being treated any better then he has, always he was told what to do and where to go with no education of any sort.
“It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger – but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.” What does this line tell us about Huck?
In this line Huck is coming forward to apologize for playing such a joke upon him. Huck did the right thing by apologizing. When he states "but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.” it shows that he wasn't sorry for putting himself lower than a black man, and that deep down Huck is a good man, and cares about others no matter what they do or look like.
At the end of Chapter 16 Huck is struggling with giving Jim up. Outline the battle that he has with himself, and explain his actions when the man come up looking for the 5 escaped slaves.
Huck throughout the course of the book has grown closer to Jim. Instead of Jim being viewed as a slave, Jim in Huck's eyes is now a friend. A friend he has grown closer to. When he was in the situation of almost having to give up Jim as an escaped slave, he couldn't do it because he has grown so close to Jim. With lying about having an escaped slave is breaking the laws and could cause major a major problem and get Huck in a lot of trouble.
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chapters 17-21)
1.Describe the Grangerford family (Chapter 17 &18)
The Grangerford family is is known for being in an ongoing feud with the Shepherdsons. Nobody can remember why these families are in a fued or how it started, but they both still hate each other. The members in the Grangerford family are Bob, Tom, Charlotte, Sophia, Buck, and Emmeline who passed away. They got into a gun fight with the shepherdsons family and then one of the family menmbers from each of the family passed.
2. Mark Twain alludes that the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons is about traditional feuds between farmer (“granger”) and rancher (“shepherd”). Why would he write this into the novel? What does it say about these two occupations at this time (Chapter 18)?
I think the author would mention this in the novel because he wants us to understand why it was not abnormal for a farmer family, the Grangerfords, and a racher family, the Shepherdsons, to get into a feud. Back in the 1800s it was very common for these two types of families to get into a fued.
The author says that these two type of work occupations would get into feuds very often because there was conflicts about who would own the land, the ranchers or the farmers. Once both were able to own land, the two types of families would still get into very large feuds. They would take it so far that family members would die.
3. Toward the end of chapter 18 Huck says “I don’t want to talk much about the next day. I reckon I’ll cut it pretty short.” Huck says this prior to telling us about the big battle. How does our narrator’s perspective play a role in what we think and feel reading this section(Chapter 18)?
When Huck does state the line “I don’t want to talk much about the next day. I reckon I’ll cut it pretty short.” this immediately gives us, the readers the idea that Huck is upset/not happy about what happened that next day so we come to assume something bad happened. We already hared about the family feud and Huck witnessing Buck trying to kill a Shepardson, these clues give the chapter a feud battle theme and I personally came to believe something bad happened between the feud, perhaps someone was killed or at least an idea along those lines. As the chapter is finished the mood the line gave before the battle was explained comes to be true, Huck is scared away after the battle as hum and Jim instantly get on the raft and float down the river as far and as soon as possible.
4.Explain who the King and the Duke are. Why does Huck go along with their story (Chapter 19)?
The King and the Duke are river con men who took Jim and Huck's raft. The Duke says that he is the Duke of Bridge water and the King says he is the heir to the French throne. The King and the Duke make up a story that the King is a British preacher and the Duke pretends to be the King's deaf brother. Huck decides to pretend with them.
5.What problems do you anticipate with the Duke’s solution to how they can all run the raft during the day (Chapter 20)?
Huck and the rest of the people on the raft have only been traveling at night to avoid Jim possibly being caught as a runaway slave. Although once the king and duke take over the raft the duke comes down to a solution. The solution is that while traveling during the day with Jim on the raft, they pretend as if they had captured Jim as the missing runaway slave and are taking him back to his owner. The duke comes to believe that this is a great solution because Jim doesn't have to hide during the day an they can travel down the river with more time to spare.
6.Illustrate the town that the play will be held in (Chapter 21)
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chapters 22-26)
1.At the very end of chapter 22 we see the handbill that the king and the duke will pass out.The duke says “if that line don’t fetch them, I don’t know Arkansaw!” Why would the line at the bottom of the handbill work to get people into the play?
The line at the end of the handbill says "Ladies and children are not admitted". The handbill would get people into play because many men would do things if their wives can't come. It allows them to have a "night off" and have more freedom due to the fact that their wives and kids can't come (because they aren't admitted). It's a night for the boys.
2.Towards the end of chapter 23 we see this line: “What was the use to tell Jim these warn’t real kings and dukes? It wouldn’t a done no good; and besides, it was just as I said; you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.” Why doesn’t Huck see the use in telling Jim? What does Huck mean by “you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.”?
Huck doesn't see the use in telling Jim about the fact that the King and Duke aren't telling the truth because Jim doesn't know a lot about Kings and Dukes in the first place, with that he would not understand if he did tell him the truth. Also he doesn't see the use in telling Jim because he doesn't know that the reason he is playing along with the King and Dukes story is to protect Jim from being caught. Altogether, Huck avoids telling Jim the truth to keep them both protected.
When Huck mentions the phrase " “you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.” he is comparing the King and Duke to real royalty and the way they act compared to those positions. Throughout the story, Huck explains multiple examples of historical royalty and how they have tricked people throughout their "royal positioning". He then compares that to the play the King and the Duke create and how they cheated the people through false advertisement. If Huck did tell Jim the truth, he wouldn't know how to tell the difference from the real Kings and Dukes so he sees it was best to keep it all to himself.
3.The final line in chapter 24 reads: “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.” What is Huck talking about? What does it tell us (the reader) about Huck that he feels this way?
The King and Duke made up this plan when they heard that a man named Peter Wilks had died and left a fortune to his brothers that no one had ever met or heard of. One was about 30-35 and the other was deaf and dumb, so the two conmen pretended to be the brothers and have Huck and Jim be their servants. They wanted to sell the land and gain all this money from the dead man and his brothers. Huck was ashamed about lying and stealing from the grieving family. The shame that he feels is probably from consorting with the 2 men.
4.In chapter 25 we meet the doctor. How does the doctor know that the king and the duke are a fraud?
Doctor Robinson knew that the King and Duke were both frauds because when the King gave his speech, his British accent was not good or believable. The Doctor said that it was the worst accent that he had ever hear. He knew that the King and Duke were con-men and were definitely not related to Peter Wilks, for they didn't know anything about Peter himself, who he was as a person or what they should know about the man especially since they were posing as Peter's brothers.
5.The king and the duke consider leaving in the middle of the night with the money (chapter 26). Why don’t they?
Huck leaves the family's belongings and their money behind because they have a child with a birth defect. Huck feels bad for the woman and how she was swindled and he is determined to het them their money back.
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chapters 27-30)
Why did people stay up with the dead during this time period? (Chapter 27)
One of the reasons that people stay up with the dead is to protect the body from insects and rodents. They wanted to make sure the body was kept safe. After a person died in this time, they had to be buried the next day because there was apparently no way to preserve the body. According to some traditions, they would make sure that the corpse didn't wake up. They would also perform blessings on the spirit of the dead to make their journey easier.
2.What do we learn (or reaffirm) about Huck when he tells Miss Mary Jane the slaves will see their family again in inside of two weeks? (Chapter 28)
When Huck tells miss Mary Jane as she is crying about the separated slave family that they will be reunited again within the next two weeks it gives us another view on Huck. Huck has gone through a lot, he was raised by an abusive alcoholic father, has run away from this widow who was very good to him, all this way protecting a runaway slave. Jim, being Huck's best friend has changed Huck's point of view on slaves and despicably on black people as a whole. Huck only wants what is best for good people, no matter their color, he is one that cares a lot for good people. We see that especially when he tells Mary Jane the slave family will be reunited because even through black people in this time period were not treated equal, Huck tries to treat them just as equal.
3.What were the two methods the townspeople used to try to identify who the brothers were and who the frauds were? (Chapter 29)
A lawyer goes and gets all four men meet at the Tavern therefore they can come to find out who they really are, not just who they say they are. To do that, two things happen, first, he has all four men sign a paper and then compares the signature to ones he had seen on the letters, which gave away that the King and the Duke were frauds and not who they say they were. The King got out of it by saying that the real William serves as a scribe to Harvey and that since William has a broken arm they can't prove who is who. The true Harvey recalls that their brother had a tattoo on his chest and then the King says that he did see a tattoo. Then the lawyer asks them what the tattoo was and has the one who dressed the body tell them which one is right, he says that he didn't see a tattoo. They then go and dig up the body and find the bag of money inside the coffin.
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chapters 31-35)
1.Huck says “You can’t pray a lie.” What lie is he trying to pray about? What does he mean? (Chapter 31)
In this part of the book Jim has been captured and turned in as a runaway slave. Huck finds out about this and gets very upset and sad. Huck starts to cry over this situation because he didn't tell anyone about Jim and how he is a runaway slave and he is scared.
2.Why does Huck tear up the letter he writes? (Chapter 31)
Huck's written letter lets Miss Watson (Jim's Owner) know where Jim is and how to get him back. From the beginning getting Jim back to Miss Watson was what was NOT wanted to happen, especially in Jim's eyes. Also the letter would've revealed how Huck has lied and what he has done as far as faking his death as well as running away and hiding a runaway slave. All the letter would do is bad and that was unwanted. Therefore Huck teared up the letter because it was what he realized he didn't want.
3.Huck is disappointed that Tom would help him steal Jim. He says “Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it. Tom Sawyer a nigger stealer!” What do you think of this? (Chapter 33)
- I think Huck was hoping that Tom would say he wouldn't help so that Huck could finally make up his mind. I think when Tom said that he would help, Huck was hoping he would say no that way he would have an excuse to not help. He was so distraught at the moment on whether or not he should help Jim that he was hoping for an outside opinion that would make him see reason. I think it also played into the fact that Tom always tries to fit into society, with the trying to have a gang because he read it in a book, that he would drop to immediately help him.
4.Huck says two things at the end of chapter 33: 1.“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” We treat each other horribly because of things we do to try and earn money, but then when we do it, we get mad when they treat us the same way. ( What goes around comes around.) Humans tend to be greedy and selfish, and the way we treat one another is cruel, diminishing, and belittling. 2.“But that’s always the way: it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no sense, and just goes for him anyway.” What does Huck mean by these two statements? No matter what you do a conscience will make you feel bad. When he saw the Duke and the Dauphin being tarred and feathered, his previous feelings towards them started to fade away. They were just trying to make a living and they had decided to do it through the wrong way and conned people, but when you see that happening to someone, I think no matter what that person has done you would feel guilty for not helping them. 5.Why are Tom and Huck looking for a more difficult way to break Jim free? (Chapter 34)
When Huck came up with a simple plan to get Jim out of the shed that he was being held in, Tom said that it wasn't stylish enough and came up with an elaborate plan to get Jim out. "Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides."
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chap. 36-40)
1, In the process of breaking Jim free, what is Tom’s motivation? What is Huck’s motivation? (Why are they doing it?)
In the process of setting Jim free Tom's motivation is very different than Huck's motivation. Huck has gone through this entire adventure with Jim by his side. Jim is not only the widows owner in his eyes anymore, Jim is a friend, the best friend Huck has ever had. So Huck's motivation to get Jim back is to get his best friend back . Tom's motivation is very different, Tom thrives for adventure, he thrives for the adrenaline of trouble. Tom's motivation is to have a good time.
2. What do Huck and Tom mean when they say they “let on” about something? Why do they do this? (Begins on chapter 37)
When Huck and Tom say "let on", they are talking about telling everyone. They say this because Tom suggests that they should dig the hole with picks, but tell everyone (let on) that they used case knives instead. They were talking about how immoral this situation was, and the only way to get Jim out is to dig him out with one thing, but make people think they used another.
3.Why is Tom writing the letters and posting warnings? Why did he give instructions to his aunt and uncle’s slave? What are his motivations for this? (Chapter 39)
- Tom is writing the letters so that people will know that something is up so that they can see his escape plan. Because, after all the hard work they've put into the plan Tom doesn't want it to go without a hitch. He wants something to go wrong so that people will see their amazing escape plan that they had for Jim. He gave the slaves instructions so that they would tell the family what was going on and that their plan would go perfectly. Tom's motivations are purely for the glory of the escape. He wants people to see his glorious plan.
4.We’ve worked a great deal on this novel’s satirical elements. How is the planning and plotting of Jim’s escape by Tom and Huck satire?
. The planning and plotting of Jim's escape is an example of satire because Tom wants to pretend that it was more work than it actually was. And he tries to find the most complicated and hard plan it in order to get Jim back. This is satire Because people these days tend to make things look a lot harder then it was. Take kids for instance. In every situation, they don't take it seriously and tend to exaggerate what really happened. Therefore Tom does so by saying that certain things take months to accomplish when in reality they only took a couple of hours.
5. Towards the end of the chapter Huck says “I knowed he was white inside” about Jim. Why does he say this and what does he mean?
Hucks says this because they are trying to save Tom on the boat and Jim says they should get a doctor. Huck is saying that Jim is starting to think like a white man.
Huck Finn Discussion Questions (Chap. 41-end)
1. Towards the end of chapter 41: “And then when I went up to bed, she come up with me, and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean and like I couldn’t look her in the face”. Why does Huck feel this way?
Huck feels guilty because she thinks she lost Sid (Tom), and he feels bad knowing that he is still alive and that he helped the slave get away. He doesn't want to look her in the face because he's afraid that if he does, he will tell her everything they did and she will be mad. The feeling of guilt is overpowering because he made her worry and caused some trouble to help Jim escape. Right after this, Huck and Sally stay up a little longer talking about "Sid" and if Huck thought he was lost of hurt. This shows that she truly has compassion for Huck and Tom.
2. In chapter 42 we hear the doctor’s account of his experience treating Tom: “so I says, I got have help, somehow; and the minute I says it, out crawls this nigger from somewheres, and says he’ll help; and he done it too, and done it very well.” Can we come to an understanding about Jim from this? What do we learn about him?
From this chapter we see that Jim has not only become friends with Huck, but with Tom too. If Jim wasn't there when Tom got shot, nobody would have gotten a doctor and Tom could've died.
3.What do we learn about Tom from what he says when he wakes up after being treated for the gunshot wound (Chapter 42)?
- Tom wants to live a life of adventure and he wants people to know that it was him. When he dropped the bomb shell of Miss Watson's passing and that she set Jim free in her will and they were freeing an already free slave, you could see that he wanted the thrill of the adventure more than the reward. He knew that Jim was free but saw it as a way to have a safe adventure. Tom has been keeping the secrets about the death of Miss Watson and the fact that Jim is free tells me that he will do anything to have an adventure. Including freeing someone who is already free
4. You’ve finished the novel: Tell me, in three to four sentences, what you think of Huck.
Huck in my eyes is very independent, but will take in whoever wants in. At the beginning of the book, Huck knows he doesn't want to be with his father so he does what he has to do to escape. Then Jim comes around wanting in so he lets him in, that sort of story line ends up happening multiple times throughout the book. As a whole I think Huck is a good man, who does good, yes he makes mistakes but he makes up for them, always.