1. In the process of breaking Jim free, what is Tom’s motivation? What is Huck’s motivation? (Why are they doing it?)
2. What do Huck and Tom mean when they say they “let on” about something? Why do they do this? (Begins on chapter 37)
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)
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? 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?
Huckleberry Finn 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)
2.Why does Huck tear up the letter he writes? (Chapter 31)
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)
4.Huck says two things at the end of chapter 33: 1.“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” 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 go no sense, and just goes for him anyway.” What does Huck mean by these two statements? 5.Why are Tom and Huck looking for a more difficult way to break Jim free? (Chapter 34)
~Huckleberry Finn 27-30
1. Why did people stay up with the dead during this time period? (Chapter 27) The reason why they stayed up with the dead during this time period was because
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) 3. What were the two methods the townspeople used to try to identify who the brothers were and who the frauds were? (Chapter 29)
Huckleberry Finn 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 Arkansas!” Why would the line at the bottom of the handbill work to get people into the play? The admission is 50 cents, but at the end of the handbill it says "Ladies and Children not admitted.". That's for sure going to get everyone's attention and will probably talk about it to others so others will read it and see that the admission is only 50 cents which maybe wasn't bad for a price, and those people who are allowed in admission would.
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.” a.Why doesn’t Huck see the use in telling Jim? Because it would just be a waste of time and wouldn't have any affect. It's not like they could have done anything anyways. Also there are different possible reactions if Huck were to tell Jim that they weren't real kings and dukes. There is a possibility that Jim just wouldn't have believed him, or he could have gotten upset and caused lots of attention, and if he were to tell him he could believe him but again they couldn't do anything because they think that the fake king and duke are still a 'higher' level than them. b.What does Huck mean by “you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.”? Well maybe because they played the role of King and Duke pretty well, and if anyone were to tell them otherwise and that they are only pretending no one would believe them.
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? Well the King and Duke were lying I think, about losing someone and they were gaining everyone's sympathy and Huck knew that they didn't actually care, they were just exploiting everyone for their own good. Huck was annoyed and disgusted with what they were doing but he couldn't do anything about it. So he just thought something like that was enough to make another person ashamed of who they are.
4.In chapter 25 we meet the doctor. How does the doctor know that the king and the duke are a fraud? The doctor was a more observant person and payed more attention to other people more than other people would. So he was able to observe the King and Dukes actions and eventually figured out that they were frauds. He told the crowd and the girls but they didn't believe him since the King and Duke have raised their reputation up higher than the doctor has.
5.The king and the duke consider leaving in the middle of the night with the money (chapter 26). Why don’t they? The King and Duke are talking in a room about whether they should leave with the gold, or stick around to sell the house. I think it was the King who talks the Duke into staying so that the Wiliks girls don't get their feelings hurt and that it would be smarter for them. Also they would get that extra money from the house they sell. So basically they decide to stick around a bit longer.
Huckleberry Finn 17-21
1.Describe the Grangerford family (Chapter 17 &18). They don't like Shepherdsons, and are hesitant about Huck being one. The kid Buck said that if a Shepherdson appeared then he'd probably kill him. Besides that, they seem like a king family.
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)? He'd probably add this in the novel because it's like a bit of competition between the two. They're both pretty similar, and one might think the other is stupid or nonsense.
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)? It shows that the fight really affected Huck, and he kinda just wants to forget about what happened and doesn't want to talk much about the fight. The sight of it was probably very disturbing for him to see as well.
4.Explain who the King and the Duke are. Why does Huck go along with their story (Chapter 19)? Both the men talk about their lives and their story. Later they reveal that they aren't really who they said they were. The Younger man said that he was really an English Duke, then the Older man revealed that his true name was Dauphin, a long lost son of King Louis xvi of France. Huck goes along with their stories for now because he doesn't want to start quarrels. He's playing it safe.
5.What problems do you anticipate with the Duke’s solution to how they can all run the raft during the day (Chapter 20)? People will probably notice Jim during the day and will possible question what he is doing there, but also if the Duke is there they might just assume that Jim is a slave.
6.Illustrate the town that the play will be held in (Chapter 21). The town that the play is gonna be held at is not very friendly. There seems like there are a lot of fights and arguments a lot. Probably not a very peaceful place.
Huckleberry Finn 12-16
What is the story of King Solomon and his child? How does Jim interpret that story? Part of the story of King Solomon and his child was that he cut his baby in half, but he didn’t actually want to cut the baby in half. Jim doesn’t really understand why he’d cut the child in half, he doesn’t understand that King Solomon didn’t want to in the first place, Jim just thought that it was stupid to ever cut a child in half because then the child would be of no use.
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 Jim at this point? Jim thought that the joke was cruel and mean. He didn’t like how the joke was slightly based off from race and thought it was rude. It was probably tougher for him to process because it was a joke coming from Huck, his ‘friend’. Huck seems to feel pretty bad about what he did and just generally feels terrible about his joke. I don’t really know how I feel about Jim at this point, I guess I can understand why he’d get upset though because it was a pretty cruel joke and I would have been upset as well.
Jim is very Superstitious. From a historical standpoint, why do you think this is? I think that Jim is very superstitious because of how his life has been. He’s a slave and he doesn’t have much freedom. Maybe he can’t accept his fate of never being free so his beliefs are based off of impossible miracles.
“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? Well Huck calls Jim a nigger but during their time that’s kind of normal but for them, so he doesn’t exactly see him as a close friend if he were to refer to him as that. He still admits that he was unsure about whether or not he should have helped him but mentions that he still did anyways so he does care, even if it is just a little.
At the end of the chapter 16 Huck is struggling with giving Jim up. Outline the battle that he has with himself, and explain his actions when the men come up looking for the 5 escaped slaves. Huck is pretty unsure about what to do for the most part. Even still he does lie to the men to help Jim. The men come up and he tells them they have some kind of illness and that they are heading to their family and that they have no idea where the slaves are. Huck was feeling pretty guilty after because he wasn’t sure whether he should have told the truth or not, but then he thought about it and he would have felt even more guilty if he would have gave Jim up.
Huckleberry Finn 6-11
1. Explain why Pap has Huck locked up. Pap has Huck locked up because he doesn’t want him going to school anymore and learning about religion. Instead he wanted Huck to be like him and learn how to read or write. Another reason is that Pap wants Hucks money. 2. Create a visual of how Huck escapes The Shanty. I’ll describe what he does.. At first he uses a saw to make a hole in the shab to escape but gets caught, then he tries again, but instead of just leaving like that, he kills an animal and tries to make everything seem like a robbery by taking some other stuff with him. 3. In chapter 8 Huck and Jim run into each other. Huck says that people will call him a “low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum” in reference to Jim running away. Explain what it means to be an Abolitionist. Why is it Huck is concerned about being called one? You’ll have to consider both the time period and the setting of the novel to answer the question. The definition from google of Abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. The word abolition means ending something. So basically Ending Slavery. Huck is probably concerned being called one because maybe during their time they just had to deal with it and couldn’t complain much.
4. There are several things that give Huck away when he pretends to be a girl. List them. Then, come up with 3 things that would give a boy away and 3 things that would give a girl away (if the roles were reversed) in our modern times. First of all, when they asked for his name the first time he replied with ‘Sarah Williams’, the second time the person asked, he replied with ‘Mary Williams’ but tried to cover his mistake. They’re already pretty suspicious about him, but asks him to kill a rat and he nearly does, which in return raises their suspicions. She basically figured out that he was a runaway. I can’t really think of three different things that would give away a disguise as one of the other genders, but for both I’d say their actions or thoughts on certain things.
Huckleberry Finn 1-5
1. Timeline:
Starts off with Introducing the characters and some of them trying to teach Huck some stuff but he refuses their knowledge.
After a bit, Huck begins to enjoy school but then his abusive father kidnaps him and then he grows accustomed to his new life that he doesn’t hate.
He comes across some kids and form a gang of Robbery.
2. Time Period of the Novel:
In the novel, the words are a lot different than now. They seem to speak differently and not as clear and I imagined their way of speaking to be a bit southern in a way. Their way of living is also a bit different from now, he has school but it doesn’t seem like a school that we go to.. Like someone is just teaching him this stuff and he figures the rest out on his own. Slavery also seems like it’s legal in the novel, so my guess is the novel takes place back in the days. I googled it and it said the book might have took place around 1860s ish. Which would make sense.
3. How does the Perspective/p-o-v of the narrator influence the story?
Since the narrator of the story is only 12 Years old, some of the stuff he said could have been a bit over-exaggerated.
Since some of the stuff could be over-exaggerated, maybe when he formed his hang of robbery they mentioned killing people who get in their way but a 12 year old probably isn’t as capable of much. Maybe when he says killing they could mean severely prancing someone.
It also could be a bit more biased towards himself since he’s the one telling the story and it’s his view of everything that’s going on.
Since he’s so young, there may be a few things here and there that he’ll describe that doesn’t make sense.