Huckleberry Finn - Rochester City School District



The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

Comprehension and Essential Questions

Chapter One

1. What do we know about Huck from the way he talks?

2. What is a “stretcher?”

3. Why does Mark Twain begin Huck Finn with a reference to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

4. How does Huck feel about being “civilized?”

5. “The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it.” Exactly where does the humor in this sentence lie?

6. Why does Huck prefer the “bad” place to the “good” place?

7. What does Huck’s reaction to the burning of the spider show us about him?

Chapter Two

1. What trick does Tom play on Jim?

2. How does Huck feel about it?

3. What difference between the two boys does this suggest?

4. How does Jim react to the trick?

5. If you were going to join Tom Sawyer’s gang, what would you have to agree to do?

6. What do we learn about Tom as the head of the gang?

7. How does Ben Rogers react to the ransoming idea?

Chapter Three

1. What does Huck think about praying?

2. Why does Huck decide there must be two Providences?

3. What does Huck think of Pap?

4. Why does Huck resign from the gang?

5. Huck and Tom have very different outlooks on “A-rabs” and on “rubbing lamps” etc. What does this show about them?

Chapter Four

1. Why does Huck “sell” his fortune to Judge Thatcher?

2. What does the “hair-ball” tell Jim about Huck’s future?

Chapter Five

1. Describe Pap.

2. Is Pap a realistic character?

3. How does Pap feel about Huck going to school?

4. How does the new judge find out how Pap really is?

Chapter Six

1. Why is Huck going to school now?

2. Why does Huck as first enjoy living with Pap?

3. How does Pap feel about the “govment” and “educated niggers?”

4. Account for Pap’s unusual behavior.

Chapter Seven

1. Why does Huck kill the pig?

2. As Huck prepares to escape, he wishes Tom Sawyer were there. “I knowed he would take an interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches.” How are Huck’s preparations different from those Tom would make?

3. Describe Huck’s emotions when he first sets out on the river.

4. Where is Huck headed?

Section Questions

1. Huck calls himself “ignorant” and “low-down and ornery.” Do you agree with this description? Why or why not?

2. How would you compare the characters of the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson? Who seems to be presented in a more favorable light?

3. Where and when is the novel set? Why is the time period in which the novel is set important?

4. How would you contrast the characters of Huck and Tom?

5. How does Twain satirize—or ridicule—“do-gooders” in his description of Pap’s “reform?”

6. How does the physical description of Pap in Chapter five also serve to describe his character?

7. When Pap criticizes the “govment,” what does Twain want the reader to feel about these issues?

8. Why does Huck make it appear that he has been murdered instead of simply running away from Pap?

9. What do you think Twain believed about slavery? Support your response with examples from the novel.

Chapter 8

1. Why are people firing a cannon over the water?

2. What is the reason for floating bread down the river?

3. Why does Huck scare Jim?

4. Why has Jim run away?

5. Why is the chapter entitled, “I Spare Miss Watson’s Jim?”

6. Is there any difference between the superstition of Huck and the superstition of Jim?

7. At this point, how would you describe Huck’s attitude toward Jim?

Chapter 9

1. Why is there a house floating down the river?

2. What do Huck and Jim find in the house?

Chapter 10

1. How does the snake come to be in Jim’s blanket?

2. What does Jim do for the snakebite?

3. What does Huck’s reaction show about him?

4. Why does Huck dress up like a girl?

Chapter 11

1. What information does Huck get from Mrs. Judith Loftus?

2. What story does Huck tell Mrs. Loftus when she sees through his disguise?

3. What three things does Huck so that show he is a boy?

4. Why do Huck and Jim leave Jackson’s Island?

Chapter 12

1. Describe the raft and the life Huck and Jim lead when alone on it.

2. How do Huck and Jim get food?

3. Why are Huck and Jim able to feel comfortable about borrowing things?

4. Why does Huck insist on boarding the Walter Scott?

5. Who are: Bill? Jake? Turner?

6. What do Bill and Jake decide to do with Turner?

7. What terrible discovery does Jim make at the end of this chapter?

Chapter 13

1. Huck and Jim escape from the Walter Scott in the lifeboat, leaving the murderers trapped on the wreck. How does Huck feel about leaving them?

2. How does his concern differ from the widow’s?

3. How does Huck try to help the murderers?

4. What happens to the murderers?

Chapter 14

1. Why does Jim decide that he doesn’t want any more adventures?

2. Why does Jim “take no stock in…Sollermun bein de wises’ man dat ever live’?”

3. Why does Huck decide that it is useless to argue with him?

4. Is Mark Twain expressing opinions through Jim or Huck?

Chapter 15

1. What do Huck and Jim plan to do when they reach Cairo?

2. In the filmstrips, the comment was made that “Huck does know how to tell us things.” Describe how Huck felt when he was alone in the fog.

3. Huck tells Jim that the separation in the fog was a dream. Why is Jim so hurt by Huck’s trick?

4. Why is Huck’s response to Jim’s rebuke significant?

Chapter 16

1. Why is Huck so uneasy about approaching Cairo?

2. Explain what Huck calls “conscience.”

3. How does it conflict with helping Jim escape?

4. What decision does Huck make to quiet his conscience?

5. How does Huck keep the men in the skiff from checking the raft?

6. What decision does Huck make about doing right and wrong?

7. Why did Huck and Jim have to change their plans?

8. How did Huck and Jim get separated?

Section Questions

1. The functions of chapter eight are to bring Huck and Jim together as twin protagonists representing escape, to add color of time and place through language and description of customs, and to establish the character of Jim. What does this chapter suggest about civilization?

2. Some readers think Jim’s character is different in chapters eight and nine from what it is in chapter two. In what ways is this apparent?

3. What Huck takes seriously, Twain often means to be comic. Find two instances of this in these chapters, and explain the difference between what Huck says and what Twain means.

4. What is the principal conflict in Huck’s mind about Jim?

5. Does the reader’s attitude toward Jim change as a result of his response to Huck’s trick in chapter fifteen? What do you think about Huck’s pranks?

6. What is Huck’s response to Jim’s plans to steal his own children after he reaches freedom? How is this response ironic? What is Twain’s purpose in crafting Huck’s response this way?

7. After completing Chapter sixteen, Twain set aside the manuscript of Huckleberry Finn for two years, uncertain where to take the story next. What plot difficulties do you think Twain was trying to work out? Where do you think the plot can go from here?

Chapter 17

1. How does Huck solve the problem of forgetting his name?

2. What does Huck think of the Grangerfords? Of their home?

3. Huck often makes interesting observations. His comment on Emmeline Grangerford is, “I reckoned that with her disposition she was having a better time in the graveyard.” What does this show about Huck?

4. Why had Emmeline died?

Chapter 18

1. What is the cause of the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons?

2. Which side started the shooting?

3. Why is Twain so vague about it?

4. Buck tells Huck, “There ain’t no coward amongst them Shepherdsons—not a one. And there ain’t no cowards amongst the Grangerfords either.” What are the drawbacks to this sort of courage?

5. Why is the topic of the Sunday sermon satirical?

6. What has happened to Jim since the last time Huck has seen him?

7. What does Miss Sophie do?

8. What happens to the various Grangerfords?

9. What does Huck do?

Chapter 19

1. Read Huck’s description of river life that begins, “Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I might say they swum by, they slid along so quiet and smooth and lovely.” What causes Huck’s new appreciation of life on the raft?

2. The peaceful interlude on the raft is disturbed by the arrival of the duke and the dauphin. Describe these two rapscallions.

3. When the duke and the dauphin first got on the raft, why did they talk to each other and ignore Huck and Jim?

4. Huck says, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds.” Why does he pretend to believe them?

5. What function do these two new characters serve in the novel?

Chapter 20

1. How does Huck explain Jim to the duke and the king?

2. How do the king and duke treat Huck and Jim?

3. What does the king do at the camp meeting?

Chapter 21

1. What are the king and the duke getting ready for?

2. What kind of town is Bricksville?

3. Why had Boggs come to town?

4. What did the loafers think of Boggs’ threats?

5. Describe the murder of Boggs.

6. How did the townspeople react to the murder?

Chapter 22

1. Why did the “Lynching Bee” fail?

2. What does Sherburn think of the men in the mob? Is he right?

3. Sherburn’s speech is the only place in the novel where the point of view shifts for any length of time. Why, at this point, does Twain let Sherburn take over?

4. Why does Huck enjoy the circus so much?

5. How successful is the Shakespearean Revival?

6. How does the duke plan to get an audience for the low-comedy presentation?

7. Compare the incident at the circus with the shooting of Boggs. In what ways are the situations similar? How does Huck’s response differ from the crowd’s in both instances? What does this tell us about his character?

Chapter 23

1. Why doesn’t the audience “take care” of the king and the duke after the first performance?

2. What happens on the third night?

3. Why is Huck amazed at Jim’s mourning his home and family? WHY do you think he’s amazed? How is this at odds with other elements of Huck’s character?

4. What does the story of ‘Lizabeth show about Jim?

Section Questions

1. What are your first impressions of the duke and king? Do you consider them harmless fools or dangerous criminals? Explain.

2. How do the furnishings of the Grangerford house satirize the inhabitants?

3. At the end of Chapter seventeen, Huck says, “You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” How would you contrast Twain’s depictions of life onshore with life on the raft so far?

4. How do Huck and Jim dress on the raft? What do their clothes convey about the theme of civilization versus nature?

5. How does the duke arrange for them to travel in the daytime? This chapter paints a fuller picture of the two hitchhikers that Huck and Jim have taken aboard. You will remember that the Grangerfords were first characterized through their possessions. How are these two men drawn?

6. What is Sherburn’s attitude toward the men what are attempting to lynch him? What do you think Twain’s attitude (his tone) is toward the townspeople?

7. Why does Twain include a description of the circus in chapter twenty-two? How would you compare the circus with the entertainments provided by the duke and king?

8. Discuss Huck and Jim’s comments on royalty in chapter 23. Is it believable for Huck to know so much history? Explain. What do you think Twain thinks about royalty?

9. Twain uses Emmeline Grangerford to parody the melodramatic, sentimental poetry and art that was popular during the nineteenth century. If you were writing a modern-day version of Huck Finn, what kind of art, literature, or music would you parody?

Chapter 24

1. Why is Jim dressed up as a sick Arab?

2. Huck’s last statement in this chapter is, “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.” What is Huck talking about?

3. How does Twain make it believable for the two rogues to impersonate the Wilks brothers?

Chapter 25

1. Huck describes the tearful scene at the Wilkses as the most disgusting thing he has ever seen? Does he mean only the king’s performance?

2. Why does the king give the money to Mary Jane?

3. Have the rapscallions hood-winked everybody?

Chapter 26

1. What decision does Huck make?

2. What are the plans of the king and the duke?

Chapter 27

1. Where did Huck hide the gold?

2. Describe the undertaker.

3. Where is the humor in Huck’s observation, “There warn’t no more popular man in town than what that undertaker was?”

4. How are the king’s plans progressing?

Chapter 28

1. What is special about Mary Jane?

2. Why is she the only person to whom Huck tells the truth?

Chapter 29

1. Why do the men decide to dig up the corpse?

2. Huck concludes the chapter by saying, “So I wilted right down onto the planks then, and give up; and it was all I could do to keep from crying.” What’s bothering Huck?

Chapter 30

1. Why are the king and the duke fighting?

2. Why do they get back together?

Chapter 31

1. What do the king and duke do to Jim?

2. Why does Huck write Miss Watson?

3. Why does he tear up the letter?

4. Huck has rebelled against civilization before. At Miss Watson’s he smoked, played hooky, and he left his room nights to sleep in the woods. What is different about this decision?

5. Tearing up the letter to Miss Watson has been described as one of the great moments in American history. A Southern boy breaks free of the social convention that surrounds him and risks his soul to free a Negro slave. Why is Huck just the boy to tear up that letter?

6. Discuss the implications of Huck’s conclusion, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”

7. Huck again encounters the duke. What happens?

Section Questions

1. The Wilks episode contains much humor but also much darkness. What do you find most comical? Most troubling? What qualities of the Wilks girls allow them to be duped so easily?

2. How would you compare these townspeople with the inhabitants of the last town Huck and the others visited?

3. How would you describe the funeral in Chapter twenty-seven? How does it help to characterize the townspeople?

4. At one point, while the townspeople are trying to decide who the real Wilks brothers are, Huck says that “anybody but a lot of prejudiced chuckleheads would a seen” that the duke and the king are frauds. Do you think this characterization of the townspeople is accurate? Why or why not?

5. Briefly describe Huck’s crisis of conscience leading up to his decision to write to Miss Watson. How does Twain use irony to make his points? How does this crucial scene convey the theme of prejudice versus human dignity?

6. Just when Huck and Jim think they are free of the duke and the king, the pair reappears in hot pursuit of the raft. Why might Twain continue to inflict the two frauds on Huck and Jim? In your opinion, how has the pair contributed to or detracted from the overall plot?

Chapter 32

1. What is Huck’s new name?

2. Why is that convenient for Huck?

Chapter 33

1. Why is Huck surprised at Tom’s willingness to rescue Jim?

2. Why is Tom willing to do it?

3. What new identity does Tom assume?

4. How does Huck feel when he sees the king and duke tarred and feathered? Is this a surprising reaction? Are you reminded of anything else from the novel?

5. Do they deserve his pity?

6. Why is Huck so annoyed with his conscience?

7. Does the fact that both Tom and Huck are on the plantation add to or detract from the plot?

Chapter 34

1. How did Tom figure out where Jim was?

2. Compare Huck’s plan for freeing Jim with Tom’s.

3. What does Huck think of Tom’s fancy touches?

4. What are the dangers of Tom’s approach?

5. Some critics think that Jim’s rescue in an inappropriate ending to the novel. They wonder how Huck, with his new maturity, can consent to Tom’s foolish scheme. Do you agree with these critics? Why or why not?

Chapter 35

1. What is the whole chapter, “Dark, Deep-Laid Plans,” about?

Chapter 36

1. Huck says, “When I start to steal a nigger, or a watermelon, or a Sunday-school book, I ain’t no ways particular how it’s done so it’s done.” How would Tom feel about this statement?

2. Why does Jim agree to go along with everything?

3. What’s Nat’s problem?

Chapter 37

1. What is the topic of conversation at the breakfast table?

2. How does Tom manage to get the things he needs for the escape?

3. Describe the baking of the witch pie.

Chapter 38

1. What is the irony involved in the fetching of the grindstone?

2. Why does Tom try to talk Jim into keeping a pet rattlesnake? Rats?

3. What purpose does this chapter serve?

4. Describe Jim’s ordeal.

Chapter 39

1. Why does Tom write anonymous letters?

2. What does he say in them?

Chapter 40

1. What does Huck find when he goes into the setting-room?

2. When the butter melts down Huck’s face, what does Aunt Sally think it is?

3. What one thing really goes wrong in the escape?

4. When Huck says, “I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say,” what is he talking about?

Chapter 41

1. Why doesn’t Huck go with the doctor?

2. How does he explain his absence to Uncle Silas?

3. What is Old Mrs. Hotchkiss’ theory?

4. Why doesn’t Huck go check on Tom that night?

Chapter 42

1. Why don’t they hang Jim?

2. What does the doctor think of Jim?

3. What does Tom tell Aunt Sally?

4. Why had Tom worked so hard to set Jim free when he was already free?

5. Who arrives on the scene to really straighten things out?

Last Chapter

1. What were Tom’s plans concerning Jim after he was free?

2. What does Huck find out about his father?

3. Does it seem right that Huck has been an orphan all along?

Section Questions

1. What is your reaction when you learn that Tom had known all along that Jim was already free? Does your opinion of Tom change, or is it confirmed?

2. What is Huck’s understanding of Providence in Chapter thirty-two? Would Miss Watson agree with it?

3. How does Twain use irony in the discussion between Huck and Mrs. Phelps about the alleged steamboat accident?

4. How would you compare Huck and Tom’s attitudes toward the escape?

5. Is there any evidence that Jim is really suffering during all this? Does Huck’s response to Jim’s plight seem reasonable to you?

6. What does Jim’s behavior in these chapters indicate about his character?

7. Where is Huck going at the end of the novel? How is his action a final statement of the theme of civilization versus nature?

8. Some critics of Huck Finn point to the treatment of Jim in the final chapters as proof that the novel is racist. Do you feel that the escape plan reveals racism or that Twain was using it to criticize racism? Explain and support.

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