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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

IMPORTANT MOTIFS IN THE STORY

LonelinessSuperstitions

Violence in 1800s AmericaFatherhood & Masculinity

Heart (one’s internal moral compass) vs. Conscience (what society/religion tell one is right)

RaceSlavery vs. Emancipation

FreedomHypocrisy

Masculinity, Honor, & CouragePracticality vs. Imagination & Emotion

Street Smarts vs. Book Smarts

Adventures of Huckleberry Finnby Mark Twain

Q: How old are Huck, Tom, and Jim?A: Huck is thirteen, Tom is twelve, and Jim is a grown man, 30-40 years

old.Q: Are the “Duke” and the “King” real royalty?

A: NO. They are just con men who SAY they are French royalty.


STORY MAP


Chapters 1-15FREEDOM

Literary VocabularyPOINT OF VIEW: The story is told in the 1st person. Huck tells the

story of what happened to him using first-person pronouns (I, we, us, etc.).

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR: Huck cannot fully understand everything that happened during the adventure that he is describing to the reader

(because he is young and lacks the education and experiences that would help him better understand the world, society, and the adults he

knows).

Chapter 1

1. What is the point of the “Notice” at the beginning of the book?

2. How does Huck feel about the truth?

3. Why doesn’t Huck like living with the widow and Miss Watson?

4. What is ironic about what Huck has to do to join Tom Sawyer’s band of robbers?

5. How can one tell Huck hasn’t had any religious education, and why might this be important?

Chapter 2

1. How are Huck and Tom different?

2. How is Jim similar to Huck?

3. Where does the boys’ obsession with violence and ransoms come from?

4. Is Tom right when he says the people who wrote the books are always right?

5. Is Huck as dumb and ignorant as Tom thinks, and is Jim as dumb and ignorant as Huck thinks? Why or why not?

Chapter 3

1. How can one tell Huck hasn’t had a religious upbringing?


2. How does Twain critique organized religion in this chapter?

3. Why does Huck fear Pap’s return?

4. How is Huck different from Tom?

5. What does Huck mean when he says Tom’s genie stories have “all the marks of a Sunday school”?

Chapter 4

1. How is this line ironic: “I could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five”?

2. Why does Huck go to Judge Thatcher to get rid of his money?

3. What is the way Huck and Jim speak meant to reveal about them?

4. Are Huck and Jim equally superstitious?

5. How does the hairball episode reveal Jim’s cleverness and wisdom?

Chapter 5

1. Why does Twain focus on the ugly whiteness of Pap’s face?

2. Why does Pap rip up the picture Huck received as a reward for his schoolwork?

3. Why doesn’t the new judge protect Huck from Pap?

4. Does Pap really just need understanding and sympathy?

5. How does Twain show that some pious people believe too easily in the goodness of other people and are too gullible for their own good?

Chapter 6

1. Why does Pap kidnap Huck?

2. What does Huck like about living with Pap?

3. What does the widow’s method of raising Huck have in common with Pap’s methods?


4. What is ironic about Pap’s racist speech against the government and the free black man?

5. Something truly terrifying and horrible happens at the end of the chapter. What happens?

Chapter 7

1. What luck does Huck have when he goes to check the fishing lines?

2. Why does Huck make it look like he’s been murdered?

3. Huck wishes Tom had been there to put on the “fancy touches,” but Huck manages to escape all on his own. What does his escape show about him?

4. Where does Huck go?

5. Why does Huck go to this place?

Chapter 8

1. Huck says that he isn’t lonely anymore once he’s found Jim, and he also says “Jim knowed all kinds of signs.” What does this show about how Huck regards Jim?

2. Why does Huck think Abolitionists are bad people?

3. Huck tells Jim he won’t tell on him because he made Jim a promise. What does this show about Huck’s morality?

4. Huck’s and Jim’s escapes mirror one another in many ways. How are their escapes similar?

5. Jim says, “I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars.” He had to run away because Miss Watson was going to sell him down the river to a New Orleans plantation. How do these elements of the story, Jim’s words and Miss Watson’s intentions, show the hypocrisy of slave-owning Christians?

Chapter 9

1. Which of Jim’s “superstitions” turns out to be true and comes in handy?

2. Illinois, a free state, is only ¼ mile from Jackson’s Island, but Jim doesn’t just swim over there. Later on, in chapter fifteen, readers find out that his plan is to go down to the Ohio River and then take a steam boat all the way out east. Why would Jim want to do that instead of just crossing over to Illinois?

3. Where do Huck and Jim find the dead man?


4. Give two ways that Jim shows himself to be a protective adult figure for Huck in this chapter.

Chapter 10

1. At the end of chapter nine, Jim showed a fatherly, protective attitude toward Huck. Then, Huck puts the dead snake in Jim’s bed. What does this show about how he views Jim at this point in the book?

2. Why does Jim blame the snake bite on bad luck, and how is the “bad luck” explanation for the snake bite similar to the story about Hank Bunker’s death?

3. How does Huck feel about the snake prank having harmed Jim?

4. Why does Huck dress up like a girl and go across the river at the end of this chapter?

Chapter 11

1. Even though Pap’s character and motive to kill Huck both point to him being the killer, many think Jim did it. Why do they suspect Jim?

2. What does Judith Loftus say that makes Huck really nervous?

3. Mrs. Loftus has zero sympathy for Jim and wants him caught, but she has tons of sympathy for Huck when she thinks he’s a poor little boy who has run away from a mean farmer he was apprenticed to. What is this supposed to make readers think about?

4. Why is it important that Huck says, “‘Get up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain’t a minute to lose. They’re after us!’” ?

Chapter 12

1. Huck decides to do as Tom Sawyer would have done, climbing aboard the wrecked ship to check it out and have an adventure. But how does Jim feel about this?

2. Is Huck right to idolize Tom the way he does? Why or why not?

3. How are the “morals” of the robbers on the boat (letting their friend drown instead of shooting him) similar to Pap’s “morals” (it’s okay to “borrow” things as long as you meant to eventually pay the person back for them)?

4. How does Twain create suspense at the end of the chapter?


Chapter 13

1. Why does Huck feel bad about leaving the robbers on the sinking boat?

2. Huck goes to great lengths to try to save the robbers’ lives. What does this show about him?

3. What does Huck have to say to get the ferryboat man to go attempt a rescue?

4. Why does Twain call the sinking ship the Walter Scott? (You may need to look this up online.)

Chapter 14

1. Huck reads to Jim from some books he found on the sinking ship. What are the books about?

2. During the argument about King Solomon and the French language, how does Jim’s logic and reason surpass Huck’s?

3. How does the argument Huck and Jim have during this chapter show that Huck is treating Jim as more of an equal now, and Jim is feeling more comfortable with Huck and less like he has to act subservient to Huck?

4. What is ironic about Huck saying that you can’t teach slaves to argue?

Chapter 15

1. How do Jim and Huck get separated from one another in this chapter?

2. How does Huck feel when he is separated from Jim?

3. Why is it really not funny at all for Huck to play that trick on Jim?

4. Huck has been raised to believe a white person would never apologize to a black person, but in this chapter, he feels bad about how his trick made Jim feel, so he goes against everything his culture has taught him about how to treat Jim, and he apologizes anyway. What does this show about how he is beginning to see Jim?


FREEDOM SECTIONChapters 1-15

WRITE A ONE-PAGE RESPONSE (PARAGRAPH APPROPRIATELY!) TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS:

1. DISCUSS JIM AND EXPLAIN YOUR THOUGHTS.a. Has Twain done a thorough job of humanizing Jim so far? b. Is Jim a well-fleshed-out and relatable character? c. Does he seem like a real person to you?

2. DESCRIBE JIM AND HUCK’S RELATIONSHIP.a. How did Huck treat Jim early on? b. So far, how has Huck’s relationship with Jim evolved? c. How and why has Huck started to change the way he treats Jim and the way he feels

about Jim?

3. PASSAGE RESPONSEa. Find two passages from the novel (within chapters 1-15) where Huck describes nature. b. Transcribe the two quotations (and cite properly).c. Analyze the quotations, explaining how Huck feels about nature and what meaning it has

for him.

4. SUPERSTITIONSa. Explain who holds which superstitious beliefs and what function the belief serves for that

person.b. What point is Twain making through his presentation of superstitious beliefs held by

various characters in the novel?c. Do you notice any social commentary in the novel related to the superstition motif?


Chapters 16-31IMPORTANT DECISIONS

Literary VocabularySATIRE: literature that exposes the flaws of a person or society (often through humor) in order to convince people that change is needed.

IRONY: the contrast between what seems to be true and what is actually true or between what we expect to happen and what does

happen.

Chapter 16

1. As they near Cairo, Jim is excited because he is almost safe and free, but Huck is troubled. What is troubling Huck?

2. What internal conflict is Huck experiencing in this chapter?

3. What does Jim say to help Huck follow his heart instead of the “morals” he has been taught by slave-holding society?

4. Why does Huck lie to the men who are out looking for runaway slaves?

Chapter 17

1. Why do the Grangerfords act so suspicious and jumpy when Huck shows up at their house?

2. What kind of poetry and literature does Twain make fun of in this chapter?

Chapter 18

1. What does Buck say is the reason for the feud?

2. How is Buck’s response to Huck’s question about the start of the feud ironic?

3. What Shakespeare play should readers be reminded of when Harvey and Sophia run off together?

4. What happens in this chapter that truly traumatizes Huck?

5. At the end of chapter eighteen, Huck describes the raft as a place of comfort, safety, openness, and freedom. Write down a quote from the story where he shows these feelings about being on the raft with Jim.


Chapter 19

1. Chapter nineteen starts with a description of life on the river with Jim. What is it like? What is the tone of this part of the chapter?

2. Where did the “duke” and the “king” come from?

3. What are these two fellows like?

4. Why doesn’t Huck call them out on their lies?

Chapter 20

1. What type of person is Twain satirizing through the duke and the king?

2. What is Twain satirizing when he shows the religious people being fooled?

3. How is it ironic that the King is confessing all his sins at the camp meeting and collecting money to go convert other sinners?

4. What does the duke do so they can run the raft during the daytime?

Chapter 211. When the duke and king are rehearsing for a “Shakespeare” play, what is Twain showing about

Southerners?

2. What do the town loafers show about life in the American South at this time?

3. Why did Colonel Sherburn shoot Boggs?

Chapter 22

1. Why does Colonel Sherburn say “the average man’s a coward”?

2. What aspect of human nature is Sherburn criticizing the most in his speech?

3. Huck is very worried for the “drunk” man on the horse, and in the end, he thinks the ringmaster was fooled by his own worker pretending to be a drunk. But in reality, it was an elaborate bit that the circus performers were all in on. What does this part of the story show about Huck?

4. Why does the “duke” think his playbill will definitely attract a big crowd?


Chapter 23

1. Briefly describe what happens with the “Royal Nonesuch” and what it shows about people.

2. What is ironically accurate about Huck and Jim’s ideas about royalty?

3. What fatherly thing does Jim often do for Huck?

4. Why would Huck be surprised to find out Jim cares so much about his kids and being a good father?

5. How does the way Jim tells the story about his little daughter help humanize Jim?

Chapter 24

1. What kind of con can readers infer the duke and king are going to try to pull?

2. How does Huck react to the way the duke and king are acting?

Chapter 25

1. What is Huck talking about when he says, “I never see anything so disgusting”?

2. Who sees right through the king and duke’s faking?

3. What is Twain saying about people when the townsfolk don’t listen to Dr. Robinson?

Chapter 26

1. Why does Huck like Mary Jane so much?

2. Why does Huck feel so bad about his part in this con?

3. The king still thinks everything is going to go his way, even though the doctor figured out that he and the duke are frauds. Why does the king think this?

4. What does Huck do to help the girls?

Chapter 27

1. What does Huck do with the money?


2. What is extra terrible about the way the king and the duke sell the slaves?

Chapter 28

1. Why does Huck reveal everything to Mary Jane?

2. Carefully read the paragraph that starts with “I see I had…” Can you explain how Huck is becoming more mature and developing his morals further?

3. What does Huck mean when he says Mary Jane has “grit” and is “full of sand”?

4. Who arrives in town at the end of chapter twenty-eight?

Chapter 29

1. What do the handwriting test and the tattoo information prove?

2. What is so scary about the part where the townspeople run out toward the graveyard during the storm?

3. Why is Huck super happy and then extremely depressed at the very end of chapter twenty-nine?

Chapter 30

1. What does the “duke” point out to the king when the king is getting mad at Huck?

2. Why does the “king” say he stole the money, even though he didn’t?

Chapter 31

1. Why does Huck think he will go to hell for not turning Jim in?

2. What does Huck remember that makes him decide not to send the letter to Miss Watson?

3. How does Huck’s big decision show the development of his maturity and morality?

4. How does Huck react when he finds out the “duke” and “king” sold Jim for 40 dollars?

5. When the “duke” says, “yes, we did consider him [ours] … goodness knows, we had enough trouble [with] him,” how is this ironic?


IMPORTANT DECISIONS SECTIONChapters 16-31


1. MARK TWAIN’S USE OF DIALECTa. Provide a few obvious examples of dialect in the novel.b. What are the advantages of writing the characters’ speech in “dialect”—writing the way

they would talk in real life—in this novel?c. What are the disadvantages of writing the book this way?

2. MARK TWAIN’S SATIREa. Huck is struggling with what he has been taught is right by society and what he is coming

to determine is right through life experience, friendship, and his own observations of humanity. How does Twain demonstrate the hypocrisy of human beings in the Grangerford/Shepherdson episode?

b. The “civilized” folks in the novel, like the wealthy and educated Grangerfords or the religious and respected Miss Watson, aren’t so civilized after all. Remember, “civilized society” in Huck’s time believes and teaches that it is okay to have slaves and wrong to help slaves become free. How is this ironic?

c. What evils does this irony expose?

3. SOCIAL COMMENTARYa. What characteristics of human nature and society does twain mock in chapters 16-31?b. As you answer this journal prompt, consider three parts: the Duke and the King’s

“Shakespeare” performances & the “Royal Nonesuch,” the “Lynching Bee,” and the episode in which the Duke and the King scam the Wilks family.

4. THE IMPORANCE OF CHAPTER THIRTY-ONEa. What does Huck realize about his relationship with Jim in chapter 31?b. What does Huck realize about the expectations his society has of him in chapter 31?c. What does Huck realize about the conscience vs. the heart in chapter 31?


Chapters 32-43CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPEBackground Information

THE ENDING: Many critics have felt that the novel does not end very satisfactorily, and they complain that the characters change too much from the way we have come to know them. What do you think? Does

Huck act in ways that do not seem believable after all the ways he has grown and changed so far? Is the ending less than satisfying?

Chapter 32

1. Usually, passages about nature have had a calm and peaceful mood so far. The first few pages of chapter thirty-two use nature to create a very lonely mood. Why would Mark Twain create a lonely mood for this part of the story?

2. What lucky coincidence allows Huck to trick Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas and end up staying at their house?

3. Huck tells Aunt Sally that there was an accident on the steamboat he supposedly took to get to town. He tells her it killed a slave. What does her response show about her beliefs and morals?

Chapter 33

1. Why is it hard for Huck to believe that Tom is going to help him steal Jim out of bondage and set him free?

2. What happens to the “king” and the “duke,” and how does Huck respond to this?

3. How is Huck’s reaction to what happened to those two con men similar to his reaction to the robbers being stuck on the sinking ship (back in chapter thirteen), and what does it show about his beliefs and morals?

Chapter 34

1. Suddenly, Tom is taking over everything, and Huck is letting him get away with a bunch of terrible ideas and behavior. How is Tom taking over similar to the “king” and the “duke” taking over on the raft?

2. Why does Tom try to make the escape extremely complicated and dangerous, and what does this show about Tom’s character?

3. Why does Tom say all that mean stuff about hanging a runaway slave near the end of the chapter?


Chapter 35

1. How has the tone of the story changed since Tom arrived?

2. How easy would it be to help Jim escape right now? Explain what they would need to do.

3. Tom’s plans are cruel, stupid, and childish. What is Mark Twain criticizing by presenting these ideas Tom has about honor, danger, and adventure?

Chapter 36

1. How does Huck finally get his way over Tom’s, and what does this part make you think about Tom?

2. Why does Jim agree to go along with Tom’s plans, even though Jim says he doesn’t see any sense in them?

3. Describe what is truly cruel about Tom’s plans.

Chapter 37

1. How and why do Huck and Tom trick Aunt Sally in this chapter?

2. Why do Huck and Tom make the “witch-pie”?

Chapter 38

1. What do the boys and Jim do in the middle of the night that shows how easy it would be for Jim to escape right now?

2. Why do you think Jim doesn’t just leave on his own one night?

3. How does Jim stand up to Tom in this chapter, and why does he end up apologizing to Tom at the end, even though Jim is clearly right, and Tom is clearly a fool?

Chapter 39

1. Tom doesn’t care about Jim as a human being, and Huck hasn’t put his foot down very hard to stop Tom’s nonsense and go ahead with a mature, intelligent, and practical escape. According to chapter thirty-nine, how long has Jim been putting up with all this nonsense, stuck in a dangerous position and not one step closer to his freedom?

2. What does Tom do at the end of this chapter that makes the escape even more dangerous for Jim and the boys?


Chapter 40

1. How do you think most readers feel when Tom gets shot? How would they feel differently if Huck or Jim had been shot?

2. Risking his safety and freedom for a little boy who has treated him and his life with such disregard, Jim says they need to go get a doctor for Tom. At this point, Huck says, “‘I knowed he was white inside.’” What does this show about how he has come to view Jim over the course of the novel?

3. Considering how Tom has behaved for the last eight chapters, how is it ironic that Huck uses “white inside” to mean moral and honorable?

Chapter 41

1. Why doesn’t Huck go with the doctor back to where Jim and Tom are?

2. Why do the gossiping people think that Jim must have been crazy?

3. Huck decides to stay in bed like Aunt Sally wants him to. Why does he do this?

Chapter 42

1. The angry farmers are talking about hanging Jim. Why don’t they do it?

2. Jim risked his freedom for Tom. Why did he do it, and what does this show readers about Jim (especially considering he did it for Tom!)?

3. What does the doctor say about Jim that makes everyone decide to start treating him nicely?

4. Although Huck couldn’t understand it before, it now becomes clear why Tom was willing to help Jim escape; what has Tom known all along about Jim?

Chapter 43

1. What superstition does Jim say has come true for him?

2. Why did Jim hide what he knew about the dead man in the floating house?

3. At the end of the story, where is Huck going and why?


CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE SECTIONChapters 32-43


1. COMPARE AND CONTRASTa. Based on the way the story is written, can you determine how Mark Twain felt about

Tom and how he felt about Jim?b. Compare and contrast the way Mark Twain presents Tom and the way he presents

Jim, backing up what you say with examples from the story.c. Then, explain how you think Twain felt about each character.

2. SOCIETY VS. THE INDIVIDUALa. Mark Twain called Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “a book of mine where a sound

heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat.” b. What influences “deformed” Huck’s conscience? c. How does Twain show that even if society is corrupt and illogical, individuals can

make the right decisions and overcome evil?

3. THE RIVER AS A SYMBOLa. Many critics have discussed the Mississippi River and the journey down it as

“symbolic.” b. What do you think the river and the journey could represent on a deeper level?c. Explain your thinking and provide passages from the novel to support your ideas (cite

correctly).

4. THE ENDINGa. What are your thoughts on the way the novel ends?b. How did the novel change when Tom Sawyer returned?c. What message could readers take from Huck’s decision not to be adopted and

“sivilized,” but to go West instead?

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