Chapter 1 - Huckleberry Finn is living with family members that aren't his parents, and they are trying to make Huck more polite and well-mannered. He would rather just put on his rags and smoke.
Chapter 2- Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn went to meet the rest of the Tom Sawyer Gang and they made a bunch of rules for the gang. They made some crazy rules, resulting them to sign their names in blood as a promise.
Chapter 3 - Huckleberry Finn goes home and Mrs. Watson was upset with him because he got his clothes dirty. She told him that he should pray, because praying helps you when you want something, so he prayed for fish hooks but he didn't get them. Rumors are going around saying that Huck's Pap was dead because he hasn't seen him in over a year.
Chapter 4 - Huck is adjusting to his new life. He finds foot prints in the sow belonging to his dad, then Huck returns home, and as he turns on his light Pap is sitting there.
Chapter 5 - Huck's dad, Pap, goes to jail after a drunken spree, following a custody battle of Huck.
Time Period of the Novel - 1830's - 1840's
How does the perspective/ point-of-view influence the story? - Since the Narrator of the story is Huckleberry Finn, it is coming from the point of view of a child in the 1800's rather than an adult. It is in first person.
Chapters 5-11 Questions
Why does Pap have Huck locked up? - Pap thought that he could take better care of Huck than the widow. Pap doesn't want Huck going to school because Pap didn't get an education, so he doesn't want Huck to be smarter than him. Pap gets drunk and locks him in for 3 days.
How did he get out of the Shanty? - Huck found an old saw blade, and sawed his way out of the cabin. He covered up the hole he sawed into and shoots a wild pig. He broke the door down with an ax and then cuts the throat of the pig. Huck faked his murder, and did things to make it look like robbers broke into the cabin to kill him. He found a canoe and used it to get to Jackson Island.
What gave it away that he was a boy and not a girl? - He caught a ball and kept his legs together, and guys usually would spread their legs apart. He put the needle to the string which is something a female would do, instead of the the string to the needle. He had a girl name, but forgot what the name originally was, so he then accidentally switched it, which is very obvious because no one should forget their name. In modern times, some features that would give it away would be an adams apple, facial hair, and body shape. what would give away females would not having correct body parts, voice, and shaved legs.
Chapters 12-16 Questions
What is the story of King Solomon and his child? How does Jim interpret that story? - King Solomon was one of the wisest and richest kings. Jim thinks that King Solomon is a fool though because he has so many wives and kids, and that there would be no peace and quiet. Jim has a wife and kids, so he knows how much of a struggle that would be.
When Jim wakes up after their separation in the fog, what does Jim's reaction to Huck tell us about him? How do you feel about Jim at this point? - He wakes up dazed and confused, but then he is really excited to see Huck. He is relieved and happy that they both ended up being okay after being in the fog. Huck played a trick on Jim and told him that it was all just a dream. Jim was upset because he felt like a fool since he believed Huck. This tells us about how easily influenced Jim is. What Jim believes is what he usually believes forever, but he wasn't sure so he was fooled. Jim doesn't mean any harm.
Jim is very superstitious. From a historical standpoint, why do you think this is? - He is very superstitious because he is trying to make sense of all of his bad luck. Even though he knows that most of his problems come from white peoples opinions towards black people. He tries to cover up it up by having a bunch of crazy ideas about luck and karma.
Chapters 17-21 Questions
The Grangerford's are a weird family. They seem like a normal farming family. But really, they are not. They consist mostly of men, so they are very protective, with guns and such. They also had a daughter who was very passionate towards others, and a very talented artist and poet. She died very young from sickness.
2.He included it just to show us what the times were like back then. Feuds and family to family disagreements were way more common in the day and they were more violent too. Another reason he would include it is to "expose" how people just blindly follow what others do. In the book Buck liter says that he has no idea why they are still fighting and that both families have no idea why it even started.
3.As still being a young boy such a big conflict with gruesome violence would be rather unsettling. This is especially so since he knew one of the families and saw the one boy his age dead. Being so young and knowing the family would give him plenty reason not to want to talk about the battle. Also his stance on the whole feud was that it was pointless and that they families had no reasons to be fighting so that adds in to his reasoning, it was just people killing each other for no reason.
4.The real King is the King of France, but neither of these men were dukes or kings but rather normal folk who were on the run just as Huck and Jim. The only reason Huck plays along is because there was no need to not to, what they were asking was not a lot and if it kept everyone happy with each other then it was good enough for Huck. He was ok with playing along and Jim didn't know any better so everything was good with him.
5.The Dukes plan was to tie Jim up like he was a prisoner if people were about and then if they asked about Jim they would show them a wanted paper with Jim on it and say they were on their way to turn him in. One issue I see with this is Getting Jim bound up before people realized he was actually getting returned. Maybe they weren't paying attention and then someone noticed.
6. Town drawing Chapters 22-26 1. The end line of the handbill states "Ladies and children are not admitted". The handbill would get people into the play because more men would be open to doing things of their choice if their wifes didn't have a say in their decision. which gives the husbands and fathers a "night off" to have more freedom because their wifes and kids can't come.
2.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. he did 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 and himself from getting more in trouble. Altogether, Huck avoids telling Jim the truth to keep them both protected.
3.The King and the Duke came up with this plan when they had found out that a man named Peter Wilks had died and left a fortune to his brothers that no one had ever met, known, or heard of. One apparently was around 30-35 while the other was deaf and supposedly dumb. The two con-men, being as greedy as they are, pretended to be the brothers and made Huck and Jim act as their servants. They wanted to sell the land and gain all of his money from the dead man and his brothers. Huck was ashamed about lying and stealing from the grieving family. The shame that he felt was probably from participating with the 2 men and their selfish plan
4.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 $6,000 in gold, although they don't end up leaving in the middle of the night. Instead the King comes to think it would be a good idea to stay until the land as well as the slaves are sold, therefore they can get more money than they have got already.
Chapters 27-301. Why did people stay up with the dead during this time period? (Chapter 27) One of the reasons that people stayed up with the dead was to protect the body from insects and rodents. They wanted to make sure the body was kept safe. During this time period, and in the region that we are talking about, they didn't have ways to preserve the body so the best thing to do was bury it as soon as possible. More often than not, the body was buried within the next 24 hours. Not only did the people stay up to keep away bugs, it was also to make sure the corpse wouldn't wake up. In addition, 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) Even though Huck is brave and he comes off like he doesn't care, he is actually a very caring and empathetic person. he is very good at connecting with other people and this is demonstrated with Miss Mary Jane. When Huck saw that she was upset he wanted to help and felt like he could make her feel better.
3.What were the two methods the townspeople used to try to identify who the brothers were and who the frauds were? (Chapter 29) One method was, the real 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 undertaker who dressed the body tell them which one is right, he says that he didn't see a tattoo. The second method was a lawyer has all four men meet at the Tavern so they can discern who they truly are, and to do that, he has two things done. First, he has all four men sign a paper and compares the signature to ones he received on the letters, which showed that the King and the Duke were fakes. 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. Chapters 31-351.Huck says “You can’t pray a lie.” What lie is he trying to pray about? What does he mean? (Chapter 31) Huck is praying about the lie he was telling to himself to make him feel better about stealing away Jim from Ms.Watson. He was in distress because Jim had been found while the Reward flyer was still out and he was captured. The man who found him took 40 dollars instead of the 200 promised and then went up the river. He was thinking about what to do to get Jim out of slavery and he was going to write to Ms.Watson to tell her where Jim was, but then he decided not to because it would tell the people that Huck had been helping a slave escape.
2.Why does Huck tear up the letter he writes? (Chapter 31) Huck was going to write to Tom Sawyer to tell him Miss Watson about Jim, but he realizes that she would sell Jim anyway. He was then going to write to Miss Watson, but then he also realizes that if the story got out that he helped a slave escape, he would be ashamed. He tried praying for forgiveness, but his heart wasn't in the prayer.
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 feel like Huck is kind of sad that Tom wants to help steel Jim back. Once Huck left all really got was praise and had no completion for wit or attention. Now it is almost like Huck has a competitor, but at the same time I feel like Huck is relived that his old friend is with him in a a time when he needed him most. 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? Huck means that no matter what, humans are always very mean to each other. He is expressing that it does not matter if you do what it right or what is wrong because people will always judge and try to put you down in some kind of way.
5.Why are Tom and Huck looking for a more difficult way to break Jim free? (Chapter 34) When Huck told his plan it was a good, sound, functioning plan that would have gotten Jim, Huck, and Tom out ok and safe.Tom agreed it would work, but he said it was took plain and not worth the while if they could not have any excitement or story worthiness. Toms plan was basically just to barge in and play it off from there. Huck thought this was very foolish because Tom actually had an identity and an identity to keep safe from foolery and other things that might soil his good nature, and the nature of his family and friends back home. Tom instead on helping and doing ti his way so there was no use in Huck arguing him. Tom ends up almost ruining the whole operation when they find Jim, but Tom is clever and got them out of situation.Chapters 36-40
In the process of breaking Jim free, what is Tom’s motivation? What is Huck’s motivation? (Why are they doing it?)
What do Huck and Tom mean when they say they “let on” about something? Why do they do this? (Begins on chapter 37)
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)
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?
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?
41- End
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?
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?
What do we learn about Tom from what he says when he wakes up after being treated for the gunshot wound (Chapter 42)?
You’ve finished the novel: Tell me, in three to four sentences, what you think of Huck.