Assessment+Questions

from **The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain**
 * __Assessment Questions__**

//1. Why did Twain include the "Notice" on the opening page?// -Twain included the Notice on the opening because he wanted to make a first impression on the readers to which he wanted it to seem kind of like a joke. It was an overview to how he wrote the book, which was lighthearted despite it concerning serious matters.

//2. Can the book's 43 chapters be grouped according to distinct action sequences? Are there correspondences among chapters or groups of chapters?// -The book's 43 chapters can be grouped according to distinct action sequences because after one event occurs, the next chapter can follow through and explain it a bit. Although there are a few chapters that didn't quite do that. It would just talk about something and that specific topic would just end there.

//3. Each stage of Huck's moral growth culminates in a crisis of conscience and a decision to assist Jim (as when Huck tells the two slave hunters that there is "only one" man on the raft and that "He's white"); and each decision is more consequential than the previous. What are these stages and decisions; when do they occur; and what are their consequences?// -As Huck begun to spend more time with Jim, the more he got to know him, he got a little more attached and considers him a close friend. These feelings of attachment occurs when Jim would save Huck's life or do things that are motherly towards him, because in a way Jim is the parent to Huck while they are on this adventure. The consequences would of course be Huck's internal battle to whether he should tell or not tell someone that he has the black slave that everyone is looking for.

//4. What are the consequences of Huck's and Jim's going past the mouth of the Ohio River in the fog? (Chapter XV)// -Huck and Jim gets separated and couldn't find their way back to each other because of the thick fog.

//5. Among the novel's great ironies is that Huck's and Jim's quest for freedom takes them farther and farther into the deep South, the heart of slavery. How and why does this happen? What are the implications?// -This happens because Huck and Jim missed their exit, and this leads to the hardships that they would have to face in order to acquire the freedom that they want.

//6. The primary movement of Huck's and Jim's journey and of the novel is linear, from north to south. A back-and-forth pattern of movement between river and shore also occurs. How is this pattern important in terms of plot? How is it related to the north-to-south movement? Does it reflect any other kind of movement experienced by Huck or Jim?// -The back-and-forth pattern movement occurs between the river and the story as well because the story would switch back and forth about various subjects.

//7. How do the king and the duke impact Huck's and Jim's life on the raft, their quest for freedom, and the novel's movement?// -With the king and the duke on the raft with them, Huck and Jim are forced into joining their odd escapades which leads them to trouble.

//8. What are the parallels between the king's and duke's treatment of Jim in Chapter XXIV and Tom Sawyer's treatment of him in the final chapters?// -The king and the duke treated Jim like a slave and seemed to have complete over the raft. Tom Sawyer's treatment towards Jim is the same, because Tom only saw Jim as a slave and nothing more.

//9. The cemetery passage in Chapter X XIX is one of the few times when Huck is in immediate danger of actual harm or death. What are some similar incidents? What threatens his safety and well-being in each instance--other people or forces of nature? How does he escape in each instance?// -Huck's own father, Pap had put him in various degrees of danger, because Pap was always drunk; he took pleasure in beating his son. The only way that he could escape was by faking his own death.

//10. Do the final chapters, beginning with Huck's arrival at the Phelps farm, rely too much on coincidence?// -Yes, it most definitely rely too much on coincidence, because out of all the families he could've ended up with, fate led him to Tom's aunt and uncle.

//11. Do Tom Sawyer's elaborate escape stratagems indicate that Jim's and Huck's goals are unobtainable?// -Tom Sawyer's escape stratagems seems a little far fetched to me. Not very safe really, and it made it seem even more unattainable.

//12. Is there any justice in the fact that only Tom is wounded in the final chase through the swamp?// -I felt that there were some justice in Tom being the only wounded one because I felt that it was cruel of him to string innocent people along for his own sick enjoyment.

//13. The story is told by a fourteen-year-old Huck, who admits to elaborate lies and fabrications. Can we trust him? Can we accept his version of things, or must we read between his lines?// -I think that we could trust him, because there is something innocent about a child's tale. Even though there are times when a child would want to exaggerate because they want to make it a little but more exciting there is still some truth in the story to keep us compelled.