Reading+Questions+for+Huckleberry+Finn

for //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// by Mark Twain
 * Comprehension & Discussion Questions**

1. Why did Twain include the "Notice" on the opening page? Mark Twain most liking included the “Notice” in the opening page to make a direct reference to one of his other novels, and to make it clear that these characters as the same as in //The Adventures of Tom Sawyer//. This also makes the distinction that, acting as a sequel, this novel is about Huck Finn.

2. Can the book's 43 chapters be grouped according to distinct action sequences? Are there correspondences among chapters or groups of chapters? Most of the chapters are divided with specific events or parts of Huck’s story. This makes it easier for the reader to follow and understand the novel. However, Huck does make references to previous chapters. The chapters are broken up in that one chapter sets the premise, background, and setting for the action in the next chapter. This efficiently makes the scenes easier to comprehend.

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? The first decision Huck makes is to travel with Jim and untimately protect him, a runaway slave. Huck has been given several opportunities to abandon him, but feels morally tied to him with the more humanly traits he sees. When Huck goes to the G- family, he might have left Jim there, but continues to travel with him. He also tells the duke and the dauphin that Jim is a runaway, and they consequently print a "reward" ad for his finding.

4. What are the consequences of Huck's and Jim's going past the mouth of the Ohio River in the fog? (Chapter XV) When Huck and Jim go past the mouth of the Ohio River in the fog, they ruin their plan of selling things and getting on a steamboat. This is ultimately a trick by Huck on Jim to make him believe that Huck had not left the canoe. They end up heading to the South, the core of the institution of slavery. The city they missed was Cairo.

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? It is ironical that they travel further to the south, as Jim is trying to escape slavery. The two didn't quite appear to know where they were heading, or what they were heading to, other than heading to the North for freedom. The implications of this are that both are not the brightest of individuals, but they also must face the heads of the institution (the slave-master) somewhere along their travels.

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 paralleling movement of North to South and shore to water is reflective of the contrasting ways and customs of the North and South. The reader sees entirely contrasted methods of survival on the water and on the shore. The water, is indicative of the South, the atmosphere Huck and Jim are far more acquainted with and accustomed to. The events and happenings on land make a representation of the North; unpredictable.

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? The king and the duke are con artists who make life and the adventures of Jim and Huck far more interesting. They are a constant threat in exposing that the two are runaways, and force the two to partake in their devious actions. They con a religious group, an audience, and the family of one who just died.

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, like Tom, merely use Jim for their own personal gain. For the criminal duo, it was for economic gain with the posters, while Tom Sawyer used Jim in creating a novel to bring him glory. He used him and Huck in his seemingly unneccessary directions for making Jim (but mostly himself) a glorified hero.

9. The cemetery passage in Chapter XXIX 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? In the novel, other people primarily jeopardize the well-being of Huck. For the most part, Jim is a constant threat as he is helping a runaway. The king and the duke are the msot frightening, as they almost hold Huck and Jim captive in working for them. The other predominant threatening figure in the novel is Pap. He physically abused Huck and stole from him. All of these situations, excepting Jim, Huck escaped from by running away. he does not give up on Jim as he sees that Jim is a good person, a "white man" at heart. He decides to "go to hell" and free his friend.

10. Do the final chapters, beginning with Huck's arrival at the Phelps farm, rely too much on coincidence? The entire premise of the ending does rely too much on coincidence. The farm turning out to be his best friends' uncle and aunt, and they are coincidentally expecting him at the time, makes the ending a little far-fetched, but reinforces that its a small world.

11. Do Tom Sawyer's elaborate escape stratagems indicate that Jim's and Huck's goals are unobtainable? Sawyer's escape strategems emphasize the fact that he is a romantic and very passionate about how things are to be done. It makes the story much more poetic, but does nothing to actually assist in the goal of freeing Jim. The goal was not unobtainable, but seemed to be more complicated with the new stratagems.

12. Is there any justice in the fact that only Tom is wounded in the final chase through the swamp? Tom has been depicted as a "devil child" throughout the novel and that he is a source of evil among the boys. It may serve justice as he was only using Jim for a good story and he wanted recognition for it (showed by him wearing the bullet from his wound later on). This may be the reason that Twain had only him get caught by the mobs' rifles.

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? Huck does admit that he elaborates lies and fabrications, but the reader must believe and trust his accounts as he is the only person relating the story. He is speaking to an audience in confidence through this novel, and thereby should give an accurate account of all the events in the novel.

P5 MKunert