The+Reading+Questions


 * 1. Why did Twain include the "Notice" on the opening page?**

He included it in the opening to provide a sort of comic relief or to give an insight to the author’s personality and style of writing the book. Because the book dealt with such controversial issues as slavery, the beginning was just a way of letting the reader know that the author was a joker and not all that the book says should be taken seriously.


 * 2. Can the book's 43 chapters be grouped according to distinct action sequences? Are there correspondences among chapters or groups of chapters?**

If there should be any grouping of the chapters, it might only be of the characters and their involvement in the chapter. For example, all the chapters concentrated on Jim can be grouped together as the other chapters can be grouped also according to the subject matter.


 * 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?**

These stages would probably consist of his ignorance to the idea of helping a black slave, his enlightenment in the notion that slaves are people as well, and the complete acceptance that there can be a relationship with a “nigger” even when they are not slaves or employees. These stages take time and experience with slaves and they can often lead to the realization that slaves are also humans and they too should receive equal care.


 * 4. What are the consequences of Huck's and Jim's going past the mouth of the Ohio River in the fog? (Chapter XV)**

After encountering the fog, Huck and Jim become separated and the next morning after reuniting, Huck tells Jim that he was only dreaming and they had been together that night. Jim on the other hand is not at all pleased by the prank and becomes upset, afterwards, Huck feels so ashamed at his doings that he apologizes to Jim.


 * 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?**

They encounter a lot of hardships along the way which ultimately lead them in that direction but I think it might have happened just to show the diversity in the relationship between Huck and Jim, a white boy and a black man. The fact that they keep moving into the hands of slavery, just shows that an idea was that both of them working together was not exactly successful or functioning in a positive manner.


 * 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?**

It just shows how the plot is a great mixture of causes and effects. Nothing really goes according to plan or in an organized manner and that could just show the overall chaos in the book. It relates to the north and south because of their continuous quarrels and incessant need to be at odds. Huck and Jim at first realize the need they have to work together and work as one and that didn’t happen for a long time with the North and South.


 * 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?**

If anything at all, they make life on the raft a little bit more interesting and it just causes more preoccupations for Huck and Jim who are enough trouble as is. By having them there, it just made it a little harder to work because the two new members just made for new worries and more of a chance of 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?**

King and Duke treat Jim as a sort of tool for getting what they wanted. If anything was to be done, it was Jim who was put up to it, sometimes to humiliating circumstances. Tom on the other hand begins to treat Jim with a little more respect considering the cooperation he gave in their escape and likewise.


 * 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?**

Well in most of the novel he is in danger, but in this particular instance is more dangerous due to the actual physical contact with other people and the risk he places himself in by actually doing a con in the presence of others. There is more of a risk with people than in other times. The other time when he is at this much risk, is when he is in contact with his father and endured all the physical abuse. Somehow he manages to escape, but only with the help of his fellow trouble-makers and by boat.


 * 10. Do the final chapters, beginning with Huck's arrival at the Phelps farm, rely too much on coincidence?**

I believe they do rely on coincidence a bit much but they carry the ending of the story well on their own. It does contain somewhat of an irony and recurrence, but overall not too many similarities appear to mess up the ending.


 * 11. Do Tom Sawyer's elaborate escape stratagems indicate that Jim's and Huck's goals are unobtainable?**

Not really, it’s just that Tom had more of a schemer’s mind and Jim and Huck didn’t go that far and take it to too much of an extreme. They had more to lose than Tom, who was just determined to fight the man and other forms of authority.


 * 12. Is there any justice in the fact that only Tom is wounded in the final chase through the swamp?**

I do believe that there is justice because although through the book the reader might gain some compassion towards him, he is in fact a criminal and has messed with a lot of things. It would be considered an injustice if only Jim was wounded, but I believe that it was justified because he did cause trouble.


 * 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?**

We can trust him, because someone who reveals himself, as he did, already will have no problem in admitting other things, he’s really got nothing to lose. Can we trust him? Yes. Is he hiding some things? Most likely, but that doesn’t mean we distrust. We have to think in his circumstances and through his experiences, because otherwise we can’t understand.

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