Huckleberry+Finn+Analysis+Questions

Mark Twain included the “Notice” on the opening page to make sure that the reader undrstands the fact that this book has no deeper meaning than what is written on the pages. He is not incorporating into the story any particular moral or any deeper meaning. The story is just a story, an event in history, made up or true, it is just a story for people to read and enjoy. Yes, most of the chapters flow thoroughly, but then there is some seperation of the chapters into different types of scenes. For example, you could have the chapters that involved the farm, the island, and when Jim was floating on the river. Well, despite the fact that Huck chooses to continue to lie and help Jim in his escape, he bipasses his moral judgement and does what he feels is needed. He also continues to help Jim despite the fact that he feels that he is going to go to hell. He does not completely understand hell at this point in his life. An event that occurs is when Huck has a fake bounty placed on Jim’s head so that he could take Jim through the slave states without being questioned or hassled about being a slave or not. A conseuence of going past the mouth of the river in the fog is that Jim and Huck get seperated from each other. After a while of being seperated though, Huck reunites with a sleeping Jim, and then Huck tries to make Jim think that he was sleeping and dreaming up the whole experience the whole time. This happens, because Jim and Huck are not the smartest of people, and they think that they are traveling North, away from slavery. This may have happended, because the author is trying to make a final battle or meeting with slavery as a person. The implications of this, is what Mark Twain would see as the final clash over the right of slavery in the United States. This pattern shows how Jim and Huck are constantly on the move in order to avaid being caught by others looking for Jim, to recapture and send him back into slavery. It shows how their escape attempt intensifies as they pass from the north into the south. This movement type represents the clash over slavery, where people are moving back and forth from shore, not really making any progress, but continually trying in secret. Which happens to be the same as in the time period of the United States with slavery at the time. They impacted their lives completely, by creating a fake bounty for Jim’s head, it allowed for Huck and Jim to pass through any and all of the slave states in order to not be stopped. So Huck could act as the one who had caught Jim and could pretend to be taking him back to his owner. This causes their lives on the raft to be that much easier, their quest for freedom to be less stressful, and the novel’s progression to be less dramatic, due to the decreased danger. The king and the duke treat Jim and Huck with the utmost respect and try to help them as much as they possible can. They end up making their trip less stressful and a lot easier. Then at the end of the book it is found that Tom Sawyer has been playing Jim and Huck for a long time. He knew that Jim had been freed with the death of his previous owner, but he did not tell Jim or Huck. In this manner, he has Jim and Huck continuing to look for Jim’s freedom, even though he already has it. Tom treats Jim with about a little more respect than a slave. Another incident where Huck is in danger of being hurt, is when he is around his dad, Pap, who happens to be drunk all of the time and beats him constantly. He also steels from him all of the time. In this instance he escapes with his life by running away from his dad. Then finnaly he does not have to run from his dad anymore, because he turns up dead. He usually didn’t have to run away from his father, because he was usually never around. Yes, it does rely too much on coincidence. The Phelps just happen to be Tom’s relatives, and they just happen to think that Huck is Tom. They also happened to be expecting Tom at the time. This is just too many coincidences to happen at the same time. Twain must be trying to emphasize the point that it is a small world. No, it just shows how Tom is a radical thinker, and immature at that. He does not care for the outcome of Jim’s life, which is shown in the final chapters of the book. He is only looking for an adventure, a good time. Jim’s life is not of any value to him. Yes, there is justice, because Tom is the one who has been leading Jim and Huck on this long trip in order to free Jim. Despite the fact that Tom knows that Jim has been already freed when his master died. In a way, it could be seen that this incident is Karma. Tom leads Jim and Huck on a wild goose chase, and in return he gets injured while running through a swap. Huck lies a lot through out the book, and it can be seen that he is a rather good one at that. So, we can not trust him, we must read between the lines. We must go and find outside information on the subject on which he is talking about in order to determine if he is telling the truth or not.
 * 1) **Why did Twain include the "Notice" on the opening page?**
 * 1) **Can the book's 43 chapters be grouped according to distinct action sequences? Are there correspondences among chapters or groups of chapters?**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **What are the consequences of Huck's and Jim's going past the mouth of the Ohio River in the fog? (Chapter XV)**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **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?**
 * 1) **Do the final chapters, beginning with Huck's arrival at the Phelps farm, rely too much on coincidence?**
 * 1) **Do Tom Sawyer's elaborate escape stratagems indicate that Jim's and Huck's goals are unobtainable?**
 * 1) **Is there any justice in the fact that only Tom is wounded in the final chase through the swamp?**
 * 1) **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?**

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