Episode 5 - Chapter 17 & 18
The Feud
a. The river boat smashes the raft occupied by Huck and Jim
b. They continue on down the stream to find a family caught up in a feud
c. Huck creates the name Gorge Jaxon for himself, and attends church with the family
d. The family brings their guns to church and is constantly hunting each other
e. Huck decides he would be happier away from the feud, and decides to run
f. Huck and Jim Encounter two men who inexplicably are running from something
Episode 6 - Introduction to Duke & King Chapters 19 & 20
a. The men claim to be a king and duke, but cannot speak their foreign languages
b. They have been in America too long they say, but Huck quickly catches on that they are lying about their royalty
c. To avoid any discontent, Huck continues to treat them like royalty although he is aware of their fib
d. They begin acting out plays on the raft, even though they know nothing about them
e. The group talks about a play, naked the whole time on the raft
Episode 7 - Boggs and Arkansas Chapters 21, 22, & 23
a. The group arrives in Arkansas and encounters a group that enjoys torturing animals
b. Boggs, a seemingly rude threat, asks Huck if he is ready to die, but is only kidding.
c. Boggs is intoxicated yelling profanity to the Colonel Shurburn
d. So the Colonel decides he has had enough and shoots Boggs.
e. The group talks about a lynch in broad daylight of the Colonel, who then shares that they only want to do it because they are so succeptible to other people's opinions.
f. Huck sneaks into the circus and watches, which inspires him to create their own play
g. The play says in the flyer that children and women are not admitted.
h. The men who watch the play laugh, but then realized they were sold, and decide to come back the next day.
i. The next day the men come with rotten food to throw, and the group continues on down the raft
Friday, January 24, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Huckleberry Finn Questions Continued
13. Huck and Jim's manner of dress on the raft is symbolic. What do clothes represent?
Clothes represent conformity to society which is why Twain depicts Huck and Jim naked
14. Why doesn't Huck expose the Duke and the King (Dauphin) as frauds?
He figures that if they want to be treated that way then so be it to avoid any conflict on the raft.
15. Who is the most shrewd, the King and the Duke or Huck? Why? Give some examples.
Huck, he is quick to catch on the the lies that the king and duke create. He also has at least three stories about the origin of himself and Jim.
16. What does Twain satirize in the plan to present Romeo and Juliet? Discuss Romeo and Juliet as a motif. He uses two men who claim to be a king and duke to act out a play.
17. Discuss the significance of the pirate and the revival meeting. What is Twain satirizing?
How religion is sometimes ridiculous and can convince people to to regretful thinks not considering the consequences.
18. Is Twain making a statement about society through the antics of the King and Duke? Explain.
Yes, he is emphasizing how many people are willing to be evil for their personal good.
Clothes represent conformity to society which is why Twain depicts Huck and Jim naked
14. Why doesn't Huck expose the Duke and the King (Dauphin) as frauds?
He figures that if they want to be treated that way then so be it to avoid any conflict on the raft.
15. Who is the most shrewd, the King and the Duke or Huck? Why? Give some examples.
Huck, he is quick to catch on the the lies that the king and duke create. He also has at least three stories about the origin of himself and Jim.
16. What does Twain satirize in the plan to present Romeo and Juliet? Discuss Romeo and Juliet as a motif. He uses two men who claim to be a king and duke to act out a play.
17. Discuss the significance of the pirate and the revival meeting. What is Twain satirizing?
How religion is sometimes ridiculous and can convince people to to regretful thinks not considering the consequences.
18. Is Twain making a statement about society through the antics of the King and Duke? Explain.
Yes, he is emphasizing how many people are willing to be evil for their personal good.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Huck Finn Study Questions
1. Discuss the
significance of the fog incident and Jim's interpretation of it. "The
lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome
people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded our business and
didn't talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out
of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and
wouldn't have no more trouble" (64). Consider the major themes as well
as foreshadowing.
Huck does not think much of it until later on when he realizes he is being cruel to Jim. Huck being cruel and not realizing the harshness of the situation is a foreshadow to him later feeling bad about the things he has done to Jim.
2. How does Huck feel about playing the trick on Jim? Comment: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). How does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the novel?
Even though Huck had to work himself up to apologize to Jim, he did not actually feel sorry. It symbolizes how black people are viewed as not humans but slaves.
3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:
"Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).
Huck is illegally helping a slave escape freedom and he cannot clear his conscience because of it.
"Here was this nigger which I as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm." (67). Explain the irony in this quote as well as the significance.
"Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" (69).
What is the point of going to school to get an education when you could do illegal things instead and still make the same amount of money.
"Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid its work." (70).
Jim thinks that all blacks are unlucky, probably due to slavery, after his encounter with a rattlesnake that bites him.
4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?
5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?
6. Speculate on why Twain put Huckleberry Finn aside for a few years at the end of XVI?
He personally did not like it and thought it was not within his literal ability.
7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?
It is decorated with the art of their dead daughter, Emily. That they miss their daughter.
8. The first part of Chapter XVII reveals an example of the theme of Huck playing on Buck's gullibility. Discuss this example as well as other examples of the novel's major themes evident in Chapters XVI & XVII.
Gullibility is throughout the novel mainly by Huck's convincing of strangers that his entire family is dead. He is mocking the gullibility of society by portraying a character that tells ridiculous stories that are often believed.
9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.
He does not fully understand riddles, and finds simple solutions to other problems
10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?
Everyone brings their guns to church at which a sermon is given about brotherly love and that people forget true meaning of religion.
11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss.
Hatfield and McCoy's, he is mocking common human behavior and how ridiculous it seemingly can be.
12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain.
It resembles freedom from an oppressive society, on the raft, Huck and Jim both feel as if they are free. The raft for them, resembles freedom
Huck does not think much of it until later on when he realizes he is being cruel to Jim. Huck being cruel and not realizing the harshness of the situation is a foreshadow to him later feeling bad about the things he has done to Jim.
2. How does Huck feel about playing the trick on Jim? Comment: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). How does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the novel?
Even though Huck had to work himself up to apologize to Jim, he did not actually feel sorry. It symbolizes how black people are viewed as not humans but slaves.
3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:
"Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).
Huck is illegally helping a slave escape freedom and he cannot clear his conscience because of it.
"Here was this nigger which I as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm." (67). Explain the irony in this quote as well as the significance.
"Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" (69).
What is the point of going to school to get an education when you could do illegal things instead and still make the same amount of money.
"Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid its work." (70).
Jim thinks that all blacks are unlucky, probably due to slavery, after his encounter with a rattlesnake that bites him.
4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?
5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?
6. Speculate on why Twain put Huckleberry Finn aside for a few years at the end of XVI?
He personally did not like it and thought it was not within his literal ability.
7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?
It is decorated with the art of their dead daughter, Emily. That they miss their daughter.
8. The first part of Chapter XVII reveals an example of the theme of Huck playing on Buck's gullibility. Discuss this example as well as other examples of the novel's major themes evident in Chapters XVI & XVII.
Gullibility is throughout the novel mainly by Huck's convincing of strangers that his entire family is dead. He is mocking the gullibility of society by portraying a character that tells ridiculous stories that are often believed.
9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.
He does not fully understand riddles, and finds simple solutions to other problems
10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?
Everyone brings their guns to church at which a sermon is given about brotherly love and that people forget true meaning of religion.
11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss.
Hatfield and McCoy's, he is mocking common human behavior and how ridiculous it seemingly can be.
12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain.
It resembles freedom from an oppressive society, on the raft, Huck and Jim both feel as if they are free. The raft for them, resembles freedom
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Huck Finn Episodes Summary
Episode 1: Tom's Gang (chapters 1-4)
a. Huck and Tom want to be a gang
b. They talk about murdering people, but only pretend to
c. They share stories about robbing gypsies who are rich but they actually turn out to be a group of Sunday school children
Episode 2: Huck and Pap (chapters 5-7)
a.Huck escapes his alcoholic abusive father who has basically imprisoned him in a cabin and floats up the river to Jackson island.
b. He then stages his own death hoping his father will not come looking for him.
c. Huck gives money he has acquired to Judge Thatcher to prevent his father from stealing it and spending it on whiskey.
Episode 3: Jackson Islands (chapters 8-11)
a. Huck and Jim run off to the islands seeking Jim's freedom
b. They come across a flooded house with a murdered man inside
c. They then rummage the house and take whatever they please, assuming the dead man will not mind
d. Huck runs off to St. Petersburg
e. Disguised as a girl, Huck encounters a woman who shares that her husband is looking for Jim.
Episode 4: Huck and Jim on the River (chapters 12-16)
a. Huck and Jim continue down the river to encounter a group of gangsters on a boat
b. Two of which have subdued their accomplice who has not paid his fair share of loot
c. They continue on after being cut loose, and Huck boards a different raft that is holding dancing men
d. The men share stories of a haunted barrel that is seemingly following them
e. One man jumps into the water and opens the barrel, finding a small dead infant.
f. Dick Allbright confesses that it is his child and the barrel has followed him ever since he strangled his child not intending to kill it
h. Huck then encounters men who ask who is on the raft
i. Knowing that Jim is on the boat, he shares that it is his father who has small pox
f. The men leave and tell Huck to be on his way
a. Huck and Tom want to be a gang
b. They talk about murdering people, but only pretend to
c. They share stories about robbing gypsies who are rich but they actually turn out to be a group of Sunday school children
Episode 2: Huck and Pap (chapters 5-7)
a.Huck escapes his alcoholic abusive father who has basically imprisoned him in a cabin and floats up the river to Jackson island.
b. He then stages his own death hoping his father will not come looking for him.
c. Huck gives money he has acquired to Judge Thatcher to prevent his father from stealing it and spending it on whiskey.
Episode 3: Jackson Islands (chapters 8-11)
a. Huck and Jim run off to the islands seeking Jim's freedom
b. They come across a flooded house with a murdered man inside
c. They then rummage the house and take whatever they please, assuming the dead man will not mind
d. Huck runs off to St. Petersburg
e. Disguised as a girl, Huck encounters a woman who shares that her husband is looking for Jim.
Episode 4: Huck and Jim on the River (chapters 12-16)
a. Huck and Jim continue down the river to encounter a group of gangsters on a boat
b. Two of which have subdued their accomplice who has not paid his fair share of loot
c. They continue on after being cut loose, and Huck boards a different raft that is holding dancing men
d. The men share stories of a haunted barrel that is seemingly following them
e. One man jumps into the water and opens the barrel, finding a small dead infant.
f. Dick Allbright confesses that it is his child and the barrel has followed him ever since he strangled his child not intending to kill it
h. Huck then encounters men who ask who is on the raft
i. Knowing that Jim is on the boat, he shares that it is his father who has small pox
f. The men leave and tell Huck to be on his way
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Huck Finn Questions
1. What kind of men do Huck and Jim find on the steamboat? Why are the men there?
They find gangsters who rob and murder people. They are there to kill an accomplice who has been taking more than is fair share.
2. What is the name of the boat Huck and Jim land on? Why is this funny?
Hookerville,
3. Discuss the difference between "real" adventures and Tom's adventures?
Tom's adventures involved pretending to rob and murder people, whereas the real ones that they are involved in they are actually witnessing gang work and real murders.
4. What is the plan once they reach Cairo?
To turn Jim in as a runaway.
They find gangsters who rob and murder people. They are there to kill an accomplice who has been taking more than is fair share.
2. What is the name of the boat Huck and Jim land on? Why is this funny?
Hookerville,
3. Discuss the difference between "real" adventures and Tom's adventures?
Tom's adventures involved pretending to rob and murder people, whereas the real ones that they are involved in they are actually witnessing gang work and real murders.
4. What is the plan once they reach Cairo?
To turn Jim in as a runaway.
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