THE STORY SO FAR…

1. THE STORY SO FAR… The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2. CHAPTER 1 • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer • Huck and Tom find $6000 each • Huck lives with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson because they are going to “civilize” him • Hypocritical: Widow Douglas disapproves of smoking but she smokes snuff • The adults are too strict; Huck wants to be free • Huck accidently kills a spider • Superstition: bad luck will occur (foreshadowing) • Huck sneaks out from Widow Douglas’s house • Onomatopoeia: me-yow me-yow

3. STUDY QUESTIONS 1 • Summarize briefly Huck’s review of the end of Tom Sawyer’s story. • Who is actually more irritating to Huck than the widow? • What omen does Huck receive that the adventures beginning may be bad or dangerous? • Why doesn’t Huck care about “Moses and the Bulrushers”? • Why does Huck decide he wants to go to the bad place?

4. CHAPTER 2 • Tom plays a joke on Jim, Miss Watson’s slave • Puts Jim’s hat on a tree • Superstition: Jim blames it on witches • Tom creates “Tom Sawyer’s Gang” • Tom is bossy, leader, violent (child but acts like an adult) • Tom is imaginative, dreamer vs Huck is realistic • Huck offers Miss Watson as family (sacrifice) if he tells the gang’s secrets • Huck does not like Miss Watson much

5. STUDY QUESTIONS 2 • Who does Huck offer as his “family” that may be killed if he should reveal the secret of the gang? • What does it mean to “ransom” captives? • How does Jim account for his hat being hung on a tree limb and the nickel being left on the table?

6. CHAPTER 3 • Miss Watson is strict with Huck but Widow Douglas is more caring • Huck prefers Widow Douglas’s Providence • Huck wants to go to hell to be away from Miss Watson and to be with Tom • Huck does not understand prayer/ religion • Religion does not help him to live everyday life (not realistic) • Superstition: Huck walks under a ladder • Townspeople believe that Pap drowned but Huck does not believe it • Huck has good instinct • The Tom Sawyer Gang resign because nothing happens

7. STUDY QUESTIONS 3 • Whose idea of Providence does Huck prefer? • What has become of Huck’s father? • What happens to the gang of robbers?

8. CHAPTER 4 • Huck finds a footprint • Foreshadowing: looks like Pap’s boot tracks • Huck is intelligent: “sells” his money to Judge Thatcher • Jim tells Huck a fortune with a hairball • Superstition • Symbolism: black angel and white angel • Huck comes home and finds Pap in his room

9. STUDY QUESTIONS 4 • Why does Huck want Judge Thatcher to take all his money? • What is a hairball and what properties does it have? • What does Jim say that the hairball tells him? • What does Huck find when he returns to his room?

10. CHAPTER 5 • Pap is dirty, hairy, and pale white • A drunkard (alcoholic) • Needs money to buy more drinks • Huck dislikes Pap • The new judge wants Huck to live with Pap • The law cannot/does not protect the weak and innocent • The new judge tries to reform/change Pap • Pap pretends he is changed (superficial, fake) • Takes advantage of a good-doer for money

11. STUDY QUESTIONS 5 • What has Huck’s father come for? • What is Pap’s “new life,” and how long does it last? • What kind of man is Huck’s father? What would he be called today? How does Huck react to him?

12. CHAPTER 6 • Pap wants Huck to quit school • Does not want his son to be better than him • Connection to race • Kidnaps Huck and takes him upriver • Pap’s beatings are too much and Huck decides to escape • Pap gets extremely drunk and blames the government (gov’t) for his problems • Racism: Angry at the positive treatment of African Americans • Foreshadowing: calls Huck the “Angel of Death”

13. CHAPTER 7 • Huck finds a drifting canoe • Huck is resourceful • Huck escapes • Takes food and supplies and puts them in the canoe • Fakes his own death by killing a wild pig and using its blood -> does not want people to look for him • Show’s Huck’s intelligence • Goes to Jackson’s Island

14. CHAPTER 8 • Huck realizes that people are looking for his dead body • Superstition: fill a loaf of bread with quicksilver (poison) to find a drowned body • Hypocrisy of the townspeople • Huck finds Jim • Jim ran away because Miss Watson is planning sell him for $800 • Racism/ Slavery

15. CHAPTER 9 • There is a large storm • Jim’s prediction in chapter 8 comes true • Religion vs. Superstition • Huck and Jim find a house floating and a dead body inside • Jim won’t let Huck see the body • Jim as an adult figure • Compare to Pap, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, Townspeople

16. STUDY QUESTIONS 5-9 • Why does Pap yell at Huck for becoming civilized? • What was Huck’s plan to escape from his father? • What purpose does Huck’s death serve? • Why is Jim on Jackson’s island?

17. CHAPTER 10 • Jim tells Huck that it is bad luck to touch a snake • Superstition • Huck plays a prank on Jim • Jim gets bitten by a snake and is sick for days • Huck feels bad, grows compassion towards Jim • Huck realizes the danger of defying superstition and Jim’s knowledge • Huck disguises as a girl to hear of the town news

18. CHAPTER 11 • Huck introduces himself as “Sarah Williams from Hookerville” • Hears news about his “death” • Jim is suspected of murdering Huck $300 reward • Pap is suspected of murdering Huck $200 reward • Men are going to hunt Jim to get the money • Huck and Jim leave Jackson Island

19. CHAPTER 12 • Huck and Jim continue down the river • Peaceful and easygoing • Symbolism: weather and nature • The two find a steamboat caught on a rock from a storm and decide to explore • Two men on the ship have tied down another man and are threatening him • Compare to Tom’s pretend gang of robbers • When Huck tries to prevent the men from escaping, Jim finds that the raft has floated away • Huck and Jim are scared but still trying to do good

20. CHAPTER 13 • Huck and Jim find the raft again • Steals provisions from the gang • Begins to storm • “I begun to worry about the men… I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix” (p72). • Huck creates an elaborate story to tell the watchman about the steamboat • Steamboat is named the Walter Scott • Ferryman hurries to the rescue for a “reward”

21. CHAPTER 14 • Huck and Jim share knowledge • Friendship, partnership • “Well, he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head, for a nigger” (p76). • “I read considerable to Jim about kings, and dukes, and earls and such” (p76).

22. Huck and Jim decide that they do not take stock in King Sollermun’s(Solomon) wisdom • King Solomon is supposed to be the wisest man alive (bible) • They (kings) just sit around, whack heads off, keeps harems • “A harem’s a bo’d’n-house, I reck’n” (p77).

23. STUDY QUESTIONS 10-14 • What is in the two story house that floats by Jackson’s Island? • Why does Huck dress as a girl to go ashore? What does he find out? • What is the name of the ship in which Huck and Jim find murderers? • What do we learn about Jim from his talking about “King Sollermun”?

24. CHAPTER 15 • Huck and Jim are going towards Cairo, Illinois where they can go up the Ohio River to the free states • Bad weather: fog separates Huck and Jim • When they find each other, Jim is extremely happy to see Huck again but Huck plays a prank on Jim • Huck pretends that their separation was a dream and confuses Jim

25. When Huck tells the truth, Jim says that cruel tricks are like “trash” and it should make friends ashamed • “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger – but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither” (87).

26. CHAPTER 16 • “Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom” (88). • “Well, I can tell you it made me all over 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” (88). • Huck’s internal conflict: struggles with his shame of helping a slave escape

27. Huck decides to turn Jim in but changes his mind when Jim calls him his “bes’ fren’” (90) • Huck lies to slave hunters so that Jim would not be found • What do the slave hunters and the townspeople have in common? • Is Huck a moral or an immoral person? • Huck and Jim discover that they passed Cairo in the fog • A steamboat wrecks the raft and the two are separated again

28. CHAPTER 17 • Huck arrives at an impressive house owned by the Grangerford family • Grangerfords are hospitable to Huck once they check that he is not a member of the Shepherdson family • The Grangerfords have a son named Buck • Similar age, close friends • Wants to kill a Shepherdson

29. CHAPTER 18 • Colonel Grangerford: gentleman, aristocrat, kind • What does he represent? • Easy person in the Grangerford family has his/her own slave • Grangerfords and Shepherdsons are feuding • Killing one another • No one remembers the reason • The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons go to church and learn about brotherly love • Everyone is carrying a gun

30. Huck finds Jim hiding behind some trees with their raft • Miss Sophia Grangerford and young Harney Shepherdson run away together • The two families shoot at one another • People die including Buck • Huck and Jim run away • “It made me so sick” (116) • “there warn’t no home like a raft” (117) • Twain shows the foolishness of humans

31. STUDY QUESTIONS 15-18 • What trick does Huck play on Jim? • Why doesn’t Huck turn Jim in? • Describe the difference between Huck and the slave hunters. • Why did Twain include this adventure with the Grangerfords?

32. CHAPTER 19 • Huck helps two men who are chased by men on horses with dogs • What does this show you about Huck? • Huck and Jim could have been in the same situation if the townspeople found them on Jackson Island or if the slave hunters found Jim (chapter 16) • The older man (70years old) was selling fake toothpaste and the younger man (30years old) was collecting money to support prohibition although he was drinking secretly. • The men trick the townspeople for money • The townspeople are foolish and gullible for falling for their tricks

33. The two con men decide to work together • The younger man says that he is the Duke of Bridgewater • Duke: high class, just below the king • The older man then says that he is the Dauphin, the King of France • Huck knows that the men are liars but do not say anything • Why?

34. CHAPTER 20 • The duke and the king ask if Jim is a runaway slave • Huck pretends that Jim is his slave • Why does he lie? • The duke and king take Jim and Huck’s beds • How do the duke and king treat people? • Huck and Jim have to be lookouts but Jim takes over when Huck is too sleepy • Jim takes care of Huck and protects him • Friendship, parent figure

35. In Pokeville, Huck and the king go to a religious meeting where the people are praying and singing so hard that they were “just wild and crazy” • As Huck and Jim go further south, the people they meet are more wild, savage, intense, prejudiced • They cannot see the truth because of their stubborn beliefs and prejudice

36. SITUATIONAL IRONY • The duke has an idea on how to travel without interruptions: he makes a sign with a picture of a runaway slave and “$200 reward,” then ties Jim with ropes so they can pretend that they caught him for the reward money • Situational irony: What is expected to happen and what actually happens do not match • Jim is actually a real runaway slave • Jim has to pretend to be caught to be free • There is actually a reward for Jim

37. CHAPTER 21 • The duke and the king practice their Shakespearean play “Shakspearean Revival” • Mark Twain also alludes to Romeo and Juliet during the GrangerfordvsSheperdson feud • The duke and the king do not know Shakespeare well • What kind of people watch/read Shakespeare? • The town they are in is run down, neglected, and caving in • Shakespeare represents Romanticism while the run down town represents reality

38. Colonel Sherburn shoots a drunk man named Boggs in front of Boggs’s daughter • Boggs: ordinary man, rude, without manners, ignorant • Col. Sherburn: high class, civilized gentleman, unfair power, law, without sympathy • Townspeople: watch Boggs’ death, superficial, without morals, cowardice

39. Somebody argues that Sherburn should be lynched and everyone agrees • Mob mentality: people act differently in a group because they do not want to go against the crowd • The townspeople become violent • Sherburn says that the people are cowards because they would not be brave without the mob • Huck goes to see a circus • People enjoy seeing a drunk man trying to hold on to a bucking horse -> cruel, selfish, violent • Huck is scared to see the danger