AE Cont Comp, Per 2

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Study Questions Chapters 24-33

Chapters 24-28

     1. What new plan does the Duke come up with for traveling in daylight with Jim?

2. What new identity does the “king” take on? How does he pick up details about the recently deceased Peter Wilks? Why?
3. How do the “King and Duke” convince almost everyone that they are the brothers of the late Peter Wilks? Are they good fakers – or is it just that everyone is gullible? Why does the Duke say, “Goo-goo... like a baby that can't talk?
4. Why does the Duke suggest adding money to the bag of gold?
5. Why does Huck steal the bag of gold? Would he have done it if he hadn't liked Mary Jane? Trace the sequence of events that leads to the unearthing of the casket.
6. How can you tell that the King is even greedier than the Duke? Why doesn't the King feel badly about auctioning off every last bit of the orphaned girl's property? Do you think he really expects to get it back?
7. What property do the girls feel worst about losing? Why doesn't Huck feel as badly as they do about the fact that the slaves' families are being divided?
8. Why does Huck tell Miss Mary Jane the truth? To what plan does she agree? Is this a good idea?
9. Why is this chapter called “Overreaching Don't Pay”? Would the King and Duke be better oof if they hadn't held the auction?

Chapters 29-33

1. Do you think the two strangers are the real heirs? Do most of the townspeople? Why does it look suspicious that one brother has his arm in a sling?
2. Why is it that neither of the men who claim to be Harvey Wilks have handwriting that matches that on the letters from England?
3. Why is the body dug up? How does Huck escape? How does Huck escape? What would probably have happened to him otherwise?
4. How does the gold “save the thieves”? What did the robbers originally think while everyone is rushing to look at the gold? What do they think now? Are you surprised that they aren't shrewd enough to figure out the truth?
5. How do the King and Duke begin to “work” the villages again? Are they successful? How do Huck and Jim feel about the scams the King and Duke plan?
6. Why does Huck still feel guilty about Jim? Why does he try to pray? Why can't he “pray a lie”?
7. Why does Huck write the letter to Miss Watson? Why doesn't he mail it?
8. Why has Jim disappeared? How does Huck figure out where he is? Why does Huck take on a new name?
9. What happens to the King and Duke? How does Huck feel about it?
10. The grotesque, basically an American genre, describes special types of writing, characters, subjects characterized by distortions of the natural and a merging of the comic and tragic. The purposes of the grotesque may be humorous, moral seriousness, commentary on human beings as animals, satire, or social commentary.
    What elements of the grotesque do you find in Huck? (e.g. Huck praying, the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons – Chapters 17 and 18.