AE Contemporary Composition, Per. 2

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

Study Questions - DUE MONDAY, 11 February 2013

Chapters 1-7

1. Who is the narrator? How did he end up staying with the widow Douglas? How did his friend, Tom, convince him to come back after running away?
2. What does Huck think of the widow? How does he feel about her Bible stories and her her snuff? Why do you suppose she has taken him in? What would you do if he were in your care?
3. Who is Miss Watson? How is she like her sister? How is she different? Why doesn't Huck like Miss Watson? How does she make him feel?
4. How can you tell that Huck is superstitious? What are three of the strangest superstitions he believes?
5. Who is Jim? What trick does Tom play on him? What is the result?
6. Why does Tom Sawyer's Gang form? What sort of oath do they swear?Are they a dangerous gang? Who are the “A-rabs” that the gang “ambucades”? Where does the gang get the ideas for its adventures?
7. What is the hair-ball oracle? Does Jim's prediction for Huck come true? What kinds of similar fortune-telling do we have today?
8. How does Huck feel about seeing his father again? Why? Why don't the courts protect Huck? Would they protect him better today? How does Pap deceive the new judge?
9. Why does Pap try to kill Huck? How does Huck fool him and get away?
10. What is the setting at the outset of the novel?
11. What is the story about Moses and the “Bulrushers” that the widow tells Huck (the answer is not found in the book)

Chapters 8-13

12. How does Huck end up with a nice loaf of bread? What does he mean when he says there's something to praying, “but it don't work for me”?
13. Why has Jim run away? How does Huck feel when he sees Jim? How does he “spare” Jim – and why?
14. Where do Jim and Huck find a dead man? Why won't Jim let Huck look at the man's face? What do Huck and Jim take from the house?
15. What trick does Huck play on Jim with the snake? Is it Huck's fault that the snake bites Jim? Does he blame himself?
16. Why does Huck dress up as a girl and go to see Mrs. Judith Loftus? Whom does he pretend to be? Is Mrs. Loftus fooled?
17. Why doesn't Mrs. Loftus turn Huck in? Would she turn him in if she knew that he is helping and escaped slave – and is not an escaped apprentice himself?
18. Why do Huck and Jim leave the island in a hurry?
19. Why does Jim think that he and Huck should leave the wrecked steamboat alone? Does Huck listen? Would things have turned out better if Huck had listened to Jim?
20. How does Huck get the townspeople to check on the wreck of the Walter Scott? Why? Are the rescuers in on time?
21. From whose point of view is this story told? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this point of view? What sort of person is the storyteller? Is he a reliable narrator?
22. After whom was the steamboat named? Why did Twain choose it?