Questions and Answers for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Satire In Huckleberry Finn
Huck's education is satired, to some extent, in the novel. Huck informs Jim of a number of ideas he has come across in school, most of which are erroneous. His sense of history is way, way off,...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Who is Colonel Sherburn, and what aspect of human nature does he criticize in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
The story of Colonel Sherburn reads like a story within a story. It has nothing to do with the overall plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. However, it does illustrate a larger topic that...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Give examples of literary techniques used in chapters 17 through 25 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Literary...
Mark Twain makes extensive use of imagery, often through employing figurative language, throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. During much of the novel Huck is traveling along the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Which characters die in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? How do they die?
There are several deaths throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The first one would be the symbolic death of Huck. Huck fakes his death to get away from Pap and is metaphorically reborn on...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Contrast Huck and Tom's plans to free Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
As was mentioned in the previous post, Huck and Tom devise different plans to free Jim beginning in Chapter 34. Before Huck even begins to think of his plan, he knows that they will end up...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Twain's use of satire add to the overall meaning of the novel? Discuss satire as it is used by Mark Twain...
One example of satire that adds to the overall meaning of this novel is Twain's satirization of religion. He does this most obviously through his treatment of the Phelps family. The Phelps family...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What are some conflicts in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Chapters 1-15)??
Fifteen chapters of Huckleberry Finn is a lot of novel and many "conflicts" so I will only add a few to supplement the excellent answers already provided. One important conflict is symbolized by...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Why does Huck put a dead snake on Jim's blanket in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
At the beginning of chapter 10, Huck tells Jim that he does not believe in bad luck. He tells Jim, “What did you say when I fetched in the snake-skin I found on top of the ridge day before...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Irony In Huckleberry Finn
A good example of Twain’s use of irony occurs when Huck struggles with whether or not he should turn in Jim and go to hell for doing it. This type of irony, known as dramatic irony, occurs when...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, what are three of Huck's lies that are justifiably made for good causes?
One of the most prominent of Huck's lies occurs when he fakes his own death to escape from Pap Finn, who would otherwise ruin Huck's life. It is a justifiable lie because Pap is a hopeless...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is the major conflict of Huckleberry Finn?
How can you narrow it down??! Well, the conflict of social inequity is certainly at the forefront of this novel. The theme of justice certainly ties into this, as well. The Widow Douglas tries to...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is Huck's original opinion of slavery, and how does it change throughout the novel? Please cite evidence. Thank...
Huck is a young and naive protagonist. Like satirists before him, most notably Swift and Voltaire, Twain uses a naive character who initially buys unthinkingly into what his warped social order...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Give three examples of Man vs. Society in chapters 8-11 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In chapter eight, Jim confesses to Huck that he has "run off." Though Huck is initially shocked, he agrees to listen to Jim without telling on him. Huck reassures Jim that "people would call me a...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What are some quotes referring to the Mississippi River as a symbolic aspect of Huck Finn's life?
You are right in identifying the river as an incredibly important symbol in this novel. One section that focuses on the river and how it operates in the lives of Jim and Huck is at the beginning of...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Hyperbole In Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain uses several examples of hyperbole in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to exaggerate a feeling so that it has an effect on the reader. Hyperbole is often used to dramatize a situation....
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Huck know the King and the Duke are frauds in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Huck knows the two men are frauds because they are running away, but he doesn’t want to make trouble so he goes along with it. Huck knows a king or a duke would be gaudily dressed and full of...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Literary Devices In Huckleberry Finn
Here are a few more examples of literary devices in these two chapters: Simile: The king is described as being "as splendid as a rainbow" in chapter 23. The simile establishes a comparison between...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What does Huck think about religion- specifically the good place, bad place, and prayer?
Huck is not at all fond of religion. In the first chapter of the novel, he tells how Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas are constantly bombarding him with do's and don'ts and attaching...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Describe the writing and artwork of Emmeline Grangerford. What does Huck think of her pictures and poems?
With the work of Emmeline Grangerford, Twain satirizes Gothic, Romantic literature. It is fair to say that Emmeline's subject matter suggests an obsession with death and borders on the macabre, not...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, what does "civilization" mean to Huck?
For Huck Finn, "civilization" represents the mores of the slave-owning society that he thinks he should follow but that he can't actually follow. Huck is hard on himself for not being able to abide...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Is Huck gay?
I'm guessing that your question is prompted by all the time that Huck and Jim spend naked on the raft together. You may also be puzzled by the term of endearment, "honey," that Jim uses towards...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In what significant ways are Jim and Huck alike and different?
I think the following points of comparison are significant: Both are very superstitious - which connects them in some ways, provides conflict at other times. Both are running away and hiding in the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What was the hairball oracle incident in Huckleberry Finn?
A great scene that helps us to characterize Jim. Jim's hairball (according to Jim) works like a magic ball - it tells the future. Of course, it only tells the future if it is first provided some...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is the Royal Nonesuch and what does the Duke mean when he says, "I don't know Arkansaw!"
The Duke and King are trying to increase spectators to their theatrical productions. After poor turnout to their badly performed Shakespeare Recitation, the Duke decides that what these...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Why does Jim run away from Miss Watson in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
In Chapter Eight of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck bumps into Jim on his fourth day on the island. Although Jim initially thinks that Huck is a ghost, he is eventually able to settle down...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How is Jim considered a racist stereotype in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and what moments of moral dignity...
Jim is portrayed as being very unintelligent through the first third of the novel. The trick that Tom and Huck play on Jim is thoroughly stereotypical as is Jim's assertion of his knowledge of the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Does anyone have a good quote from Huckleberry Finn about Widow Douglass's or Miss Watson's of...
Revealed in Chapter 1 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the hypocrisy of the seemingly “sivilized” Miss Watson. Huck describes Miss Watson’s constant critique and says, “…they...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How are Tom and Huck similar in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Tom and Huck are similar in several ways. Both boys love adventure, although while Tom experiences adventure through his imagination that comes from romantic novels, Huck, a realist, lives his...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is the narrative structure of Huckleberry Finn?
Huckleberry Finn has a three-part narrative structure. The first eleven chapters take place in or around "civilization," which is represented by the world of St. Petersburg, Missouri. These...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Jim's story about his daughter 'Lizabeth alter the way Huck thinks about Jim in The Adventures of...
We're not told specifically how Jim's story of 'Lizabeth changes Huck's view of Jim. The story Jim tells is about his daughter 'Lizabeth recovering after a bout of scarlet fever. Jim gets angry at...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What are the similarities and differences between the characters Huck and Jim in Mark Twain's The Adventures of...
One of the similarities between the two is that they both feel free out there in the great outdoors. Huck has never known anything else in life; since he was knee-high to a grasshopper he's had to...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Jim play the role of a father figure towards Huck throughtout the story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...
As Huck ruminates over whether he should turn Jim in for being a runaway slave, he decides he can't. In the world in which he has been raised, he has been taught that helping a slave escape is a...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What purpose did Huck faking his own death serve in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
As stated in other answers, Huck fakes his death in order to escape his abusive father and also to escape the whole society of St Petersburg which he finds oppressive: indeed, repressive. From the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Describe the Grangerfords' house. What is Huck's impression of their house?
The Grangerfords' house is a grand, stately pile, the epitome of gracious Southern living. Huck's never seen anything quite like it. It's a large house with several acres of land, worked by over a...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," why did Twain include this adventure with the Grangerfords? (Chapter 15-18)
Beside being a satire on frontier feuds, many critics also see this episode as a commentary on the youths that died needlessly during the civil war. The Grangerfords and Sheperdsons have been...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" what is the significance of the chapter title, "I Discover Moses and the...
As far as I know, there is no chapter titled "I discover Moses and the Bulrushers". The chapter that this event occurs in is in chapter one, which is entitled "Civilizing Huck-Miss Watson-Tom...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is ironic about Huck's experience in the circus on chapter 22?
Huck goes to the circus after witnessing a man gunned down in the street. He has experienced mob violence and the cowardly acts of men who won't stand up for themselves. The town is dirty, the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Huck feel about being civilized in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Huck is averse to being "sivilized". The stiff, uncomfortable clothes the widow makes him wear cause him to "sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up", and he chafes under the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huck has a major moral crisis in Chapter 31. He writes a letter to Miss Watson telling her where Jim is, but then...
Huck's crisis could be summed up as his natural sense of decency and morality colliding with conventional southern moral teachings. Conventional morality, buttressed as Huck understands it, by the...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What effect does Twain's heavy use of vernacular, or dialect, in The adventures of Huckleberry Finn have on our...
The emphasis on the use of the vernacular throughout the story reinforces the sense that it deals with people who are generally removed from more mainstream, polite society. The language of the of...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What is the symbolism of the fog in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Fog is an interesting weather feature. In simplest terms, it is a cloud at ground level. That shouldn't be scary or ominous. Most people remember times when they looked up into the sky and imagined...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, how would you compare and contrast life on the raft to life on shore?
Life on the raft represents freedom for both Jim and Huck. On dry land, they feel restricted in their movements—especially Jim, who, as a slave, has no freedom in so-called civilized society. As...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What does Jim's story about the way he treated his deaf daughter in Chapter 23 of "Adventures of Huckleberry...
Jim's story about the way he treated his deaf daughter illustrates his deep and abiding love for his family, and sense of decency and compassion that causes him to still berate himself for...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Narration in Huck Finn What does Twain accomplish by using Huck as the narrator in "Adventures of Huckleberry...
The brave independence of spirit and of moral thinking expressed in Huck's narrative suggests that maturity of years is less important to spiritual or emotional maturity than honesty is. Huck is...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What are the steps taken in Tom's escape plan for Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Tom's escape plan reads like a litany of adventure stories. His initial plan undergoes considerable revisions and additions as time goes on, becoming comically elaborate. While Huck suggested...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How does Huck mature?
Huck matures through facing the moral dilemma of whether he should help Jim escape slavery. All his life, Huck's society has taught him the warped morality that helping a slave escape is a great...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Pap (Huck's father) said these quotes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. How are they ironic or hypocritical?...
When examining the satire of the text, the quotes can be read in a variety of ways. Here is an alternative reading that I encourage my students to follow: he raised his son to go to work and do...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What killed Miss Emmeline?
Ah, this is a nice touch by Twain. The first time Twain mentions this, he just says that Emmeline Grangerford "took sick." However, within a page or two he turns this into a nicely sarcastic...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn how does Huck save Jim from the bounty hunter on the river?
Huck pretends that he and his father have a disease so the bounty hunters do not come closer. When Huck runs into the men who are looking for slaves, he has a decision to make. At this point,...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
What happens in the camp meeting in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
The camp meeting is a large rural community gathering that functions literally as a “sideshow” of human behavior for Huck and Jim. Like a country fair, music festival, or church service, the camp...
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