Study Questions
1. How does Huck explain the fact that they travel at night and sleep during the day?

2. What do the people at the camp meeting expect the king to do with the money they collect for him?

3. How does Jim treat Huck during the storm at night?

4. How do the duke and the king plan to make it safe for Jim to travel during the day?

5. What does the duke mean when he says he will call back Hamlet’s soliloquy from “recollection’s vaults”?

6. Why is the duke’s version of Hamlet’s soliloquy confusing?

7. Who is assigned the role of Juliet in the “Shakespearean Revival”?

8. Why does Colonel Sherburn murder Boggs?

9. What is Colonel Sherburn’s ultimatum in regard to Boggs?

10. Who is called for to quiet Boggs down?

Answers
1. He tells them a story about Jim being the family slave. Since his family is all dead, Jim is all he has left. They travel at night because people suspect Jim of being a runaway when they see him.

2. They expect him to use it when he goes back to change the lives of his fellow pirates.

3. When Huck gets tired, Jim takes half of his watch so Huck can get some sleep.

4. The duke prints a playbill that advertises Jim as a runaway slave. When people see them they will tie Jim’s hands and feet, show them the playbill, and tell people they are turning Jim in for the reward.

5. The duke has no copy of Hamlet aboard the raft. He says he will need to recall it from memory.

6. The duke’s version is confusing because it is not Hamlet’s soliloquy. It contains jumbled lines from several of Shakespeare’s plays, and it makes no sense.

7. The 70-year-old king with a bald head is assigned the role of Juliet.

8. Colonel Sherburn is tired of being harassed and threatened by the drunken Boggs.

9. He gives Boggs until one o’clock to quiet down. If he doesn’t, he will kill him.

10. The townspeople call for Boggs’ daughter, but she arrives after he has been shot by Sherburn.