Ch.1
1. Why does Huck Finn wish he was in the “bad place” Miss Watson is talking about?
2. What does he mean by “not a considerable sight” in regard to Tom Sawyer going to the good place?
3. Why did Huck Finn go to see the widow?
Ch. 2
1. How does Huck’s friendship with Tom Sawyer relate to Romeo’s friendship with Mercutio and Benvolio?
2. Why did Tom and Huck decide to not kill women as highwaymen? Where were they going to put them?
3. How are Huck and Tom different? Why do you think their friendship works?
Ch. 3
1. How would you describe Huck’s relationship with God? How does it relate to the world’s perception of God and prayer today?
2. What does Tom Sawyer mean by a “perfect sap-head”?
3. How would you describe Huck’s relationship with
What is Huck's attitude towards his father? He dislikes him and is kind of scared of him. 4. Why does Pap yell at Huck for becoming civilized?
This young boy’s name is Huckleberry Finn, and he is brave and yearning for adventure. He begins the story with a newly acquired fortune, but goes back to living in rags and in a barrel. Huckleberry is convinced by his best friend, Tom Sawyer, to go back to living with “The Widow” so that he can join Tom’s newly created band of robbers. The Widow Douglas is a woman who takes Huckleberry as her son and does her best to “sivilize” him: teaching him how to behave and forcing him to go to school. Huckleberry slips off and joins “The Tom Sawyer Gang” and pretends to rob people for about a month before he resigns. All this time, Huckleberry is getting used to living with the widow, even admitting that he likes it a little bit. Then, one day, his father shows up, demanding his fortune and eventually taking him to his log cabin, hidden in the woods. There Huck hunts and fishes, but is not permitted to leave. Eventually, “pap got too handy with his hick’ry” so Huck escapes down the river when his father is drunk. Huck hides on Jackson’s Island and meets Jim, The Widow’s slave. Huck learns that Jim had run away from The Widow and so they decide to help each other out. But when Huck learns of a plan to search the island, they leave down the river. Several days later, they almost run into some robbers on a wrecked steamboat and manage to escape with their loot. When Huck and Jim land on the bank
These chapters establish components of Huck’s self that others hope to influence: his emotions, his intelligence, his fiscal responsibility, his spirituality, his social self, and his physical health and habits. To what and whom does Huck conform and when/how does he reject conformity in these chapters?
Huckleberry Finn is running away from an abusive parent and started off his adventure alone, but soon finds Jim who is a runaway slave of Miss Watson’s. They continue their journeys together and become friends and will do anything to protect each other. Along the way, when they are together they come across two people in need of help. “Just as I was passing a place where a kind of a cowpath crossed the crick, here comes a couple of
Huck is a free spirit who finds socially acceptable actions to be restrictive and unbearable. This is demonstrated after Huck and his best friend Tom Sawyer find a large amount of money. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck. With Widow Douglas, Huck feels as though society's values and norms
2. Why does Tom Sawyer so readily agree to rescue Jim, when Huck has understood the Tom hates abolitionists? Is Tom saved by his effort to save Jim?
Thus foreshadowing that helping a slave escape will have its consequences in the future. It also foreshadows that since Jim is now captured, Huck will have to rescue him because they have bonded so much throughout the voyage. Huck then has to struggle with his conscience about returning Jim to Miss Watson so he decides to write a letter to Miss Watson. After Huck wrote the letter he feels like he could finally pray. “I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn’t do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking–thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell (213).” Then Huck starts to think and he thought about all of the good times that he and Jim had, and that his friendship with Jim is more important. So instead of sending the letter, Huck arrives at his moral decision and decides to tear it up and “go to hell (214).” Huck’s sound mind now tells him that this is a true friendship because Huck has already decided that he will save Jim, no matter what the cost would be.
Huck’s feelings about living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Which of the ladies does he like more? Why? What does he feel about their attempts to “civilize” him?
Comparison of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Upset with Huck’s actions, Jim expresses his grief as if Huck actually lost him. Jim shows his ‘fatherly’ side by scolding Huck, encouraging his conscience into being a kinder person. He shows how thankful he is that Huck was lost because Huck is the only person he cares about on the journey and without him, Jim would have no help and motive to move on. This incident also illustrates how loyal Jim is to Huck.
The primary relationships of Huck with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson as well as Huck with Pap and Huck with Jim are established. Throughout the novel, Huck takes on different identities to further his attempts at freedom. In this section three of these identities are seen. One is Huck, the dead boy when he “kills” himself in order to cover his escape from Pap at his cabin and the other is Sarah Mary Williams whom he disguised himself as when he attempted to get information and later George Peters emerges when Sarah is discovered to be a boy.
1) I would agree with the critics that this portion of the books stops the ongoing moral development of Huck; the final lines of the book epitomize how Tom’s arrival halts the character development of Huck. The final lines state, “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before” (Twain 309). Because the process of civilizing has not happened yet, this implies that Huck has much more room to grow. Perhaps if Tom had not arrived, Huck would have had this development before the book ends.
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a variety of people influence Huck’s ideology. From the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson’s religious rhetoric to Pap’s brutal, uncivilized manner, many contrasting ideas shape Huck’s belief system. However, among these people, Tom Sawyer holds the greatest impact over Huck’s actions and mentality because of Huck’s immense admiration for him. Huck’s initial encounters with Tom Sawyer establish Tom as a major component of the ideology Huck maintains throughout his journey. Despite Huck’s skepticism and confusion about Tom’s imaginative schemes, Huck regards Tom’s judgements as the truth and follows all of Tom’s plans.
Widow Douglas is a Christian woman who takes care of Huck while his father is absent. She is the main mother figure that Huck has; therefore, has an influential role in Huck’s moral development. The Widow is extremely willing to take Huck in. In the beginning of this novel, Huck explains that, “the Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time…”(Chapter 1). Widow Douglas enjoyed the task of making Huck civilized. To Widow Douglas, being a civilized human means being proper, polite and acting in a respectful manner. In her house, there are strict rules, and no leniency for breaking them. She teaches Huck about the Bible, and makes him say grace before every meal. Her morality includes always acting in a traditional conforming way. When Huck and Tom are conversing about a hypothetical genie situation, Tom says; ”how you talk, Huck Finn. Why, you'd HAVE to come when he rubbed it, whether you wanted to or not" (Chapter 3). Tom knows that Huck is well mannered. He knows that even if Huck does not want to do something, he will if it is the right thing to do because of the values that the widow has instilled on him. Widow Douglas does not allow Huck to argue against her, for her word is always what goes. Widow Douglas has pure intentions for Huck in her efforts to make him into a civil man. She forces Huck to rid himself his bad
In the beginning Huck never really knew what a true friend was, and then he went on a journey with Jim, a runaway slave. For a while, Huck has thoughts about turning in Jim and having him sent back to Miss Watson. However, he always remembers how nice Jim is to him. Huck said that he would not tell anyone that Jim had runaway and in return Jim was willing to protect and help Huck. Jim would even give up his sleep just because he wanted to let Huck continue to sleep. That was not the only thing Jim did for Huck either. When the house floated by and the two saw a body laying inside it dead, Jim went in to see what was in the house and found that it was Huck's father that was dead. Jim covered the body so Huck did not realize that his father had been killed. Through just these two actions made by Jim, Huck learns one of the most valuable life lessons: true friendship.