Playlist Activity
In this activity, there will be several scenes/situations from Huck Finn listed. Your job will be to
select 8 of the scenes and come up with a song that fits with each scene, until you have a
playlist of 10 songs total. These songs can be of any genre and era, whether it be 1940’s
Country, 1980’s Heavy Metal, Hip Hop from 2016, and anything and everything in between.
-The songs could relate to the scenes in any number of ways, whether it be through the mood
the music makes or the lyrics. It will be your job for each song you select to provide an
explanation of two sentences or more explaining how each song relates to their respective
scenes from the novel. If you get stuck, try to figure out what the mood or tone is of a scene,
and then think of a song that provides a similar mood. Or, think of specific song lyrics and
explain how those lyrics relate to the novel, whether it be a specific character’s
actions/personality, or if they have something to do with our larger themes such as race,
poverty, and fitting in with society as a whole. You should try to use direct quotes from either the
novel or song lyrics in helping to explain your reasoning. Make sure you list the name of the
song and artist for each song on the playlist.
-It is ok if the songs aren’t completely PG, as long as the song titles and the lyrics that you quote
are classroom appropriate (censor swear words if need be). If you have a song that you think
fits really well with a scene or theme not listed below, come talk to me and explain how, and you
will potentially be able to use it in place of one of the other scenes.
1. Life with the Widow Douglass (manners, religion, etc).
2. Huck joins a band of robbers with Tom Sawyer.
3. Huck being locked inside of Pap’s cabin/life with Pap.
4. Jim is bitten by a snake and almost dies after Huck plays a prank on him
5. Huck disguises himself as a girl in order to get information from the town.
6. Huck and Jim decide to flee down the Mississippi River to avoid being caught.
7. Huck and Jim find several robbers on a steamboat and stop them from killing a man.
8. Huck tries to trick Jim into thinking their separation was all a dream.
9. The pair meets the Duke and the Dauphin, a pair of con-men.
10. Sherburn shoots a drunk man and then confronts a mob over the killing.
11. The Duke and the Dauphin con a town with a horrendous performance of a play and
escape before they can get in trouble.
12. Huck discovers that the Dauphin has sold Jim away, leaving Huck questioning whether
or not to help rescue Jim.
13. Huck attempts to infiltrate where Jim is being held by pretending to be Tom Sawyer.
Example:
The lyrics of Jay-Z’s song 99 Problems “Pray for him, but some fools just love to perform/You
know the type, loud as a motorbike/but wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight” remind me of Tom
Sawyer and the rest of the band of robbers. The lyrics talk about someone who talks a big game
but doesn’t really do anything, much like how the band of robbers act all tough but never really
steal or kill like they say they would.