Name: _________________________________________________________ Block: ______
Group Members:
______________________________________________________________________________
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Literature Circles
You are assigned to literature circles. In these circles, you will serve in all of the following roles:
Story Summarizer, Character Analyzer, Thematic Wizard, Artifact Collector, and Literary Terms
Master. The roles will switch at chapters 4, 16, 25 and 33 – see schedule below.
1st section: Chapters 1-3 whole class (Literary Terms: satire, dialect, irony, point of view –
unreliable narrator)
2nd section: Chapters 4, 5, p. 27, 7, 8, 11, 14 (Literary Terms: foil, paradox, symbolism)
3rd section: Chapters 15- 19 literature group (Literary Terms: Archetypes – quest, trickster,
faithful companion)
4th section: Chapters 31 - 34 literature group (Characterization – flat, round, metaphor – conceit)
5th section: Chapters 36, 40, 42, The Last through Afterword literature group (Characterization
– static, dynamic, personification)
Your group’s progress will be assessed daily.
To know and be able to do upon completion of the reading:












Understand irony and satire
Understand critical perspectives
Understand dialect and the role it plays in literature
Understand how The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of literature from the
Regionalism Time Period
Apply your knowledge of foils
Understand archetypal characters and events (the quest)
Recognize and describe symbols
Understand paradox
Understand point of view – the unreliable narrator
Recognize conflicts, internal and external
Understand and articulate themes using support from the text
Understand flat and round characters
At the conclusion of your reading, you will write a mini-research, critical analysis paper from
one of the critical perspectives we learned. In addition, your group will produce an artifacts
presentation to help us better understand archetypes and symbolism throughout the course of this
novel.
Day 1
Chapters 1-3
1. How might the NOTICE at the beginning of the book be ironic?
2. Notice the dialect used. How can you recognize educated vs uneducated, slave vs free,
or the different social classes by the way the characters speak? What does the dialect
reveal about the setting of the novel?
Literature Group Roles Descriptions
**Your role will change throughout the reading; you will be expected to serve at least once in each of
these roles!
 Story Summarizer
This person will write a summary of the chapters. Include any important characters and events in your
summary that help your group gain a stronger understanding of the text as a whole. In addition to your
summary, cite three scenes or events (include page numbers) that you think a reader should pay attention
to. Briefly (2-3 sentences) explain why each one of the scenes/events is important to the plot of the novel.
 Character Analyzer
This person will choose one of the main characters (Huck or Jim) for the day’s reading to focus on. You
will find three passages from the chapters that help to illustrate or describe the character. For each
passage, identify where in the story it occurs (cite page numbers and summarize the passage) and explain
your reasons for selecting the passage and how it better helps you understand the character.
 Thematic Wizard
Consider the chapters you are reading and identify at least one theme or message Twain is trying to
deliver to his readers. State this theme in the form of “In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain is
saying…” Then provide three distinct pieces of evidence/interpretation from these chapters. For each
piece of textual evidence, explain how/why it helps illustrate the theme you identified.
 Artifact Collector
This person will collect important ‘artifacts’ as you read. These artifacts will help explain the story and
will be symbolic of important themes, ideas, and characters in the story. You must determine three
important artifacts from the day’s reading and ‘design’ a symbol to represent the artifact. You will write
an explanation of the artifact and how it contributes to your understanding of the story and message.
(These artifacts will become important for your final project.)
 Literary Terms Master
You will focus on irony, paradox, imagery, symbolism, dialect, characterization (flat, round, static,
dynamic), point of view (unreliable narrator), foils, archetypes (the quest, hero, trickster, faithful
companion, outsider/outcast, individualist, innocent, villain, caretaker, rebel, misfit), conflicts, figurative
language (simile, metaphor – extended metaphors, too(conceits), personification). You will choose a set
of three literary terms to master for the assigned reading. You will need to read first and get a sense of
what you might be able to focus on for those chapters, keeping the terms in mind as you read. Don’t
know the definition of term? Look it up! Ask me! Use the literature book, google…
 Map Marker
Everyone in the group will work on creating a Google Lit Trip using the information from this packet and
places as Huck travels down the river. More information will be provided.
At the end of your chapters reading, you should discuss the information you were assigned for that
role. A good dialogue about the themes and ideas of the book is expected. You will turn in your
recording sheets for each of the above roles and we will have a whole class discussion on your
discussions and findings. Your group will receive a daily grade based on the effort and progress of
each of the members of your group.
Name: _______________________________________________________
Story Summarizer
Chapters ________________
Summarize the chapters you read below. Include the main characters and
events. Where is the action taking place (setting)? Who is involved? What
happened?
Hey, Reader! Pay attention to this!!!!
Scene 1
Page #s
Importance to the novel (what does it reveal about theme, characters, or
the author)
Scene 2
Page #s
Importance to the novel (what does it reveal about theme, characters, or
the author)
Scene 3
Page #s
Importance to the novel (what does it reveal about theme, characters, or
the author)
Name: _______________________________________________________
Character Analyzer
Chapters ________________
Huck or Jim?
Passage 1
Page Numbers:
Summary:
What does this reveal about Huck or Jim? Why is it important? What do we learn is important to
the character or what he is like?
Passage 2
Page Numbers:
Summary:
What does this reveal about Huck or Jim? Why is it important? What do we learn is important to
the character or what he is like?
Passage 3
Page Numbers:
Summary:
What does this reveal about Huck or Jim? Why is it important? What do we learn is important to
the character or what he is like?
Name: _______________________________________________________
Thematic Wizard
Chapters ________________
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain is saying:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
And here's the support:
Page numbers:
How this passage illustrates the theme:
Page numbers:
How this passage illustrates the theme:
Page numbers:
How this passage illustrates the theme:
Name: _______________________________________________________
Artifacts Collector
Chapters ________________
Artifact #1:
How it contributes to our understanding of the story:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artifact #2:
How it contributes to our understanding of the story:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artifact #3:
How it contributes to our understanding of the story:
Name: _______________________________________________________
Literary Terms Master
Chapters ________________
For these chapters, I chose to focus on the following three literary terms:
Note: Each day, you must focus on three new terms that have not been 'done' yet. You may go
back in the story as necessary but you must complete your reading for the day to stay current.

This term is evident on pages __________ in this way:
(Summarize the passage and how it exemplifies your term.)

This term is evident on pages __________ in this way:
(Summarize the passage and how it exemplifies your term.)

This term is evident on pages __________ in this way:
(Summarize the passage and how it exemplifies your term.)
For the map: List places for each chapter (towns, events, islands, etc)
that will help you follow the trip. For example, in Chapter 1, I would
include a placemarker for Aunt Polly’s house and perhaps a
representation of the $6,000 in gold and Tom Sawyer. In Chapter 2, I
would include the cave and maybe something representing the trick
played on Jim. So, in essence, include the places and important
events (use artifacts, themes, etc.) to map out Huck’s travel.
Chapter
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Place(s)
Events and People
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
The
Last