The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
“We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all.”
Twain Chapter 18, p. 116
1
Point of View
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Huck: first person narrator
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A young uneducated boy
He draws the us into the society and the people
which he describes.
His objectivity allows us to make our own
conclusions
Made possible because Huck does not judge the
social and human conditions that he encounters.
2
Setting -- The Mississippi River and
several of the United States

Many episodes Huck
and Jim experience
occur on the banks of
the Mississippi River
in the states
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of Illinois
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
3
Huck’s journey on a raft:
4
Setting – contrast of the river and shore
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The river
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Where Huck and Jim feel safest
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“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all.”
“You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a
raft.”
Where Huck and Jim develop a friendship
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They can think for themselves
No authority
Huck is brave enough to break with what others assume
is correct and just.
5
Setting – on shore
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Shore is oppressive compared to the freedom
of the river
Where Huck sees the hypocrisy of society
Huck and Jim
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encounter slavery, deception and another side of
civilization on shore
See social injustices
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The trickery and cheating of the King and Duke
The lack of caring by the townspeople for Boggs
The innocence of the Wilks sisters
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Huck’s Character: shrewd, gullible and compassionate
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An uneducated backward boy
Constantly under pressure to conform to society
Has racist attitudes at first
Tries to find freedom
He learns to think and reason for himself
Develops empathy for Jim – decides not to turn him in and with
Jim’s fate in his hands, he decides to “give up try’in” ( smallpox
incident )
But follows Tom Sawyer when he reappears – he is easily
molded and his morals and empathy fail him
The only time his morality and loyalty to Jim are clear is when he
makes decisions alone with only his heart guiding him
7
Huck’s Developing Character
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Initial Character
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Follows Tom
Looks down on Jim
Believes society more important than human
feelings
Goes along with King and Duke
Loses his identity
8
Huck’s Developing Character
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Forces of Change
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Grows to know and care for Jim
Observes the bloody feud
Unable to betray Jim
Travels down the river with Jim
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Huck’s Developing Character: His character changes
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Sees Tom’s unrealistic nature
Follows his own ideas
Realizes the stupid savagery inside
Believes human feelings more important than
society
Sympathizes with all humanity
Gains a new sense of self
Respects Jim is a major change
10
Theme: Huck’s character change reveals that a a person can learn to
think and reason morally for oneself
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Huck develops a moral conscience
 He apologizes to Jim for fooling him about the dream.
Huck struggles with obeying the law and turning Jim in or risk
having a bad reputation and protect Jim
 He fears he may have done wrong in helping a slave to
escape. His traditions and environment pull him one way;
what he feels in his heart pulls him another way.
 He feels better after he writes the letter to Miss Watson but
tears it up and says, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”.
His idea of racism is based on his upbringing but he questions
the validity of black inferiority
 Huck admits that Jim “had an uncommon head for a nigger”.
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Theme: Friendship – Huck and Jim
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Huck learns to value his own opinion regarding blacks as inferior
even if it means sacrificing his reputation and being labeled.
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For example, when he saves Jim and helps to secure his freedom, he is in
actual fact risking his own safety.
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Jackson’s Island, slave hunters, the Duke and Dauphin, the letter
to Miss Watson
Huck learns that although people in his life may hurt him he is
able to be loved and to love back.
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He realizes this when his friendship with Jim evolves and he sees they both
care about each other.
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Getting lost in the fog; the apology; Jim tells the story about his
daughter
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Theme: Personal Growth and Maturity
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Huck takes care of himself
Although young, he faces many adult situations
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an abusive father
Jim’s freedom
confessing to the Wilks
The feud between the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons is one
of the most tragic scenes in the book
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he sees blood and dying that nauseated him
The cowardice of the mob that goes after Colonel Sheburn
and how they only gain courage because they are a crowd

Continued on next slide...
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Theme: Personal Growth and Maturity
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Huck feels bad for the King and Duke when they are
tarred and feathered by the townspeople.
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His ill feelings toward them melt away:
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“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another”, he
observes.
He concludes that a conscience is useless because it makes you
feel bad no matter what you do.
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Theme: Initiation into Society and the Realities of Society
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Huck’s interaction with people and how they behave ( codes of
conduct ) reveals the realities of society:
 Racism:
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Pap reveals racism. He is a drunken abusive person who feels
superior than blacks because he is white.
Hypocrisy of Religion:
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Miss Watson treats Jim as a material possession to sell. Religion is
based on looks, not real devotion.
The Grangerfords and Sheperdsons: go to church, prop their guns
against the wall and listen to a sermon about brotherly love.
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Theme: Initiation into Society and the Realities of Society
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Southern Society:
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Restricted middle class lifestyle that influences all the lower classes.
Had to act a certain way.
Miss Watson tried to make Huck into something that he wasn’t.
Gullibility:
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The Wilkes sisters are victims of a scam cooked up by two con men:
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the King and the Duke
The King and the Duke trick people out of their money
The Royal Nonsense play is a way to scam people of their money.
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Theme The quest for freedom
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Jim seeks freedom from slavery – he runs away
when he hears Miss Watson talking of selling him
“down the river”
Jim can’t do anything against the rules of his
taboos, superstitions and charms
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The hairball, the snake-skin
Huck seeks to be free and not have to live in fear
of his father, or being civilized
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Conflict: with other people
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Huck struggles to be free from Pap:
 Violence and abuse
 emotional/psychological abuse
Huck’s struggle in determining whether to stay with Pap or venture
on his own (internal)
Huck versus Miss Watson (society’s rules)
 she wanted to civilize Huck: religion, school, clothes, stop
smoking
 he struggled with hiding Jim from her – find a significant quote to support this idea
 He felt governed by the rules on “shore” and wanted to find
freedom on the river.
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Conflict: with himself
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Huck’s moral conscience – his problem
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Society did not want to help out the black people. Why? Because white society
wanted to keep them oppressed as slaves.
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Huck helps Jim even though he knows this is wrong according to the
rules of society.
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Huck at times struggles with the notion of giving Jim up: slave hunters
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Struggled with writing the letter to Miss Watson -- find a significant quote to
support this idea
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Huck and Tom: even though he “outwardly” goes along with Tom's
ludicrous adventure to steal Jim out of slavery, he is internally
frustrated and irritated because it violates what he has learned on
the trip down river
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that he has matured in some important ways so that he is a better person than
Tom Sawyer, to whom he now constantly defers.
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Tom has no idea how Huck feels towards Jim
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Symbols in the Novel
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The River
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Jim
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Symbolizes all the slaves in the south; we see the southern
attitudes toward black people; we also see through Jim the
humanity even in slaves
Widow Douglas and Miss Watson
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Freedom for Huck and Jim
Symbolize society and civilization; they tried to civilize Huck but
he ran away from them
The Raft
Grangerfords and Shepherdsons: hypocrisy in society
The King and Duke: liars; swindlers; corruption
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Mapping the character of Huck
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Activity # 1
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Create a character development chart ( a sheet of paper 8 x 14 ) to
show Huck’s moral growth and epiphany by the end of the novel.
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Include specific examples and quotes in your chart
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Your character chart should look like this:
Huck’s views have changed
even more
Huck struggles with his
conscience
Huck as the novel progresses
Huck at the beginning
Huck’s epiphany
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Flag project
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Activity #2
See handout
22
Examine the story as three distinct parts:
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(a) initial escape of Jim and Huck and the setting out upon the river,
the beginning of the voyage on the raft
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(b) the adventures in the towns with the Duke and the Dauphin
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(c) the events at Phelps' farm leading to the ending (the
reappearance of Tom Sawyer and the liberation of Jim).
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Significant Quotes
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