Huck Finn Essays
Ferris, adapted 2010-2011
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essays
Assignment: Choose one of the following topics and construct a well-developed, coherent essay of 600 to
800 words. Be sure to have a clear thesis statement, introduction and conclusion, and that your body
paragraphs are focused and support your thesis. Your essay should be grounded in the text and use proper
in-text citation methods that we discussed in class.
Topics:
1. One of the themes of the novel is the growth of two of the main characters, Huck and Jim. Trace
the transitions of the two throughout eh novel with emphasis on their psychological and/or moral
growth.
2. Huck Finn exhibits racist characteristics and deserves the criticism it has gotten concerning its
degradation of African-Americans.
3. Huck Finn is not a racist book and does not deserve the criticism it has gotten for being prejudiced
against African-Americans.
4. There is a great amount of satire in the novel. Discuss the satire with specific reference to
attitudes toward religion and the class system.
5. There is a major emphasis on the various relationships of Huck and Jim. Discuss these
relationships and their importance to the novel.
6. Discuss the importance of the Mississippi River in the novel – as a symbol, as a transitional device
for the plot.
7. There are a great many contrasts in the novel. Discuss the contrasts of Jim and Pap Finn as
fathers/father figures.
8. Critics have written that Twain weakened the novel when, after the capture of Jim and his detention
at the Phelps farm, he brought Tom Sawyer back into the plot. Do you agree or disagree with this
assessment? Why or why not?
9. Discuss the Mississippi River as a character with positive and negative traits, traits that correspond
to the normal qualities of a developing character. (A developing character is one that changes in
the course of the plot; he/she does not remain the same throughout a literary work.)
10. Discuss the various manifestations of “frontier justice” shown in the novel. What do you think is
Mark Twain’s assessment of taking the law into one’s own hands?
11. Describe the role of superstitions in the lives of the major characters in the novel; for example,
what motivates the superstitions (fear, for instance), and are they ever shown to be based on truth,
etc.
12. Explain why you think the novel is either optimistic or pessimistic about human nature.
13. Huck becomes, after his symbolic “death,” a rather consummate liar. Discus Huck’s conflicting
attitudes and rationalizations toward telling the truth.
14. Discuss Huck’s attitudes toward “civilization” and how Twain reinforces these attitudes through
various characters in the novel.
15. The poet and critic T.S. Eliot wrote that the novel has a permanent place in literature because
“Huck Finn is alone; there is no more solitary character in fiction.” What aspects of Huck’s
personality and events in his life prompt Eliot’s analysis of him? Do you agree or disagree with
Eliot?
16. Contrast life on land and life on a raft during the time of the novel. Discuss the ways in which the
contrast conveys the author’s attitude about the two settings.
17. The novel is first and foremost a novel to be enjoyed for hits humor, although it does have many
lessons for the reader. Discuss the various pranks in the novel, their purpose, and the reaction of
the reader to them. For example, some of them are just for humor while some of them have a
deeper purpose.
18. Choose one of the following and discuss it as it relates to the character Jim: Jim is/is not a typical
stereotypical slave of pre-Civil War America.