Mr. Gawronski
English 213
Name: ________________________
Date: _________________________
Block #: ____
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Study Guide Questions
Illustration of Huck Finn by E.W. Kemble from the 1884 first edition
Essential Questions to ponder throughout the unit:
1. How is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a satire of American slavery?
2. How is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a satire of American society? What messages does Twain
send his readers about his views on life in towns and society versus the wilderness and the river?
3. How is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn an example of the journey archetype? How do Huck and Jim
travel externally while growing internally?
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most frequently censored and banned books due to its
racial epithets and use of dialects. Do you think it should be taught in schools?
Notice:
1. How does Twain’s famous preface start the humorous and satirical tone of the novel? What do humans do
or want to do when they are told not to do something? What can readers infer Twain knows about human
psychology?
Explanatory:
1. What does Twain let readers know about various dialects used in the novel?
Chapter One: Discover Moses and the Bulrushers
In this opening chapter, Mark Twain makes it clear that the characters and setting in Huckleberry Finn are
mostly the same as in Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn, a thirteen-year-old Caucasian boy, has come to live with the
Widow Douglass, where he is subjected to “civilizing” influences.
1. Who is the narrator?
2. Why does Huck want to go to hell rather than heaven after hearing Miss Watson’s take on both places?
3. Why does Huck dislike how the Widow Douglass and Miss Watson try to “civilize” him? What sort of
“primitive” life is he used to?
4. Through the descriptions of Miss Watson’s “pecking” ways, what can readers assume about Twain’s tone
towards some of the religious practices and beliefs in 19th century?
Chapter Two: Our Gang’s Dark Oath
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn sneak out at night and start up a “gang of robbers” amongst the kids their age in
town.
1. How does Tom’s desire to play a trick on Jim and Huck’s reluctance to play a trick on Jim indirectly
characterize the two boys?
2. As Huck and Tom look back on the town and see only a few lights twinkling, how does Huck account for
these lights? What does this comment indicate about Huck’s personality?
3. What preconceived notions does Tom have about what pirates and robbers should do? Why is Huck
almost not allowed to join the gang?
4. How does Twain indirectly characterize Tom with his incorrect definition of “ransomed”?
5. How is Twain using satire by having the church influence the boys’ decision making process about when
they will participate in robbing and murdering?
6. The contrast between the characters of Tom and Huck is vivid in this chapter. Make a T-chart and
compare and contrast the two boys. (Use of Separate Piece of Paper)
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Chapter Three: We Ambuscade the A-rabs
“Tom Sawyer’s Gang” is a disappointment. However, the account of its rise and fall brings out further
differences between Tom and Huck.
1. Huck has had very little traditional schooling, but does significant amounts of thinking on his own. What
subjects does he think about?
2. What is “Providence”? Explain the differences between Widow Douglass’ and Miss Watson’s views of
Providence. Which one “makes a body’s mouth water”?
3. What accounts for Tom Sawyer’s satisfaction and Huck’s disappointment in the meager rewards won by
the robber band in their attack on a picnic group? How does Tom explain why there were no Spanish or
A-rabs to attack – only a church youth group?
4. Is Twain making fun of a certain type of books? Which ones? How do you know?
Chapter Four: The Hair-ball Oracle
Huck is dissatisfied with the unreality of the adventures Tom Sawyer reads about, but in this chapter as in the
earlier ones, he reveals a highly superstitious nature and a willingness to believe in Jim’s predictions.
1. What aspects of civilization is Huck getting used to? What does he still have trouble with?
2. How does Jim show his intelligence during the hairball and counterfeit coin incidents?
3. Who shows up in Huck’s room at the end of the chapter?
Chapter Five: Pap Starts In On a New Life
Pap Finn makes a sudden appearance at the Widow Douglas’s. Futile attempts are made at rehabilitating the
derelict.
1. Describe Pap.
2. Pap says he will beat Huck if he _______________________________________________________.
How can you explain or rationalize this strange parenting?
3. What does Pap want from Huck? What will Pap use it for?
4. Why is it ironic when the new judge says he “wouldn’t want to take a child away from its father”? Is the
new judge successful in reforming Pap?
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Chapter Six: Pap Struggles with the Death Angel
Pap kidnaps Huck and takes him to live in a cabin in the woods.
1. What is Pap’s motive for wanting custody of Huck?
2. How does Pap treat Huck?
3. What does Huck think are the advantages of living in the woods? What aspects are better than society?
4. Why does Pap say he doesn’t like the government?
5. In a drunken rage, Pap tries to kill Huck. Why can’t Huck escape from the cabin when Pap passes out?
6. How would you describe Pap’s social standing in the community? Does the fact that he is a supporter of
slavery therefore take on deeper significance because of Pap’s social standing?
Chapter Seven: I Fool Pap and Get Away
With Pap gone to town to sell drift logs, Huck escapes so that Pap will think he has been murdered.
1. What lie does Huck tell Pap to explain why he is holding a gun? Why doesn’t Pap remember what
happened the night before?
2. Explain how Huck stages his own murder. What does is show about Huck?
3. How does Huck escape to Jackson’s Island? What transportation does he use?
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Chapter Eight: I Spare Miss Watson’s Jim
Huck hides out on Jackson’s Island, and finds that he is not alone.
1. Why is it ironic when Huck finds and eats one of the loaves of bread with quicksilver in it?
2. When Huck finds a campfire, he is scared, but shows courage deciding to discover who is there. Who else
is on the island?
3. Why is Jim scared when he sees Huck?
4. Why is Huck scared when he finds out Jim has run away? What law is Huck breaking? What will
southerners call Huck if he doesn’t return Jim to Miss Watson?
5. Why did Jim run away?
6. How much is Jim worth? What does Jim mean when he says, “I owns myself”?
Chapter Nine: The House of Death Floats By
Huck and Jim take refuge from a storm. After the storm clears, they
catch a log raft floating by and see a house containing a dead man float by in
the flooded river.
1. How does Jim act like a dad for Huck during the storm? What
type of food and shelter does he find and provide for the young
boy?
2. As Huck and Jim rummage through the junk left in the house and return to the Illinois shore, is there any
sympathy of mind between the two characters? In what ways are they figuratively both in the same boat?
3. How does Huck help protect Jim at the end of the chapter?
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Chapter Ten: What Comes of Handlin’ Snake Skin
Huck plays a trick on Jim, and the consequences are nearly deadly.
1. Jim expects something bad to happen to him after Huck touched a snake skin the day before. How did
Jim’s superstition come true?
2. In what way is Huck’s trick with the dead snake reminiscent of Tom Sawyer?
3. Explain what Huck means when he says, “I’d druther been bit with a snake than Pap’s whiskey”?
4. Why does Huck dress up like a girl and knock at a lady’s door on the Illinois shore? Why does Huck want
to talk to her?
Chapter Eleven: They’re After Us!
Disguised as a girl, Huck visits Judith Loftus’ home to discover what people are saying about his murder and
Jim’s escape.
1. Who does Huck say he is and where does he say he is from?
2. What two people does Mrs. Loftus say are suspects in Huck’s murder case? What cash rewards are out for
them?
3. What does Mrs. Loftus say could have been Pap’s motive for murdering Huck?
4. At what point does Mrs. Loftus become suspicious that Huck is not a girl?
5. What does Huck’s cry of “they’re after us!” reveal about Huck and Jim’s relationship?
Chapter Twelve: “Better Let Blame Well Alone”
To escape discovery, Huck and Jim leave Jackson’s Island on their raft. They investigate a wrecked steamboat
and discover three desperate men on board.
1. Describe the wigwam that Huck and Jim build on their raft.
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2. Huck reflects on his upbringing and nurturing by Pap and the Widow Douglass as he talks about stealing
chickens and watermelons. What has Huck learned from Pap and the Widow? How does he reconcile the
two conflicting ideologies?
3. How does Huck convince Jim to investigate the old steamboat
wreck?
4. Huck and Jim see three men fighting on the wreck. While Jim
runs for the raft, what does Huck do? What would Tom have
done?
Chapter Thirteen: Honest Loot from the Walter Scott
While on the wreck, Huck and Jim’s raft comes untied and floats
away. To escaping from the wreck, Huck and Jim take the raft belonging to the criminals. They soon come across their
own raft downstream. Huck’s conscience kicks in, and he starts to worry about the three men he left to drown on the
Walter Scott. Huck convinces a ferryboat captain that he should investigate the wreck.
1. Bill and Packard almost caught Jim and Huck until they decided to go back to get what from Turner?
2. After leaving the three men to drown to death on the raft, Huck starts to feel guilty and says, “Now was the
first time that I begun to worry about the men – I reckon I hadn’t had time before. I begun to think how
dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain’t no telling but I might
come to be a murderer myself yet, and then how would I like it?” (71). Some people believe Twain is
giving his opinion on Capital Punishment in this section. If so, what do you think he is saying about the
topic?
3. How does Huck get the ferryboat captain to help people stuck on the wreck? What does this show about
Huck?
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4. What ultimately happens to the men trapped on the Walter Scott?
Chapter Fourteen: Was Solomon Wise?
Safe again, Huck and Jim discuss Kings and such while sorting their loot from the Walter Scott.
1. Why does Jim say he does not want, “no more adventures.”
2. How was Huck egocentric in his decision to go aboard the Walter Scott?
3. Why does Jim think the Biblical King Solomon was not wise?
4. What does Huck say happened to Louis XVI and his son the dolphin (Dauphin)?
Chapter Fifteen: Fooling Poor Old Jim
Separated in a fog, Jim and Huck drift down the river all night long. Upon their being reunited, Huck plays a
trick on Jim.
1. How do Huck and Jim plan to travel up the Ohio River against the current to the Free states?
2. Huck’s laid back attitude towards hardships reveals much about his character. What is shown in his
comments about colliding with islands as he drifted?
3. Explain how Huck lies to Jim. How does Huck mess with him?
4. How does Jim “interpret” his dream? What does he think the “big clear river” symbolizes?
5. Jim sees the rubbish in the raft and realizes Huck lied to him. Jim realizes the fog really did come in and
they were separated. He expresses his disappointment in Huck by saying how thankful he was to see Huck,
and all Huck did was trick him. Jim even goes so far as to reprimand Huck by calling his behavior,
“trashy” behavior. “En all you was thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie.
Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em
ashamed” (85). How does this quote prove Jim is wise, father figure to Huck? What important moral can
be extracted from this quote?
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6. Does Huck apologize to Jim?
Chapter Sixteen: The Rattlesnake-skin Does Work
Scholars believe Mark Twain broke off his writing of Huckleberry Finn for a few years at the end of this
chapter. It is an especially important chapter defining the relationship between Huck and Jim and presenting Huck with
his first really difficult struggle with conscience. Huck and Jim mistakenly float by Cairo and miss their chance to turn
up the Ohio River. Huck saves Jim by lying to slave hunters, but the two are separated by a disastrous collision.
1.
Why are Huck and Jim on the lookout for the town of Cairo?
Why is it an important marker in their journey?
2. Why does it make Huck “trembly and feverish” to hear Jim
talk about his approaching freedom? What inner struggle and
moral dilemma is Huck faced with?
3. Why does Jim’s explanation of his dream to buy his wife and kids or have an Abolitionist steal them and
bring them to the free states further worry Huck?
4. As Huck paddles off in the canoe to talk to the approaching men, Jim says to Huck, “you’s de bes’ fren’
Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now,” and, “de ole true Huck; de on’y white genlman
dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim”. Why does Huck feel sick after Jim pays him this compliment?
5. How does Huck show his creativity and intelligence in this scene with the slave hunters?
6. What does Mr. Parker and his companions give Huck? What does Jim want to do with their donation?
7. What inner conflict is Huck struggling with? What does his conscience tell him is “right” in this chapter?
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8. How do Huck and Jim account for their bad luck in missing Cairo? How important is it to Jim that they
have missed Cairo? How does this fact combined with his forgiveness of Huck illuminate his character?
Chapter Seventeen: The Grangerfords Take Me In
Huck is taken in by the aristocratic, well-to-do Grangerfords.
1. What is the Grangerford family like? Why are they happy “George Jackson” ( Huck) is not a
Shepherdson?
2. How old are Huck and Buck? Why do you think Twain gives them similar names?
3. Who is Henry Clay (ask Mr. G if you forgot)? Why is it ironic that the Grangerfords have Clay’s speeches
in their home?
4. Who was Emmeline Grangerford? What “talents” did she have? How did she die?
Chapter Eighteen: Why Harney Rode Away for His Hat
The family feud turns to bloodshed and murder after a young Shepherdson and Grangerford elope. After
witnessing much evil and death in “society,” Huck joins Jim and floats off down the river.
1. Describe Colonel Grangerford.
2. Why does Colonel Grangerford get mad at Buck for shooting at Harney Shepherdson from behind a bush?
3. What knowledge does Buck share with Huck about the origins of the feud?
4. How does Twain employ situational irony when describing the Sunday church routines of the two
families?
5. What has Jim been doing while Huck is staying with the Grangerfords? What does it show about his
character?
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6. How do Sophia and Harney escape? Why does Huck feel that he is involved and partially guilty?
7. Who does Buck say was killed? Whose body does Huck find later?
8. How does life among the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons – the “civilized” people on shore – compare with
life on board the raft?
Chapter Nineteen: The Duke and the Dauphin Come Aboard
After only a short interlude of peace and quiet, Jim and Huck encounter
two men fleeing from justice. The men pose as a Duke and King, and they take
charge of the raft.
1. Tom finds a canoe one morning, and paddles to shore where he
finds two men being chased. Why are they being chased?
2. How old are each of the men who jump in Tom’s canoe?
3. What simple explanation does Huck give for the fact he and Jim
agree to the Duke’s demands for servitude from them?
4. Why doesn’t Huck “let on” that he knows the Duke and the King are frauds?
5. In a sense, the raft is Huck’s home, or even his “country.” What is essential for happiness there? What
idea do you think Mark Twain is developing by using the raft as its symbol?
Chapter Twenty: What Royalty Did to Parkville
At Pokeville church meeting, the King poses as an evangelical pirate and makes a sizable amount of money in
donations.
1. At the start of the chapter, the King and the Duke ask Huck if Jim is a runaway slave. How does Huck
respond?
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2. At the church revival meeting, the King pretends to be a “born again” Christian who used to be a pirate in
the Indian Ocean. He claims he can help save the souls of pirates if he has some money to live on. How
much money does he make in cash donations from the churchgoers?
3. How does the Duke find a way to sail with Jim during the day?
4. What is Jim’s attitude toward Kings?
Chapter Twenty-One: An Arkansas Difficulty
At a little Arkansas town, the Duke and King set up posters for a “Shakespeare Revival.” Huck watches
Colonel Sherburn murder Boggs.
1. Describe the loafers in this Arkansas town. How do they pass time?
2. What are Boggs first words to Huck? Why is Boggs mad at Sherburn?
3. When does Sherburn say he will kill Boggs? What time does he actually kill him? Why does he shoot
twice?
Chapter Twenty-Two: Why the Lynching Bee Failed
Colonel Sherburn faces down an entire mob with rhetoric. Huck attends a circus.
1. The Arkansas loafers form a lynch mob to hang Sherburn in revenge for Bogg’s murder. As Colonel
Sherburn faces down the entire mob with only words, why does he say northerners aren’t manly? Why
does he say southerners aren’t manly? Keep in mind many scholars believe Sherburn is a vessel for
Twain’s own political and societal views.
2. What does Sherburn compare the mob to? Is their irony in the comparison the Colonel makes?
3. Why does Twain insert the “circus” scene here?
4. Why is Huck worried about the drunken horseman? What part of the show makes him feel better?
5. What trick of advertising does the Duke use to attract the townspeople to the theater? What is “low
comedy”? Give an example of a movie you have seen that uses “low comedy.”
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Chapter Twenty-Three: The Orneriness of Kings
The Duke and King outwit the country folks with their “Royal Nonesuch.” Huck teaches Jim that general
speaking, Kings are an ornery lot.
1. Describe the King’s performance. How long is it?
2. How do the townspeople plan to get back at the King and the Duke?
3. How do the King and the Duke get away? How much money do they make?
4. How would you sum up Twain’s view of kings and royalty based on what you’ve read thus far?
5. The insensitivity and tackiness of the Arkansas audiences, the King, and the Duke is made emphatically
clear in this chapter. How does Twain juxtapose Jim to these men through his telling the sad story about
his daughter’s loss of hearing?
Chapter Twenty-Four: The King Turns Parson
The King learns that Peter Wilks has died, and he plots with the Duke to pose of the deceased’s brothers from
England.
1. What important information do the King and Duke get from the man bound for New Orleans?
2. Who do the King and Duke pretend to be?
3. Earlier in the novel, Huck serves as a somewhat unbiased reporter. However, in this chapter he
editorializes by saying the behavior of the King and the Duke “was enough to make a body ashamed of the
human race.” What might account for Huck’s insertion of his opinion at this juncture?
Chapter Twenty-Five: All Full of Tears and Flapdoodle
The King and the Duke, with Huck as their “valet,” are accepted as Harvey and William Wilks, brothers of
deceased Peter.
1. What do the King and the Duke do that makes Huck say, “I never see anything so disgusting” (164)?
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2. How does Huck like the music at the funeral?
3. What do the King and the Duke get out of Peter Wilks’ inheritance?
4. The King and the Duke give their inheritance to Peter’s daughters. The Doctor calls the King, “the worst
imitation he ever heard” (109) due to his terrible accent. Who does Mary Jane believe? What does she give
this person as a sign of her loyalty and trust?
Chapter Twenty-Six: I Steal the King’s Plunder
Although Huck is on thin ice with his stories about life in England, he escapes any real difficulties because the
Wilks sisters are very kind to him. He steals gold from the two frauds.
1. List three lies about England Huck tells Jo, and explain how she knows each is a lie.
2. Why does Mary Jane defend Huck and chastise Jo? How would her actions and words been respected in
Ancient Greece?
3. What does the King want to do with the inherited property? What does the Duke want to do with it? What
do they decide?
4. What does Huck do with the money? What is his plan to help Mary Jane?
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Dead Peter Has His Gold
Huck hides the gold and the funeral is held. The Duke and the King prepare to auction the Wilks property.
1. Where does Huck hide the $6,000?
2. What excuse to the two frauds make up so that the timing of the auction so soon after the funeral will not
be adversely criticized?
3. What do the King and the Duke do with the slave families they inherited from Peter Wilks? Why does
Huck have hope that the families will be reunited in a week or two?
4. Who does Huck say he saw go in the Duke’s room? How does he frame them for stealing the $6,000
without getting Jim in trouble?
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Chapter Twenty-Eight: Overreaching Don’t Pay
Huck reveals the true identities of the frauds to Mary Jane, and persuades her to leave the house for the day.
1. In his conversation with Mary Jane, what conclusion does Huck come to about the relative merits of lying
and telling the truth? Does his conclusion provide any evidence that he is maturing?
2.
Why does Huck want to postpone unmasking the frauds until nighttime? What and who is Huck
concerned about when he tells Mary Jane, “there’d be another person that you don’t know about who’d be
in trouble” (187).
3. What does Huck do to obscure the whereabouts of Mary Jane?
4. What is the last item to be auctioned off? What ironic turn of events resulted from prolonging the auction
and the fraud’s “overreaching” greed?
Chapter Twenty-Nine: I Light Out in the Storm
The real Wilks brothers appear. All seems lost for the frauds and Huck, until the corpse is exhumed and
examined.
1. What is the real Harney Wilk’s accent like? How does Huck describe the King’s English accent?
2. What is wrong with William Wilk’s arm?
3. Who in the crowd questions the King and the Duke? Where does the crowd decide to take all of the
“relatives” to question them?
4. The locals conduct a handwriting test to match a letter to Peter from the real Wilks brothers. What are the
two reasons it is inconclusive?
5. What final means of identification is agreed upon? What element of plot almost forced Twain to this
choice?
6. What surprises the doctor so much that he lets go of Huck’s wrist? What argument can be made that Huck
is responsible here for his own salvation from the mob?
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7. Why should Huck be so pleased to see Mary Jane’s light on in the window?
8. How does Huck react when the Duke and the King approach the raft?
Chapter Thirty: The Gold Saves the Thieves
Back on the raft, the Duke and the King berate each other for the failure to dupe the Wilkses.
1. What is Huck’s excuse for almost ditching the King and Duke?
2. Who does the Duke think stole and hid the money in the coffin? Why does the King lie?
3. What finally reconciles the King and the Duke to each other?
Chapter Thirty-One: You Can’t Pray a Lie
Huck learns that Jim has been sold. Huck makes a big decision regarding his inner conflict of conscience.
1. Who sells Jim? To who is Jim sold?
2. Why does Huck consider writing Miss Watson a letter?
3. What moral battle is Huck fighting? Why can’t he “pray a lie”?
4. After Huck writes the letter, what persuades him to tear it up?
5. What does Huck think his consequence will be for breaking the Fugitive Slave Laws?
Chapter Thirty-Two: I Have a New Name
At the Phelps farm, there is a fortunate mistake about Huck’s identity. Aunt Sally believes him to be her
nephew arriving for a visit. In his autobiography, Twain explains that the Phelps farm is modeled after the farm
belonging to his Uncle John Quarles in Florida, Missouri. Twain uses specific details to create a mental tableau of the
farm for the reader.
1. Many readers are shocked by Huck’s racist reply that no one was hurt in the steamboat accident – except a
slave. Aunt Sally’s reply further entrenches the antebellum, southern view of slavery when she says,
“Well, its lucky.” How does Twain satirize in inhumanity of the institution of slavery in this harsh
dialogue?
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2. Who do Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas think Huck is?
3. Who does Huck think he might encounter if he walks toward town?
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Pitiful Ending of Royalty
Tom Sawyer arrives at his aunt and uncle’s farm, pretends to be a stranger (he clearly hasn’t seen them in
many years), and then identifies himself as Sid. Tom and Huck slip out at night and observe the Duke and King being
tarred and feathered.
1. Why does Tom think Huck is a ghost?
2. Why is Huck shocked Tom wants to help free Jim?
3. The Phelps don’t recognize their own nephew. What two aliases does Tom use since Huck is already
“Tom Sawyer”?
4. What philosophical conclusions does Huck make about the human race when he sees the King and Duke
tarred and feathered?
Chapter Thirty-Four: We Cheer Up Jim
Tom and Huck visit Jim in his prison and make their guide think he has been visited by witches.
1. What conclusion does Tom come to when he sees the watermelon and the locked shed?
2. Compare Huck and Tom’s plans for freeing Jim. Which plan to the decide to use? Why?
3. Tom, Huck, and Jim make the man who led the boys to Jim think that witches are calling out to him. Why
do they trick him like this?
4. Why do you think Jim tacitly agree to “play along” with Tom and Huck and deny saying anything?
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Chapter Thirty-Five: Dark, Deep-Laid Plans
Huck and Tom set about providing Jim with a ladder, writing equipment, and tools to dig himself out of
“prison.”
1. Why is Tom upset they have to “invent all the difficulties”? What adventure books and heroes does Tom
say are “the best authorities” for how prison breaks should be carried out?
2. Circle the best answers below:
a. Tom sees Jim’s escape as a real life emergency/a game (circle one).
b. Huck sees Jim’s escape as a real life emergency/ a game (circle one).
3. Why is it ridiculous that Tom makes Huck provide Jim with a rope ladder and a shirt to keep a journal on?
4. Huck is relieved to find that Tom will “let on” the rescue took thirty-seven years, and disappointed again
when Tom says Huck must steal the three case knives. Explain how Huck looks at Tom differently now
that he has spent time with Jim on the river.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Trying to Help Jim
The two boys complete their tunnel into Jim’s room. They steal candles, a spoon, and a candlestick from Aunt
Sally and prepare to smuggle them by way of Nat, who again thinks he has encountered witches.
1. Earlier in the novel, on of the men on the Walter Scott says, “It ain’t good sense, it ain’t good morals” to
murder Jim Turner. In this chapter, Tom says, “It ain’t right, it ain’t moral” to dig Jim out of prison with
anything but case knives. What does Twain apparently intend by such ironic uses of the word moral?
2. When Huck says he “don’t care shucks for the morality of it, no how” the contrast between means (the
ways of getting things done) and ends (the reasons/purposes for getting things done) is emphasized. Which
of the boys is more concerned with the means? Which of the boys is concerned with the ends?
3. What suggestion does Huck make and Tom accept to speed up Jim’s rescue in this chapter?
4. What is Jim’s reaction upon seeing Huck and Tom again? How does Twain juxtapose Jim’s loving
reaction with the boys’ harsh treatment of Jim?
5. Why doesn’t Jim question the boys and their plan? How is Jim’s intelligence shown in his patience with
Tom’s extensive escape plan?
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Chapter Thirty-Seven: Jim Gets his Witch Pie
The Phelps family counts their missing sheets, shirts, spoons, knives, and candles.
1. Tom and Huck bake a special pie for Jim to help him escape. What does Jim do with the rope ladder and
pie tin? How does this situational irony typify their entire program for “saving” Jim?
2. How is Jim, who was once free and sailing down the river, now enslaved again? How do the Phelps, and
Tom responsible for his re-enslavement? How is Huck complicit in Jim’s re-enslavement?
3. What states might Tom symbolize? What states might Huck symbolize?
4. Many scholars see Jim’s re-enslavement as Twain’s satire on the failure of Reconstruction. How can Jim’s
re-enslavement be seen as an allegory of the racist Jim Crow Laws and economically debilitating system
of sharecropping for newly freed slaves after the Civil War?
Chapter Thirty-Eight: “Where a Captive Heart Busted”
Jim’s aid is enlisted in the heavy work of assembling materials and companions for the prisoner.
1. Tom wants Jim to chisle his coats of arms, a mournful inscription, and a Latin motto into a grindstone in
his cell. Why is the Latin motto, “Maggoire fretta, minore atto,” or the more haste the less speed,
particularly apropos in describing Jim’s lengthy escape?
2. Who rolls the grindstone into Jim’s room? How is this scene especially ironic? Who superintends? Is Huck
being sarcastic about Tom’s administrative talent?
3. What other creatures and items does Tom want to get Jim so that he can have the proper pets and décor in
his jail cell?
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Tom Writes Unanimous Letters
Tom writes “nonnamous” (anonymous) letters to the Phelps household saying that someone is trying to steal
Jim. The Phelps family is alarmed.
1. Where do Tom and Huck hide the rats and snakes they caught to put in Jim’s cell? Who finds the
creatures?
2. What allegorical and historical implications are there behind Jim’s remark that “he wouldn’t ever be in
prison again, not for a salary”?
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3. Why does Tom want to alert the Phelps plantation to Jim’s escape? What kind of escape does Tom hope it
will be?
Chapter Forty: A Mixed-up and Splendid Rescue
Neighboring farmers gather at the Phelps home. Jim, Huck, and Tom escape to the raft, but Tom is shot in the
leg.
1. How does Tom’s reaction to the presence of the armed men compare with Huck’s?
2. After the escape, Huck says, “Now, old Jim, you’re a free man again, and I bet you won’t ever be a slave
no more.” What does Jim mean when he says, “en it ‘uz done beautiful, en dey ain’t nobody kin git up a
plan dat’s mo mixed up en splendid” (274)? Do his comments seem consistent with what you know about
his character?
3. What happens to Tom’s leg? Who decides that a doctor must be sent for? What risk is there to Jim in this
decision?
Chapter Forty-One: “Must’a a’ Been Sperits”
Huck finds a doctor, but he is unable to accompany the physician to the raft. Huck oversleeps and is returned
home by Silas Phelps.
1. What lies does Huck (“Tom”) tell to the doctor and Uncle Silas?
2. Why does Mrs. Hotchkiss think Jim is crazy?
3. In regards to the plot, why does Twain have Aunt Sally guilt trip Huck into staying in bed? How does
Huck staying in the house help build suspense?
Chapter Forty-Two: Why They Didn’t Hang Jim
Tom is brought back home, feverish and out of his head. Jim is chained up in Aunt Sally’s calico dress. Tom
tells the whole story and Aunt Sally arrives.
1. Why does the crowd decide they can’t hang Jim?
2. Why did Jim come out of hiding when the doctor was attending to Tom on the raft?
3. What secret about Miss Watson has Tom kept mum about until now?
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4. Why does Aunt Polly come to see what is going on at Aunt Sally’s house? What odd news did she receive
in Aunt Sally’s letter?
Chapter The Last, Nothing More to Write
Tom recovers; Jim is free. Aunt Sally wants to adopt Huck, but Huck has no desire to be a part of civilization.
1. What became of Huck’s father?
2. The last two sentences of the novel are “But I reckon I got to lout for the territory ahead of the rest,
because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before”. T.S.
Elliot, a famous American poet, said that no novel ever ended with two better sentences than The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Do you agree? Does Huck have a different interpretation of the words
“civilize” and “civilization” than he did at the beginning of the book? Do you have a different
interpretation of society than you did at the beginning of the book?
3. Some scholars who study slavery and abolition criticize Huck’s character for leaving the south and taking
off for the west instead of staying in the south and attempting to educate white southerners about the
importance of the abolition movement. Others say Huck’s character shows his disapproval of the southern
states entrenched views on slavery by saying he will move to the western territories that had not yet been
deemed slave or free states. What is your opinion on Huck’s decision to move out to the wild, uncivilized
west?
Afterword by Alfred Kazin
Take notes on the following themes and motifs brought up
in the afterward by Kazin:
1. Why does Twain use southern vernaculars (dialects)?
2. How do Huck and Jim gain freedom from civilization
and slavery on the raft?
3. Why has The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn been censored?
4. Why is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a social satire? What institutions is Twain ridiculing? What
does Twain think needs to change in the south?
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5. Why does Huck choose to stay with “low company” rather than members of high society?
6. How is the river a metaphor for life?
7. How and why are children and civilized adults in conflict throughout this book?
8. How is Huck’s journey an American epic? How is Huck similar to Odysseus (Ulysses) as an imperfect
hero? Who is the real hero of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
9. Was Huck and Jim’s interracial friendship shocking at the time it was written?
10. What types of people is Twain exasperated by? Through which character does Twain vocalize his
exasperation with America’s democratic complacency (and hypocrisy)?
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