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high expectations advance academic excellence. We are committed to promoting integrity and critical
thinking, while fostering tolerance and life-long learning in an ever-changing global society.
- Westford Academy Mission Statement
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
“Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard, was hated and dreaded by all the mothers [in town]
because he was idle, lawless, vulgar and bad—and because all the children wished they dared be
like him.” – Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Name: ___________________________________
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Schedule
* = Presentations
Ch. 1-5 ___________
* Ch. 6-9 ___________
Ch.10-13 ___________
* Ch. 14-16 ___________
* Ch. 17-18 ___________
Ch. 19-20____________
Ch. 21-22____________
Ch. 23-24 ____________
Ch. 25-26 ____________
* Ch. 27-29 ____________
Ch. 30-33 ____________
* Ch. 34-36 ____________
Ch. 37-39 ____________
Ch. 40-end ___________
Reading dates will remain the same in the event of snow days. Bring your book and packet home and
please plan ahead!
Important Terms
Directions: Be familiar with the following characters and themes. Make sure you jot down
specific details with page numbers to support both your character descriptions and
the existence of each theme.
Characters
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
Jim
The Widow Douglas
Miss Watson
Pap
Judge Thatcher
Mrs. Judith Loftus
Bill, Jake Packard, and Jim Turner
The Grangerfords: Buck, Emmeline, Saul, Sophia, etc.
George Jackson
The Sheperdsons: Harney, etc.
The Duke and the Dauphin
Boggs and Sherburn
The Wilks’s: Peter, Mary Jane, Susan, Joanna, Harvey, and William
Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas
Nat
Themes Please develop theme statements based on the following categories and support your
statements with 2-3 examples from the novel.
Satire
Morality/Moral Compass
Growing up/Childhood Perspective/Forming one’s own identity
Conflict (individual vs. society, ex. racism; person vs. self; person vs. person; person vs. nature)
Appearance vs. reality
Chapter Questions
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Write down page numbers
when necessary to support your answers.
Chapter 1
1. What can you infer about Huck from the way he talks? (Briefly describe his voice as a
narrator.)
2. How does Huck feel about being “sivilized?” What does he mean by “sivilized?”
3. Why does Huck prefer to go to the “bad” place over the “good” place? What does this tell us
about his understanding of the two (and religion in general)?
4. What is Huck’s mood at the end of the chapter? What might this tell us about his selfesteem/mental state?
Chapter 2
1. Briefly describe Jim.
2. What trick does Tom Sawyer play on Jim? How does Huck feel about it? How does Jim react?
3. How are Huck and Tom different? (Give two specific examples from the story to support your
answer.)
4. From where does Tom Sawyer get his ideas (like what his “gang” should do)? Does he seem
to fully understand his sources?
Chapter 3
1. What does Huck think of praying? Why?
2. Why does Huck resign from Tom Sawyer’s gang?
Chapter 4
1. Why does Huck “sell” his fortune to Judge Thatcher? (What is he afraid will happen if he has
possession of the money?)
2. What does the “hair ball” tell Jim about Huck’s future?
Chapter 5
1. Describe Pap (physically and in terms of his character). What is his relationship like with
Huck?
Chapter 6
1. Why does Huck want to go to school in this chapter? What might this suggest about Huck as a
person?
2. Why does Huck enjoy living with Pap at first?
Chapter 7
1. Why does Huck want to escape from Pap?
2. Describe Huck’s plan to escape in detail. How does he arrange things so that Pap will not
come after him?
3. As Huck prepares to escape, he wishes Tom were there. He says, “I knowed he would take an
interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches.” How does Huck imagine
Tom’s plan would differ? What does this say about Huck’s self-esteem?
4. Where is Huck headed? (Look at your map and add St. Petersburg [Huck’s hometown], Pap’s
cabin, and Huck’s hideaway.)
Chapter 8
1. Why are people firing a cannon over the water? Why are they floating bread down the river?
2. Why is Jim scared when he first sees Huck?
3. Why has Jim run away? Summarize the reasons he provides.
4. Are there any differences between Huck’s superstitions and Jim’s? (Hint: one is more
optimistic than the other.)
5. What do Huck and Jim have in common? (Think about their present circumstances!)
Chapter 9
1. What do Huck and Jim find inside the house? List as many items as possible. What can you
surmise about the residents of the house based on the content?
2. What does Jim try to protect Huck from upon entering the house? What might this suggest
about Jim and about Jim and Huck’s relationship?
Chapter 10
1. How does a snake come to be in Jim’s blanket?
2. What does Jim do to treat the snakebite?
3. How does Huck react to Jim’s treatment? What does Huck’s reaction show about him? Cite a
quotation to support your answer.
Chapter 11
1. What information does Huck get from Mrs. Judith Loftus?
2. How does she see through Huck’s disguise? How does he explain his clothing?
3. Why do Huck and Jim leave Jackson’s Island?
Chapter 12
1. Describe the raft and the life Huck and Jim lead on it.
2. Why are Huck and Jim able to feel comfortable about “borrowing” things?
3. What happens aboard the Walter Scott?
Chapter 13
1. How do Huck and Jim escape the Walter Scott? How does Huck feel about the way they
escaped?
2. How does Huck try to help the stranded men? What happens to them?
Chapter 14
1. Why does Jim decide he doesn’t want any more adventures?
2. Who is King Solomon? (You may have to look this one up.)
3. Why doesn’t Jim think that King Solomon is wise? Why does Huck decide it is useless to
argue with him?
4. Many would say that Huck is prone to racism due to the society he has been raised in. Explain
how his argument with Jim proves Huck is not immune to prejudice.
Chapter 15
1. What do Huck and Jim plan to do when they reach Cairo?
2. Describe how Huck felt when he was alone in the fog.
3. Huck tells Jim that the separation in the fog was a dream. What does Jim say to explain to
Huck that lying to him is wrong?
4. How does Huck react to hurting Jim’s feelings? What does this show about Huck’s progress as
a moral person?
Chapter 16
1. How does Huck feel about helping Jim escape? (Support your answer with evidence from the
text.)
2. What happens to the raft at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 17
1. Who are the Grangerfords? (Describe Buck, Saul, Rachel, etc.) What is the Grangerford’s
home like?
2. Who is Emmeline? Describe her.
Chapter 18
1. What is a feud? (Think about how Buck Grangerford explains it.)
2. What is ironic about the Sunday sermon at church?
3. Where did Sophia Grangerford go? How does her family react?
4. What becomes of Buck and the other Grangerfords? How does Huck feel?
5. React to the idea of feuds. How would Tom Sawyer feel about it? How would Tom’s reaction
differ from Huck’s? (Describe Huck’s response to the entire episode.)
Chapter 19
1. Who are the Duke and the Dauphin? (Describe each – physically and their character.)
2. Why might Huck and Jim believe their stories?
3. Why doesn’t Huck let on that he knows they are frauds?
Chapter 20
1. What is a “camp meeting?”
2. What do the duke and the king do at the camp meeting? What does this tell you about them?
3. What is the duke’s plan to run in the daytime without having to hide Jim?
Chapter 21
1. Who is Boggs? What happens to him?
2. What do the townspeople decide to do about it?
Chapter 22
1. What does Colonel Sherburn say about the average man? How does the crowd react?
2. How do the duke and the king try to attract customers to their new “play?”
Chapter 23
1. Describe “The Royal Nonesuch.” How do the king and duke make money from it?
2. Why doesn’t Jim wake Huck up for his turn to watch?
3. What do we learn about Jim’s family in this chapter? His daughter?
Chapter 24
1. What is the duke and king’s new scheme? How do they fool the townspeople (i.e. how are
they able to fool them)?
2. What does Huck witness that makes him “ashamed of the human race” (146)?
Chapter 25
1. How do the townspeople react to the imposters?
2. Who does not believe that the duke and king are who they say they are? Why?
Chapter 26
1. Why does Huck “steal the king’s plunder?” What does this show about Huck’s developing
moral compass?
Chapter 27
1. Where does Huck hide the gold?
2. Describe the funeral service.
3. What happens to the slaves? How does Huck justify not speaking out?
Chapter 28
1. Why does Huck decide to tell the truth for once? What does this decision show about his
moral development?
2. Who is Huck referring to when he says, “there’d be another person that you don’t know about
who’d be in big trouble. Well we’ve got to save him hain’t we” (169)?
3. Why won’t Huck tell Mary Jane where he hid the gold? What does it tell us about Huck as a
character?
4. How does Huck react when Mary Jane says she will pray for him? Is Huck as damned as he
thinks? Why/why not?
Chapter 29
1. Who comes to town that creates a problem for the two con artists? Do you believe these new
characters? Why/why not?
2. Why do they decide to dig up Peter Willks? How does Huck escape?
3. Why is Huck so upset at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 30
1. How do the duke and the king escape being killed by the townspeople?
2. What happens between the king and the duke in this chapter?
Chapter 31
1. What happens to Jim? What is the duke and king’s role in this?
2. Why does Huck decide to pray? What does he mean by “you can’t pray a lie” (190)? What lie
is Huck trying to pray?
3. When Huck describes his relationship with Jim on page 191, what kind of relationship is he
describing?
4. Why does Huck say, “‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (191)? What does this decision tell us
about Huck? About the relationship between Huck and Jim?
Chapter 32
1. Who does Huck pretend to be at the Phelps’s plantation? Why is it convenient for Huck?
Chapter 33
1. What does Huck do when Tom begins to talk about Jim? Why does he do that?
2. How does Tom react when Huck says he is going to help Jim escape?
3. How does Tom explain his arrival (i.e. how does he avoid the presence of two Toms)?
Chapter 34
1. What kind of plan does Tom envision to break Jim free? How is it different from Huck’s?
Why are their ideas so different?
2. How do Tom and Huck avoid letting anyone know that Jim knows them?
Chapter 35
1. React to the light-hearted way Tom approaches Jim’s escape. How does it make you feel?
2. What does the fact that Tom speaks of cutting off Jim’s leg say about Tom? How does he feel
about Jim? Why?
3. Describe some of the things Tom thinks Jim ought to do as a prisoner.
Chapter 36
1. How is Jim treated as a prisoner? Are Tom and Huck’s efforts helping him any?
Chapter 37
1. What happens when Aunt Sally notices that items are going missing (i.e. how do Tom and
Huck avoid trouble)?
2. What’s a “witch pie?” Why do Tom and Huck make one?
Chapter 38
1. What does Tom decide Jim needs to go down in history as a famous prisoner? How does Jim
react to the idea?
Chapter 39
1. What happens to the rats the boys catch? The snakes? What does Aunt Sally do to them every
time she finds a snake in the house?
2. Why does Tom decide they should write an anonymous letter to the family? What does he
expect the letter to accomplish? How does it make the family feel?
Chapter 40
1. What happens after the second anonymous letter (i.e. how does the family react)?
2. What causes the noise that the farmers hear when they are close to Huck, Tom, and Jim?
3. Why was Tom “the gladdest of all” when they had finally made it to the raft?
4. What does Jim say to do that is selfless and brave?
Chapter 41
1. How does Huck say Tom got shot?
2. Why doesn’t Huck go back to the island with the doctor?
3. Who does Huck meet when he wakes up the next morning?
4. What excuse does Huck give Aunt Sally for him and Tom not being in their room when she
locked them in?
5. What makes Huck feel bad at the end of this chapter?
Chapter 42
1. Why does the doctor say that they should not be too hard on Jim?
2. What two things does the doctor say Jim is worth? (One is a dollar amount; the other is not.)
3. What is Tom’s explanation of the events that have recently transpired?
4. What important information does Tom reveal about Jim?
5. Who tells Aunt Sally who Tom and Sid really are?
Chapter the Last
1. What does Huck learn about Pap?
2. What does Huck decide to do? Why?