Analysis of
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Step I:
Choose ONE of the following topics about which to write a formal
paragraph:
- What makes this novel an important record of American culture?
- How does Twain use satire to expose and criticize human failings?
Step II:
Identify the topic of your paragraph in a topic sentence.
*Remember that the topic sentence should identify the book title
and author and the point your essay will make.
Topic Sentence: _______________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Step III: Determine what points from the story will support the claim you make
in your topic sentence, and outline the structure of your paragraph
into a graphic organizer (next page). All points/evidence should work
to prove your topic sentence.
TS
SD1 (an aspect of American history OR
an example of human failing)
SD2
SD3
EX & QUOTE (detail from the story
that demonstrates above aspect of
American history OR above example of
human failing / include page number)
EX & QUOTE
EX & QUOTE
EXPLANATION (…of how/why above
detail supports the point made in the
topic sentence)
EXPL
EXPL
CL
Step IV: Using your graphic organizer as a guide, write a rough draft of your
essay.
Peer edit for grammar, spelling, punctuation, organization, content,
and focus. REVISE
Peer edit for vocabulary usage, voice, and sentence structure. REVISE
Peer conference. REVISE – make FINAL COPY!
Parenthetical Documentation
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Punctuation
Example
- Huck asks, “What’s it all about?” (104).
comma
- “Well, den, Miss Sophia’s run off…to git married to dat young Harney
Shepherdson…” Jack informs Huck (104).
colon
- Huck notices that everyone, including Buck, is missing, so he questions Jack: “What’s
it all about?” (104).
- Jack informs Huck that Sophia ran away with a Shepherdson boy: “Well, den, Miss
Sophia’s run off…to git married to dat young Harney Shepherdson…” (104).
nothing
- Jack informs Huck that “…Miss Sophia’s run off…to git married to dat young Harney
Shepherdson…” (104).
Quoting 4
or more
lines
*block
*no quotes
*no endmark
Colonel Sherburn accuses the lynch mob of acting like cowards and makes references to
the unmanly behavior of the Ku Klux Klan:
…they always acquit; and then a man goes in the night, with a hundred masked
cowards at his back, and lynches the rascal...the average man don’t like trouble and
danger. You don’t like trouble and danger. But if only half a man…shouts “Lynch
him, lynch him!” you’re afraid to and so you raise a yell, and hang yourselves onto
that half-a-man’s coat tail…swearing what big things you’re going to do. (134)
The mob takes heed of his scorn and leaves the premises.
Quoting a
Quote
Colonel Sherburn accuses the men of acting like cowards: “But if only half a
man…shouts ‘Lynch him, lynch him!’ you’re afraid to…” (134).
*Quotes are double spaced the same as the rest of the document.
Directions: Punctuate each of the following sentences that include internal documentation.
1. The king tells the others how generous his brother was “Friends all, my poor brother that lays
yonder, as done generous by them that’s left…” (153).
2. Faking his sorrow and gratitude, the king exclaims “Friends all, my poor brother that lays
yonder, as done generous by them that’s left…” (153).
3. Faking his sorrow and gratitude, the king exclaims to the “Friends all…” that his “poor
brother that lays yonder” has left “generous” gifts to the nieces and to his brother and him
(134).
4. Twain has Huck depict the lynch mob as “raging…Injuns” (133).
5. Huck explains “They swarmed up the street towards Sherburn’s house, awhooping and
yelling like raging Injuns…” (133).
6. They lynch mob gathered together and went after Colonel Sherburn at his residence “They
swarmed up the street towards Sherburn’s house, awhoopoing and yelling like raging
Injuns…” (133).