JUNIOR ENGLISH 231
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http://www.alanreinstein.com email: alan_reinstein@newton.k12.ma.us
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Newton South High School, a community of students, parents, faculty, and staff
(1) IS DEDICATED TO EQUALITY AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL; (2) EXPECTS INTEGRITY; RESPONSIBILITY; AND RESPECT FOR SELF, OTHERS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT; (3) CREATES A CLIMATE
OF SAFETY AND KINDNESS; (4) ENCOURAGES COMMUNICATION AND PERSONAL CONNECTIONS; (5) NURTURES CURIOSITY, CREATIVITY, AND A PASSION FOR LEARNING; (6) FOSTERS SELFCONFIDENCE AND SUCCESS FOR ALL LEARNERS.
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry
READING ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Finn
Reading #1: Chapters 1-5 (pages 1-22)
Chapter 1: “Discover Moses and the Bullrushers”
[OPTIONAL] Describe briefly how Huck’s story in Tom Sawyer ends up.
[OPTIONAL] Infer: What is the widow doing when she “grumbles” over the victuals (the food). What does Huck see that is
worth grumbling about?
1.
What does Huck say is the reason he is not interested in Moses? Describe Huck’s attitude towards Hell (“the bad
place”).
2.
On page 3, Huck there are several references to death. Write down two of them.
[OPTIONAL] Infer the reason for Huck’s trust in superstition (the meaning of the dead spider) over religion.
[OPTIONAL] Who is waiting for Huck at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 2: “Our Gang’s Dark Oath”
[OPTIONAL] Introducing Tom: What is his idea of fun in his treatment of the sleeping Jim? How does Huck respond to the
suggestion?
3.
Introducing Jim: How does he respond to Tom’s trick after he wakes up?
[OPTIONAL] Give several details of the oath that the boys are asked to swear to belong to Tom’s club.
4.
What news is given about Huck’s father?
5.
Tom wants the gang to follow the rules that are in “the books.” What does this tell the reader about Tom?
Ch. 3: “We Ambuscade the A-rabs”
6. How does Huck misunderstand prayer early in the chapter?
7. At the end of the chapter, Tom says to Huck, “You don’t seem to know anything, somehow—perfect saphead.” Give an
example of the irony of this statement, where Huck seems to know more than Tom. What does Huck mean at the end
of chapter 3, "It had all the marks of a Sunday school"?
Ch. 4: The Hair-ball Oracle”
[OPTIONAL] How much money does Judge Thatcher say that Huck has? What does Huck do with it in his discussion with
the judge?
8.
How does superstition play a role in the chapter? How does this relate to the reader’s first impression of Jim?
[OPTIONAL] Who does Huck see at the very end of the chapter?
Ch. 5: “Pap Starts in on a New Life“
9. Give some details of Pap, from Huck’s description of him on page 19.
10. What is at the heart of Pap’s anger toward Huck?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #2: Chapters 6-8 (pages 23-46)
Chapter 6: “Pap Struggles with the Death Angel.”
1. “It was pretty good times up in the woods there, take it all around.” What does Huck like about living in Pap’s cabin?
2.
On the top of page 26, what is Huck’s plan for escape?
3.
Why does Pap say he’ll “never vote ag’in”? (Hint: He’s angry about a “p’fessor in a college.”)
[OPTIONAL] Who does Pap mistake Huck for when he wakes up during his drunken dream?
Ch. 7: “I Fool Pap and Get Away”
4. When Huck sees the drifting empty canoe, first he thinks of Pap. Why? Then he “struck another idea” (31). What is
it?
5.
What does Huck drag down to the river and dump in? Why?
Ch. 8: “I Spare Miss Watson’s Jim”
6. What is the significance of the “Boom!” that Huck hears in the morning?
[Note: When Huck says he changes to the Illinois side of the island, he is saying that east shore of the Mississippi River is
Illinois, a state where slaves are free, while the western shore is Missouri, where slavery is the law. Keep in mind that
Illinois is just on the other side.]
7.
At the bottom of page 37, “something struck” Huck. What does he have to say about prayer and the widow?
[OPTIONAL] Name three of the people on the ferryboat.
[OPTIONAL] What does Huck find to make his “heart jump up against [his] lungs”?
8.
How does Jim explain his reason for running away?
9.
Superstition. Give some examples of Jim’s superstitions (signs), which he explains to Huck.
10. Why does Jim think he’s rich at the end of the chapter?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #3: Chapters 9-12 (pages 47-70)
Chapter 9: “The House of Death Floats By”
1. What does Huck’s description of the thunderstorm on pages 48-49 tell the reader about Huck? Write down three
positive words or phrases Huck uses in his description.
2.
Why does Jim tell Huck not to look at the face of the dead man in the house-raft that floats by?
Ch. 10: “What Comes of Handlin’ Snake-skin”
3. Describe the “fun” that Huck has at Jim’s expense.
4.
Why does Huck dress up like a girl at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 11: “They’re After Us!”
[OPTIONAL] Who is “Sarah Williams”?
[OPTIONAL] Name two people the woman tells Huck people are thinking may have killed Huck Finn.
[OPTIONAL] Where has the woman’s husband gone?
5.
Who does the woman suspect Huck “really” is?
6.
How does Huck describe George Peters, his new lie?
Ch. 12: “Better Let Blame Well Alone”
7. Huck says, “So I didn’t care what was the reason they didn’t get us as long as they didn’t.” What is the significance of
Huck’s use of the word us in this sentence?
8.
Infer: What’s the importance of the wigwam on the raft?
[OPTIONAL] Why does Huck want to board the wrecked steamboat?
[OPTIONAL] What is Jake Packard’s plan for killing Jim Turner?
9.
What’s Jim’s news at the end of the chapter?
10. How does Tom Sawyer play a role in this chapter?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #4: Chapters 13-16 (pages 71-94)
Chapter 13: “Honest Loot from the ‘Walter Scott’”
[OPTIONAL] On page 71, what is the trouble that the “rascals” are in, now that Huck and Jim have taken their boat?
1.
Briefly summarize Huck’s story to the ferryman that he uses to get him to help the sinking Walter Scott.
2.
What is the significance of “but there wasn’t any answer; all dead still” (75)?
Ch. 14: “Was Solomon Wise?”
3. What is Jim’s reasoning about wanting “no more adventures”?
[OPTIONAL] How does Jim argue that King Solomon is not wise (from the famous story of King Solomon and the two
mothers [the Judgment of Solomon])?
4.
When Huck says, “I never see such a nigger,” how is the reader meant to see Jim from this? And likewise, explain the
dramatic irony of Huck’s final line of the chapter, “You can’t learn a nigger to argue. So I quit.”
Ch. 15: “Fooling Poor Old Jim”
5. What’s the plan for getting to Cairo? (You might find value in looking on the website’s “map of Huck’s adventures” to
visualize their traveling.)
6.
While Huck is in the canoe, looking for a “towhead” (a branch that he can tie the raft to), he gets separated from Jim
and the raft in the fog. Explain the trick that Huck plays on Jim when they are reunited on the raft and Huck wakes up
Jim, who has fallen asleep.
7.
What does Jim say trash is? And why does Huck “humble himself” at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 16: “The Rattlesnake Skin Does Its Work”
8. Describe their concern about missing Cairo. Why do they think they might not notice the two rivers—the Mississippi
and the Ohio—merging? And what is their plan?
9.
Explain the significance of the passage that begins with the following: “…and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I
couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how, nor now way.”
[OPTIONAL] What is Huck’s new plan when he begins to paddle off to shore? And what does Jim say to make him change
his mind?
[OPTIONAL] How does Huck’s quick thinking save Jim from the two men looking for runaway slaves?
10. Describe Huck’s reasoning on page 91 for deciding to no longer try to do the right thing.
[OPTIONAL] What is the meaning of “So it was all up with Cairo”?
[OPTIONAL] What final event of the chapter leads Huck to the shore?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #5: Chapters 17-19 (pages 95-125)
Chapter 17: “The Grangerfords Take Me In”
1. What should a good reader infer right away about the Shepherdson family, or the relationship between the family Huck
initially meets and the Shepherdsons?
2.
How old is Buck? Why is this likely significant to Huck and to the reader?
[OPTIONAL] After Huck tells his story (as George Jackson), what do the Grandersons offer him (at the bottom of 98)?
3.
What does Huck’s description of the Granderson home suggest about the family?
[OPTIONAL] Care to comment on Evangeline Grangerford’s “Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec’d”?
Ch. 18: “Why Harney Rode Away For His Hat”
[OPTIONAL] Give at least three features of Colonel Grangerford’s appearance. What do these features suggest about his
character?
4.
What does Colonel Grangerford mean when he tells Buck, “I don’t like that shooting from behind a bush. Why didn’t
you step into the road, my boy?”?
[OPTIONAL] Infer: “Miss Sophia she turned pale, but the color come back when she found the man warn’t hurt.”
5.
How does Buck describe the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shephersons? How does Buck perceive the
Shepherdsons?
6.
What is the task that Miss Sophia asks of Huck? What’s written on the note?
7.
How does Huck reunite with Jim? Give brief details of Jim’s account to Huck. What has he been “a-patchin’ up”?
[OPTIONAL] Briefly describe what happens to Buck and his cousin Joe.
8.
Briefly discuss the significance of the final paragraph of the chapter--Huck’s comments about a raft and the river—as it
relates to his experience with the Grangerfords.
Ch. 19: “The Duke and Dauphin Come Aboard”
[OPTIONAL] What does Huck have to say about clothes on page 118?
[OPTIONAL] How do Huck and Jim disagree about how the stars came about?
9.
What can be inferred about the two men who “hadn’t been doing nothing, and was being chased for it”?
10. How did the two men get into to trouble—the younger man first and then the bald-headed man of seventy?
[OPTIONAL] What does the younger man say is the “secret of his birth”? Then, what is the secret of the old baldheaded
man’s birth?
[OPTIONAL] What does Huck say “you want, above all things, on a raft”?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #6: Chapters 20-22 (pages 125-150)
Chapter 20: ”What Royalty Did to Parkville”
1. How does Huck respond to the duke and king’s question about whether Jim is a runaway slave?
2.
What does the duke plan to “cipher out a way” to do?
[OPTIONAL] Where does Huck stay during the storm, while the duke and king are sleeping in the wigwam?
3.
Describe the plan for the scam the duke suggests when they decide to “lay out a campaign.”
4.
Briefly describe the scene where “the king got a-going”? What is his purpose?—and what happens?
[OPTIONAL] Meanwhile, describe what the duke has been up to.
5.
What is the duke’s plan for being able to “run in the daytime”?
Ch. 21: “An Arkansaw Difficulty”
[OPTIONAL] The famous “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy from Hamlet is given a humorous treatment with the duke’s
version. Can you spot where Macbeth appears or other changes?
6.
Give some details of the “gardens” around the little houses. On the next page, what makes a loafer “happy all over”?
7.
Briefly describe the event of the town drunk Boggs and Colonel Sherburn. (What’s the ultimatum that Sherburn gives to
Boggs? How does it play out?)
8.
Where are the townfolk going, “mad and yelling,” at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 22: “Why the Lynching Bee Failed”
9. Paraphrase Sherburn’s speech to the mob as he speaks to it from his rooftop. (What does he say about the average
man? About a mob? What happens at the end?)
[OPTIONAL] Give some details of Huck’s time at the circus. What’s ironic about his line, “It could have all of my custom
(money) every time”?
10. What’s the “biggest line of all” that will get a big crowd for the king and the duke’s Royal Nonesuch scam?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #7: Chapters 23-25 (pages 151-170)
Chapter 23: ”The Orneriness of Kings”
1. Briefly describe the “Royal Nonesuch” scam by the king and the duke.
2.
How does Huck explain to Jim the reason for their king and duke being “rapscallions” or dishonest rascals? (Can you
find several mistakes in his history discussion?)
3.
What does Huck mean on page 155, when he says, “It doesn’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” What does this say
about Huck’s development in the story?
4.
What makes Jim moan, “Po’ little “Lizabeth! Po’ little Johnny!”? Briefly retell his painful memory.
Ch. 24: “The King Turns Parson”
5. What is the duke’s solution to Jim spending the days bound by a rope?
[OPTIONAL] What does Huck have to say about clothes at the bottom of page 157?
6.
Try to figure out the Peter Wilks story that begins with on page 158 and 159. Who are Harvey and William? Why is the
king interested in the details of the story?
[OPTIONAL] What is the young man’s response to “Was Peter Wilks well off?”?
7.
Note Huck’s final two sentences of the chapter and be ready to discuss their significance in class.
Ch. 25: “All Full of Tears and Flapdoodle”
[OPTIONAL] How does Huck describe Mary Jane (George [Peter’s brother] Wilks’s daughter?
[OPTIONAL] Page 164 malapropism: diseased should be
8.
How is Peter’s fortune split up between Mary Jane and her sisters and Harvey and William?
9.
Once the king and duke count the money from the cellar, what do they decide to do with it in
order to remove any suspicion from the others?
.
[OPTIONAL] Who is the iron-jawed man and what role does he play?
10. How does Mary Jane respond to the challenge of the iron-jawed man?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
(CONTINUE >)
Reading #8: Chapters 26-28 (pages 170-194)
Chapter 26: ”I Steal the King’s Plunder”
[OPTIONAL] Describe some of the questions Joanna, “the hair-lip,” asks Huck about his life in
England.
1.
How does Mary Jane protect Huck, causing him to say “to himself, this is a girl that I’m
letting that old reptile rob her of her money?
2.
Briefly describe the dispute that the king and duke have about how to handle the money.
[OPTIONAL] Where is the money hid by the king and the duke?
Ch. 27: “Dead Peter Has His Gold”
[OPTIONAL] Where does Huck hide the money that he had stolen?
3.
What is Huck’s dilemma when the undertaker closes the coffin lid, “slid the lid along as soft as mush, and screwed it
down tight and fast”?
4.
What does the king do to the family’s slaves, just after the funeral?
5.
On page 183, when the king questions Huck (about the money), how does Huck through
the suspicion off of himself?
Ch. 28: “Overreaching Don’t Pay”
6. What is Mary Jane upset about in the beginning of the chapter?
7.
What does Huck have to say about telling the truth before he speaks with Mary Jane?
8.
Why does Huck caution Mary Jane not to expose the king and the duke just right away?
9.
Why does the water come to both Huck’s and Mary Jane’s eyes, just before she leaves for the Lothrops’?
10. What’s the lie that Huck tells Susan and the hair-lip?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #9: Chapters 29-31 (pages 195-217)
Chapter 29: “I Light Out in the Storm”
1. How do the king and the duke respond to the threat of the real William and Harvey’s arrival?
[OPTIONAL] What makes the “big rough husky” accuse the king of being a fraud?
2.
What is ironic about the lawyer Levi Bell’s comment to Huck that he “ain’t used to lying, it don’t seem to come handy
(natural)”? What might it also be a significant comment?
3.
What does the king say is tattooed on Peter Wilks’s chest? And what does the other Harvey say? And why is everyone
heading to the graveyard?
[OPTIONAL] How is Huck able to escape from the graveyard?
4.
When Huck returns to the raft, what is the sight that makes his “heart [shoot] up in [his]
mouth”?
5.
Why does Huck “wilt” at the very end of the chapter?
Ch. 30: “The Gold Saves the Thieves”
6. How does the duke respond differently from the kind to Huck’s story of escape?
7.
What do the duke and king argue about over pages 206 and 207?
Ch. 31: “You Can’t Pray a Lie”
[OPTIONAL] When Huck runs back to the raft to finally escape the king and the duke, what does he find?
8.
What does learn from the boy about what happened to Jim?
9.
From page 212 to the middle of 214, Huck debates whether he should write a letter to
Miss Watson, telling her about her runaway slave Jim. (1) How does he resolve this? (2)
Write two (or more) lines that stand out to you during Huck’s deliberations.
10. When Huck sets out to find Jim at Simon Phelps’s farm, whom does he see? Briefly describe their interaction.
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #10: Chapters 32-35 (pages 218-243)
Chapter 32: “I Have a New Name”
1.
What has Huck “noticed” about Providence (guidance provided by God) when he is looking for reassurance as he enters
the Phelps farm?
2.
What do you make of Huck’s response to Aunt Sally’s question about Huck’s lie about the blown-out cylinder head on
the boat, “Good gracious! Anybody hurt?”? What does this suggest about Huck’s return to civilization after his time on
the raft?
[OPTIONAL] How is Huck saved from being “up a stump” and having to “resk the truth” with Aunt Sally on the Phelps farm?
[OPTIONAL] Why does Huck go up the road just at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 33: “The Pitiful Ending of Royalty”
[OPTIONAL] “ha’nt” = haunt
What is Tom’s first reaction to seeing Huck?
3.
How does Tom respond at first when Huck tells him his plan to steal Jim from slavery? Then what does he offer to do
just a few lines further on?
[OPTIONAL] How does Tom torment Aunt Sally? And who does he claim to be in saving day once again?
4.
How does Jim play a role in the demise of the king and the duke?
[OPTIONAL] Huck is worried that no one is “going to give the king and the duke a
hint” and so he doesn’t run to help them, “they’d get into trouble sure.” What do you
make of Huck’s interest here?
[OPTIONAL] How are the king and the duke punished by the crowd? And how does Huck appear to feel about this?
5.
Paraphrase what Huck says at the end of the chapter? And how does he include Tom Sawyer in this?
Ch. 34: “We Cheer Jim Up”
[OPTIONAL] How does Tom deduce that Jim must be held in the “hut down by the ash-hopper”?
6.
What is Huck’s plan for stealing Jim from slavery? And what is Tom’s criticism of it?
7.
What does Huck think is “outrageous” about Tom’s involvement in stealing Jim from slavery?
8.
What is Tom’s plan, which will take about a week?
[OPTIONAL] How do Tom and Huck (and Jim) trick the slave who has come to bring Jim
food?
Ch. 35: “Dark, Deep-Laid Plans”
9. What is honorable to Tom in his plan for Jim’s escape? How does this represent a dramatic irony the reverse of which
we see in Huck?
10. How does Tom reason about when it’s acceptable for the boys to steal a watermelon?
[OPTIONAL] What is the plan for digging Jim out, which Huck at first calls “foolish”?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #11: Chapters 36-39 (pages 244-269)
Chapter 36: “Trying to Help Jim”
1. What are Tom and Huck using at first to dig Jim out of his captivity? And what does Tom give in to using, even though
he says, “It ain’t right, and it ain’t moral” (245)?
2.
Infer what is happening to Huck in his line, “When I start to steal a nigger, or a watermelon, or a Sunday-school book, I
ain’t no ways particular how it’s done so it’s done” (245). [Also, try to make out Tom’s logic when his plan ends with
Huck saying on 246, “He was always just that particular. Full of principle”
3.
What is Tom’s response to Jim wanting a “cold-chisel to cut the chain off his leg with right away”? Why does Jim go
along with Tom’s plan?’
[OPTIONAL] How does Tom tease Nat, who is afraid of the dogs? What kind of pie does Tom agree to make?
Ch. 37: “Jim Gets His Witch Pie”
[OPTIONAL] Why is Aunt Sally “hot and red and cross”?
4.
What trick do Tom and Huck play on Uncle Silas, who is planning to plug up the rat holes?
And what trick to they play on Aunt Sally to free them to use things whenever they want?
[OPTIONAL] Finally, what is placed in the “witch pie”?
Ch. 38: “Here a Captive Heart Busted”
[OPTIONAL] What does Tom say Jim needs to do before he leaves?
5.
Why does Tom say that Jim should have a rattlesnake in his cabin? How does Tom
adjust to Jim’s fear of rattlesnakes—or what kind of snake does he allow?
6.
Why does Tom want Jim to raise a flower—How will Jim water it?
Ch. 39: “Tom Writes Nonnamous Letters”
7. How long does all this preparation for escape take, before “everything was in pretty good shape”?
8.
On page 266, “The old man (Uncle Silas) had wrote a couple of times to the plantation below Orleans to come and get”
Jim—Why doesn’t he get any response?
[OPTIONAL] What is the purpose of the anonymous (“nonnamous”) letters, according to
Tom?
9.
After the first letter, what puts the “family in such a sweat”?
10. Give the central meaning of the long letter that is written.
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
Reading #12: Chapters 40-42, and the Last Chapter (pages 270-293)
Chapter 40: “A Mixed-up and Splendid Rescue”
[OPTIONAL] After Huck sees the fifteen farmers, who are in search of the “desperados,” what does he want to “get away
and tell Tom”?
1.
The men decide to go to the cabin—and not wait for the “Ba” signal. Briefly describe the boys and Jim’s narrow escape
from the cabin.
[OPTIONAL] How do they escape the dogs?
2.
How does Jim respond when, after stepping onto the raft, Huck says, “Now, old Jim, you’re a free man again”?
3.
And why was Tom “the gladdest of all”? Then, on the next page (275), what does Jim say that makes Huck know “he
was white inside”?
Ch. 41: “Must ‘a’ Been Sperits”
4. Why does Huck think the situation “looks powerful bad for Tom” just before he sees Uncle Silas and is forced home to
Aunt Sally’s?
5.
Back home, when speaking to the other townsfolk about the escape, what makes Aunt
Sally say, “Why, sperits couldn’t ‘a’ done better and been no smarter”?
[OPTIONAL] What prevents Huck from going out from the Phelpses and looking for Tom and
Jim?
Ch. 42: “Why They Didn’t Hang Jim”
6. Why is Jim hanged once he is returned with Tom? What does Huck say about the people who are “most anxious for to
hang a nigger”?
[OPTIONAL] Upon Jim and Tom’s return, what are the new conditions for Jim in the cabin?
7.
Briefly describe the old doctor’s defense of Jim, who “aint a bad nigger.”
8.
When Tom comes to, what is his revelation about Jim’s status as a slave? Explain.
[OPTIONAL] What does Tom mean by “I wanted the adventure of it”?
“Chapter the Last, Nothing More to Write”
[OPTIONAL] What was Tom’s plan, after all, if they had “got Jim out all safe”?
9.
What is Jim’s news to Huck about Pap?
10. What is Huck’s plan now, instead of having Aunt Sally “adopt me and sivilize me”?
Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.
OPTIONAL Reading Assignment Response
Name of Book:



(You may use this template for ANY reading assignment.)
Chapter(s) and Pages Read:
Remember the common reading strategies among strong readers:
QUESTION: ASK QUESTIONS WHILE YOU READ—to check your
understanding, or to further it.
CONNECT: CONNECT TO WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW—about
yourself, other books, the world.
VISUALIZE: Imagine the scenes you’re reading about; MAKE
MOVIES IN YOUR MIND.
1. Summarize List key moments while reading (in bullet points);
then choose your top five to make questions about.
Reading Notes
SUMMARIZE: Check that you can

RESTATE WHAT YOU’RE READING
IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
INFER: DRAW A CONCLUSION about the story based on what you

read—EVEN IF IT’S NOT SPECIFIED.
REPAIR: Don’t be afraid to STOP IF YOU DON’T GET SOMETHING and
try to figure out why you don’t.

2. 2. Question Write five plot-oriented/literal-level
questions, with answers, that cover the whole of the
reading that cover what you think are the essential
moments/events (or key pieces of information, in the case of
non-fiction) of the reading.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
3. Infer Write three inferential/analytical questions that ask for closer reading and deeper thinking on the part of the
reader. Choose significant moments or difficult passages to ask readers to go beyond merely a literal-level response.
a.
b.
c.
4.
Visualize Draw a memorable scene from the reading (stick figures are fine) with a caption below that
summarizes the action.
In this scene…
5. Passage of Interest
Look back at the questions and choose ONE question that you think represents the most interesting or significant moment of
the reading. Explain your reasoning.
OR choose ONE phrase or sentence from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you want to discuss with a
classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a line that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page
number and the explanation for your choosing it. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.