Questions for The Crucible
1. The Crucible dramatizes conflicts between pairs of individuals and between
individuals and their community. Select one pair of characters and discuss the
motivations and transgressions (violations of a moral code) that develop the
relationship between the two.
Pair of characters:
and
(200+ words, 15 points)
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your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your
response here Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your
response here. Write your response here.
Score:
/3 --- Focus
/8 --- Content
/2 --- Organization
/2 --- Style/Conventions
/15 --- total
2. Select a single character and discuss the transgressions and motivations that define
his or her conflicted relationship to the town.
Character to be discussed in relation to the town:
(200+ words, 15 points)
Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write
your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your
response here Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your response here. Write your
response here. Write your response here.
Score:
/3 --- Focus
/8 --- Content
/2 --- Organization
/2 --- Style/Conventions
/15 --- total
3. In writing The Crucible Miller took no attempt to conceal his politics but instead
included extended historical character descriptions and a brief essay chastising
American political leaders and followers. In Act I, after Reverend Hale arrives,
Miller expounds upon what he calls political diabolism. Using at least two
quotations from Miller’s essay and two examples from the play, explain how The
Crucible dramatizes Miller’s critique of what he sees as an unfortunately
predominant mode of political thinking.
(250+ words, 20 points)
Score:
/4 --- Focus
/11 --- Content
/2 --- Organization
/3 --- Style/Conventions
/20 --- total
Chapter Questions for
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Please respond to at least one question in each chapter.
50 points
/20 Evidence, accuracy
/20 Depth of analysis
/10 Writing clarity and mechanics
Chapter 1
1. How does Mark Twain’s choice to write in the narrator’s distinct dialect shape your impression of
Huck? What can you infer about Huck’s personality and life from the way he speaks?
2. Huck gets lonely and frightened at the Widow Douglas’s and begins to feel quite melancholy. Why
does he go through with so many superstitious rituals after accidentally killing the spider?
Chapter 2
3. When creating their pirate robber gang, the boys misuse the word “ransom(ed)” because of their lack of
knowledge in its meaning. What does their conversation with the misused “ransom” reveal in terms of
how we think about and acquire vocabulary?
4. Huck is almost kicked out of the gang before it’s even started because there’s a condition of the oath he
cannot meet. What condition is that, and how does this fact add to your understanding of Huck?
Chapter 3
5. How do you feel about the way Huck’s friends speak to him? What does the dialogue between Tom and
Huck show about their friendship?
6. Huck describes himself as “ignorant, so kind of low-down, and ornery.” Do you agree with him? List
three of your own words to describe Huck and explain your choices.
Chapter 4
7. What do you think of the fortune Jim says his hairball gives? Include evidence from the text to explain
how you shaped this opinion.
8. How does the author show Huck’s feelings about his father (Pap) in this chapter?
9. Predict: Why does Huck insist on giving all of his money to Judge Thatcher?
Chapter 5
10. Why has Huck’s dad come to find him?
11. Is Huck’s father capable of change? Which passages from the text influence your perception?
Chapter 6
12. Huck’s father is often abusive to him, yet when his father forces him to go live with him again, Huck
says, “It warn’t long after that till I was used to being where I was and liked it—all but the cowhide part”
(36). Explain how Huck could like living with his father over living with the Widow Douglas.
13. Read over your response to #12. Now think beyond the lines of this book: what does Huck reveal to
us about human nature? How can you apply Huck’s situation and response to show a truth about all
people, deep down?
Chapter 7
14. What is Huck attempting to do with the axe and the pig, and why?
15. What are Huck’s strengths? Weaknesses? Include some words and/or phrases the author uses for
each.
Chapter 8
16. How does Huck greet and treat Jim when he finds him? What about his reaction may be surprising
considering the culture of the time period?
17. In the end of the chapter, Huck and Jim are discussing being rich. Why does Jim say he is rich, despite
having no money to his name?
Chapter 9
18. How does the setting add to the story?
19. This novel has often been debated and protested because of its use of the n-word. Do you think its use
is necessary to the story? Discuss your reasoning.
Chapter 10
20. Both Huck and Jim believe in superstitions, and much of the book is devoted to discussing different
beliefs. Why do you think Mark Twain included this?
21. What effect has the style of this story’s narration had on your comprehension? Do you feel it’s
necessary or makes for more authenticity?
Chapter 11
22. Through the dialogue between Huck and the woman, what clues does she give that she’s aware Huck
is not a girl? How does she test him, and why does she help him even after catching him in his lie?
23. What is Mark Twain’s purpose in having Huck interact with the woman? How do you know?
Chapter 12
24. How is the sequence of events developing in this story? What is adding to the rising action or
conflict/tension of the story?
25. What can you decipher about Huck from the way he reacts to the scene in the steamboat?
Chapter 13
26. What does Twain want us to know about the setting? How is the setting influencing the course of the
story?
27. How is Twain establishing Huck’s intelligence? Cite evidence from the chapter.
Chapter 14
28. What does this chapter reveal about attitudes/stereotypes of the time period?
29. What do you think of the logic used in Jim and Huck’s discussions?
Chapter 15
30. Why would Huck play a trick on Jim? How does Jim react, and what does this show about the way
each perceives their relationship?
31. What inferences can you make about Huck from the last paragraph of this chapter?
Chapter 16
32. What do Huck’s misgivings about Jim’s impending freedom reveal to us?
33. Predict: What will Huck do from here?
Chapter 17
34. Why do you think Twain includes such detailed descriptions of the Grangerford farmhouse and the
works of the dead Emmeline?
35. How does the author show Huck’s feelings about this family and their home?
Chapter 18
36. When learning about the feud between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons, Hucks tells Buck he
believes “that old man to be a coward.” Why would Huck think that and why does Buck disagree?
37. Why does Huck feel responsible for the bloodshed over Sophia’s run-away marriage? What does this
add to your impressions of Huck?
Chapter 19
38. Twain was well-known for his use of satire. How might the men Huck and Jim meet in this chapter be
acting as comical figures to make a larger societal jab?
39. What does Huck mean when he says, “If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt the best way to
get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way”? Do you agree?
Chapter 20
40. What do you think of the duke’s plan for “runnin’ in the daytime”? Why don’t Huck and Jim find a
way to get away from the duke and king?
41. How is the sequence of events shaping in the story? Trace a plot map of major events so far.
Chapter 21
42. Why does Twain include the Shakespearian sonnet and play scenes? How does it deepen your
understanding of Huck?
43. What do you feel the focus of the novel has become? Cite with evidence.
Chapter 22
44. How is Twain characterizing the South? Cite examples for your impressions.
45. Does Huck seem to be dynamic in any ways? Explain.
Chapter 23
46. Do you think it’s right of Huck to convince Jim that the duke and king are authentic royalty?
Why/why not?
47. What does Jim reveal about his daughter? How does Twain show Jim’s feelings and make him an
empathetic character?
Chapter 24
48. Why are the duke and king pretending to be the deceased Wilks’ brothers?
49. At the end of the chapter, Huck says the scheme the duke and king are running is “enough to make a
body ashamed of the human race.” Why? And how does this show more maturity in Huck?
Chapter 25
50. How does the king’s plan work out?
51. How is this chapter ironic? What is Twain criticizing through these characters?
Chapter 26
52. How do you know Huck feels responsible for the swindle?
53. Huck still lies and steals like he did in the beginning of the novel, but how have his motives for doing
so changed?
Chapter 27
54. Why does Huck lie and blame the slaves for the money going missing?
55. How does Huck’s lie at the end of the chapter affect your view of him?
Chapter 28
56. Are you surprised Hucks tells Mary Jane the truth? Why/why not?
57. Do you believe Huck’s plan for exposing the scammers will work? Cite reasons for your response.
Chapter 29
58. What is ironic about the lawyer’s statement to Huck? (“...I reckon you ain’t used to lyin’, it don’t
seem to come handy…”)
59. An allusion is a reference to another literary work outside of the one which you are reading. There are
many Biblical allusions in this novel. Record one from this chapter.
Chapter 30
60. Despite everything, the king and duke got away without punishment. What do you believe Twain is
showing through these characters and their escapades?
61. Throughout the novel, Huck has had many interactions with various characters who make short
appearances. What has your impression been for each encounter, and who do you believe has impacted
Huck most so far?
Chapter 31
62. When considering his role in Jim’s escape and now capture, Huck feels unsure what to do next. He
states, “A person does a low-down thing and then he don’t wanna take no consequences of it. Thinks as
long as he can hide, it ain’t no disgrace. That’s my fix exactly.” Explain what Hucks means by this
statement in general, and then specifically what it shows culturally for his time.
63. Controversy surrounding this book centers on whether or not it is racist. Based on Huck’s internal
struggle in this chapter, do you believe he is racist? Why/why not?
Chapter 32
64. What surprise did Huck fall into when he arrived at the Phelps’ farm?
65. How does this surprise help Huck, and how might it complicate his hopes of freeing Jim even more?
Chapter 33
66. When Tom arrives, he pretends to be his younger brother Sid. Do you believe Tom’s presence will
have an impact on Huck? How so?
67. What does Huck mean when he says, “It don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a
person’s conscience ain’t got no sense, and just goes for him anyway”?
Chapter 34
68. How would you describe the dynamic between Tom Sawyer and Huck?
69. Why does Huck want to free Jim? Why does Tom want to free Jim?
Chapter 35
70. What is your impression of Tom? How does the author build this character?
71. Do you feel Huck has outgrown Tom in any ways? Explain your reasons.
Chapter 36
72. Huck and Tom are freeing Jim but insist on playing by certain “rules.” What are these rules they are
playing by, and why are they so important?
73. Why does Nat, the Phelps’ slave in charge of taking care of Jim, believe that witches are around?
What does Huck tell him to do, and how will this be helpful to Huck and Tom’s mission?
Chapter 37
74. In what ways does this novel describe Southern culture? What does it reveal about the pre-Civil War
time period?
75. Describe the major events of Huck’s journey, in order.
Chapter 38
76. The coat of arms and the “mournful inscriptions” work as a parody. What do you believe Twain may
be parodying here?
77. Do you believe Huck is more mature than Tom in any ways? Cite evidence for your opinion.
Chapter 39
78. What is ironic about Jim’s “prison” conditions?
79. Why does Tom feel the anonymous letters are so necessary? What does this reveal about Tom?
Chapter 40
80. How does Twain build suspense in this chapter?
81. When finding out Tom’s been shot, Jim insists on taking him to a doctor, and Huck says, “I knowed
he was white inside…” What does he mean by this, and what further insights does it give you to Huck and
his culture/upbringing?
Chapter 41
82. The women are discussing the outlandish findings in Jim’s cabin and how he got away. How does
their conversation characterize them?
83. Is Huck a loyal person? Cite evidence from this chapter for your answer.
Chapter 42
84. How does this chapter deepen your understanding of Jim?
85. What do you think of the turn of events at the end of this chapter?
Chapter 43 (Chapter The Last)
86. Do you feel the way Twain ends the novel fits with the whole of the story? Why/why not?
87. What interested you most about this novel, and what deeper understanding did it give you?
Thoroughly explain, pulling examples from the text.
Response to “What’s Funny about Huckleberry Finn”:
Explain the difference between what Bercovitch calls Twain’s innocent, satirical, and
sinister layers of humor, summarizing one of Bercovitch’s examples of each. Then,
provide an original example of each for two of the layers. (250+ words, 20 points)
Score:
/4 --- Focus
/11 --- Content
/2 --- Organization
/3 --- Style/Conventions
/20 --- total