Name:
Period:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Study Guide Questions
Chapters 1-3
1. Identify Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Jim, Miss Watson, and Widow Douglas.
2. Why doesn’t Huck get along with Miss Watson and Widow Douglas
3. What does Huck think about the good place, the bad place, and prayer?
4. Where does Tom get most of his ideas?
5. Why was Huck almost ruled out of the gang?
6. What did the boys think “ransomed” meant?
7. What did the boys do to Tommy Barnes?
8. How does Huck know that the drowned body that was found was not his Pap?
9. What happened to the band of robbers?
Chapters 4-7
10. Why did Huck give all his money to Judge Thatcher?
11. How does Huck know that his father has returned?
12. What does Jim do with his hairball that he took from the 4th stomach of an ox?
13. Why does Pap yell at Huck for becoming civilized?
14. Whose side does the judge take when Thatcher & Widow Douglas try to take Huck from his father?
15. In what way does the new judge try to help Huck’s father?
16. Why does Huck’s father continue to bother Judge Thatcher?
17. What does Huck’s father do to show that he is “Huck Finn’s boss”?
18. What was Huck’s plan of escape from his father?
19. Why does Huck drag around the sack of rocks? the sack of cornmeal?
20. Where does Huck hide after spotting Pap?
21. How do you know that material things don’t matter to Huck?
Chapters 8-16
22. What purpose does Huck’s death serve?
23. How does Huck meet Jim on Jackson’s Island? Why is Jim there?
24. What is in the two-story house that floats by?
25. What prank does Huck play on Him, and how does it backfire?
26. What is ironic about the hunt for Huck?
27. Who is Sarah Williams?
28. Who do the townspeople ultimately believe killed Huck? Why?
29. Name two clues that gave Huck away.
30. How did Huck try to trick the men searching Jackson’s Island?
31. Why do Huck and Jim begin their journey down the Mississippi?
32. What did Huck and Jim make on the raft?
33. Where did the boys land the night of the storm?
34. What were the two men on the boat planning to do to Jim Turner?
35. How do Huck and Jim slow them down?
36. How does Huck plan to save them?
37. How are the townspeople superstitious? Jim? Huck? Give examples.
38. Compare/contrast Huck and Jim.
39. What do we learn about Jim from his talking about “King Sollermun”?
40. What trick does Huck play on Jim?
41. Why doesn’t Huck turn in Jim?
42. Why don’t the slave hunters get Jim?
43. Explain the differences between Huck and the hunters.
44. What is the bad luck in Chapter 16?
Chapters 17-18
45. Who does Huck claim to be at the beginning of Chapter 17? What does he say happened to him?
46. Who are the owners of the house, and how do they react to Huck’s appearance?
47. What story does Huck tell the family about his background?
48. What does Huck do when he realizes he can’t remember the name he gave himself?
Name:
Period:
49. What did the daughter keep in her scrapbook?
50. How does Huck feel about the Grangerfords? What does he try to do for Emmeline?
51. What family is in a feud with the Grangerfords, and when and why did it begin?
52. What does Miss Sophia ask Huck to do?
53. Where does Huck find Jim? Why is Jim not surprised to see Huck?
54. What happens to Buck?
Chapters 19-23
55. How did Jim and Huck meet the king and duke?
56. What had the duke been doing before he met Huck and Jim?
57. What had the king been doing before he met Huck and Jim?
58. How does the king dupe the people at the camp meeting?
59. How does the duke arrange for them to float by day?
60. How do Huck and Jim dress on the raft? What might clothes be associated with?
61. What kind of show do the king and duke plan to perform? What do they do for encores?
62. What does Sherburn do to Boggs?
63. What is Sherburn’s attitude toward the men attempting to lynch him?
64. What is the point of the shooting incident of Boggs?
65. Why did people return to the show?
66. Why do we hear about Jim’s daughter “Lizabeth”?
Chapters 24-30
67. Where did the king and duke get their plan about being the Wilks brothers?
68. How do the king and duke get the money?
69. What did Dr. Robinson think of the king and the duke?
70. What did the king and the duke do with the money they “inherited” that convinced almost everyone
that they were telling the truth?
71. When Huck stole the gold, where did he hide it?
72. What did Huck say that kept the king and the duke from thinking that he stole the gold?
73. Who comes to the auction that causes the king and the duke to worry? Why were they late?
74. What things give away the king and duke?
75. What event caused the mob to dig up the corpse of Peter Wilks?
76. What gave Huck his chance to get away from the mob in the graveyard?
Chapters 31-33
77. After Jim is sold to Silas Phelps, Huck decides to write a letter to Miss Watson telling her his
whereabouts. He tore up the letter and said “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.” What is the significance of
this statement?
78. Why does Huck assume Tom Sawyer’s identity?
Chapters 33-36
79. What happens when Tom appears on the scene?
80. What happened to the duke and the king?
81. What’s the difference between Tom’s plan for freeing Jim and Huck’s?
82. How does Huck change when Tom comes into the story?
Chapters 37-39
83. Who does Aunt Sally blame for the missing shirt? the missing candles?
84. What does Tom want Jim to water his plant with?
85. What effect do the warnings have on the family?
86. How is Tom’s plan cruel?
87. What more do we learn about Tom in these chapters?
Chapters 40-THE END!!!
88. What effect has the last warning letter had on the Phelpses?
89. How does Tom get hurt?
90. What has happened to Huck’s father?
91. What does Jim’s behavior in these chapters say about his character?
92. How does Huck appear to be superior to Tom?
Name:
Period:
LITERARY TERMS used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Term
Direct
Characterization
Indirect
characterization
Theme
Motif
Narrator
Point of View
Satire
Motivation
Symbol
Definition
Example (with page number)
Name:
Period:
___________________characterization
characterization
Character
Huck Finn
Jim
Pap
Widow
Douglass
Miss
Watson
Tom
Direct Description
Characters’
Behavior
Thoughts and
Emotions of
Characters
Other Characters’
Thought and
Reactions
Name:
Period:
THEMES used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
SOCIETY’S LAWS CONFLICT
WITH HIGHER MORAL
VALUES
ONE MUST LIVE OUTSIDE
OF SOCIETY TO BE TRULY
FREE
GULLIBLE PEOPLE ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR
OWN DECEPTION
PEOPLE TEND TO BEHAVE
IRRATIONALLY IN LARGE
GROUPS
Name:
Period:
MOTIFS used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
SUPERSTITIONS
FRAUD/DISGUISES
CHILDHOOD