Huck Discussion Questions XXIV - XXVII

1. The appearance of Jim as a sick Arab shows the theme of dehumanization. The new clothes the king and duke get represent the theme of appearance vs. reality and gullibility.

2. The prior schemes played by the duke and king were less personal, less apt to emotionally ruin people, and were played on less innocent and kind people than the townspeople of Peter Wilks (compared to the inhabitants of the Arkansas town and their way of life). Huck is naive and hasn't experienced such charades as the one the duke and king play on the Wilks family, he still gives the human race some credit. Huck probably also feels that it is disrespectful to the dead, as superstitious as he is.

3. They're young and innocent, have just experienced a death, and live in a small town.

4. Joanna eating in the kitchen and being called "harelip" and how she is treated is significant because it backs up the theme of dehumanization, and how it is not just directed towards African Americans.

5. Twain shows the gullibility of people and how they are easily persuaded of one thing to be true, and how hard it is to dissuade them of their so-called "truth". Once one person goes along with it, the others follow. People become so wrapped up in what they believe to be true, that they can't see if they're obviously wrong, or just don't want to be proven wrong. Most people say that seeing is believing, but sometimes just seeing isn't enough, because people can put on some pretty good shows.

6. See answer to number 3. Having met the Wilks girls, and the townspeople, Huck is driven even more to foil the plans of the duke and king. He doesn't think it is right or fair to play such tricks on innocent, gullible, people who have just had a loved one die, especially Mary Jane, whom he is quite fond of. The themes of coming of age, gullibility, naivety, ignorance, and appearance vs. reality all play roles in Huck's change in attitude. Perhaps most change-inducing are the themes of coming of age, gullibility, naivety, and Huck's struggle with his conscious. Huck's conscious is winning in this case, and his moral values are coming out.

Chapter 23 'Group' Work

Summary:
The king and duke prepare for their show.
The duke makes a speech praising the show to a full house (of men only).
The curtains are rolled up, and the king prances out all naked and painted, and delivers a hysterical show.
The king performs two encores.
The duke closes the show, mentioning that it will be open for two more nights.
The crowd gets angry, realizing they've been sold.
A man jumps up and calms the crowd down, suggesting everyone advise the rest of the town to watch the show so that the whole town is pranked.
The crowd leaves and does so, bringing another full house the next night.
The king, duke, Huck, and Jim have supper after the second show, and Huck and Jim are made to hide the raft two miles below town.
The people who attend the third show were the same ones that were there the other two nights, and they brought things to throw at the duke and king, like rotten eggs, cabbages, and dead cats.
The duke and Huck escape to the raft and start off down the river, the whole time the king was in the wigwam.
They all have supper and the duke and king laugh about their clever joke on the townspeople.
After the duke and king are asleep, Jim and Huck discuss royalty, allowing Twain to satirize it.
Huck falls asleep, but wakes to Jim mourning about his family.
Jim starts talking to Huck about his family, and Jim tells him about his daughter, 'Lizabeth.

Themes:
Gullibility - as shown by the crowd that attends the duke and king's show.
Romanticism vs. realism - as shown when Huck and Jim are discussing royalty.
The concept of family, the feeling of isolation and loneliness, and Huck's struggle with his deformed conscious - as shown when Huck and Jim are talking about Jim's family.

Symbol: the river - life

Jim - slavery, dehumanization

the duke and king - romanticism

the raft - freedom from society, home

Motifs: Lies and cons, royalty

Personas: none

Episode number: 7

Huck Finn Discussion Questions: Chapter 21 - 23

1. Huck isn't really much into acting, or conning people, it's not his type of fun. I don't think he'd like to get that involved with the duke or king either, seeing as he doesn't want to start any quarrels.

2. Twain satirizes Southern pride, honor, and "bravery", as well as vigilantism and the nature of humans to revel in the excitement of, and enjoy, death. Sherburn shoots Boggs for simply making fun of him, albeit it must have been annoying having to listen to it every month and not be able to get him officially considered a public disturbance. Twain mocks Southern "bravery" and vigilantism, as the mob is a group of cowards made of half-men, only able to stand when they are together and think they have the upperhand, unable to even sentence someone in a court due to fear. Death is like a show to them, they want to be the first to see it, and they want to be able to talk about it. Twain satirizes people's nature to find entertainment in death and pain, as long as they themselves are not confronted with it.

3. The circus and the duke and king's show are very similar. Both play on human nature to laugh at other people's pain or danger, and the want to make others just as miserable as you. The circus show included a man, who was actually part of the circus, that pretended to throw a big fit and then proceed to get himself into danger. This shows man's enjoyment of violence and of others' suffering. The duke and king's show shows more of how us humans like to laugh at people, and like to make other people suffer or get tricked as we do.

4. Huck's reaction to the circus shows us that he is very naive, and though he craves adventures, does not necessarily enjoy them. He was too realistic to realize the joke, and was seriously scared for the man on the horse, showing his compassion. He doesn't understand how people can find enjoyment in such things. Huck thinks that the ringmaster was the most decieved, he doesn't believe the ringmaster knew anything about one of his own men playing a charade like that, and he would hate to be in the ringmaster's shoes.

5. By saying that ladies and children aren't admitted to see the Royal Nonesuch, Twain is implying that people would be more curious towards and attracted to things that may seem wrong, dangerous, dishonest, or elite.

6. Twain is implying that real royalty, or those of high esteem, act the same way, conning their "subjects", playing games of make-believe to entertain themselves, dwelling on the nature of others, lying to the people, and admonishing themselves over others. He is also mocking romaticism and the romantic views of chivalrous kings and kindly dukes.

7. The story of Jim's daughter 'Lizabeth shows Jim's humanity, and how he has a family, and loves, and regrets, just like everyone else does. This scene shows how Huck is beginning to realize these things, that Jim is a human just like him, and how the two are starting to get to know each other and bond.

8.

Chapter 1 -

We meet Huck, the Widow Douglas, and Miss Watson and are introduced to his life in a civilized society.

The three talk about religion: Huck is taught about the dead Moses and heaven.

We are introduced to superstition as a theme: Huck hears spooky noises from outside and kills a spider, giving him bad luck.

Huck sneaks out his window to meet up with Tom Sawyer.

Chapter 2 -

We meet Jim, Miss Watson's slave, who almost catches Tom and Huck.

Tom and Huck take some candles and play a prank on Jim, moving his hat so he believes he was bewitched by witches.

The two boys meet up with Tom's gang and they all take an oath to their new band of highwaymen and ransomers.

Twain's first cut to romanticism is made.

Chapter 3 -

Huck is taught about prayer by miss Watson, which he takes very literally and doesn't understand, showing Twain making another sneer towards religion.

Huck talks about his Pap.

The boys quit playing robbers after about a month.

Huck recalls when Tom had them break up a Sunday school picnic because the genies were just disguising the Arabs and elephants and diamonds and such, making them look like a Sunday school picnic, which Huck also takes literally. (Kinda reminds me of Mickey and Brandy's duet.) Twain is mocking romanticism again.

Chapter 4 - And thats when I fell asleep....

Lit. Terms

motif - a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc.

realism - interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative, etc.; the tendency to view or represent things as they really are; a theory of writing in which the ordinary, familiar, or mundane aspects of life are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact manner that is presumed to reflect life as it actually is.

romanticism - characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.

allegory - a symbolical narrative.

picaresque novel - a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society.

bildungsroman - a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.

situational irony - an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does

dramatic irony - irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

verbal irony - a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

satire - the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

sarcasm - a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark.

episodic plot - a story with a series of events, often unrelated, which can take place over great periods of time and in many locales; the events of an episodic plot are not necessarily causally related.

dramatic foils - characters in literature whose differing characteristics are emphasized by those traits that are opposed in another character.

hyperbole - obvious and intentional exaggeration.

unreliable narrator - a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised.

euphemism - the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.

parable - a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.

oxymoron - a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect.

antihero - a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action or purpose, and the like.

dialect - a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.

metaphor - a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.

simile - a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared.

tone - a particular style or manner, as of writing or speech; mood.

 

Huck Discussion Questions: XV - XX

1. Jim says that the towheads and fog represent people, society, and that the clear river represents the freedom. Huck was lost in the towheads and fog, meaning he was lost in the ways of society, but eventually makes his way to Jim, the realization that he is another person, not just a slave. This backs up the themes of superstition, slavery, and the individual vs. society. it is foreshadow because it shows that they will get into trouble with all kinds of people, but that eventually they will make it to the free states, or Jim's freedom at least.

2. Huck feels guilty after playing such a mean trick on Jim. After fifteen minutes, Huck finally goes and apologizes to Jim, and doesn't feel stupid for it or anything. This is the first big change in Huck. It backs up the whole anti-racist theme of the novel, that society is wrong, that slaves are people too and should be treated as such, and that we should all just look past our exterior differences and learn to live with each other in peace.

3. "Jim said it made him all over trembly..." - Huck begins to feel guilty and free for helping Jim and not turning him in. He sees it as just stealing someone else's property. He is having an internal battle between society, and what he believes to be true.

"Here was this nigger..." - Huck feels guilty for stealing someone's property, especially since Jim plans on stealing his children back, which would be even more property theft, and damage toward a man Huck didn't even know. It is ironic because normally people don't think of their children, or someone else's children, as property that can just be stolen. Huck doesn't think twice about "borrowing" food, but he does when slaves are being stolen, showing that Huck is still a product of society.

"Well, then, says I..." - If Huck tells on Jim, he'll feel bad, but if he doesn't he feel just as bad. He sees no point in doing, right, if wrong is easier and the outcome is just the same.

"Doan' less' talk about it, Huck..." - Jim doesn't blame Huck for them not making it to Cairo. He figures he doesn't have any good luck anyway. This is connected to the theme of superstition.

All of these quotes show Huck's struggle between what society says is right, and what he himself believes to be right.

4. The bounty hunters, which are looking to ruin innocent people's lives, are helpful, give Huck money because they feel sorry for him and his "pap" and want to help them, but can't go near the raft for fear that they would get smallpox. It is also ironic because the very man they're looking for is on that raft, and they just aided him without knowing it, and that they tell Huck not to tell anybody about the smallpox, but they can't go help because they don't want to catch it.

5. It symbolizes society, and industrialization, tearing apart the natural foundation our world was built upon (like all men being created equal, a natural right), and nature itself.

6. Twain didn't like where the first part of Huck Finn was going, so he stopped writing, took a trip down the Mississippi, and had a great realization that led him to begin writing again, especially more about the hypocrisy of society and Huck's conflict.

7. They have a lot of fancy, gaudy decorations, but they're house is clean and orderly, decorated with depressing pictures and poetry. They have pictures of battle on their walls and books on Friendship's Offering and Family Medicine, which is ironic because they're obviously in a feud with another family, the Shepherdsons. They seem to have a romantic view of life and death.

8. Huck's cunning way to get Buck to remind him of his name backs up the theme of gullibility. The way the Grangerfords act, though they are in the middle of a deadly feud, represents the theme of appearance vs. reality. The Grangerford's sense of romanticism represents the conflict between realism and romanticism. The Grangerfords themselves represent society.

9. That he doesn't understand jokes about the Bible, and can't really recognize them, because he doesn't know very much about it, and isn't sure if it is a joke or not. Moses appears throughout the novel as a motif. It also perhaps shows that Huck is a little naive.

10. Twain is being satirical towards religion, especially religious people, because the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords go to church, taking their guns with them, hear a sermon about brotherly love, discuss how much they enjoyed it, yet then proceed to continue in their death-causing feud. Pigs sleep in the church, and are in it more than the people are.

11. The feud symbolizes society and tradition, how we don't even necessarily have reasons for what we do, and fight just to fight, and cause so much unnecessary death, regardless of whether or not we even remember what we're fighting about. It reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues, and the two not-meant-to-be, young lovers.

12. One would think that Huck and Jim might be glad to be in civilization, with a bed and food, but instead they are happy to be back on the raft, away from everyone else, peaceful and lazy. This represents the enjoyment they take in their separation from society, and thus the troubles that come with it, represented by the feud. It backs up the theme of freedom, as they are truly free on the raft, and the conflict Huck and Jim have with the society they are supposed to conform to.

13. Clothes represent society, and being confined to it, so Jim and Huck's nakedness symbolizes their freedom from society and disattachment from the world.

14. Huck doesn't want to cause any quarrels between any of them. He deals with them as he would his pap.

15. I think that the King and the Duke are more shrewd than Huck. It takes more perceptiveness to come to the conclusion that Jim is a runaway slave, than it does to see that the two con men are obviously not a king and a duke. Huck also has the good judgement to know that they aren't really royalty, and avoid quarrels by not bringing it up though.

16. The satire of the con men presenting Romeo and Juliet is mocking romanticism. Romeo and Juliet is a motif, it appears throughout the story, and represents society and the battle between romanticism and realism.

17.

18.

Huck Discussion Questions: XII - XIV

1. Huck learned from his dad that its not stealing as long as you intend to pay it back at some point in time, but the widow taught him that it is stealing, so Huck finds a happy medium. Huck and Jim decide that they'll only borrow certain things, which turn out to be items they don't want anyway.

2. Huck likes and wishes for a good adventure, while at the same time he is realistic because he figures they could borrow some things from the boat.

3. Walter Scott was the author of "Braveheart", and was hated by Twain for his romanticism. Huck wants an adventure, but it turns out to be not so fun in real life, and certainly not romantic.

4. Huck tries to save the murderers because he figures that if he were a murderer, he wouldn't want to be left on the sinking boat to die. This shows Huck's compassion for others and sense of humanity, but also his naivety.

5. The scene with the boatman is satirical towards humans and our society because the only way Huck convinces the boatman to help who he thinks to be innocent, dying people stranded on a sinking ship, is by playing on the boatman's greediness and guaranteeing him money.

6. Jim figured that if he didn't get saved from the sinking ship, he would drown, but if he did get saved, then the person who saved him would just give him back to Miss Watson for the reward, and that she would sell him to the South.

7. Huck's information about kings and dukes is partially accurate, because they are rich, and some don't do much, and some dress gaudy, but every king or duke has other duties that he muct perform other than just whacking people's heads off and going to war sometimes. They also don't get as much money as they want, and don't normally have harems, especially harems with a million wives.

8. Jim doesn't like Solomon because everyone says he's wise, but Jim doesn't believe it. He thinks Solomon was stupid for having that many wives and children because he would never get any peace, and that chopping the child in half was a dumb idea. The scene is an argument between Huck and Jim, ultimately resulting in Jim's victory, unbeknownst to Huck. It is written entirely in the matter that such a person like Jim or Huck would speak, taking advantage of the many dialects found in the area. 

This was really late, Fielding... Sorry. I did all but question 8 before the DDF trip, but I just forgot to post it.

Discussion Questions Notice - IV

1. Widow Douglas is an old, religious woman who wants to help Huck by giving him a good home and civilizing him. She tells Huck a story about Moses, to which Huck responds with distaste, as he doesn't care much for dead people, especially dead people that no one knows. Huck's response to the story tells us that he is realistic and doesn't care much for the past, but is rather focused on the present.

2. Superstition appears over and over again throughout Huck Finn, and represents a product of society, as well as providing for the theme of superstition vs. religion. An example would be when Huck is laying in bed and interprets the calls of owls, whippowills, and dogs as harbringers of death. Another instance of superstition occurs when Tom moves Jim's hat while he is sleeping, and Jim believes it to be the work of witches. Jim's fortune-telling hairball is a prime example of superstition.

3. To Huck, death is an unknown, which he tries to explain through superstition, and is also a little afraid of. He doesn't have much understanding of an afterlife, or an afterlife as is described to him by Miss Watson, and isn't really concerned with it. Huck says that he doesn't care much for the dead. Huck doesn't take death very seriously. Huck's perspective on death is significant because it shows more of his realistic nature, being more concerned with the things of the present, than what will happen when he is dead, and in his mind, unimportant.

4. I think that the trick Tom and Huck played on Jim, convincing Jim that he had been bewitched by witches that had hung his hat on a tree branch above him, was funny, but mean. It makes Jim look foolish.

5. "Jim was most ruined for a servant..." is significant because it shows how Jim's attitude changed after Tom and Huck's trick and delves more into the issue of slavery and racism. Jim became stuck up because he thought that he had been bewitched by witches and had seen the devil, and nothing is worse than a slave who thinks a little highly of himself.

6. Tom is a romantic, so he took the candles not out of necessity, but because he just wanted to play with them. He left the five cents, more than enough to pay for the candles, because he didn't care that much about the money, or the candles, and figured he should give the owner something in return instead of just stealing. Huck, on the other hand, is a realist. Huck wouldn't have taken the candles unless he needed them in the first place, and even then, he probably wouldn't have left any money. Huck would have considered it borrowing rather than stealing.

7. Tom is a romantic who lives for make-believe adventures and fantastic stories. Huck is a realist, who doesn't have much of a vision of grandeur about the world, and just deals with his personal real-life situations on a day-by-day basis. Tom is comfortable living a civilized life of school, church, and abstinence from smoking, while Huck would rather take care of himself and do whatever he pleases. Tom is an extravagant planner, while Huck is more of a do-er.

8. Tom thinks it important that he and his band be called highwaymen rather than burglars because burglars simply steal things, whereas highwaymen stop people on the road and kill and/or ransom them.

9. Miss Watson told Huck that he should pray every day and that he would get whatever he prayed for. Huck tried this for days when in need of fish hooks, but never received any hooks. He asked Miss Watson to try praying for him, but she just called him a fool. Huck sat and thought a while about it, and decided that praying didn't get you whatever you wanted. He went and told the widow and she told him that you could only get spiritual gifts from praying, and that he should do everything he can for other people and never think about himself. Huck thought about this and figured that he wouldn't pay any mind to praying any more as it had no benefits for him. 

10. Tom calls Huck a numskull because Huck never read Don Quixote and doesn't know about the enchantments of magicians and why all the Arabs, elephants, and diamonds appeared to look like a Sunday school class.

11. Huck doesn't believe all of Tom's lies, he can think for himself, and sticks to his realistic viewpoint. Huck doesn't believe Tom about the Arabs and the magic, but has his own opinion and believes that it really was just a Sunday school class. This shows the contrast between Tom and Huck.

12. Huck wants to give all of his money to Judge Thatcher because he knows that his dad is in town, and it wouldn't end well for Huck if his dad found out he was rich and decided to take all of his money to spend on booze.