Picarsque Novel: Usually a satirical novel which depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who survives by his or her wits in a corrupt society.
Bildungsroman: A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological and intellectual development of a youthful main character.
Episodic Plot: A structure that features distinct episodes or a series of stories linked together by the same character. Huck Finn can be broken up into 8 or 9 episodes.
Romanticism:
Work of literature that deal with imagination, that represent ideals of life, these works often include fantastic adventure stories, spiritual connections with nature, gothic stories of the fantastic. Authors include: Sir Walter Scott, Fenimore Cooper, Poe.
Realism:
Works of literature that depict life and people as they really appear. Hence Realistic.
Themes include corruption of society as a whole, racism.
Anithero:
A protagonist who doesn't fit the traditional description of a hero.
Persona:
An assumed identity or character.
Satire:
A work of literature that uses irony and hyperbole to attack and mock some aspect of society as a way to promote social change.
Themes:
1. The conflict between the individual and society - Huck's struggle with his "deformed conscience"
2. The conflict between the emotional and the rational
3. Appearance vs. reality - hypocrisy and "phoniness"
4. Superstition - as a method of explaining and understanding
5. Tolerance vs. prejudice
6. Dehumanization - dehumanizing human beings to oppress them
7. Death and rebirth
8. Coming of age - the hero's journey
9. The role of the outsider
10. The nature and significance of the following human traits: gullibility, ignorance and naivete
Episodes:
1- 1-4: Toms Gang
Summary-Huck is given to Widow Douglas. She teaches him manors, school, and religion. Miss watson then comes and teaches him more school work. He then leaves and tom finds him. Tom said if he stayed at the widows house he could join his gang. Tom burns a spider, then does a bunch of things to get good luck. He then later meets with Tom. Jim thinks a Witch stole Hucks hat and ran around the tree with it. Then Huck goes home. The next day Miss watson is angry that his clothes are dirty, he goes out side, and sees his dads foot prints in the snow. He Then runs to judge thatcher and asks him to take his money so his dad cant have it.
Summary-Huck is given to Widow Douglas. She teaches him manors, school, and religion. Miss watson then comes and teaches him more school work. He then leaves and tom finds him. Tom said if he stayed at the widows house he could join his gang. Tom burns a spider, then does a bunch of things to get good luck. He then later meets with Tom. Jim thinks a Witch stole Hucks hat and ran around the tree with it. Then Huck goes home. The next day Miss watson is angry that his clothes are dirty, he goes out side, and sees his dads foot prints in the snow. He Then runs to judge thatcher and asks him to take his money so his dad cant have it.
Themes- Superstition vs. Religion (Supernatural) - Killing the spider and getting bad luck.
Gullibility - Believing all of Toms stories. (Elephants with jewels) Literary Devices- Don Quixote, 1001 Arabian Nights, Bible, Moses,
2- 5-8: Pa's Return
Summary- Huck goes home and his dad is waiting for hime. His dad yells at him for being smarter than him. His dad goes to judge thatcher to get the money. but he doesnt have it. The new judge says that huck has to live with his dad. Pa Says he is going to change, they have a touching evening. then the next day pa gets drunk and brakes his arm. Once his arm is better he takes Huck to his cabin. Huck tricks Pa and gets away, and heads to jackson island.
Summary- Huck goes home and his dad is waiting for hime. His dad yells at him for being smarter than him. His dad goes to judge thatcher to get the money. but he doesnt have it. The new judge says that huck has to live with his dad. Pa Says he is going to change, they have a touching evening. then the next day pa gets drunk and brakes his arm. Once his arm is better he takes Huck to his cabin. Huck tricks Pa and gets away, and heads to jackson island.
Themes-
Literary Devices- Irony- meaning of family. Judge doesnt know pap.
3- 9-11: Jackson Landing
Summary- Bread that miss watson sent floats to Huck. Huck then finds Jim. They lay around for a few days in a cave while they wait out a storm. They find a house with a bunch of things in it. But then it washes away in the storm. Huck puts a rattle snake skin in Jims bed, but then another rattle snake gets in his bed and bites him. Jim thinks it is because he is unlucky. Huck then dresses like a girl. He goes to a house and meets Judis. She knows he is not a girl, so he tells her that he is a farmer and she belives him. She says her husband is looking for jim becuase everyone thinks that Jim killed Huck. She said they are going to Jackson island. Huck goes back to Jim, and they leave.
Summary- Bread that miss watson sent floats to Huck. Huck then finds Jim. They lay around for a few days in a cave while they wait out a storm. They find a house with a bunch of things in it. But then it washes away in the storm. Huck puts a rattle snake skin in Jims bed, but then another rattle snake gets in his bed and bites him. Jim thinks it is because he is unlucky. Huck then dresses like a girl. He goes to a house and meets Judis. She knows he is not a girl, so he tells her that he is a farmer and she belives him. She says her husband is looking for jim becuase everyone thinks that Jim killed Huck. She said they are going to Jackson island. Huck goes back to Jim, and they leave.
Themes- Rebirth - Jim escapes slavery and starts a new like as a free man. Huck escapes his father and becomes free.
Literary Devices- Huck has different Personas Mary. , irony- miss watson prays the bread will float to hucks body and it does.
4- 12-16: The River
Summary- They start to float down a river. They come upon a crashes ferry. There are robbers in it so they take the robbers boat then leave. Huck feels bad so he tells a captain to go rescue them. Huck and jim then get spereated in the fog. Huck tells jim that he was dreaming the whole thing. Huck feels bad for lying to him. In the fog they passed cairo where they were going to start heading north. So they went further south. where slavery is really bad. The raft then gets broken by a ferry and huck and jim get split up.
Summary- They start to float down a river. They come upon a crashes ferry. There are robbers in it so they take the robbers boat then leave. Huck feels bad so he tells a captain to go rescue them. Huck and jim then get spereated in the fog. Huck tells jim that he was dreaming the whole thing. Huck feels bad for lying to him. In the fog they passed cairo where they were going to start heading north. So they went further south. where slavery is really bad. The raft then gets broken by a ferry and huck and jim get split up.
Themes-
Literary Devices-
5- 17-18: Feud
Summary- He then meets the grangerfords. They are in a fued with the shepardsons. The grangerfords are a rich family. They keep art up that their dead daughter made about death. They also have paintings of Geroge Washington, which is ironic because he was against slavery, and the grangerfords have slaves. The daughter of the grangerfords and the son of the shepeardsons meet. "Romeo and Juliet" There is then a battle at the river. Huck realizes that Jim is alive. They meet up and leave on the raft.
Themes- The meaning of Freedom, Gullibility, Romanticism vs. Realism.
Literary Devices- Allusions, Moses, Washington, Romeo & Juliet
Questions:
3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:
"Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).
Huck.
"Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid its work." (70).
Jim.
The bad luck they are having goes back to the rattle snake. They realize that they passed cairo in the fog. They end up in the south.
5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?
Society Vs. Nature
10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?
11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss.
12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain.
Summary- He then meets the grangerfords. They are in a fued with the shepardsons. The grangerfords are a rich family. They keep art up that their dead daughter made about death. They also have paintings of Geroge Washington, which is ironic because he was against slavery, and the grangerfords have slaves. The daughter of the grangerfords and the son of the shepeardsons meet. "Romeo and Juliet" There is then a battle at the river. Huck realizes that Jim is alive. They meet up and leave on the raft.
Themes- The meaning of Freedom, Gullibility, Romanticism vs. Realism.
Literary Devices- Allusions, Moses, Washington, Romeo & Juliet
Questions:
1. Discuss the significance of the fog incident and Jim's interpretation of it. "The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn't talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and wouldn't have no more trouble" (64). Consider the major themes as well as foreshadowing.
The flog is a blindness and they are trying to get through it.
2. How does Huck feel about playing the trick on Jim? Comment: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). How does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the novel?
He starts to feel bad about it. Huck changes his perspective on Jim. Jim does have feelings, even though he is black. Jim is supposed to be beneath Huck.
He starts to feel bad about it. Huck changes his perspective on Jim. Jim does have feelings, even though he is black. Jim is supposed to be beneath Huck.
3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:
"Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).
Huck.
Jim tells him that he is going to go and get his family. Huck feels bad because he doesn't want to steal things, and he feels like he stole from Jims owner.
"Here was this nigger which I as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm." (67). Explain the irony in this quote as well as the significance.Huck.
Huck is angry because he just helped jim run away. Huck doesnt want to do bad things or steal. But now he h=is helping Jim steal his children back.
Huck is angry because he just helped jim run away. Huck doesnt want to do bad things or steal. But now he h=is helping Jim steal his children back.
The children are owned by someone else, not their parents.
"Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" (69).
Huck is thinking about turning jim in. But if he turns jim in, he will still feel bad. Why should he do the right thing if the wrong thing is easier, and both outcomes are the same.
Huck is thinking about turning jim in. But if he turns jim in, he will still feel bad. Why should he do the right thing if the wrong thing is easier, and both outcomes are the same.
Jim.
The bad luck they are having goes back to the rattle snake. They realize that they passed cairo in the fog. They end up in the south.
4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?
They think his father has small pocks, so they gave him money. Huck is rich. Huck wouldnt care about his father anyway even if he was on the boat. In all the hucks stories his dad is dead, or die
They think his father has small pocks, so they gave him money. Huck is rich. Huck wouldnt care about his father anyway even if he was on the boat. In all the hucks stories his dad is dead, or die
Society Vs. Nature
7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?
They have their dead daughters paintings and poems, Revolutionary art.
They have their dead daughters paintings and poems, Revolutionary art.
8. The first part of Chapter XVII reveals an example of the theme of Huck playing on Buck's gullibility. Discuss this example as well as other examples of the novel's major themes evident in Chapters XVI & XVII.
9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.
Moses saves the Israelites(slaves). Leads them to the promise land. Huck is like moses.
9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.
Moses saves the Israelites(slaves). Leads them to the promise land. Huck is like moses.
10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?
11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss.
12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain.
