Huck struggles to be taught knowledge, religion and etiquette by miss Watson and the widow.
Chapter 2
While Huck attempts to be civilized, he gets into some fun trying to prank Jim, Miss Watson's slave.
Huck then meets with Tom and some other boys, they claim themselves to be a "gang" and take a boat to a cave.
The boys all take an oath to never speak of the boys "gang" to anyone, for if one fails to do so, their family shall be killed but and women would be held hostage at the hideout.
Huck talks about his drunk Pap, Hack does not know where his Pap is.
Chapter 3
A rumor is started that Huck's Pap, who hasn't been seen for a year is dead. With his body found in a river.
They later find out that the body was not Hucks's father but rather a women dressed in men clothes, Huck worries his father will reappear into his life soon.
The boys resign from the gang because all they did was pretend.
Tom Sawyer talked about Spaniards and Arabs and pretended with his imagination.
Chapter 4
Huck begins to adjust his new life and gets started with progress in school.
Huck notices Large footprints in the snow, instantly reconizes the prints and runs to Judge Thatcher and sells his fortune to him.
Huck comes to find the the footprints have got to be his farther's, that night he find his father waiting in his room.Chapter 5
Pap frightens Huck and asks if he thinks of himself better than his father, then promises Huck to take him "down a peg".
His father asks if he has money, and accuses Huck for lieing when he says he has none.
Pap takes the dollar Huck got from the Judge then leaves to go buy whiskey.
Time Period of Story:
1830's to 1840's, a time when slavery is legal, many people drunk, and money is tight.
How does the perspective/point of view of the narrator influence the story?
The perspective of this story is Huckleberry Finn, a boy with a drunk pap and raised by a widow. His perspective gives the point of view as young boy in the 1830's to 1840's. A boy with slightly rough way of living but young mind. His perspective in the story influences the way the story is seen in our eyes, in the eyes of Huckleberry Finn.
CHAPTER 5-11
Pap had Huck locked up because Pap didn't agree with Huck's lifestyle and wanted Huck all to himself so that he could take all the control over Huck and his way of living. He didn't like that Huck enjoyed going to school and that Huck was setting a better role than Pap did. With Pap being so upset about Huck's way of living he took matters into his own hands and kidnapped Huck by locking him in a cabin deep in the woods.
CHAPTER 12-16
King Solomon had many wives and 2 were claiming that they were the mother to one of his children, King Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting to cut the baby in two, with each woman to receive half. With this strategy he was able to figure out which one was the true mother because one begged not to cut the baby in half and the other approved instantly.
Jim interprets the story by focusing more about the full child than a half because King Solomon would have respected the child by much more if he hadn't had so many.
When he wakes up after the separation in the fog Jim is shocked to see Huck. Jim is very happy to know Huck is alright for he thought they had drifted so far apart that he had lost Huck forever. Huck plays a joke in Jim making him think that everything that happened that night before the drifted apart was all just a dream. With Jim being so happy and grateful to see Huck tells us that Jim cares a lot for Huck and treats him almost as family.
At this point I feel Jim is a good man with a good heart who happens to be a slave because at this time period freedom had not been achieved yet. Jim cares a lot for Huck and especially with the time they have been together, they have grown close friends.
Jim is very superstitious because at this time period, equality hadn't hit its peak. Black people were still treated rather bad, they weren't provided an education or choice of occupation. Almost all were slaves and no other choice but to believe whatever they were told. Jim is black, so he was never treated equal, never got an education and as a whole had no other choice but to believe that whatever he was told was true.
In this line Huck is coming forward to apologize for playing such a joke upon him. Yes it took him 15 minutes to do so, but Huck did the right thing by apologizing. When he states "but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.” it shows that he wasn't sorry for putting himself lower than a black man, and that deep down Huck is a good man.
Huck throughout the course of the book has grown closer to Jim. Instead of Jim being viewed as a slave, Jim in Huck's eyes is now a friend. A friend he has grown closer and closer to. With that, when he was in the situation of almost having to give up Jim as an escaped slave, he couldn't do it because he has grown so close to Jim. Although, with lying about having an escaped slave is breaking the laws and could cause major conflict and get Huck in a lot of trouble.CHAPTERS 17-21
They are currently in a feud with the Sheherdsons. With a deceased daughter name Emmeline. Colonel Grangerford, basically the most powerful on of the family, is a good man who has a large estate. The children's names are Bob, Tom, Charlotte, Sophia, and Buck. No one can remember why there is a feud between the two families or how it started. Sophia is in love with Harney, one of the Shepardson boys. Buck and a 19 year old Grangerford end up in a gun fight with the Shepherdsons and they both end up dying. Which scares Huck away.
Out first glimpse on the Grangerfords family feud is introduced by the narrator (Huck) and his experience through its first glimpse. One day, Buck one of the Grangerford children tries to shoot a young man named Harney Shepherdson but misses. Huck, being quiet confused asks why Buck tried to shoot him and he came to explain they are in a big of a family feud an have been for quote some time but because the feud has gone on for so long, nobody really knows why they are fighting.
The Author refers to the family feud conflict between farmer (“granger”) and rancher (“shepherd”). This is because in the late 1800's farmers and ranchers ran into many conflicts on deciding which title went with which job. Once land ownership became a thing, the question was who is responsible for fences. In areas where ranching was dominant, it was the farmer who was responsible for the fences. While in California, where wheat farming was important, it was the rancher who was responsible for keeping livestock out of crops. Since this was a common conflict in the 1800's it is very well compared to the family feud, although this family takes it a little far, so far into this point by the end of the chapter, 2 Grangerfords are killed in a gunfight between the Shephardsons. That scares Huck off as he flees onto the raft with Jim to get as far from the insane family and its conflict as possible.
When Huck does state the line “I don’t want to talk much about the next day. I reckon I’ll cut it pretty short.” this immediately gives us, the readers the idea that Huck is upset/not happy about what happened that next day so we come to assume something bad happened. And when something bad happens most people don't like to talk about it right away. We already hared about the family feud and Huck witnessing Buck trying to kill a Shepardson, these clues give the chapter a feud battle theme and I personally came to believe something bad happened between the feud, perhaps someone was killed or at least an idea along those lines. As the chapter is finished the mood the line gave before the battle was explained comes to be true, Huck is scared away after the battle as hum and Jim instantly get on the raft and float down the river as far and as soon as possible.
The king and duke are river con men who end up taking control of Huck and Jim's raft. The king claims to be the disappeared heir to the French throne and the duke claims to be the Duke of Bridge water. The king pretends to be British preacher Harvey Wilks to take money from dead Peter Wilks’s family, the duke plays along as the deaf brother, William. Huck goes along with their story because he knows the king and duke are frauds running away, he doesn't wanna start trouble therefore he goes along with the story.
Huck and the rest of the people on the raft have only been traveling at night to avoid Jim possibly being caught as a runaway slave. Although once the king and duke take over the raft the duke comes down to a solution. The solution is that while traveling during the day with Jim on the raft, they pretend as if they had captured Jim as the missing runaway slave and are taking him back to his owner. The duke comes to believe that this is a great solution because Jim doesn't have to hide during the day an they can travel down the river with more time to spare. Although from my point of view this solution is risky,, if they were to be questioned an told someone the runaway slave was found, word would travel fast and the owners would expect to have their slave back. Once someone comes to realize the slave is not being returned, trouble starts. They are then breaking the law and getting themselves into potential big trouble.
CHAPTERS 22-26
The line at the end of the handbill states "Ladies and children are not admitted". The handbill would get people into the play because more men would be open to doing things of their choice if their wives didn't have a say in their decision.
Towards the end of chapter 23 we see this line: “What was the use to tell Jim these warn’t real kings and dukes? It wouldn’t a done no good; and besides, it was just as I said; you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.” Why doesn't Huck see the use in telling Jim? What does Huck mean by "you couldn't tell them from the real kind?
Huck doesn't see the use in telling Jim about the fact that the King and Duke aren't telling the truth because Jim doesn't know a lot about Kings and Dukes in the first place, with that he would not understand if he did tell him the truth. Also he doesn't see the use in telling Jim because he doesn't know that the reason he is playing along with the King and Dukes story is to protect Jim.
When Huck mentions the phrase " “you couldn’t tell them from the real kind.” he is comparing the King and Duke to real royalty and the way they act compared to those positions. Throughout the story, Huck explains multiple examples of historical royalty and how they have tricked people throughout their "royal positioning".
The final line in chapter 24 reads: “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.” What is Huck talking about? What does it tell us (the reader) about Huck that he feels this way?
The King and the Duke came up with this plan when they had found out that a man named Peter Wilks had died and left a fortune to his brothers that no one had ever met, known, or heard of. One apparently was around 30-35 while the other was deaf and supposedly dumb. The two con-men, being as greedy as they are.
In chapter 25 we meet the doctor. How does the doctor know that the king and the duke are a fraud?
Doctor Robinson knew that the King and Duke were both frauds because when the King gave his speech, his British accent was not good or believable. The Doctor said that it was the worst accent that he had ever hear. He knew that the King and Duke were con-men and were definitely not related to Peter Wilks.
The king and the duke consider leaving in the middle of the night with the money (chapter 26). Why don’t they?
The King and the Duke consider leaving in the middle of the night with the $6,000 in gold, although they don't end up leaving in the middle of the night. Instead of the King.
Why did people stay up with the dead during this time period? (Chapter 27)
At this time period, staying up with the dead was a form of tradition. The reason why they stayed up with the dead was to keep rodents away from the body as it decayed. Back then, there were not funeral homes to help preserve the body before it was burred. Therefore it was up to the people closest to the person that had passed away to deal with the body. They were ones who decided whether or not a funeral occurred.
What do we learn (or reaffirm) about Huck when he tells Miss Mary Jane the slaves will see their family again in inside of two weeks? (Chapter 28)
When Huck unthinkingly tell miss Mary Jane as she is crying about the separated slave family that they will be reunited again within the next two weeks it gives us another view on Huck. Huck has gone through a lot, he was raised by an abusive alcoholic father, has run away from this widow who was very good to him and cared a lot for him, and has traveled through lots, all this way protecting a runaway slave. Jim, being Huck's best friend has changed Huck's point of view on slaves and despicably on black people as a whole.
3.What were the two methods the townspeople used to try to identify who the brothers were and who the frauds were? (Chapter 29)
A lawyer goes and gets all four men meet at the Tavern therefore they can come to find out who they really are, not just who they say they are. To do that, two things happen, first, he has all four men sign a paper and then compares the signature to ones he had seen on the letters, which gave away that the King and the Duke were frauds and not who they say they were. The King got out of it by saying that the real William serves as a scribe to Harvey and that since William has a broken arm they can't prove who is who.
CHAPTERS 31-35
Huck says “You can’t pray a lie.” What lie is he trying to pray about? What does he mean?
At this point in the book , Jim has been found, captured and turned in as a runaway slave. Huck in shock comes to be very upset and tries to think through what he can do to changed the situation. Although he is freaking out and then begins to cry, he thinks through if should write to Miss Watson about where Jim is and get him back to her or do possibly something else. Huck prays that Jim finds Miss Watson again but then snaps into reality and realizes he cant pray a lie, he was praying for what he didn't want.
Why does Huck tear up the letter he writes?
Huck's written letter lets Miss Watson (Jim's Owner) know where Jim is and how to get him back. From the beginning getting Jim back to Miss Watson was what was NOT wanted to happen, especially in Jim's eyes. Also the letter would've revealed how Huck has lied and what he has done as far as faking his death as well as running away and hiding a runaway slave. All the letter would do is bad and that was unwanted.
Huck is disappointed that Tom would help him steal Jim. He says “Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it. Tom Sawyer a nigger stealer!” What do you think of this?
I think that Tom Sawyer means well, he is a good adventurous man who is just wanting to help out a close friend. He thrives for risk and is the one who will truly do anything. Although I do think Huck is overreacting when he states "Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it. Tom Sawyer a nigger stealer!” For if we really think about it, Huck was the one that got Tom Sawyer to help him steal Jim back.
Huck says two things at the end of chapter 33: “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” and “But that’s always the way: it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t go no sense, and just goes for him anyway.” What does Huck mean by these two statements?
At the end of chapter 33, Huck and Tom sneak out of the house into town. As they are walking down the road, they see a mob of townspeople as well as duke and the dauphin who are are covered in tar and feathers. The townspeople run the duke out of town. Huck grows feels bad for the two, as his ill feelings toward them melt away. When Huck states, “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” and “But that’s always the way: it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t go no sense, and just goes for him anyway.”
Chapter 41-End
Huck grows guilty and couldn't look her in her eyes because he knew that Tom was stuck in pain and in danger while he was sleeping in a bed. I also think comes to feel this way because he knows how much he lied about Jim and everything that had happened and could tell that at the end of the day he was causing more pain towards the family rather than good doings.