Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 1-15

Here are the study questions and introduction that I give to my students. We'll be reading this book for the next four weeks. Follow along if you like . . . 

Huckleberry Finn
Questions to Help You Think: Chapters 1-15

This book is set in Missouri in the 1840's. But it is written in the 1880's, after the US has been drastically changed by the Civil War. Missouri was let into the Union as a slave state (you might want to read about the Missouri Compromise of 1820). 


Twain's themes are friendship, growing up, slavery, religion, superstition, and civilization. Keep an eye out for what he's telling us.
 
1. Why does Huck lose interest in Moses? Why does he decide he ‘doesn’t want to try’ for heaven?


2. What kind of person is Huck Finn? How does the author's choice of a narrator advance his purposes in the book? What kind of narrator is Huck? 

3. What is superstition? (Look it up in a dictionary if you don’t know what it is). What do you think of all the superstitious practices in the book so far in the book? What sorts of people are superstitious? What role does superstition play in the story? 

4. Describe Huck’s father. Huck’s relationship with him is strange and difficult. Why?

5. What is Huck’s attitude toward civilization?

6. Describe the humor in this book. Is the story mainly a drama or a comedy (in the way we think of these things today)? What makes the humor "dark"?

7. What do you think of the Notice and Explanation at the beginning of the book? Why would Twain write these things?

8. What happened on the Walter Scott? What does chapter XV reveal about Huck's character? What de we learn about Jim? 

9. Why does Huck use the word “nigger” to describe Jim and other black people? What is the attitude of people toward African-Americans during the time that this story is set? Is it right for Mark Twain to use that word in Huck’s mouth? Why or why not?