Sunday, September 2, 2012

Huck Finn, Chapters 1-6

Over the next week or so, I'll be posting a few questions about Huckleberry Finn. These questions will be a mix of "Did you get it?" type questions and "What do you think?" type questions. The sole purpose of these posts is to help you sharpen your own thinking about the book.

Feel free to respond to these questions online or in your head or not at all. If you answer online, identify the question you're tackling by beginning your comment @1: or @5: or @whatever number you're working on. You're also welcome to answer a question with a question. As always, put your name in your comment. I hope you're enjoying the book!


  1. On page 3, what does Huck mean when he says the Widow Douglas would "sivilize" him?
  2. On page 3, what does "sugar-hogshead" mean?
  3. On page 4, Miss Watson says, "Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry" (Twain 4). What on earth is she talking about?
  4. On page 4, what is the bad place? Why does Huck want to go there?
  5. On pages 6-7, what is your first impression of Jim? Why does Twain want to create this impression?
  6. On pages 8-9, we get a glimpse of Twain's definition of justice. What do the events on these pages teach us about Twain's view of justice?
  7. Pages 11-15: At the end of Chapter III, Tom Sawyer tells Huck, "You don't seem to know anything, somehow - perfect saphead" (Twain 15). Do you agree with Tom? Why? Does Twain agree? How do you know?
  8. Pages 15-18: Give some examples of superstitions in the first 18 pages of the book. Why does Twain offer so many examples?
  9. Define the following examples of Jim's dialect, found on page 17 and 18: doan', a-gwyne, spec, en, dey's, uv, fust.
  10. On pages 17 and 18, is the hairball's prediction likely to come true? Why do you think so?
  11. On page 19, what is your first impression of Pap?
  12. On page 20 and 21, we get another glimpse into Twain's definition of justice. What is the target of Twain's satire on these pages?
  13. On page 23, what does it mean when Huck says, "pap got too handy with his hickory" (Twain 23)?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2012 at 8:27 PM

    These pages numbers don't match up with the book I got from the school library. For example, the quote from @3 is on page 2 of my book, not page 4.
    Shelby Ellis

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    Replies
    1. EdSeptember 5, 2012 at 10:19 PM

      Well, harrumph. I wonder if anyone else is having the same troubles.

      You might have some luck subtracting 2 from each of the page numbers on the blog posts. My edition starts on page 3, which means the the page number in @3 is the 2nd page of my text.

      Hopefully the layout stays consistent throughout, but if it doesn't don't knock yourself out trying to find every specific quotation. For example, you can probably answer @11 without even if your first impression of Pap doesn't arrive at precisely page 19.

      Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Maybe I'll pick up a different edition of the book when I get to school tomorrow.

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