Huckleberry Finn Study Guide (Pre-Ap English 9)

Friendship and...

Betrayal

"The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that's what an army is-- a mob; they don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with courage that's borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any man at the head of it is beneath pitifulness... If any real lynching's going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion.'"

Colonel Sherburn; The colonel is saying that a mob and an army are the same thing, that you can't be born with courage because you take it from the group. He is saying that a mob without a leader is pitiful and if he has to be lynched by false courage, that it better be done in the dark, so that the cowards in the mob wouldn't have to see him be lynched

Social Responsibility

Conformity and Civilization

Freedom and...

Enslavement

"I didn't want to go to school much before, but I reckoned I'd go now to spite pap."

Huck Finn; It means that Huck did not like going to school, but the fact that his father doesn't want him at school makes it a challenge for Huck to make Pap mad.

"Pap he hadn't been seen form more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale on me when he was sober and could get his hands on me ; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around."

Huck Finn; It means that Huck enjoys his father not being around because he didn't want to see him anyways because he used to abuse him and then Huck would run away anytime to the woods if his pap was around

"I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit."

Huck Finn; It means that Huck enjoys when he used to be able to do what he wanted and he didn't have to be 'sivilized', yet he still enjoys the comforts of having to go to school, have a clean bed, clean clothes, etc.

Coming Of Age

Huck's search for Identity

"...deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. You can't pray a lie--I found that out...I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell' -- and tore it up."

Huck; Huck is praying but he knows it is a lie, he also knows that God knows that its a lie. Huck also says that he is going to hell because he 1, he lied, and 2, he doesn't pray.

"Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things, if you are meaning to pay them back, sometime: but the widow said it warn't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it."

Huck; Huck is saying how his father thinks its okay to steal if you replace the stolen item with something else, yet the Widow says that stealing is wrong and only bad people do it.

"Well, he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head for a N*****."

Huck; Huck is saying that Jim will always have a one sided mind, he will never admit if he is wrong, Jim will always have to be right.

"The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching - all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good sermon and they all talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace..."

Huck; Huck is saying that all preaching is the same, and that it is ordinary that it would all be about brotherly love, and other things.

"But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and 'sivilize' me, and I can't stand it. I been there before."

Huck; Huck is saying that he better get away from Aunt Sally before every one is up because he doesn't want to be 'sivilized' again.

"I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn't no use for me to try and learn to do right; a body that don't get started right when he's little ain't got no show"

Huck; Huck is saying that he can't hep but feel bad for what he did because it was wrong, but he couldn't learn right because he hadn't when he was younger.

"I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn't ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Humans beings can be awful cruel to one another."

Huck; Huck is saying that he feels bad that the con men are getting in to trouble, he feels like he couldn't be more upset with the men because it was a bad thing to see them have a mob after them.

"I see it warn't no use wasting words - you can't learn a n**** to argue. So I quit."

Huck; Huck is saying that it is no use to argue with Jim because he won't learn to see both sides of the argument and he will always stay one sided when it comes to his opinions.

"It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a n*****; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterward, neither."

Huck; Huck is saying that it was hard apologizing to Jim because no other white person would have apologized to him in that time, but in the end he didn't regret apologizing.

"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?"

Huck; Huck is saying that its a lot of work to do the right thing but it wasn't that hard to do bad yet the outcome is the same.

Point of View: From What point of view is the story told?

Huckleberry Finn is told in 1st person.

Symbol: What is a symbol in literature?

A symbol in literature is when something means one thing but also means another.

Satire: What Is Satire?

The use of irony or humor to expose or criticize peoples stupidity or vices

Irony: What is Irony?

The use of words to convey one meaning yet you are meaning something other than what you said.

"I's rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I's wuth eight hund'd dollars."

Jim; It means that Jim, now that he is free, owns himself and at any given time if he sold himself he would be worth eight hundred dollars, but at the same time he is free so he is running around with eight hundred dollars.

"En all you wuz thinkin' 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed."

Jim; Jim is saying that Huck was making him look like a fool for tricking him. Jim says that people who lie are trash and people that make themselves and others ashamed are trash themselves.

Dialect: What is Dialect?

Language used in a certain area, class, or any other group of people.

Satire: What elements of society does Twain satirize throughout the novel and how?

Religion/Religious Hypocrisy, Southern Mores/Society Customs(rules) Education(learning), Racists, Superstition, The Civil War, Love, Slavery, Parent/Family, Trust

What does the River represent in the novel?

The river represents freedom in the novel

What is the Setting of Huckleberry Finn and how does it influence the novel?

The setting in Huckleberry Finn is in the 1800's southern U.S. States, If it was set in the north there wouldn't have been as many problems with religion, racism, and there probably wouldn't have been much crime and killing.

Where does Twain create irony in Huckleberry Finn?

Throughout the novel Twain uses irony in many ways, one way that he creates irony is in having a play put on by the con men that is based on Romeo and Juliet then their is a scene between the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords.

"Why blame it all, we've got to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?"

Tom Sawyer; It means that Tom thinks that the books he reads tell the truth and that nothing can be different or else everything will be messed up