Huck Finn, Honors

10.  Why does Huck become so passive at the end, letting Tom Sawyer make all of the decisions?

Huck Finn, Honors

9.  Some critics think that the novel should end with Chapter 31 when Huck says, "All right then I'll go to hell."  Do you agree?  Why?

Practical Huck

Huck is very practical in many ways. If he thinks something makes no sense, he won't do it. If an idea does make sense to him, he will find a way to have complete control over it. One way or another he's going to have his way, at least that's what it seems like to me. Huck wants to maintain his independant ways. He's not very imaginative and doesn't play games. It's like 'Survival of the Fittest.' Huck is living to survive practically and convienently, not luxuriously. Huck lives with the Widow Douglas, and he was to become "sivilized." Huck couldn't stand the, I would say primpy clothes or preppy manners, so he dressed in his old rags and ran away. (Tom got him to come back home by telling him he could join his band of robbers. This right here tells you Tom is adventuresome.) Huck seems to think that if one person is doing something, like smoking in this case, he should be able to do the same as well. It's almost like he believes everyone should have fair and equal rights no matter the age, color, or background. For instance, the widow smoked yet told Huck that it is a very "mean practice and wasn't clean." The widow was being a hypocrite. It's practical for Huck to be doing the same as others.Huck was bored with school after an hour or so, being dull and unreasonable to him. He was always told to behave like a gentleman: use proper manners, dress handsome, use proper language, and be a good boy. His life with the widow was luxurious in a sense because of his fancy clothes, being able to have an education, and from what I've been reading, his huge, beautiful house. However, just because it's luxurious doesn't mean it's a good life. Huck was tired of rules and the constant nagging from widow Douglas and Miss. Watson. He wanted to be in control of his life because he believed his ways of life were more sensible. Huck can be described as a "do-it-myself-and-am-in-charge-of-my-life" kind of young boy. Tom is more adventuresome because of his free-spirit. He started a band of robbers with his friends. He had everybody take oaths and keep the secret of this club. All of his ideas came from books he had read. They were going to rob and murder people. Tom had the imaginaition of "stopping stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money." Tom came up with a whole plan to complete his mission. It hasn't gone through yet, and it probably won't, but I don't know because I haven't finished the book.To sum it all up, Tom and Huck are two very different individuals but are best friends. Whose not to say opposites attract?
I also want to add on that Huck comes from a lower white class society. Huck has some education and religion but not in the ways Tom Sawyer has. He has a different sense of fairness and logic just because of his schooling and that lack of fatherly bond. Huck likes to create his own rules but not because he's trying to rebell. It's all that he knows.
I have read Tom Sawyer. He was raised fairly well with a family. Huck is his best friend. His beliefs come from adults around him and his fairytale books.
(I hope I completed this blog correctly because I'm not entirely sure. Nobody else has posted yet. Oh my, and this must be why people call me an overachiever.)

Huck Finn, Honors

8.  Tell about Huck's time at the Wilks Plantation.  Include Huck's talk with Joanna, Huck's feelings for Mary Jane, and how the King got out of his predicament when two other "brothers" arrive.

Huck Finn, Honors

7.  Twain is satirizing the aristocracy when Huck encounters the Grangerfords, Colonel Sherburn, and the King and the Duke.  What is Twain saying about each of them?

Huck Finn, Honors

6.  Life on the raft is idyllic for Huck and for Jim.  Find two specific quotes from the novel to support this general statement and then explain.

Huck Finn, Honors

5.  Every time Huck goes on land he encounters hypocrisy, greed, or murder.  Apply this concept to two other instances.

 

Huck Finn, Honors

4.  Every time Huck goes on land he encounters hypocrisy, greed, or murder.  Describe Huck's encounter with Judith Loftus.  Why does he go to land?  What does he learn from her?  What is the result of the conversation?

Huck Finn, Honors

3.  Characterize one of the following:  Pap Finn, Colonel Sherburn, or Colonel Grangerford.  Put the description of the character that you have chosen into Wordle (www.wordle.net).  Eliminate the common words, and then from the configuration that you have gotten, tell about the main traits of the character.  Is this how you visualized the character as you read?