Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Huck Finn is
a thirteen-year-old boy. Why does Twain use a child as the center
of consciousness in this book?
In using a child protagonist, Twain is able
to imply a comparison between the powerlessness and vulnerability
of a child and the powerlessness and vulnerability of a black man
in pre–Civil War America. Huck and Jim frequently find themselves
in the same predicaments: each is abused, each faces the threat
of losing his freedom, and each is constantly at the mercy of adult
white men. As we see in Huck’s moral dilemmas, however, Jim is also
vulnerable to Huck, who, although he occupies the lowest rung of
the white social ladder, is white nonetheless. Twain also uses his
child protagonist to dramatize the conflict between societal or
received morality on the one hand and a different kind of morality
based on intuition and experience on the other. As a boy, Huck is
a character who can develop morally, whose mind is still open and
being formed, who does not take his principles and values for granted.
By tracing the education and experiences of a boy, Twain shows that
conclusions about right and wrong that are based on logic and experience
often stand at odds with the society’s rules and morals, which are
often hypocritical rather than logical.
2. Discuss
Twain’s use of dialects in the novel. What effect does this usage
have on the reader? Does it make the novel less of an artistic achievement?
Twain’s use of dialect, which has proved
controversial over the years, lends to the overall realism and vividness
of Huckleberry Finn. Because it is sometimes difficult
to decipher the character’s speech while reading, we are almost
forced to read aloud: at the very least, to read this novel, one
has to be able to “hear” the voices in one’s own head. Performance
is important in this novel, as Tom Sawyer’s follies and the duke
and the dauphin’s cons demonstrate. Furthermore, in the world of
the novel, the way in which a character speaks is closely tied to
that character’s status in society. Huck, who was born in poverty
and has lived on the margins of society ever since, speaks
in a much rougher, more uneducated-sounding dialect than the speech
Tom uses. Jim’s speech, meanwhile, which seems rough and uneducated,
is frequently not all that different from Huck’s speech or the speech
of other white characters. In this way, Twain implies that it is
society, wealth, and upbringing, rather than any sort of innate
ignorance or roughness, that determines an individual’s educational
opportunities and manner of self-expression.
3. Discuss
the use of the river as a symbol in the novel.
At the beginning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river is a symbol of freedom and change. Huck and Jim flow with
the water and never remain in one place long enough to be pinned
down by a particular set of rules. Compared to the “civilized” towns
along the banks of the Mississippi, the raft on the river represents
an peaceful, alternative space where Huck and Jim, free of hassles
and disapproving stares, can enjoy one another’s company and revel
in the small pleasures of life, like smoking a pipe and watching
the stars.
As the novel continues, however, the real world beyond
the Mississippi’s banks quickly intrudes on the calm, protected
space of the river. Huck and Jim come across wrecks and threatening
snags, and bounty hunters, thieves, and con artists accost them.
Although the river still provides refuge when things go wrong ashore,
Huck and Jim’s relation to the river seems to change and become
less friendly. After they miss the mouth of the Ohio River, the
Mississippi ceases to carry them toward freedom. Instead, the current
sweeps them toward the Deep South, which represents the ultimate
threat to Jim and a dead end for Huck. Just as the Mississippi would
inevitably carry Huck and Jim to New Orleans (where Miss Watson
had wanted to send Jim anyway), escape from the evils inherent in humanity
is never truly possible.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Lying occurs frequently in
this novel. Curiously, some lies, like those Huck tells to save
Jim, seem to be “good” lies, while others, like the cons of the
duke and the dauphin, seem to be “bad.” What is the difference?
Are both “wrong”? Why does so much lying go on in Huckleberry
Finn?
2. Describe some of the models
for families that appear in the novel. What is the importance of
family structures? What is their place in society? Do Huck and Jim
constitute a family? What about Huck and Tom? When does society
intervene in the family?
3. The revelation at the novel’s
end that Tom has known all along that Jim is a free man is startling.
Is Tom inexcusably cruel? Or is he just being a normal thirteen-year-old
boy? Does Tom’s behavior comment on society in some larger way?
4. What techniques does Twain
use to create sympathy for his characters, in particular, Jim? Are
these techniques effective?
5. Discuss the place of morality
in Huckleberry Finn. In the world of the novel,
where do moral values come from? The community? The family? The
church? One’s experiences? Which of these potential sources does
Twain privilege over the others? Which does he mock, or describe
disapprovingly?
6. Why might Twain have decided
to set the novel in a time before the abolition of slavery, despite
the fact that he published it in 1885, two
decades after the end of the Civil War?
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