Huck Discussion Questions: XV - XVII

• 1. Discuss the significance of the fog incident and Jim's interpretation of it. "The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn't talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and wouldn't have no more trouble" (64). Consider the major themes as well as foreshadowing.
• The main theme that prevails from this quote of moral and intellectual education. The joke that Huck plays on Jim wasn't funny to Jim and made him feel bad. Huck sees this and grows from it. 
• 2. How does Huck feel about playing the trick on Jim? Comment: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). How does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the novel?
• In the beginning of the novel, Huck didn't think twice about playing a trick on Jim, but as the book continues and Huck and Jim's relationship develops, Huck starts to feel guilty about playing these tricks on Jim. The overall meaning of the novel it about the corruption of society in that people dehumanized black people. This shows that Huck, even though all his life he was taught that slaves were property, overcame this idea. 
• 3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:
• "Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).
•  This is when Huck realized the full extent of what he has done. He has helped a slave, someone's property, run away for freedom. Back then, this was like stealing someones cows and setting them free. Huck was raised on the idea that slaves were nothing more then another something that you own, and now he was doing something that he knew was wrong, but at the same time felt like it was the right thing to do.
• "Here was this nigger which I as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm." (67). Explain the irony in this quote as well as the significance.
•  This quote is ironic because even though they are Jim's children, they are owned by a man and to Huck, their owner has  more right to them then their actual father. Here, Twain is trying to put into perspective to the audience how people were raised back then and what their thought about slaves were. It seems a little backwards now, but then people didn't think twice about separating families and selling them individually. So to Huck, the man who owns Jim's children deserves to have them because he bought them. 
• "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?" (69).
•  This is after Huck thinks about ratting Jim out to the two white bounty hunters. He is having an internal conflict about helping Jim. On one hand, Jim is a slaves and he is only property, but as Huck spends more time with him he realizes that Jim is a person and his best friend. At this point Huck feels so sick to his stomach that he finally says that there's no difference between the outcome of right and wrong, so he isn't going to think anything of it anymore.
• "Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid its work." (70).
•  It a little ironic because Jim has a lot of luck considering what would have happened to him if he stayed on Jackson Island. Jim says this right after they have figured out that they passed Cairo and he thinks that is was the snake skin that Huck planted when they were at the island. This ties into Huck and Jim's superstitions that they believe in. There is also the connection between Jim and snakes.

• 4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?
• They feel bad for Huck and leave some money for the doctors. It's ironic because they were all in Huck's business and ready to go over there to see if he has a slave until they find out that his "dad" had small pox, then they wanted 20 miles between the two of them.

• 5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?
•  The steam boat represents society and the raft represents the natural state of man. Twain makes it clear that it isn't the people who are corrupt, it society. Here, Jim and Huck are just doing there thing when society comes and ruins everything.
• 6. Speculate on why Twain put Huckleberry Finn aside for a few years at the end of XVI?
• Because he didn't like where the story was going. He didn't want to continue the story if he was feeling it. If only we could do that with homework.
• 7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?
•  The house has a bunch of nice things, like nice curtains in the windows, art work on the walls, and a grandfather clock. The art work is funny because it romanticizes things like a bird dying and someone going to the cemetery. It is Twain's way of making fun of romanticism. They are nice respectable people, but once they are very petty in the way that they are in this feud for reasons no one even remembers.  
• 8. The first part of Chapter XVII reveals an example of the theme of Huck playing on Buck's gullibility. Discuss this example as well as other examples of the novel's major themes evident in Chapters XVI & XVII.
•  Huck forgets his name so he asks Buck to spell it for him. This is just one of the clever things that Huck does in order to survive. Huck is always on his toes and he is quick in a pinch. For example, when the bounty hunters were about to catch Jim, he came up with the small pox story.
• 9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel. 
•  Huck takes everything very literally. So when Buck was telling his riddle, much like other jokes, Huck didn't get it. Huck and Moses are connected because they both go against society to free slaves.
• 10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?
• Both of the family go to the same church, but everyone of the has their own gun. Also the priest talks about brotherly love the whole time as well. People only go to church on Sunday because they have to, but not hogs, they go because they want to. 
• 11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss. 
• The feud ties into the idea about southerners and honor. Most people in the family don't really remember why it started, but somewhere along the line someone disrespected another and generation later they are still fighting. This is much like the Hatfeilds and McCoy's.  You can also connect the feud to Romeo and Juliet. Two people from feuding families falling in love.
• 12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain. 
•  Most people would think that being on a raft would be clamped up, but not Jim and Huck. The raft and river symbolized freedom from society and when they are on the raft, it is peaceful. Every other time they go to shore and meet up with someone else, something bad happens. This final part of the chapter is significant because Twain is talking about the theme of freedom. The river to Huck and Jim is serene and peaceful. The raft is their only home.  
• 13. Huck and Jim's manner of dress on the raft is symbolic. What do clothes represent?
•  Clothes represent that state of their freedom. Then they are alone on the raft, Jim and Huck are naked, allowing them to get back to nature and be free. But whenever they have to come into contact with society, they have to wear different clothes to go with their different persona.
• 14. Why doesn't Huck expose the Duke and the King (Dauphin) as frauds?
•  Because he didn't want to start any trouble. He didn't mind calling them Duke and King as long as there was peace in the family. He says that is pap taught him anything it was to let frauds have their own way.
• 15. Who is the most shrewd, the King and the Duke or Huck? Why? Give some examples.
• I think the King is. He is more creative and takes advantage peoples weaknesses to get more of what he wants.  When they went into town to get money, the king manipulates the people at church to giving him money. 
• 16. What does Twain satirize in the plan to present Romeo and Juliet? Discuss Romeo and Juliet as a motif.
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• 17. Discuss the significance of the pirate and the revival meeting. What is Twain satirizing?
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• 18. Is Twain making a statement about society through the antics of the King and Duke? Explain.
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