Tuesday

Outline Episode 8 - "The Dead Peter or the Wilkes Episode" and include A) a brief summary; B) a connection to a major theme; C) a list of personas used by Huck, the King and the Duke; D) A list of new characters that are introduced in this episode; E) A brief discussion of how Huck changes in this episode.  F) Discuss what the climax of the book is and why it is considered the climax.  If and when you finish you should study your vocabulary words for the upcoming quiz on Friday.

Monday

Okay so today we need to review what you wrote for Episode 7 and begin reading chapter 24.

Your classwork for this week will be to read through chapter 31 and answer the study questions below:



Huck Discussion Questions XXIV - XXVII

1. As we have discussed, clothes can play a symbolic or thematic role in the novel. Huck even says that he "never knowed how clothes could change a body before." Discuss the thematic role of clothes in these chapters.

2. Comment on the last paragraph of Chapter XXIV. Make a connection to Twain's description of the Arkansas town. Why is Huck's response to the Peter Wilks incident so strong? Why does Huck make moral evaluations now (you'll recall that he remained morally neutral concerning the prior schemes of the duke and king)?

3. What qualities do the Wilks girls have that allow them to be fooled so easily?

4. Why is it significant that Joanna eats in the kitchen? What is the significance of her nickname? What themes are revealed?

5. What statement about the behavior of people does Twain make through the Dr. Robinson incident?

6. Previously Huck has refused to hinder the antics of the king and duke. Now he attempts to foil their scheme. Why? What theme(s) from the novel can you apply to Huck's change in attitude?




Huck Questions XXVIII - XXX

1. Twain was heavily criticized for bad taste due to his description of the funeral toward the end of Chapter XXVII. Why do you think he was criticized, and do you think the criticism justified?

2. On page 141 Huck says, ". . . here's a case where I'm blest if it don't look to me like the truth is better, and actuly safer, than a lie." Explain.

3. In these three chapters Huck finds himself having to lie for various reasons. How do his motives differ?

4. Why doesn't Twain involve Jim more in these chapters?

5. Does Huck's escape from Hines say anything about Hines' character?

6. How does Huck feel about Mary Jane? Why does Huck tell her to go away? Significance?

7. Discuss the significance of Huck's statement, ". . . anybody but a lot of prejudiced chuckleheads would a seen that the old gentlemen was spinning truth and t'other one lies."

8. What does the doctor represent?

9. By the end of Chapter XXX, do you think Twain vindicates the characters of the duke and king or does he have them remain as villains? Explain.

Friday

Today we need to discuss chapter 23 and outline episode 7 (chapters 21-23)

Here are the things you need to include in you outline of episode 7.

1) Summary
2) Descriptions of New Characters (who they are/what they do - be specific)
3) List of Personas
4) Theme


New Vocabulary Words:

temperance
histrionic
muse
brazen
contrite
languish
calamity
ponderous
stealthiest
blitheful
infernal
abolitionist
afoot
confound
frivolousness
haughty
divining



Huck Discussion Questions XXIV - XXVII

1. As we have discussed, clothes can play a symbolic or thematic role in the novel. Huck even says that he "never knowed how clothes could change a body before." Discuss the thematic role of clothes in these chapters.

2. Comment on the last paragraph of Chapter XXIV. Make a connection to Twain's description of the Arkansas town. Why is Huck's response to the Peter Wilks incident so strong? Why does Huck make moral evaluations now (you'll recall that he remained morally neutral concerning the prior schemes of the duke and king)?

3. What qualities do the Wilks girls have that allow them to be fooled so easily?

4. Why is it significant that Joanna eats in the kitchen? What is the significance of her nickname? What themes are revealed?

5. What statement about the behavior of people does Twain make through the Dr. Robinson incident?

6. Previously Huck has refused to hinder the antics of the king and duke. Now he attempts to foil their scheme. Why? What theme(s) from the novel can you apply to Huck's change in attitude?

Huckleberry Finn

Today we will read 22 - 23 and work on Huck Finn study questions.  These are to be posted on your blogs.

Homework: Finish reading 23 if you don't and work on study questions. 

Wednesday

Today, we are going to spend some time working on memorization (about 20 minutes), and then we'll look at chapters 21 and 22.

Huck Discussion Questions: XXI - XXIII

1. Through the Grangerford episode, Twain was able to criticize the myth of Southern honor. What myth of Southern life does Twain satirize in the Sherburn / Boggs incident (which, by the way, was based on a true incident)? What aspect of human nature does Twain satirize through the scene in the drugstore?
2. Compare the circus with the entertainment supplied by the duke and king?
3. What does Huck's reaction to the circus incident tell us about him? Whom does he think was most deceived?
4. What is Twain implying about human nature through the advertising for the "Royal Nonesuch"?
5. "What was the use to tell Jim these warn't real kings and dukes? It wouldn't a done no good; and besides, it was just as I said; you couldn't tell them from the real kind." (117). What does Twain imply?
6. What is significant about the story of 'Lizabeth?
7. Be ready to tell Huck's story so far. Develop a chronology of events - the more detailed the better!

Tuesday

You need to work on memorization of your Poetry Out Loud poems and answer the following questions:

1) What is your poem about - think THEME here.  What is the theme.
2) What is story is being told in your poem.  Summarize the story or action in your own words.
3) What types of figurative language does your poem contain.  List the examples.  Now explain what this figurative language is doing in the poem.  How is it creating meaning?
4) Is there a rhyme scheme?  Write it out.
5) Does your poem have a particular form?
6) What is the tone of your poem?  The tone should change through out.
7) Where is the turn in the poem?  Write out the turn.

Now read back through your poem and underline important words, words that you should emphasize.  Think about where your voice/tone should change - particularly at the turn of the poem.  Remember this is about delivery, not just about memorization.

 We'll start today by listening to chapter 14 of Huck Finn and discussing what is going on in it. 

Huck Discussion Questions: XXI - XXIII

1. Through the Grangerford episode, Twain was able to criticize the myth of Southern honor. What myth of Southern life does Twain satirize in the Sherburn / Boggs incident (which, by the way, was based on a true incident)? What aspect of human nature does Twain satirize through the scene in the drugstore?
   
2. Compare the circus with the entertainment supplied by the duke and king?
   
3. What does Huck's reaction to the circus incident tell us about him? Whom does he think was most deceived?
   
4. What is Twain implying about human nature through the advertising for the "Royal Nonesuch"?
   
5. "What was the use to tell Jim these warn't real kings and dukes? It wouldn't a done no good; and besides, it was just as I said; you couldn't tell them from the real kind." (117). What does Twain imply?
   
6. What is significant about the story of 'Lizabeth?
   
7. Be ready to tell Huck's story so far. Develop a chronology of events - the more detailed the better!
   
   Unit Learning Goal: Students will demonstrate knowledge of nineteenth century foundation works of American Literature by analyzing satire in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and relating one of its main themes to another text and issue of the time. 
   TEXTS:
   “Historical and Context of the transition from Romanticism to Realism”; selected poetry by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson; excerpts from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas; “The Gettysburg Address”, “The Emancipation Proclamation”, “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address”; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
   Standards:
   RL1 – Cite Strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain
   RL2 – Determine two of more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of a text, including how they interact and build upon one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text
   RL3 – Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story (e.g. where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed)
   RL 4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrase as they are used in text, including figurative and connotative meaning; analyze specific word choices on tone
   RL 5 – Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall meaning
   RL 6 – Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really mean (i.e. satire, sarcasm, irony)
   RL 9 – Demonstrate knowledge of nineteenth century foundational works of American Literature
   RI 1 – Cite strong textual evidence to support of analysis of what a text says
   RI 8 – Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts (e.g. Presidential Addresses)
   RI9 – Analyze nineteenth century foundation U.S. documents of history and literary significance for themes, purposes and rhetorical features (e.g. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, The Gettysburg Address). 
   Learning OBJECTIVES:
   By the end of the novel students will be able to
   1)    Define realism, satire, dialect, antihero, unreliable narrator, irony (situational, dramatic, and verbal), episodic plot, romanticism, dramatic foils, hyperbole, motif, picaresque novel, parable, sarcasm, simile, metaphor, oxymoron, allegory, euphemism, bildungroman
   2)    Pick out examples of symbols, irony and dialect
   3)    Example the meaning of at least one major symbol
   4)    Discuss how Huck is both an unreliable narrator and an antihero
   5)    Discuss how Huckleberry Finn, the novel, fits both a bildungsroman and picaresque novel
   6)    Give examples of and discuss the following motifs in the book: superstition, parodies of previous literature (romantic novels and Shakespeare), the adopting of personas (or reinventing self), childhood games, religion, lies and cons, death, and perhaps one or two others that I will bring up in class
   7)    Be out to pick out and example five – ten allusions
   8)    Outline the plot according to the six elements
   9)    Break up the book into three sections or three movements (and briefly explain each movement)
   10) Break up the book into 9 episodes
   11) Give a list of characters in the book with a brief description of each and their general purpose in the novel
   12) Compare and Contrast Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
   13) Discuss the idea of and the historical reference of Family Feuds
   14) Discuss the different types of conflict found in Huckleberry Finn
   15) Discuss how Mark Twain uses allusions to back up his major themes and develop his characters
   16)   Keep a list of Huckleberry Finns stories and pranks
   17) Discuss how Huckleberry Finn is honest in dishonest world
   18) Briefly explain the following themes: Racism and Slavery, Intellectual and Moral Education, The hypocrisy of society (appearance vs. reality), conflict between the individual and society, the quest for freedom (both freedom away from society and freedom within society), superstition vs religion, death and rebirth, coming of age and the hero’s journey, the concept of family, the role of the outsider, the nature and the significance of the following traits: gullibility, ignorance, and naivety, tolerance vs. prejudice. 
   19) Define and use various vocabulary words that appear in the book
   20) Develop a project based on some aspect of the novel.
   21) Answer study questions as you read.

Reading Schedule

Episode 1: (Chapters 1- 4) Huck is living with the Widow Douglas, who is teaching him about region and having go to school. Tom Sawyer starts a gang who says there are gonna steal for passing wagons. Tom plays a trick on Jim. Huck is in Tom's gang for a little while but nothing really comes of it and he quits. Huck realizes his dad is back and gives all the money to Judge Thatcher. This episode ends with huck's dad in his room. Huck goes to Jim for advice or a prophet and Jim really doesn't tell him anything important. ends by Pa showing up.

Episode 2: (5- 7) Pa gives Huck a hard time for being eduated and tells him to stop going to school or he'll whip him. Then he questions Huck about the money and Huck says he doesn't have it. Pa says he will get it from Judge Tatcher cause it's his. Then he goes to the Judge and demands for the money. The judge decided he wanted custody of Huck and go to the law. Well there is a new Judge in town who doesn't want to break up a son and dad. Pa then plays off the judge's Gullibilty, saying he would quit drink and is a changed man. The judge gives him a room and new clothes, pa gets drunk and the judge gives up on him. So Pa tries to get the money again, and he also kidnaps Huck. Well they live in a cabin and Pa is careful not to leave anything Huck could use to escape. Huck eventually finds a saw and starts sawing through the floor everytime Pa leaves. One night Pa comes back really drunk and tries to kill Huck. The next day, Huck finds some logs and Pa takes them to the town to sell them. While Pa is way, Huck finishes sawing thorugh, makes it look like he was killed and leaves.
 
Episode 3: (8-11)
Episode 4: (12-16) 

Here is the reading schedule for this week and for break:

12/17 chapters 8-9
12/18 chapter 10
12/19 FINAL
12/20 No class
12/21 No class

Break
12/26 chapters 11=12
12/27 chapters 13-14
12/28 chapters 15-16
1/2     chapters 17-18
1/3     chapters 19-20
1/4 Don Hather

Study Questions

1. Compare and contrast the lies Huck gives to Mrs. Judith Lotus to the lies he tells the watchman? (chap 11 and 13). Think about purpose and results. Remember lies and inventing (or reinventing) personas is a motif. What theme do you think these lies reinforce?
2. Make a list of names Huck uses or invent.
3. Contrast the gang on the Walter Scott to Tom’s Gang (you might even look at some of the rules of Tom’s Gang). What is the significance of these two gangs? What idea is Twain trying to reinforce?
4. Look up Walter Scott on the internet. Why would Twain name the sinking boat Walter Scott? What is he making fun of? (Hint: Research the name and read about who Walter Scott was).
5. Look up the dimensions of the Mississippi. Write them down. Look up the Mississippi in Illinois and Missouri. What does the internet say about the river in these two states? Find a picture of the Mississippi. Why do you think Twain used the Mississippi as a symbol?
6. What are Huck’s descriptions of the river when he and Jim first leave Jackson Island (before the storm)? What theme does this reinforce?
7. Why does Huck want to save the gang of murders? What is funny about this? What does it say about Huck?
8. What is the significance of the following quote: “Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? Not for pie, he wouldn’t. He’d call it an adventure—that’s what he’d call it; and he’d land on that wreck if it was his last act. And wouldn’t he throw style into it?—wouldn’t he spread himself, nor nothing? Why you’d think it was Christopher Columbus discovering Kingdom-Come.”
9. What is funny about the discussion between borrowing and stealing? Discuss what you think the significance of this is.
10. Make a list of references to death so far in the novel.
11. List the allusions so far.
What was your favorite event that happened in chapters 11-13? Why?


Huck Discussion Questions: XV - XX

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.

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?

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).

"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.

"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).

"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).

4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?

5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?

6. Speculate on why Twain put Huckleberry Finn aside for a few years at the end of XVI?

7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?

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.

9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.

10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?

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.

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.

13. Huck and Jim's manner of dress on the raft is symbolic. What do clothes represent?

14. Why doesn't Huck expose the Duke and the King (Dauphin) as frauds?

15. Who is the most shrewd, the King and the Duke or Huck? Why? Give some examples.

16. What does Twain satirize in the plan to present Romeo and Juliet? Discuss Romeo and Juliet as a motif.

17. Discuss the significance of the pirate and the revival meeting. What is Twain satirizing?

18. Is Twain making a statement about society through the antics of the King and Duke? Explain.