Huckleberry Finn Actively Learn Questions for Exam – Flashcards
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Why did Huck go back to living with the Widow Douglas?
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Tom said he couldn't be in his gang if he didn't go back
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How do Tom and Huck view Jim at the beginning of the story?
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not a real person, someone they can play tricks on
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Why did Huck offer Miss Watson instead of the Widow Douglas?
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likes the widow more that miss watson
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Think about where Tom Sawyer gets his ideas about how to create a gang of robbers, take oaths, etc. What does this reveal about his character?
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he is intelligent and creative because he can read
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Who is the more imaginative, adventurous character: Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn?
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Tom
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Huck is evidently very superstitious. What other character is like him?
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Jim
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What made the judge think that Pap could be reformed?
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new in town, handshake
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Pap talks a lot about his rights. What does he think he has a right to?
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Huck and his fortune
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People in town told Pap that the Widow Douglas would be likely to win custody of Huck. Why didn't Huck want this to happen?
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liked not going to school and not having to be civilized, he liked the adventure
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What was Huck's elaborate plan designed to do?
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make Pap think he was dead, send them looking for him in the wrong direction
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What does the river mean to Huck and Jim? What does it provide for them?
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escape, safety, adventure
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The woman Huck encounters gives him some important information about what's been happening since his disappearance. Which of the following are accurate statements about these events?
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Pap is not the only person people think is responsible for Huck's "death", and there is a reward for Jim's capture
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Huck are preparing the raft for their journey. Which of the following possibilities are they trying to prepare for?
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rainy weather, a broken oar, being seen/found out
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What has Huck done twice now that has resulted in serious consequences?
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ignored Jim's advice
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What is the real reason Huck wants to send someone after the men on the wrecked steamboat?
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he sympathizes with them and doesn't want them to be drowned
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Why did Huck and Jim sink the skiff?
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it was evidence that they had been aboard the steamboat
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Huck's thoughts about the robbers indicate which of the following about his system of morals?
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his ideas of right and wrong are closely connected with his feelings about people, he continues to think of the Widow as a model of mortality, finds conventional mortality as modeled by the Widow confusing and sometimes nonsensical
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Why does Huck accept the idea that Solomon is wise, while Jim doesn't?
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Huck was taught by the Widow to believe it, but Jim judges using his own standard
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Why does Jim say that King Solomon isn't wise?
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proposes to cut a baby in two to settle an argument between two women, doesn't ask around to find out whose child the baby really is, keeps a harem full of noisy children and arguing wives, wasn't raised right
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Why was Jim angry with Huck in chapter XV?
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for making Jim look like a fool
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How has Huck's view of Jim changed?
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realizes that Jim has feelings
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What is Huck feeling guilty about?
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not going ashore to report Jim to the authorities
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What has Jim done to lower Huck's opinion of him?
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he is talking about stealing his children
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After the encounter with the two strangers, what does Huck feel bad about?
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took money from strangers, did not turn Jim in
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What does Jim blame his bad luck on in chapter XVI?
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being a "Po n*****", the rattlesnake skin
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With this ridiculously melodramatic poem, what form of literature is Twain mocking in chapter XVII?
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Romantic
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What is Huck's view of the Grangerfords' heavily decorated house and the art, furnishings, and way of life within their home?
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appears, fine, and fancy
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What does "I don't like that shooting from behind a bush. Why didn't you step into the road, my boy?" reveal about Colonel Grangerford?
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wanted his son to fight in the proper form
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How does Buck view the Sheperdsons?
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considers them proper fighters, judges them as worthy opponents
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What caused the final battle between the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons?
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fighting over the elopement of Harney and Sophia
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What does the river seem to mean to Huck and Jim?
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comfort, freedom
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How do Huck and Jim feel about being all alone on the river without any contact with other people?
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enjoy the solitude and privacy
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It is obvious that the Duke knows right away that the King's story is a fake. Why doesn't he challenge it?
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a fake himself, if he exposes the King, the King might do the same to him
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Why doesn't Huck challenge the King and Duke's stories?
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doesn't mind calling them King and Duke, thinks Jim believes them
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Why does the Duke use formal, flowery language?
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trying to maintain his act, thinks Huck and Jim believe him
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What is ironic about the King's assertion that he doesn't know anything about acting?
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acting like king when he is not, makes money by acting like a preacher or other characters, admits the Duke is a better actor
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What can we surmise about the money-making schemes of the King and the Duke?
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Duke's plans are more elaborate than King's, Duke tries to appeal to people through artistic offerings like plays, while the King takes advantage of people's sympathy and gullibility
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How do the townspeople react to the killing of Boggs?
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turn it into the latest form of entertainment
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What does Colonel Sherburn say is the real reason the mob has come to lynch him?
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cowards who are afraid of not going along with the force of their leader
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What was the great trick that was pulled on the ringmaster?
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One of the circus performers dressed up and pretended to be a local drunk, breaking into the show
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Right after the mob scene at Colonel Sherburn's house, Huck attends a circus. What could be Twain's intention in putting these two scenes right next to each other?
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contrast between scenes, mirror of mob scene, depicting the townspeople's mentality as crowd-followers and small-minded entertainment seekers
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After the small turnout at the Duke's Shakespeare performance, what has he learned?
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people of the town are not interested in great art
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What does the Duke think will bring the townspeople to his performance the second night?
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sign says "Ladies and children not admitted"
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What does the crowd mean in shouting "sold!"?
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they have been tricked
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Why hadn't the King gone to town for the show?
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He and the Duke knew the crowd would turn against them, and they did not plan to perform at all
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What does Huck see in Jim that he had not seen before after hearing about Jim's past with his family?
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loving father, has deaf child
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Why does Huck feel ashamed of the human race after the townspeople sympathize with the king and the duke when they are coning them?
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king and the duke cried and carried on and put on such a show of melodrama
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How are Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna related to Peter Wilks?
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nieces
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Why do Peter Wilks' friends and family refuse to believe the doctor when he says that the king and duke are frauds?
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less sophisticated than doctor, vulnerable because of their grief
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Why did the king and the duke hand over to the girls the $3,000.00 that would have belonged to Harvey and William?
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made themselves look good and above suspicion
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Why did Mary Jane give all the money back to the king?
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wants to show her confidence in him
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Why has Huck decided to try to return the money to the sisters?
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feels guilty because of their kindness
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Why does the duke want to leave in the night with the money rather than stay and sell of the Wilks' property?
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nervous about the doctor giving them trouble, doesn't want to take any more from the orphan girls, afraid the money will be found by the Wilks' slaves
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What does Huck mean when he says that Mary Jane was "full of sand"?
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has grit
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Huck's lies to Susan and Joanna (Harelip) were successful. What is different about the lies he tells here, that are not convincing?
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trying to pass himself off as something he is not, telling lies to more worldly people, trying to make up information not building on information he is fed by his audience, telling complete falsehoods not half-truths
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Huck's excuse for running away fools the two frauds. Why do they believe him and not suspect him of being the one who hid the money in the coffin?
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view each other as professional deceivers, but Huck as an innocent boy
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What do Huck's thoughts indicate about the influence of the society that he fled?
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has been influenced by them, even though he did his best to resist
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Here Huck is making a conscious decision about whether to follow society's moral code or his own heart. How does he feel about his decision?
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sure that what he is doing is wicked and will land him in hell, but he'd rather be loyal to Jim, who has been a good friend
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The duke admits to selling Jim, using a "Wanted - Runaway Slave" handbill to make the buyer think there was a reward for him. Where did he get the handbill?
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duke made it up himself when he was making flyers for the Royal Nonesuch
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Who else has been heard to say that he would leave it to Providence to lead him to a successful deception?
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the king
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Huck and Jim's entire story thus far is compressed into this one paragraph, and the episode involving the king and the duke has its ending. What does Huck's reaction to this sight reveal about him?
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sympathizes as they face the consequences , thinks the people are being cruel to the king and the duke
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What does Huck think of Tom for being willing to help free Jim?
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grateful for Tom's kindness, shocked by Tom's immortality
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Twain explicitly calls Tom a romantic thinker in this chapter. As a pragmatic thinker, Huck is in direct contrast to this, yet he gives in quite willingly to Tom's ideas about how to free Jim. Why?
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believes Tom is a superior person and thinker
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What is Twain's tone toward Tom and his way of approaching this task?
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depicts him as self-serving, more interested in his own entertainment than Jim's freedom
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Here Twain presents a picture of how to free a slave. What is he saying through Tom's words?
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Freeing a slave is really a simple process
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What similarity between Huck and Jim is evident in chapter XXXVII?
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bow to the wishes of societal insiders who seem wiser
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How does Tom view Jim and Nat?
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doesn't appreciate their humanity, uses them for his own amusement
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How did Tom and Huck solve the problem of Aunt Sally discovering that her candles and sheet and other things were missing?
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returned and removed the things again until Aunt Sally was confused
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Huck says that Tom "could out-superintend any boy I ever see. He knowed how to do everything." What has become evident about Tom Sawyer?
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gets other people to do his work
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Tom has made Jim live with snakes, spiders and rats for three weeks prior to the escape. He is now tipping off the Phelps family about the escape. Why?
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wants things done the way they are done in the books he has read
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Why does Jim feel so strongly that they should stop and send for a doctor?
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thinks that if the roles were reversed, that's what Tom Sawyer would do
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Aunt Sally is recalling all of the unexplainable events from the last three weeks. She is looking suspiciously at Huck because she has just realized something.
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said he and Sid followed the search team, but Sally had locked them in
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What does the doctor want them all to see about Jim?
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loyal and selfless
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What perplexing question has now been settled for Huck?
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How Jim could have been free all along
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How did Jim feel about having been put through weeks of snakes, spiders, carving inscriptions in stone and writing messages in blood, all for nothing but Tom's enjoyment?
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had forty dollars, so he didn't mind
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What does Jim reveal to Huck about his Pap?
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Pap was the dead man in the floating house
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Huck has several good options available to him now. Why does he choose to pass on them and keep moving?
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doesn't want to be civilized
