Josh Roy

February 22, 2012

Major Works Data Sheet Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Biographical Information about the Author: Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Born Samuel Clemens on November 30, 1835 Author: : Mark Twain Grew up on the Mississippi river in Date of Publication: 1884 Hannibal, Missouri Genre: Historical Fiction Was in a Volunteer regiment in the Civil War for only two weeks then quit At 18 found work in New York City and Philadelphia at news papers before going back home to work as a river Historical Information: boat pilot, which ended with the start of The novel takes place after the Civil War is over, but the war. most slaves were still owned by their masters and had Married Olivia Langdon in 1870 after little or no freedom. This period has the beginning of two years of courting at the age of 35 sharecropping of land and during this time most Died in 1910 at the age of 75 leaving 2 former slaves would either leave the south and head up daughters behind and his wife north to the Free states or go out west to the new territories. Characteristics of the Genre: The genre takes real places and real times and adds fictional characters and story lines in history.

Plot Summary: Huckleberry Finn is trying to find his own way through life and in the process has an adventure. After Huck and Tom Sawyer find 12,000 dollars gold, Hucks Father Pap comes back on the scene tying to cash in on his son. So Huck decides to run away and finds a canoe and begins down river away from everything he knows. While on his trip down river he meets the runaway slave Jim who had been accused of Hucks murder. Huck has to fake his death to get away from his drunkard and abusive father, and thus Jim is accused of Hucks murder. Jim leaves the same day that Huck is presumed to have been killed. After some episodic adventures that are shared by the two friends, Huck begins to see that Jim is not someones property but another human being and deserves respect as such. This is exhibited by the adventure of the battle of the two families which both Huck and Jim are caught in the middle of. After Huck gets both he and Jim out of danger, both develop a mutual respect and friendship. While continuing down the Mississippi river heading towards the Free states, Huck comes upon two stranded whites that claim to be royalty. The men end up selling Jim to a family and Huck decides that he will do whatever it takes to get Jim back. Ironically Jim is sold to Tom Sawyers Aunt and Uncle. After posing as Tom, Huck finds out that Jim has been free for some time now and then returns back to the town he had escaped from. At the end of the novel Huck decides to head out west.

Describe the Authors Style: Twain is very satirical and ironic in his novel. He uses the episodic adventures of Huck to satirize the view of the current society and slavery.

Provide an example that demonstrates the style: When Huck vows to free Jim from slavery once he is sold to the family, before he realized the identity of the family shows how Huck sees Jim as a friend and companion not property.

Quotes 1. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: Alright then, Ill go to hell and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.

Memorable Quotes Significance of each Quote: 1. Moral climax of the novel. Huck decides against following societys moral code, and follows his own.

2. Toms return at the end of the novel reverses Hucks development, but Huck maintains his characteristic realistic outlook on the world

2. Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides. So I was satisfied, and said we would waltz in on it.

Characters Name Role in Story Significance Adjectives

Huck Finn

Main character, young boy living on the river with a runaway slave. Hucks friend

Innocent view of the world.

Innocent, scruffy, good.

imaginative Foil to Huck proper Tries to civilize Huck. strict, rigid Tries to civilize Huck

Tom Sawyer Hucks adopter Widow Douglas Miss Watson Widow Douglas sister, Hucks teacher

Escaped slave Selfless Jim Hucks companion, helps Huck create his own morals. Hucks father Drunk Pap Con artists Huck and Jim pick up. Duke and Dauphin Failure of family structure

Sell Jim

Swindlers

Family that takes Huck in. Grangerfords

Mocks family honor.

Silly

Setting Before the Civil War Mississippi River, town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, various locations along the river through Arkansas.

Significance of Opening Scene Show Hucks unhappiness with his civilized life. Establishes Tom Sawyers influence over Huck.

Significance of Ending or closing scene Huck reverts back to his dependence on and submission to Tom.

Symbols The river- For Huck and Jim, the Mississippi River is the ultimate symbol of freedom. Alone on their raft, they do not have to answer to anyone. The river carries them toward freedom: for Jim, toward the free states; for Huck, away from his abusive father and the restrictive civilizing of St. Petersburg. Childhood- Hucks youth is an important factor in his moral education over the course of the novel, for we sense that only a child is open-minded enough to undergo the kind of development that Huck does. Shipwrecks The natural world

Old AP Questions

Possible Themes Racism and slavery Although Twain wrote the novel after slavery was abolished, he set it several decades earlier, when slavery was still a fact of life. But even by Twains time, things had not necessarily gotten much better for blacks in the South. In this light, we might read Twains depiction of slavery as an allegorical representation of the condition of blacks in the United States even after the abolition of slavery. Intellectual and moral educational hypocrisy of civilized society - Throughout the novel, Twain depicts the society that surrounds Huck as little more than a collection of degraded rules and precepts that defy logic. This faulty logic appears early in the novel, when the new judge in town allows Pap to keep custody of Huck. The judge privileges Paps rights to his son as his natural father over Hucks welfare. At the same time, this decision comments on a system that puts a white mans rights to his propertyhis slavesover the welfare and freedom of a black man. In implicitly comparing the plight of slaves to the plight of Huck at the hands of Pap, Twain implies that it is impossible for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how civilized that society believes and proclaims itself to be.