HUCK FINN Chapters 16 17 MAIS DABORD Homework

HUCK FINN Chapters 16 -17

MAIS D’ABORD! Homework DUE: Huck Humbles Himself (chapter 15)

Explain in detail the trick Huck plays on Jim. • A dense fog arrives and blankets everything in a murky white, so Huck and Jim decide to land on the shore. Huck, in the canoe, paddles toward the land, towing the raft where Jim remains with all of their belongings. Before Huck is able to securely tie the raft to a tree on a sandbar, the raft pulls loose and starts floating downstream with Jim aboard. Huck tries to follow the raft in the canoe, but soon loses sight of it in the fog. He and Jim spend several hours tracking each other by calling out, but a large island finally separates them and Huck is left all alone. • The next morning, Huck awakens and luckily manages to catch up with the raft. He finds Jim asleep and wakes him up, deciding in the moment to play a trick on Jim by telling him that the events of the night before were just a dream. After some convincing, Jim starts to interpret the “dream. ” Huck finally points out the leaves and debris left from the night before on the raft, and laughs because he made Jim look foolish.

How does Huck convince Jim that this was a dream? Why does Jim believe him? • Huck is emphatic that Jim must have been dreaming and sticks to his story, even when he’s questioned and doubted by Jim. The book doesn’t directly say why Jim believes Huck, but there could be two things going on here. • First, Jim considers Huck to be a friend wouldn’t lie to you and try to make you look foolish. Therefore, Jim can’t think of any reason Huck would have to lie to him. • Second, there’s an element of race/social class here, as the black man defers to the white boy. Even on their raft, they haven’t yet completely shed the old social rules wherein a slave doesn’t contradict a white person. It’s a subtle element in this exchange that is upturned at the end of the chapter.

How does Jim interpret the dream? • Jim says that the vivid dream must be a warning. He says that the towhead, or sandbar, symbolizes a man who will try to help them, while the rushing river symbolizes a man who will pull them away from the good man. • The whoops were warnings that they should heed. All of the other towheads were more troubles, but if Jim and Huck stay clear-headed they should be able to avoid all of those folks/sandbars and make their way to the clear big river, which symbolizes the free states. • Clearly, Jim realizes that there will be trouble to come along their journey.

Translate Jim’s “trash” speech into your own words, sentence by sentence. • Once Jim realizes that he and Huck really were separated in the night, he is angry. He says he called out for Huck for hours and finally had to sleep, but his heart was broken because Huck was gone. He didn’t even care if he was caught or killed because he was so worried about Huck being lost. When he woke up and saw Huck on the raft, he felt like he was going to cry and he wanted to get on his knees and kiss Huck’s feet because he was so grateful that Huck was back and unharmed. But all Huck was thinking about was how to make Jim look foolish. • Then, Jim says that the debris on the side of the raft is trash and people who mock their friends are also trash. Basically, he’s angry with Huck and calls him trash, like white trash. For a black man to call a white person such a name in this time period is stunning. • Who do you side with? Do you think Jim is overreacting about a little joke? Do you think there's truth to Jim’s statement?

What specific word does Jim use that really touches Huck’s heart? What does Jim want Huck to feel? • It’s important to note that Jim uses the word “friend” in the passage when he’s describing their relationship. This is an important distinction, as the lines marking social status are blurring. • Jim wants Huck to feel ashamed of himself.

What does Huck begin to realize in this passage? What point is Twain making through this passage? • Huck is starting to see that Jim deeply cares about him and is the best kind of self-sacrificing friend. Huck’s growing loyalty toward Jim is strengthened in this episode. Since Huck is a kid, he’s still more interested in the adventure of their journey, but he’s beginning to recognize Jim as a real friend in need. • By apologizing to Jim, Huck is learning to do the right thing. • Twain is certainly showing that Jim is the better person. Huck’s values have been clouded by the white fog of racism that has surrounded him all of his life. • Now that he’s on the water with Jim, the fog is lifting and Huck is beginning to see Jim for who he really is – not a slave, but a caring, compassionate man and a true friend.

LIVING LARGE, GRANGERFORD STYLE Chapters 16 and 17

“It was a mighty nice family…” Tacky/ Poor Taste Classy/ High Quality • crockery parrots • crockery cat and dog • crockery basket of chipped fruit • piano that sounds like two tin pans • mantle clock (doesn’t run right) • wild turkey wing fans • brass doorknobs • curtains with castles/vines/cattle • carpets • tablecloth with blue/red eagle • books • Emmeline’s sorrowful paintings • brick fireplace • white-washed exterior

What does your chart tell you about the Grangerfords? • Appear to be classy, yet they aren’t all that they seem. • Money does not automatically bring sophistication or wisdom. • Wealth doesn’t protect them from hardship. • Ex: Emmeline and the constant feuding/hatred that cloaks this family. • Also, Twain’s message to the reader that expensive things aren’t always the best things.

Look closely at this passage: “On the table in the middle of the room was a kind of a lovely crockery basket that had apples and oranges and peaches and grapes piled up in it, which was much redder and yellower and prettier than real ones is, but they warn’t real because you could see where pieces had got chipped off and showed the white chalk, or whatever it was, underneath. ” How might this chipped fruit serve as a symbol for the Grangerford family? • The Grangerfords look great from the outside (they’re wealthy, healthy, and gorgeous), yet, when you get closer to them, you see the flaws, or chips, in their character and lifestyle. • Hate for the Shepherdsons = major flaw

Why was Emmeline so dark? What is Twain’s message to the reader in placing this girl in this family? • 1800’s gothic character, obsessed with death and dying. The irony is that she died young. • A mirror - or warning - about the consequences of the way these people live. • Symbol of the misery behind the façade of the Grangerford family. • Also, humor: as Huck notes how hard it is to be a writer, something Twain certainly struggled with. • It’s said that it took Twain between seven and ten years to write Huck Finn, as he struggled with the ending. • Some humor within sorrow