The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapters 30 33

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapters 30 -33 Think Aloud Activity

Objectives I will model reading strategies/the ACTIVE reading process by doing a think aloud. Students will take notes as I do so. Students will practice this active reading strategy themselves by connecting a passage from the text to the title of the chapter. Students will need to be able to define important words in the chapter in order to do so.

Reading Strategy Time! Pre-reading strategies: Look at the chapter questions FIRST! No chapter questions? Some books have CHAPTER TITLES! Also helpful: Review the big ideas What is the central conflict of the novel? A disparity between “a sound heard and a deformed conscience. ” Thinking about these things helps you to know what to look for!

Chapter 31: You Can’t Pray a Lie What is Huck’s past experience with religion/prayer? Widow/Miss Watson The parson Mary Jane Wilks Why is he praying in this chapter all of a sudden? Plot recap time! What happened to Jim? What dilemma is Huck faced with? (Connect to central conflict) What does Huck decide and how does religion factor in?

Back to the text! Page 191 Context: his relationship with Jim so far Re-read: The letter, the decision, Huck’s conclusion “I was a-trembling because I’d got to decide forever betwixt two things and I knowed it” (Twain 191) What does “forever” mean to a kid like Huck? “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell. ’ It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming” (Twain 191). “Forever” refers to his immortal soul. If he cares about this enough to worry, he has developed/learned from his experiences.

CONNECTION TIME! If Huck feels helping Jim (the RIGHT thing to do) is at the expense of his immortal soul, then he is obviously conflicted based on what he has been taught. This is a clear example of the central conflict. SATIRE ALERT! Unfortunately, Huck still thinks he is doing the wrong thing when it is clear to the reader that his judgment is sound and firmly based on his experiences with Jim (p. 190 -191). This is a criticism of society’s blindly accepted ideals.

Back to the Chapter Title Why “You Can’t Pray a Lie? ” Why can’t Huck pray? Oh yeah, BECAUSE HE DOESN’T MEAN IT. Character development: Huck has learned the value of spiritual ideas and cares when he is wrong. Huck sees his inability to pray as an indication that he is damned. Satire: Twain is highlighting hypocrisy in religion. The reader can clearly see evidence of Huck’s sound heart which is directly at odds with the organized religion of the time. Twain saw organized religion as a method of bullying/scaring people into blindly accepting even blatantly morally questionable ideas.

Your Turn! Find a Partner Ch. 33: “The Pitiful Ending of Royalty” Re-read the paragraph on p. 206 that begins with “On the road…” What happened to the Duke and Dauphin? How did Huck react/feel? Consider: what does “pitiful” mean? (You may look it up) Hint: It can imply something BOTH about the subject being described AND the speaker Connect: What is the suggested meaning/connection between the chapter title and the events in the chapter?

Exit Ticket In light of the events described in chapters 30 -33, what is your current assessment of Huck’s moral compass/character? Give him a new rank from 1 -10 (1 being completely immoral, 10 being as moral as a person can get) Explain your rating using specific details from the text