1. The Adventures of Huck Finn
Chapters 1-3

2. Narrator Huck Finn or Mark Twain?
HUCK! Do not confuse the two. Huck is ignorant and innocent, Mark Twain, the author is very aware.

3. HUCK Vs. TWAIN
Huck is too innocent and ignorant to understand what’s wrong with his society and what’s right about his own rebellious behavior.
Twain and Huck do NOT share the same voice. Twain teaches lessons through Huck. You have to look beneath the surface.
Twain had come to believe not only that slavery was a horrendous wrong, but that white Americans owed black Americans some form of reparations for it. That is one of the lessons he teaches

4. HUCK IS AN OUTCAST IN SEARCH OF HIS IDENTITY
Who does he live with?
Widow Douglas and Miss Watson not his own father.
What happens when he doesn’t have family to offer as “ransom”?
almost kicked out of band of robbers
Who does he admire?
Tom (his YOUNGER friend) because he has no one to look up to.

5. JIM—The REAL hero of the novel
He seems gullible but remember, the story is being told by a KID (12 years old!!!!!!)
Jim breaks free from the stereotype
uses the incident with the hat to gain fame!—SPIKE LEE’s Hat Scene by Ralph Wiley (African American Screen writer and satirist)
“ part of Twain's genius in this book is letting the reader see things that Huck doesn't see, making Huck an endearing and engaging but ultimately unreliable narrator. In Wiley's script, the juxtaposition of the visual message the viewer gets, on the one hand, and the comically limited version of that reality that Huck (the narrator) communicates, on the other, captured that dramatic irony.”
P. 18 uses a nasty hairball to make money—only works w/money!
TO UNDERSTAND JIM you must read between the lines.
As you continue to read, look at Jim as the hero of the novel. Look at him as the protector of Huck. Look beyond what Huck says and see Jim for who he really is.

6. HUCK & TOM= REALISM vs ROMANTICISM
book written at the end of the Romantic period (look at your timeline)
Romantic= imagination, individualism, creativity; Tom is optimistic and idealistic and BUT he tends to follow the rules and “do the right thing” according to Huck
Realism= practical decisions and trouble imagining gang events with TOM but HUCK does like adventure so he does have some romantic qualities

7. HUCK’s Internal conflict
Society vs. Individual morals
Miss Watson tries to teach Huck about Moses but Huck “takes no stock in dead people,” and looks to the future proving that he acts by his own opinions rather than society’s.
Huck’s first RESOLUTION: decides to stop praying b/c he didn’t get what he wanted. Decides that helping others doesn’t help you any and there is no reason to do it.

8. Who do you identify most with? Why?
Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn
Jim

9. Chapters 4-7 FATHER and the need for a FATHER FIGURE
Huck Finn
Chapters 4-7
FATHER and the need for a FATHER FIGURE

10. PAP: Symbol of EVIL and CORRUPTION
Greedy
Racist—he kidnaps his own son! Just because he wants the $6,000 (that’s love for ya)
Child abuser
Beats Huck. Twain loved children and anyone who was not nice to children was ridiculed in his books.
Racist
Pap is angry about a black man going to school.
So why would Pap act this way?
He’s JEALOUS!
Alcoholic
Criminal

11. Why does Huck need a Father Figure? Who can become the Father Figure?