Great Gatsby

Homework Due March 25 (FOR BLOCK CLASSES)  
DUE MARCH 19 FOR GLOBAL STUDIES CLASS:
1.  Finish Reading Novel
2.  Complete all activities below

CHAPTERS 6-9: THE PLOT UNFOLDS

The author crafts a plot structure to create expectations, increase suspense, and develop characters. The pacing of events can make a novel either predictable or riveting. Foreshadowing and flashbacks allow the author to defy the constraints of time. Sometimes an author can confound a simple plot by telling stories within stories. In a conventional work of fiction, the peak of the story’s conflict—the climax—is followed by the resolution, or denouement, in which the effects of that climactic action are presented.

The Great Gatsby has a remarkable structure. Chapter 5 provides the emotional center of the drama: when Gatsby reunites with Daisy, when Nick experiences a grand foreboding, and when Daisy’s voice becomes a “deathless song.” Some chapters exhibit parallels. Chapters 2 and 8are physically violent turning points, with grotesque landscapes, dust,
and ashes. The novel begins with Nick’s arrival to Long Island and his memories of his father’s words. Nick wants “the world to be ... at a sort
of moral attention forever” (p. 2). The novel ends with an encounter with Gatsby’s father and Nick’s realization: “I see now that this has been a story of the West after all ... [P]erhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life” (p. 176).

Identify the most important turning points in the novel. Ask them to identify the passages from the novel, explaining why these events are the most significant. 

Why does Nick think that Gatsby “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (p. 161)? 

THEMES IN THE NOVEL:

Themes are the central, recurring subjects of a novel. As characters grapple with circumstances such as racism, class, or unrequited love, profound questions will arise in the reader’s mind about human life, social pressures, and societal expectations. Classic themes include intellectual freedom versus censorship, the relationship between one’s personal moral code and larger political justice, and spiritual faith versus rational considerations. A novel often reconsiders these age-old debates by presenting them in new contexts or from new points of view.

Alienation
At one party, Nick observes, “People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away” (p. 37). Soon afterward, Tom breaks his lover’s nose. Does Fitzgerald use parties to highlight his characters’ failures to relate to one another? Do Gatsby’s parties reflect genuine celebration or a kind of mourning?
Friendship
Nick is the only person, aside from Gatsby’s father, who attends the funeral. What kind of friendship do Nick and Gatsby have? What does Nick derive from this friendship? Is it true friendship, or does Nick simply pity Gatsby his “romantic readiness”?
Identity
In Chapter 7, we learn of Gatsby’s origins as James Gatz of North Dakota. In the novel, Gatsby has become his alter ego, leaving James Gatz behind as he travels the world as Dan Cody’s steward. Was Gatsby doomed to tragedy as long as
he disguised his Midwestern origins in favor of a more extravagant, fictional biography? Is Nick judging Gatsby for these imaginative exploits or admiring
this skill?
The American Dream

In an era of new technology, new opportunity, and artistic expansion, does Fitzgerald’s novel comment on American morality and idealism? Is The Great Gatsby a satire or critique of American life? If not, why not?

READING GUIDE QUESTIONS 

1. The novel's action occurs in 1922 between June and September. How does Nick's nonchronological narration shape your response to the events surrounding the mystery of Jay Gatsby?
2. Nick believes he is an honest, nonjudgemental narrator. Do you agree?
3. Gatsby believes that the past can be repeated. Is he right?
4. Why does Daisy sob into the "thick folds" of Gatsby's beautiful shirts?
5. What do the faded eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg symbolize? Is there a connection between this billboard and the green light at the end of Daisy's dock?
6. Perhaps the novel's climax occurs when Gatsby confronts Tom in New York. Did Daisy's ultimate choice surprise you? Is it consistent with her character?
7. Do you agree with Nick's final assertion that Gatsby is "worth the whole damn bunch put together"? Why or why not?
8. How does Fitzgerald foreshadow the tragedies at the end?
9. Does the novel critique or uphold the values of the Jazz Age and the fears of the Lost Generation?
10. Fitzgerald wrote, "You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say." What did he have to say in Gatsby?
11. Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli claims: "The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece." Do you agree?

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby may be the most popular classic in modern American fiction. Since its publication in 1925, Fitzgerald's masterpiece has become a touchstone for generations of readers and writers, many of whom reread it every few years as a ritual of imaginative renewal. The story of Jay Gatsby's desperate quest to win back his first love reverberates with themes at once characteristically American and universally human, among them the importance of honesty, the temptations of wealth, and the struggle to escape the past. Though The Great Gatsby runs to fewer than two hundred pages, there is no bigger read in American literature

.

                                            F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 1925 (American Stock/Getty Images)

Cultural and historical contexts give birth to the dilemmas and themes at the center of the novel. Studying these contexts and appreciating intricate details of the time and place help readers understand the motivations of the characters.

The Great Gatsby is set in the mid-1920s, a prosperous time at home and abroad. The United States had joined World War I in 1917, three years after its eruption. The 1919 Peace of Paris established accord between nations that ended the war. Many considered American intervention the best way to a decisive and quick Allied victory.

Prohibition at home led to a growing world of organized crime, as the sale of alcohol went underground. Even the 1919 World Series was affected, as members of the White Sox (the team favored to win) decided to “throw” the series, creating larger profits for those gambling against the Sox. In Harlem, the northern migration of African Americans created an artistic expansion of literature, music, plays, political tracts, and visual art. And around the country, technology produced new opportunities for Americans, including radio, motion pictures, automobiles, and electric appliances. 

Pre-Reading Activities

24 Great Gatsby Facts  http://mentalfloss.com/article/50822/24-great-gatsby-facts

Check out: Tom Buchanan on Facebook http://thewallmachine.com/PmnNPt.html

Watch:

The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VhYMdnAsyM

CHAPTER ONE

Complete: Anticipation Guide http://wheretheclassroomends.com/anticipation-guide-day-four

CHAPTER TWO: Narrator and Point of View

The narrator tells the story with a specific perspective informed by his or her beliefs and experiences. Narrators can be major or minor characters, or exist outside the story altogether. The narrator weaves her or his point of view, including ignorance and bias, into telling the tale. A first-person narrator participates in the events of the novel, using “I.” A distanced narrator, often not a character, is removed from the action of the story and uses the third person (he, she, and they). The distanced narrator may be omniscient, able to read the minds of all the characters, or limited, describing only certain characters’ thoughts and feelings. Ultimately, the type of narrator determines the point of view from which the story is told.

The Great Gatsby is told in the first person by Nick Carraway. The novel begins from the point of view of an older Nick, reminiscing on the events of one summer. Nick’s perspective, entangled in the dramatic action, subjectively depicts a series of events. 

List the things you've learned about Nick Carraway in the first two chapters of the novel. How might his background color the way he tells this story? How trustworthy is Nick?
How might the perspective of Chapter 1 change if F. Scott Fitzgerald had chosen to narrate the story in the first person from Daisy’s “sophisticated” point of view? Have the class brainstorm the outline of this new chapter. 

Chapter 2 begins with the “valley of ashes” and the “eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg.” What do they reveal about Nick’s character and point of view? What do they reveal about the landscape?

CHAPTER THREE: Characters

The central character in a work of literature is called the protagonist. The protagonist usually initiates the main action of the story and often overcomes a flaw, such as weakness or ignorance, to achieve a new understanding by the work’s end. A protagonist who acts with great honor or courage may be called a hero. An antihero is a protagonist lacking these qualities. Instead of being dignified, brave, idealistic, or purposeful, the antihero may be cowardly, self-interested, or weak.

The protagonist’s journey is enriched by encounters with characters
who hold differing beliefs. One such character type, a foil, has traits that contrast with the protagonist’s and highlight important features of the main character’s personality. The most important foil, the antagonist, opposes the protagonist, barring or complicating his or her success.

Nick Carraway narrates the story, but it is Jay Gatsby who is the novel’s protagonist. Gatsby’s love affair with Daisy, her marriage to Tom, and Gatsby’s quest to regain Daisy’s affection provide the story’s narrative arc. 

What kind of person is Nick Carraway? How does he compare to narrators in other novels your students have studied? How might Nick’s narration color the way readers view the other characters? Is he a reliable narrator?
Choose two secondary characters: Daisy, Jordan, Tom, Myrtle, Wilson, Mrs. McKee, Catherine, Mr. McKee, or Gatsby’s party–goers. Ask students to review the first three chapters of the novel. Have each group list key attributes of its characters. Prepare a presentation that documents moments when these characters bring out reactions from Nick. What do these characters teach Nick about himself? What do we learn about Gatsby? 

CHAPTER 4: SYMBOLS

Symbols are persons, places, or things in a narrative that have significance beyond a literal understanding. The craft of storytelling depends on symbols to present ideas and point toward new meanings. Most frequently, a specific object will be used to refer to (or symbolize) a more abstract concept. The repeated appearance of an object suggests a non-literal, or figurative, meaning attached to the object. Symbols are often found in
the book’s title, at the beginning and end of the story, within a profound action, or in the name or personality of a character. The life of a novel is perpetuated by generations of readers interpreting and reinterpreting the main symbols. By identifying and understanding symbols, readers can reveal new interpretations of the novel. 

Discuss the valley of ashes in Chapter 2. Keeping in mind the historical and cultural contexts of the novel, what might the valley symbolize? Why might Fitzgerald want to underscore an important theme, such as the pursuit of wealth, so early in the story? What do we learn about Nick from his description?
Discuss some of the other potent symbols in the story. How are these interpretive keys to the novel’s meaning? How might the “two young women ... buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon” (p. 8) symbolize the women of this generation?
Gatsby looks for Daisy in the green light at the end of her dock. Does anyone in the story truly know Daisy? Does the light become a symbol for something else? 

CHAPTER 5: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Novels trace the development of characters who encounter a series of challenges. Most characters contain a complex balance of virtues and vices. Internal and external forces require characters to question themselves, overcome fears, or reconsider dreams. The protagonist may undergo profound change. A close study of character development maps, in each character, the evolution of motivation, personality, and belief. The tension between a character’s strengths and weaknesses keeps the reader guessing about what might happen next and the protagonist’s eventual success
or failure.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores characters in relation to their landscape, their wealth, and their prior relationships. The more we know about these characters, the more their lives shift from idyllic islands of wealth to colorless portraits floating through a “valley of ashes” with “grotesque gardens.” In this lesson, examine Fitzgerald’s ability to present characters in both their ideal and real countenances.

Have any of the main characters have changed in the novel’s first six chapters. Examine Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby. Are there any moments when these characters have a realization about their circumstances or change a firmly held opinion?
In the beginning of the novel, Daisy says contemptuously “Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated!” (p. 17). Now that we know more about Daisy, what did she mean? Does her life represent the free spirit of the Roaring Twenties? If not, why not?

How does the way Fitzgerald describes the Long Island landscape parallel the internal struggles of the main characters? 

CHAPTERS 6-9: THE PLOT UNFOLDS

The author crafts a plot structure to create expectations, increase suspense, and develop characters. The pacing of events can make a novel either predictable or riveting. Foreshadowing and flashbacks allow the author to defy the constraints of time. Sometimes an author can confound a simple plot by telling stories within stories. In a conventional work of fiction, the peak of the story’s conflict—the climax—is followed by the resolution, or denouement, in which the effects of that climactic action are presented.

The Great Gatsby has a remarkable structure. Chapter 5 provides the emotional center of the drama: when Gatsby reunites with Daisy, when Nick experiences a grand foreboding, and when Daisy’s voice becomes a “deathless song.” Some chapters exhibit parallels. Chapters 2 and 8are physically violent turning points, with grotesque landscapes, dust,
and ashes. The novel begins with Nick’s arrival to Long Island and his memories of his father’s words. Nick wants “the world to be ... at a sort
of moral attention forever” (p. 2). The novel ends with an encounter with Gatsby’s father and Nick’s realization: “I see now that this has been a story of the West after all ... [P]erhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life” (p. 176).

Identify the most important turning points in the novel. Ask them to identify the passages from the novel, explaining why these events are the most significant. 

Why does Nick think that Gatsby “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (p. 161)? 

THEMES IN THE NOVEL:

Themes are the central, recurring subjects of a novel. As characters grapple with circumstances such as racism, class, or unrequited love, profound questions will arise in the reader’s mind about human life, social pressures, and societal expectations. Classic themes include intellectual freedom versus censorship, the relationship between one’s personal moral code and larger political justice, and spiritual faith versus rational considerations. A novel often reconsiders these age-old debates by presenting them in new contexts or from new points of view.

Alienation
At one party, Nick observes, “People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away” (p. 37). Soon afterward, Tom breaks his lover’s nose. Does Fitzgerald use parties to highlight his characters’ failures to relate to one another? Do Gatsby’s parties reflect genuine celebration or a kind of mourning?
Friendship
Nick is the only person, aside from Gatsby’s father, who attends the funeral. What kind of friendship do Nick and Gatsby have? What does Nick derive from this friendship? Is it true friendship, or does Nick simply pity Gatsby his “romantic readiness”?
Identity
In Chapter 7, we learn of Gatsby’s origins as James Gatz of North Dakota. In the novel, Gatsby has become his alter ego, leaving James Gatz behind as he travels the world as Dan Cody’s steward. Was Gatsby doomed to tragedy as long as
he disguised his Midwestern origins in favor of a more extravagant, fictional biography? Is Nick judging Gatsby for these imaginative exploits or admiring
this skill?
The American Dream

In an era of new technology, new opportunity, and artistic expansion, does Fitzgerald’s novel comment on American morality and idealism? Is The Great Gatsby a satire or critique of American life? If not, why not?

READING GUIDE QUESTIONS 

1. The novel's action occurs in 1922 between June and September. How does Nick's nonchronological narration shape your response to the events surrounding the mystery of Jay Gatsby?
2. Nick believes he is an honest, nonjudgemental narrator. Do you agree?
3. Gatsby believes that the past can be repeated. Is he right?
4. Why does Daisy sob into the "thick folds" of Gatsby's beautiful shirts?
5. What do the faded eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg symbolize? Is there a connection between this billboard and the green light at the end of Daisy's dock?
6. Perhaps the novel's climax occurs when Gatsby confronts Tom in New York. Did Daisy's ultimate choice surprise you? Is it consistent with her character?
7. Do you agree with Nick's final assertion that Gatsby is "worth the whole damn bunch put together"? Why or why not?
8. How does Fitzgerald foreshadow the tragedies at the end?
9. Does the novel critique or uphold the values of the Jazz Age and the fears of the Lost Generation?
10. Fitzgerald wrote, "You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say." What did he have to say in Gatsby?
11. Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli claims: "The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece." Do you agree?

Chapters 32-43
The Rescue and Happy Endings: Realism vs. Romanticism, Reality vs. Imagination

Homework Due Feb. 25

1. Questions, Quotes, Activities for Chapters 32-432. Huck Finn Final Project - listed below

QUESTIONS

1. Define the words “adventure” and “heroism” as Huck would and as Tom would. Then compare each boy’s idea of how Jim should be rescued, according to these definitions. Who is the hero of this novel, Huck or Jim? List ways in which each has proven his heroism. 
2. Why does Tom Sawyer so readily agree to rescue Jim, when Huck has understood that Tom hates abolitionists? Is Tom changed by his effort to save Jim? 
3. How are heart and conscience in conflict in Huck’s seeing Jim as his friend and family, and as a slave? What details of their trip down the Mississippi does Huck recall that soften him towards Jim? How has Jim helped Huck be a better person? 
4. Compare Pap and Jim as father figures to Huck. How has their treatment affected Huck’s view of family? (Is Jim’s mistreatment of his deaf daughter comparable to Pap’s abuse of Huck?) 
5. Several characters have kept secrets from others in the novel. Jim doesn’t tell Huck he is free of Pap. Tom doesn’t tell Jim he was freed on Miss Watson’s death. Huck doesn’t tell Jim that the King and Duke are scoundrels and conmen. How would these truths have changed the outcome of the novel and the characters themselves had they been revealed? Is keeping a secret the same as a lie in these cases? 

QUOTATIONS

1. “I went right along, not fixing up any particular plan, but just trusting to Providence to put the right words in my mouth when the time come; for I’d noticed that Providence always did put the right words in my mouth if I left it alone” (212). 
2. “You’ll say it’s dirty, low-down business; but what if it is? I’m low down; and I’m a- going to steal him, and I want you to keep mum and not let on. Will you?” (218). 
3. “I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (223). 
4. “Here was a boy that was respectable and well brung up; and had a character to lose; and folks at home that had characters; and he was bright and not leather-headed; and knowing and not ignorant; and not mean, but kind; and yet here he was, without anymore pride, or rightness, or feeling, than to stoop to this business, and make himself a shame, and his family a shame, before everybody. I couldn’t understand it no way at all. It was outrageous, and I knowed I ought to just up and tell him so; and so be his true friend, and let him quit the thing right where he was and save himself” (225). 
5. “Tom was in high spirits. He said it was the best fun he ever had in his life, and the most interlectural; and said if he only could see his way to it we would keep it up all the rest of our lives and leave Jim to our children to get out; for he believed Jim would come to like it better and better the more he got used to it” (239). 
6. “I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say—so it was all right now, and I told Tom I was a-going for a doctor” (263). 
7. “...there ain’t nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I’d ‘a’ knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn’t ‘a’ tackled it, and ain’t a-going to no more” (279). 
8. “But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before” (279). 

ACTIVITIES

1. Which characters are dynamic? Chart them and the ways in which they have changed during the novel. What has each character learned? How has Twain used them in the novel to change his readers? 
2. Critics have complained that the rescue at Phelps’ farm is rife with coincidence and is overall problematic to the rest of the work. What do you see as the problems this section presents to readers? Does this section change your view of the main characters’ moral development? If so, how? How has Tom sawyer’s insistence on “regulations” for escape forced him into the role of colonizer, Huck into the role of agent of the colonizer, and Jim into the role of the colonized/oppressed? 
3. Since a central theme of the work is escape from “sivilization,” ask students to discuss in what ways Jim and Huck have explored being uncivilized? Have the two avoided civilizing at the close of the novel? Have the two civilized one another? What part does the river play in this discussion? What point is Twain making about freedom? 
   
   
   
   

   Huck Finn Final Project.  Due Feb. 25

   Complete both parts (#1 & #2) below: 

   
   
   
   

   1.  Reading Response/Analysis Paragraphs 

   Choose three of the following topics.  Respond to each the prompt/questions in a good, solid paragraph.  You must support your theories with examples from the novel’s text. Be sure to identify which prompt to which you are responding. 

   1. (a)  What purpose does Twain have in pairing Jim with Huck? In pairing the Duke with the King? In pairing Tom with Huck in the final chapters? 
   2. (b)  How are disguises used in this novel? How are multiple identities/aliases useful to Twain’s characters? In other Twain works? 
   3. (c)  There are a number of accounts of thieves and dishonesty in the novel. Is there honor among these thieves? What is the purpose of these characters in the novel? 
   4. (d)  Who are the villains of this novel? Why are they villains? 
   5. (e)  Who are the heroes of this novel? What makes them heroic? 
   6. (f)  What does Twain satirize in the novel? Why? 
   7. (g)  Agree or disagree that Huck Finn defines American literature and that all modern literature comes from Huck Finn, as Hemingway suggests.
   8. (h)  In what ways is Huck and Jim’s story also the story of America? 
      
      
      
      

      2.  Choose one of the following topics and complete a project in response to the prompt.  You may write an essay, make a powerpoint or Prezi presentation, etc., as long as you thoroughly respond to the prompt.
      

      
      

      Economics

      From the outset of the novel, Huck and Tom are monetarily rich, although Huck is unable to use his money because of Pap. During the escape and adventure with Jim, he encounters people of every socio-economic level. Have students discuss these questions in small groups: How does he come to view wealth? How does Jim define wealth? How have money and the pursuit of wealth driven Huck’s story along the Mississippi? List the characters and events that are shaped by economics. What does their journey teach them about valuing themselves and others? What is a man worth, finally, to Huck, to Jim, and to the 19th century world? 

      
      

       Character Development and Heroism
      Twain uses a motherless child of an abusive father, a teenager who lacks sophistication and is barely literate, as his narrator for these adventures. Although Huck is a picaro, willing to trick, borrow, and lie to assure his survival, he has little confidence in himself, lies, smokes, skips school, and is not entirely sold on living indoors and wearing clothes, much less clean ones. What an interesting choice for a narrator and hero! Ask students why Twain selects this character to tell his story. How would the story have been different if Jim had told the story, rather than Huck? Would you trust Jim’s narration? What kinds of things can Huck do and know that Jim would not have been privy to because of his slave status? If the point of a novel is that the characters will encounter hardships that will change them for the better, what about Huck’s makes for obvious opportunities to change? What in Jim? What in Tom?
      
      
      

      Creative Approaches
      

      1. (a)  Write an opening for the novel in the voice of Jim instead of Huck. How does this point of view differ from Twain’s narrator? 
      2. (d)  In a small group, select scenes that you consider pivotal to Huck Finn’s coming of age and prepare and act out this scene for their class. You should introduce the scene with the reasons for your selection and how Huck changes/ what he learns in the scene. 

      
      

      
      

Huck Finn- Reading the Novel Week Three

Chapters 19-31: Lessons in Assistance and Betrayal

Homework due Tues. Jan. 28: 
1. Read Chapters 19-24
2. Questions, quotes and activities for Chapters 19-31 due Feb. 4
3.  There will be a reading quiz next week, Jan. 28!

QUESTIONS

1.  What is a “confidence” man, a.k.a. con man? What scams have you heard about in your own neighborhood or state? Did these frauds prey on the confidence of the people they conned? How do the King and the Duke play on the confidences of people to get their money? What do they have to know about the towns, local people, and human nature in order to perfect their scams?
   
2. Though both men are criminal in their behavior, each is different in his understanding of and abuse of people. Make two columns and list the differences in the King and the Duke. How is one morally superior to the other? Which do you like least and why?
   
3. Since Huck quickly understands the King and Duke are con men, why doesn’t he confront them or tell Jim?
   
4. How and by whom is Jim betrayed? Have other slaves been similarly treated by this character? How does Huck respond to Jim’s capture?
   
5. Twain is a master of satire and of irony. List ironic episodes in this section and explain how Twain uses them to affect readers.
   
   
   Irony: the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
   "“Don't go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony"

   synonyms:

   sarcasm, causticity, cynicism, mockery, satire, sardonicism

Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. synonyms: mockery, ridicule, derision, scorn, caricature;

QUOTATIONS Write two- three sentences explaining why this quote is important, what it means to the story, and what it tells about the character.

1. “sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time...It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss whether they was made or only just happened” (120).
   
2. “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on....If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way” (125-6).
   
3. “’The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is—a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any man at the head of it is beneath pitifulness....If any real lynching’s going to be done it will be done in the dark, southern fashion’” (145-6).
   
4. “What was the use to tell Jim these warn’t real kings and dukes? It wouldn’t ‘a’ done no good; and besides, it was just as I said: you couldn’t tell them from the real kind” (153).
   
5. “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so....He was a mighty good nigger, Jim was” (153).
   
6. “Well, if ever I struck anything like it, I’m a nigger. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race” (160).
   
7. “And when it comes to beauty—and goodness, too—she lays over them all...but I reckon I’ve thought of her a many and a many a million times, and of her saying she would pray for me; and if ever I’d ‘a’ thought it would do any good for me to pray for her, blamed if I wouldn’t ‘a’ done it or bust” (186).
   
8. “...deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. You can’t pray a lie—I found that out....I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up” (206-7).
   

ACTIVITIES

1. The plays and performances rehearsed and delivered by the King and Duke use Shakespearean works. Have students compare Hamlet’s soliloquy by Shakespeare to the one Huck quotes from the Duke’s memory. (Note that Twain’s characters mix several shakespearean plays together—Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet).  What are the differences in the meanings of the two? 
   
2. Huck’s fear of being civilized leads him to shuck the most basic of social expectations.  List what you consider necessities for survival. Which things from the class list have been cut from Jim and Huck’s lives on the river? (What does Twain imply about freedom and the pursuit of happiness when Huck and Jim discard the behaviors of polite society on the river? 
   

Huck Finn - Reading the Novel Week Two

Chapters 12-18: Bonding over Inhumanity 

QUESTIONS

1. How does the episode with the murderers and the attempt to save them develop Huck’s sense of morality? What is his current code? From whom or what has he developed this code thus far?
   
2. What role does Huck play in discussions with Jim? What has Huck learned in school, from reading, or from Tom sawyer that he has retained and found useful? How and when does Huck compliment and denigrate Jim?
   
3. What lessons from Pap does Huck remember and evaluate during his moral dilemmas with Jim?
   
4. How do both Grangerfords and shepherdsons exhibit religious hypocrisy? Explain Twain’s use of the families’ feuding as satire of Civil War mentality.
   
5. The families follow their own code of behavior, unable to remember the original court case and the reason for the feud. Discuss feuds and frontier justice as they impact Huck’s growing sense of right and wrong.
   
6. Discuss Jim’s interactions with the Grangerford slaves, including his assessment of their abilities. What do these slaves know about the underground railroad and ways for runaways to elude capture?
   

QUOTATIONS

1. “Pap always said it warn’t no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back, sometime; but the widow said it warn’t anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it” (70).
   
2. “Now was the first time that I begun to worry about the men—I reckon I hadn’t had time to before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself yet, and then how would I like it?” (76).
   
3. “Well, he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head for a nigger” (81).
   “I see it warn’t no use wasting words—you can’t learn a nigger to argue. so I quit” (84).
   
4. “’En all you wuz thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed” (89).
   
5. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither” (89).
   
6. “...I begun to get it through my head that he was most free—and who was to blame for it? Why, me...Conscience says to me, ‘What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word?” (91).

7. “I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn’t no use for me to try to learn to do right; a body that don’t get started right when he’s little ain’t got no show” (94).
   
8. “Well then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” (94).
   
9. “The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching—all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good sermon, and they all talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace...” (111).
   
10. “I ain’t a-going to tell all that happened—it would make me sick again if I was to do that. I wished I hadn’t ever come ashore that night to see such things. I ain’t ever going to get shut of them—lots of times I dream about them” (116).
    

ACTIVITIES

1. A frequent habit of Huck’s is to blame his failures on his upbringing. This is still popular with those who don’t want to take responsibility for personal choices. Ask students to free write about a time when they blamed their parents for their mistakes. Huck and Jim consider what makes people behave as they do: nature (genetic or inborn traits) or nurture (environment or upbringing). Ask students: Which do you think has shaped you? How do you think Jim and Huck have been affected by both nature and nurture?
   
2. The elopement of Harney and sophia is reminiscent of the plot of Romeo and Juliet. Ask students: What other characters and elements of this episode resemble shakespeare’s play? The feud has been called a satire of the Civil War as well. In a short writing, have students argue for or against the effectiveness of this satire.
   
3. In Quotation #8 above, Huck exhibits symptoms of what is now called PTsD, or post traumatic stress disorder. Have students argue for or against this diagnosis, considering how many deaths Huck has encountered by Chapter 18. 
   

Huck Finn- The Novel Begins

Chapters 1-5: Status Quo and Conformity: Civilizing Huck

These five chapters introduce Huck Finn and those who impact his life and seek to shape him: Tom Sawyer, Jim, Pap, Judge Thatcher, the Widow Douglas, and Miss Watson. The main purpose of the first paragraph is to pick up where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer left off, introducing the details that will impact this new improved Huck Finn: the $6000 treasure, his adoption by the Widow, and his preference for freedom, even at the cost of respectability.

QUESTIONS
Answer using complete sentences.

1. How and why does Twain establish Huck’s voice as storyteller? What do we learn about Huck from what he reveals of other characters’ assessments of him? 
2. Make two columns, listing Huck’s clear likes and dislikes as he reveals them in these chapters. What things does he have trouble understanding? 
3. What are Huck’s feelings about his adoption by the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson? As a motherless boy, does he need their influence?

4. Huck’s upbringing is at issue in the book. What has he been taught that forms his core self? What do other characters want to teach him and how do they wish to change him? 
5. These chapters establish components of Huck’s self that others hope to influence: his emotions, his intelligence, his fiscal responsibility, his spirituality, his social self, and his physical health and habits. To what and whom does Huck conform and when/how does he reject conformity in these chapters? 
6. The titles of the chapters are in third person, while the text itself is in the first person voice of Huck Finn. What does this literary device suggest about the argument that Huck and Twain are one and the same? 

QUOTATIONS
Write two- three sentences explaining why this quote is important, what it means to the story, and what it tells about the character.

1. “Then she told me about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there...I couldn’t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn’t try for it” (12-13). 
2. “Why, blame it all, we’ve got to do it. Don’t I tell you it’s in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what’s in the books, and get things all muddled up?” (18). 
3. “I went and told the widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it was ‘spiritual gifts.’ This was too many for me, but she told me...I must help other people, and do everything for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself...I went out in the woods and turned it over in my mind a long time...” (20). 
4. “Pap he hadn’t been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn’t want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around” (21). 
5. “I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit” (24). 
6. “The judge...said he reckoned a body could reform the old man with a shotgun, maybe, but he didn’t know no other way” (31). 

ACTIVITIES
Complete each activity by answering the questions in complete sentences.

1. Setting is important in establishing a novel and a narrator’s voice. Consider how elements of place are revealed in the opening chapters. How do these elements help develop the voice and characters of Huck, Tom, Jim, and others?
2. Read the scene introducing Jim. Discuss: Is Jim stereotyped? What is Huck and Tom’s assumption about Jim before they get to know him? 

Chapters 6-11: Escape and the Wealth of Self 

QUESTIONS

1. What sort of person does Huck reveal his father to be? What is Huck’s relationship with his father?
   
2. Why does Huck stage his own murder rather than simply running away? What repercussions could this choice have on those who care about him?
   
3. What are Huck’s feelings about the river and living closely with nature?
   
4. Why does Huck tell Jim he won’t turn him in, when he is so frankly opposed to abolition? What does this reveal about Huck’s character?
   
5. Huck and Jim are runaways seeking freedom. In two columns, list the reasons and differences in their motivation to escape.
   

QUOTATIONS

1. “I didn’t want to go to school much before, but I reckoned I’d go now to spite pap” (31).
   
2. “Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was ‘lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn’t too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a state in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote ag’in” (35).
   

3. “I did wish Tom sawyer was there; I knowed he would take an interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches” (41).
   
4. “[s]omebody prayed that this bread would find me, and here it has gone and done it...there’s something in it when a body like the widow or the parson prays, but it don’t work for me and I reckon it don’t work for only just the right kind” (45).
   
5. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum— but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell” (50).
   
6. “I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars” (54).
   

ACTIVITIES

1. Define irony and satire. Ask students to work in pairs or small groups to list as many ironies and objects of satire as they can in the chapters thus far. With each point on your list, state in one sentence its main message. show an episode of The Simpsons, Family Guy, or another example of pop cultural satire that students might relate to. Discuss: How do comedians and TV programs today use irony and satire to deliver serious messages with humor?
   
2. Although Huck paints himself as a blockhead—unsure of himself and easily led by others, he has a great deal of ingenuity. Ask students to list ways in which he proves his ingenuity.