Huck Finn Reading Comprehension Activities

Huck Finn Reading Comprehension Activities

Vocabulary: Please define the term and use the word in a sentence.
 absurdity, vernacular, shrewdness, brutality, ingenuity, affix, bashful, bewitch,
blubber, bowie, budge, chaw, clatter, commence, curry-comb, cuss, deed, dodge,
evasion, frock, galluses, gaudy, goggle, fetch, fidgety, frivolous, fuss, gnaw,
grieve, hack, hover, imposter, ingot, jest, lynch, meddle, numskull, orgy, ornery,
pious, ransom, rapscallion, raspy, reckon, reticule, rushes, screech, skiff, slouch,
solemn, stanchion, tallow, thicket, trample, trifling, wigwam

Theme Tracking:
Throughout the novel you will be responsible for keeping track of examples of the
various themes that appear in the novel. Pick two themes from the list below:

Conflict between civilization and "natural life"

Honor
Food
Mockery of Religion
Superstition
Slavery
Money
Mississippi River
After choosing two of the above theme options, complete the following tasks per chapter:
1. Find an example of your theme in the chapter
2. On a post-it write the theme that the example matches with.
3. Number the post-it according the order in which you found it.
4. In your journal explain how this book example proves your chosen
theme.
Example: quote #5 pg. 24 this quote explains how life as a migrant worker
is difficult in the following ways. . .
Reading Comprehension Questions:

Answer the following questions with complete sentences
Chapters 1 - 5
1. How is Huck's father first introduced?

2. Does Huck fear going to hell? Why or why not?
3. Does Huck have more faith in superstition or religion? Why?
4. In what way is Tom different than Huck?
5. What do the "robbers" think ransoming is and what are some objections to it?
6. How does Miss Watson confuse Huck about prayers?
7. What difference do you notice between Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas?
8. What does Huck mean at the end of chapter 3, "It had all the marks of a Sunday
school"?
9. What is a hairball? What does this tell us about slave culture?
10. What happens as Huck just gets used to being civilized?
11. Why does Huck go to see Judge Thatcher? How do Judge Thatcher and the
Widow try to help Huck?
Chapters 6 - 9
1. Where does Pap take Huck and what is it like?

2. Explain Pap's behavior.
3. How does Twain use irony to show Pap's ignorance of government?
4. How does Huck escape the cabin? What does this tell the reader about Huck?
5. Who appears on Jackson Island?
6. What is Huck doing when he finds out that someone else is on the island?
7. Why did Jim run away?
8. Why does Jim say, "I's rich now"? In what ways are people rich?
9. Where do Huck and Jim get so many supplies?
10. Who is the person in the cabin? Why is this significant?
Chapters 10 - 13
1. How does superstition seem as logical as religion in Huck's mind?

2. Why does Huck ignore Jim's warning? Why is this significant?
3. Why does Huck go ashore? What disguise is he wearing?
4. How does Judith Loftus figure out Huck's disguise?
5. Why is there a reward for the return of Jim? For the return of Huck? (There may
be different reasons for this.)
6. How does Huck help Jim escape the man-hunt?
7. Why doesn't Huck turn Jim in?
8. What was life like on the raft?
9. For what purpose does Huck go to the ferry boat watchman?
10. What happens on the steamboat? Be specific.
11. Why are states mentioned in connection to the boat?
12. What do Jim and Huck do with the robbers' boat? Why is this important?
Chapters 14 - 16
1. Specifically, what does Jim object to about King Solomon? How does this
perpetuate stereotypes?
2. Who shows more logic and wisdom in this argument, Jim or Huck? Explain why.
3. What are Huck's and Jim's motivation for going to Cairo?
4. How does the river's tranquility suddenly change?
5. How does the theme of loneliness and isolation come out here?
6. How does Huck's practical joke on Jim humanize Huck? What was Twain's
purpose in this passage?
7. What is Huck's moral dilemma in chapter 16?
8. How does Huck's quick thinking save Jim?
9. How does Huck feel about misleading the bounty hunters?
10. What is Huck's relationship with the river? Is this normal behavior for someone
his age?
Chapters 17 - 19
1. Whose home does Huck come to?

2. Who is George Jackson?
3. Review p. 9
4. Was their house in fact, "mighty nice" or in bad taste?
5. How was Miss Emmeline different from the others?
6. At what point does Huck become horrified by the feud?
7. Why does Huck think the fight was his fault?
8. Where was Jim while Huck was at the Grangerfords? How does Huck discover
him?
9. How does Huck feel about getting on the raft again? What are some of the
attractions of raft life?
10. How does the description of the river and the raft life differ from that just before
and after Cairo?
11. How does Huck meet the Duke and the Dauphin? How does he know the truth
about them? 1
12. Why does Huck go along with the two frauds who come aboard the raft?
Chapters 20 - 24
1. How does Jim show concern for Huck?

2. How does Twain satirize religious gullibility in the town of Pokeville?
3. How do Huck and company travel without hiding Jim?
4. What comment about human nature does Twain make in the "loafers" account in
chapter 21?
5. What ideas does Twain get across in the Boggs-Sherburn incident?
6. Why does Huck decide the circus isn't funny?
7. How do the Kind and Duke increase attendance at their second performance?
8. What is Twain's purpose for including Jim's story of his 'Lizbeth?
9. What new, potential scheme do the King and Duke learn about?
Chapters 25 - 28
1. Who do the King and Duke claim to be?

2. Why do they give all six thousand dollars to Wilks girl?
3. What was it about the King that made Dr. Robinson suspect he was a fraud?
4. Where does Huck hide the inheritance money?
5. What makes the Wilks girls saddest about having their property sold?
6. Why does Huck want Mary Jane to leave the house after he tells her the truth?
7. Why doesn't Huck just blow the whistle on the frauds?
8. About whom does Huck say, "She had more sand in her than any girl I ever seen;
in my opinion she was just full of sand"? What does Huck mean by this?
9. Where does Huck tell Joanna and Susan that Mary Jane has gone?
10. How is Huck's increasing maturity shown in these chapters?
Chapters 29 - 31
1. How does Huck escape the Wilks investigation?

2. What do the Duke and King get in a fight about?
3. How does Huck feel about having them back on the raft?
4. Why does Huck think he ought to let Miss Watson know about Jim?
5. Why does he change his mind?
Chapters 32 - 35
1. What satire on values does Twain make in Huck's first conversation with Aunt
Sally?
2. Who do the Phelpses mistake Huck for?
3. Why does Tom drop in Huck's estimation?
4. Why do Huck and Tom sneak out of the Phelps' and go to town? What is Huck's
opinion of what he sees?
5. How does Huck feel about his conscience?
6. What is the value, according to Huck, of Tom's plan for stealing Jim?
7. How do Tom and Huck fool the "nigger" who is watching Jim?
8. What are the major differences between Huck and Tom?
9. Why does Huck go along with Tom's wild ideas?
Chapters 37 - 39
1. How do Huck and Tom keep Aunt Sally from knowing what's missing?
2. How does Tom show a lack of sensitivity to peoples' feelings?
3. What's worse to Tom and Huck than the licking they get for letting loose the rats
and snakes?
4. Why do Tom and Huck write the "nonamous" letters to Aunt Sally?
Chapters 40 - 43
1. What does Huck mean when he says of Jim, "I knowed he was white inside. . ."?
2. How does Twain help us feel sympathetic toward Aunt Sally?
3. In what way do the people show gratitude to Jim at first?
4. How does Jim get rich again?
5. What happened to Pap?
Creative Writing: Pick one topic and write a two page letter:
1) You are Tom. Write a letter to your brother Sid in St. Petersburg and tell him
what happened after you met Huck near the Phelpses` house.
2) You are Huck. Write a letter to your father explaining the reasons of your
runaway.
3) You are Judge Thatcher. Write a letter to Huck giving some advices on how
to spend the money.
4) You are Aunt Polly living in Petersburg. Write a letter to Tom and Huck
telling them what they are going to do when they arrive in Petersburg. Give
also some suggestions.
5) Write a letter to a friend advising him or her to buy the book The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn and read to it. Give your reasons for your choice
presenting some parts you found interesting.

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Huck Finn Reading Comprehension Activities

Conflict between civilization and "natural life"

Reading Comprehension Questions:

1. How is Huck's father first introduced?

1. Where does Pap take Huck and what is it like?

1. How does superstition seem as logical as religion in Huck's mind?

1. Whose home does Huck come to?

1. How does Jim show concern for Huck?

1. Who do the King and Duke claim to be?

1. How does Huck escape the Wilks investigation?

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