These questions are offered as a springboard to open up discussion. Use them or adapt them or ignore them -- let the group's interest, excitement, and mood guide the day. Every gathering will be different. Enjoy.
Huck Himself
- Prior to his arrival at the Widow Douglas's, what kind of life has Huck led? What character traits has he developed as the result of his upbringing?
- What is Huck's relationship with Pap? How does Pap's physical and psychological abuse of his only child -along with his alcoholism - impact Huck's character and world-view?
- In what ways do the Widow and Miss Watson attempt to influence and shape Huck's behavior?
- How does Huck's relationship with Tom Sawyer grow and change over the course of the novel?
- What is the significance of Jim's speech ("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.") at the end of Chapter 15?
- What dimension of Jim's character is revealed by his story about his daughter, "po' little 'Lizabeth"î in Chapter 22?
- What does Huck learn about 'sivilization" from his stay at the Grangerford home?
- How do the characters of the King and the Duke contribute to the panoramic picture Twain paints of the antebellum South in the novel?
Language
- The description of the river and the storm are stunning, and the language to describe the characters varies from strident to mellifluous. What strikes you about the way language is used?
- Twain uses the dialects that he grew up with, those based in Kentucky and the Ohio River valley. He was one of the pioneers at capturing informal speech, and at using it to characterize and to caricature. Give some examples.
- What are the different meanings of "freedom"?
(Note that you may want to select some samples for discussion.)
Modern Times
- If you wanted to run away from "sivilization" today, where could you go?
- How would you define "sivilization" before you decided to run?
- Ask the group to share their own tales of escape.
- Where are "the territories" today, and how would you get there?
The River
- The river is a character in its own right. Can we say that about a river? How?
- What is the power of the river? What role does it play?
- Of course, the metaphor here is traditional: the river is also life.
- Huck doesn't fight the current (he can't anyway). He lets it take him. This can be an opening for personal connection for the group.
- What would Huck think if he saw the Mississippi today?
- Again, this can be a good opening for people who have traveled there. Many authors have commented on how certain aspects would look the same.
- And what if he saw us today? What pictures might he draw of us?
- What makes this book feel so modern?
Social commentary
- Huck is young, uneducated, easily influenced, and has little knowledge of the world. Yet Twain has Huck show us things that Huck doesn't even see himself. How does he do it?
- How many groups are satirized in this novel?
- What is society made of?
- People like Judge Thatcher were good people, but they represented a society with evil in it ... at least they didn't try to change it. Who among us can say that this doesn't apply to any of us today?
- What would Huck think of us?
- Explore the differences between Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
- Which characters grow and change, and which help Huck and Jim to grow and change?
- How do we connect with these characters?
Influence
- Hemingway said that all modern American literature comes from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Does this pass the sense test? Does your own reading confirm or refute the idea?
- What make this book modern? Or American?
Censorship
- What is there to say to those who object to the language in the book?
- Huck has also been censored, or challenged, for reasons other than the language. What makes this an uncomfortable read?
- What urges people to censor?
- You might try for an open discussion on racism here. Clemens hated slavery and was embarrassed by his Southern tradition, and the group will easily see examples in Huck that show this. Clemens did fight, briefly, for the confederacy, and may have bushwhacked a union soldier and actually killed him.
All right then, I'll go to hell
- How does Huck resolve the conflict between his head and his heart?
- Does it bring him peace? Does it last?
- Do any of the other characters face this kind of decision?
- Have you?
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