3. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
1. What do you do when you’re torn between what
people want for you—or from you—and what you
want for yourself?
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
Huckleberry Finn lives in Missouri before the Civil
War, near the Mississippi River.
Huck is young and
uneducated.
With an alcoholic
and unreliable
father, he has grown
up mostly on his
own.
5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
Not long before the
novel begins, however,
Huck has been taken to
live with the Widow
Douglas and her sister.
But Huck thinks life
with the two sisters is
too civilized.
6. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
He prefers living in the
open and having
adventures with his
friend Tom Sawyer.
7. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
Huck and Tom like to plan great adventures and
play pranks on people.
On one of their
adventures, the two
boys found a lot of
money in a cave
(described in the novel
The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer).
8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
One day, Huck’s father, Pap, returns to town.
Pap wants Huck’s money—
and kidnaps him to get it.
9. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
After a miserable time with his father, Huck
escapes.
While he is running away, he
meets Jim—a slave of Widow
Douglas’s sister—who has escaped
too.
10. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Introduction
The two set off together on a raft on the Mississippi
River—and on one of the most famous journeys in
American literature.
• 2. What adventures do you
think they will they find on
the river?
• 3. Do you think Huck be able to
find freedom—or will civilization
catch up to him?
• 4. Should Huck help Jim or send
him back to slavery?
11. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Mark Twain, the pen
name of Samuel
Clemens, is one of the
United States’ bestknown authors.
In novels such as Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, Twain vividly
depicts the lives and dialects of
southern people from long ago.
12. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Twain also uses humor and satire both to
entertain and to comment on society.
13. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn takes place in the years
before the Civil War.
In the South at that time,
a slave was considered
property.
Stealing a hunted slave was
seen as a great crime—and
morally wrong.
14. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
When Twain wrote the novel,
in the 1880s, the Civil War
had been fought and the
slaves had been freed.
However, conditions for
African Americans were still
very difficult in many parts of
the United States.
15. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
When Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was
published, critics hated the novel, accusing
it of “coarse fun” and “gutter realism.”
Louisa May Alcott, author of
Little Women, wrote “If Mr.
Clemens cannot think of
something better to tell our
pure-minded lads and
lasses, he had best stop
writing for them.”
16. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Twain welcomed the controversy, however,
hoping that it would bring more sales.
The book sold fifty thousand copies in the
first few months.
17. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Today, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
remains controversial.
Although it’s accepted
as a classic of
American literature,
some critics still
accuse it of being
racist, and its use in
schools has been
challenged.
18. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Background
Twain does use terms now considered racist.
However, he creates a
powerful argument against
slavery as well.
Also, in a way perhaps surprising for the
time, he allows Jim to speak for himself,
revealing truths that even Twain may have
found uncomfortable.
19. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Discussion
Starters
Discuss (1)
• 5. What other stories are based on a great
journey or adventure across a great ocean or
land?
• 6. How do characters react to events on such a
journey?
• 7. How does the natural world play a part in these
stories?
20. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Discussion Starters
Discuss (2)
Many books that were written in the past contain
ideas about race, gender, or class that we now view
as outdated or offensive.
• 8. How can we approach these books?
• 9. What can we learn from them?
• 10. Do you think there are some audiences for
which they would be inappropriate? Why?
