Jr. Year Honors Summer Reading Packet Book: Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain

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1 Jr. Year Honors Summer Reading Packet Book: Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain Any questions can be sent to: or Check off the squares only after you read and understand each set of directions. They are your steps to success. Make sure you don t have an old copy of the summer reading packet. This year s packet is different. It is your responsibility to print off this packet. The entire packet must be read and understood before you read the novel, because it must be filled out AS YOU READ. The directions tell you what to look for and annotate while you read. Read all the directions carefully, since they are all different. Buy a physical copy of the book. NO KINDLES or other electronic copies! Each page in this packet is worth 25 percent and needs to be done in quality fashion to receive an A. The packet needs to be placed in sequential order within a folder that has brads and pockets. Write your name on the front of the folder. If you do not turn in this packet within the first 2 days of school, the best grade you will receive is a late grade of 60. This packet counts for 20% of your first 9 weeks grade. We will start the year with Huck Finn and your first writing assignment will be directly from your summer reading packet. After reading the novel and completing the packet, write out a statement of honesty stating that you did not cheat or plagiarize any of the information provided in the packet. All work and ideas are your own. Sign this statement at the bottom and date it. Personal Statement of Honesty: Sign and date:

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3 Part 1: Humor in Huck Finn Mark Twain is known for his humor and satire. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a satire of the Antebellum (pre Civil-War) South and popular novels of the time period. (For example, Huck s ridiculous plan to free Jim from jail is poking fun at scenes in The Man in the Iron Mask, and all of the sneaking around in the novel is poking fun at scenes in The Last of the Mohicans.) Define satire Mark Twain says, It is a law that humor is created by contrasts. According to Twain, there are 2 parts to every humorous situation 2 contrasting parts. Find a humorous situation and write its chapter and page number/s in the first box. In the second box, write the 2 contrasting parts of the situation. Use short quotes or short summaries. In the third box, explain why the contrast is funny. Complete each box below, using the examples as a guide. AS YOU FIND THESE, ALSO ANNOTATE THEM (MARK THEM) IN YOUR BOOK, so that finding them during class discussions will be easier. Chapter and Page 2 Contrasting Parts of the humorous situation Why it is funny Example: Example Huck finds murderers in the sinking boat. 2. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix, Huck says. 1. Huck survives the dangerous sinking boat adventure and the gang does not. 2. Huck says: I felt a little bit heavy-hearted about the gang, but not much, for I reckoned if they could stand [their death] I could. Huck wants to save a man who is in the process of killing another man. The gang died, so they can t stand anything anymore.

4 Part II: Contrasting Chapters in Huck Finn In a letter to his friend, Twain writes: The contrasts between that chapter and the next one will be a silent but eloquent comment. The author believes that his comic effect and his serious situations are more powerful when written next to one another, creating contrast. After reading each chapter, consider whether the main effect of that chapter is a humorous or a serious situation (whether the serious situation be violence or discussing morality). Since each chapter can contain serious parts and humorous ones, think about the main effect of the chapter. Think of which parts are most significant. Using Post it notes: at the beginning of each chapter, mark the humor chapters with a yellow post it note and the serious situation chapters with a pink/red post it note. Place the post it notes on the first page of the chapter. Annotation: On the first page of each chapter of the novel, write a very brief summary (it can be a list of main events) of the chapter that will help remind you what the chapter is about. Example of post it note choice and summary for Chapter 22: Post it note: pink/red post it note (since the main effect is Sherburn s serious words about mobs) Annotation/Summary: The mob & Sherburn s monologue on the cowardice of man & circus Example of post it note choice and summary for Chapter 37: Post it note: yellow post it note (since it humorously depicts Tom s ridiculous escape plans) Annotation/Summary: Tom and Huck make the pie for Jim s grand escape

5 Part III: A Culture s Perspective on Huck Finn I cannot recall to mind a single instance where I have been irreverent, except towards the things which were sacred to other people Mark Twain Since its first reviews in 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been controversial and banned, but the reasoning for its banning has changed tremendously, reflecting the change in America s principles and culture. When first published in 1885 reviewers labeled the book: trash, irreverent, absolutely immoral in its tone, cannot be said to have a very high moral tone, a dime novel, and hardly suitable for a Sunday School. One reviewer stated that it was unsuitable for Sunday-School libraries, and should perhaps be left unread by growing boys; but the mature in mind may read it. During this time, no one objected to the use of the n-word. The book also had many positive reviews at the time of its publication. One reviewer writes: Whatever is coarse and crude is the life that is pictured, and the picture is perfect. During Mark Twain s life, it was considered immoral or irreverent to write about spitting chewing tobacco, cursing, nudity, stealing, running away from home, helping a run-away slave, referring to prayer, heaven, or hell irreverently, making jokes that alluded to the Bible or the church, etc. Consider this also: when first published, the author did not send his book to be reviewed south of the Mason-Dixon Line, because he realized the offensive subjects that might have offended southerners, like abolition. As you read, put yourself in the year Look for material deemed offensive during this time period (exemplified in the paragraph above) to fill in the chart completely. Remember that what was offensive then, may not be (and usually is not) considered offensive now. Read closely, because he sometimes hints to offensive subject matter without writing it explicitly. Avoid using the same type of example more than three times. Mark the chapter and page number in the first box. In the second box, write a short description about the offensive scene or include a short quote from it and quickly explain why it is offensive during that time. Also annotate (mark) these examples in your copy of the book, so that we can easily find them during class discussion. Offensive in 1885 Ch & Pg # Ch 1 P. 2 Example: Huck says, She told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there. Explanation: He tells Mrs. Watson (the religious widow) that he would rather go to hell than live with her

6 Part IV: Huck s Circumstances and Conscience In an essay titled What is Man? Twain writes: The human being is under training It is his human environment which influences his mind and his feelings, furnishes him his ideals, and sets him on his road and keeps him in it. If he leave that road he will find himself shunned by the people whom he most loves and esteems, and whose approval he most values. One critic writes a similar thought: No one who reads thoughtfully Huck s great moral crisis will ever again be wholly able to accept within some question and some irony the assumptions of the respectable morality by which he lives; nor will ever again be certain that what he considers the clear dictates of moral reason are not merely the engrained customary beliefs of his time and place. After soaking in the ideas written above, find situations from the novel that exemplify how Huck s environment creates a conflict within Huck s conscience. (In other words, there are many situations in which Huck s conscience is at odds with the popular values of those around him.) Complete the chart below: Provide a short quote in each box that presents Huck s thoughts (left box) and his environments thoughts (right box) concerning what is right. Under the quotes explain what Huck feels (left box) vs. what his environment expects (right box) about the same situation. (Remember, an environment can be anything or anyone around you including individuals or groups, especially mobs.) Include the chapter and page number with your quote and explanation. Also annotate (mark) these examples in your copy of the book, so that we can easily find them during class discussion. Huck s personal thoughts/conscience vs. Environmental/Circumstantial values or customs Ch1 P3 Huck says, I couldn t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn t try for it. He thinks Miss. Watson s rules and lifestyle are so annoying that not even heaven is worth living like her. Ch1 P3 Huck says, She [Miss. Watson] was going to live so as to go to the good place. Miss Watson believes that Huck should follow her religious lifestyle and want to go to heaven.