I. Answer one of the questions below the following passage:
In chapter 33 Huck says:
I told Tom all about our Royal Nonesuch rapscallions, and as much of the raft voyage as I had time to; and as we struck into the town and up through the -- here comes a raging rush of people with torches, and an awful whooping and yelling, and banging tin pans and blowing horns; and we jumped to one side to let them go by; and as they went by I see they had the king and the duke astraddle of a rail -- that is, I knowed it was the king and the duke, though they was all over tar and feathers, and didn't look like nothing in the world that was human -- just looked like a couple of monstrous big soldier-plumes. Well, it made me sick to see it; and 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. (Ch. 33)
1) What does the fate of the king and the duke tell you about their characters and the world they live in?
2) How would you explain Huck’s reaction in this scene?
II. In chapter 34 both Huck and Tom present plans for helping Jim escape. In a T-Chart compare their plans. Below your chart draw some conclusions about what each boy’s plans reveals about the boy. Finally, why do you think Huck eventually chooses to follow Tom’s lead?
III. In chapter 34 Huck and Tom don’t want a slave who helps them to know that they are acquainted with Jim. How do they deflect the slaves suspicion? Have you seen either Huck or Tom acting in this way elsewhere in the novel? Finally, what conclusions can you draw about Huck’s and Tom’s characters and their relationship from this interaction?
35 What’s the effect of Huck and Tom returning to their old dynamic? In these chapters who’s good and whose bad?