Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.05: Song of Solomon

King Solomon is disappoint. (Source)

Huck and Jim have a boatload (ha) of time on their hands now that they're floating down river, so they turn their attention to the Bible.

Widow Douglas would be proud.

They focus in on the story of King Solomon. The premise? A woman's baby is stolen and she tries to get it back, but she can't prove she's the mother (because being pregnant for nine months and giving birth loudly and without the benefit of modern medicine is, apparently, not enough of a giveaway).

So what's a wise old king to do? Solomon decides to cut the baby in half, reasoning that its real mother would rather it be taken away than killed.

Okay, so he's bluffing—and the gambit works. Even more astonishing? Huck Finn remembering scripture.

But the best part of this scene is that it shows Huck and Jim debating, mano-a-mano, each making salient points of their own (like, Huck may be on point about Solomon's bluff, but Jim's totes right to point out that Huck's "Frenchmen and Americans speak different, like cats and dogs speak different" remark is kind of a logical fallacy).

It's the closest thing to a real, decent conversation Jim's been offered in the book so far…up until the moment Huck dismisses him as "just a black slave who you can't reason with."

And you were doing so well, Huck.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.05: Cairo Jim

For all his practical street smarts—or, uh, river smarts, Jim has a superstition for every occasion. Cooking dinner? Don't count your food. See a snakeskin? Don't touch it. Bit by a rattlesnake? Kill it, roast it, and eat the meat. (Tastes like chicken.) Oh, and tie the rattles around your wrist. Got a big hairball? Use it to tell fortunes.

This may all sound a little silly, but is it any sillier than Miss Watson's understanding of morality, which will send you straight to hell if you slouch? Or Aunt Sally, who thinks that spirits must have stolen Jim away? Or Huck himself, who wants to throw salt over his left shoulder when he spills it?

We think not. Jim is a product of his time. Sure, he may come across a tad more invested in these superstitions than either Huck or Tom, but can he help it? He's a slave. He was never sent to school or coerced into going to church. In fact, Jim might actually be smarter than Huck, or at least have more natural smarts. Huck may think Jim's silly not to know that some people speak languages other than English, but, come on, the dude has a point. Why do people speak so many different languages?

These next few chapters follow Jim and Huck on the quest for one of those mythical "free states" Jim keeps talking about. Okay, so maybe they're not mythical, but they sure are hard to get to on a raft. You see, way back in the day, the U.S. bought a big chunk of land in the Louisiana Purchase, and it wasn't clear at first whether the new territories would be free states or slave states. Hence, the Missouri Compromise.

Long story short, the new states got to decide for themselves whether or not to be free, and a couple turned into safe havens for runaway slaves.

Will Jim make it to Cairo? And would his safe arrival in a free state be enough to turn this upside down world right-side up again? After all, home free or not, the world in which Jim exists is still a pretty bleak one. His greatest white ally—Huck—still thinks pretty little of him. And the rest? Fuhgettaboutit.

We're not even talking about what's inside the book alone, but what surrounds it, too. The actual historical context in which the book appeared, and the way Jim was received.

You might've noticed while we were studying the illustrations for Huck Finn that Jim doesn't always get portrayed in the kindest light. In fact, some of the images of him are downright racist. Which, you know, fits with the context of the book, but isn't something we're happy stoked about.

You know what we are stoked about? Reading Chapters Fourteen to Sixteen, and delving deeper into the theme of race in the book. Make sure to read our summaries, too, to catch all the little nuances.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.05a: Free State

Quick: what's a free state? Explain the Missouri Compromise to us in minute detail with at least three charts and/or figures.

Kidding. You don't have to do that quickly. We threw a lot of information about race and history at you in the reading today, so we thought we'd give you time to delve deeper into the material by having you create a ten-slide PowerPoint about slavery and race in the novel. Check out the following resources to get movin' and groovin' on your presentation:

• The Missouri Compromise
• Map of the Free and Slave States
• The Underground Railroad, which leads some slaves to the free states

Read through all the material to get a good sense of what the free states symbolized to the slaves¬—but don't stop there. To really make the best PowerPoint possible, you're going to have to do outside research. Look for books, articles, and essays that go more in depth on these topics. We want you to find at least two additional sources for your presentations.

In your PowerPoint, answer the following questions:

• What historical events led to the creation of "free states" in the Midwest and West before the Civil War?
• What's important about the existence of free states? How would Jim have heard about them, and what would they symbolize to him and to other slaves in that time period?
• What does "freedom" mean to Jim? Do you think that he and Huck have similar views on slavery, and if so, do they agree overall but still have different reasons?
• How does Twain explore the theme of race in the novel? Which characters speak directly to this theme, and do you think it's problematic that most of the characters are white?

Make sure to include 300 – 350 words worth of text in your PowerPoints, as well as all the multimedia your heart desires.

Shmoop might say that while Huck and Jim both believe that slavery is wrong and that men have inherent worth (as Jim declares when he says he owns himself), they have very different ideas about race and racism. This is evidenced by the fact that Huck continues to use the "n-word" and hold many upsetting beliefs about African-Americans—that they have weird superstitions (speak for yourself, Huck), that there's just no arguing with 'em. We might find it in ourselves to forgive Huck, because this was the 1800s and he wasn't the only one who thought this way. Still, hearing the "n-word" used this way rankles.

Clearly, Twain had some controversial ideas about race and how to depict racism—why else would this novel be one of the most frequently banned books ever? We want you to explore all of that in your PowerPoint.

Need help? Check out Shmoop's page on the theme of race in Huck Finn.

When you're done, upload your presentation below.

Sample Lesson - Activity