Language Arts: Mrs. Garcia
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Huckleberry Finn Reading Journals

While reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, you will be completing a reading journal due each class.

Please set aside a few pages in your class journal for this assignment*. At the beginning of each class, I will check the journal for a daily completion grade. After we have finished reading, and all journals are complete, I will take them up and grade them again according to the rubric below. I will not grade every single entry, but instead, I will randomly select a few journals to grade. The grade for these journals will equal 50 percent of one major grade. The other 50 percent is for highlighting and annotating (see other side). If you missed a journal entry for the daily completion grade, you still have a chance to make it up for the major grade.

 

           

Title: Journal #1: Chapters 1 - 6

 

(Remember to do this journal on a separate piece of paper)

 

For questions 1 and 2, explain how the following statements are true. Use textual evidence to support your answer. (Answers are expected to be well-elaborated, but do not need to be as lengthy as your poetry expository paragraphs! One or two supports will suffice. See example below.)

 

1. Huck Finn is a practical thinker.

 

2. Pap is one of the vilest characters of the novel.

 

 

3. Write down two specific discussion questions about chapters 1-6.

 

Title: Journal #2: Chapters 7 - 11

 

(Remember to do this journal in a section you have set aside in your class journal.)

 

For questions 1 and 2, explain how the following statements are true. Use at least two examples of textual evidence to support your answer.

 

1. Huck is clever and resourceful.

 

 

 

2. Write down two specific discussion questions about chapters 7 - 11.

 

Sample Answer:

 

 

 

Title: Journal #3: Chapters 12 - 16

 

(Remember to do this journal in a section you have set aside in your class journal.)

 

1

. Explain Hucks moral dilemma about helping the rapscallions. (ch. 13)

See the example below.

Explain:

·          what his decision was

·          his rationale for the decision

·          what Hucks society says about the decision

·          who you think is right and why

 

2. Using the same format as above, explain Hucks moral dilemma about helping Jim escape to Cairo. (ch. 16)

 

3. Write down 2 discussion questions for chapters 12 16.

 

 

EXAMPLE:

One of the funnier moral judgments Huck made was his conclusion about heaven and hell.  Huck tells Miss Watson he would rather go to hell because I couldnt see no advantage in going where she was going (4). Hucks sole reason for wanting to go to the bad place was the fact that Miss Watson, a woman who nitpicked him, was going there. His decision, as many of his are, is in contrast with society s idea that it is wrong and wicked to want to go to hell. The reader can laugh at Hucks decision because Huck is really being naïve; he would most likely not want to go to hell.

 

Title: Journal #4: Chapters 17 - 19

 

(Remember to do this journal in a section you have set aside in your class journal.)

 

1. What is ironic about these two "high-toned and well born and rich and grand" aristocratic families and their feud? Use textual evidence to support your answer.

 

2. What is ironic in the passage below? What is Twain satirizing in this passage?

 

      Next Sunday we all went to church, about three mile, everybody a-horseback. The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty onery preachingall about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good sermon, and they all talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace and preforeordestination, and I don't know what all, that it did seem to me to be one of the roughest Sundays I had run across yet.

 

3. Write down 2 discussion questions for chapters 17-19.

 

Dont forget to notice references to the river and its possible symbolism.

 

Title: Journal #5: Chapters 20 - 23

 

(Remember to do this journal in a section you have set aside in your class journal.)

 

1. How do Hucks adventures on land in this section contrast with his life on the river? Write a paragraph using at least two textual supports.

 

2. After a funny conversation about kings, Twain includes a short scene about Jim (end of ch. 23). Why does Twain include this scene? Be specific in your answer.

 

3. Write down two discussion questions about chapters 20-23.

                       

 

Title: Journal #6: Chapters 28 - 30

 

(Remember to do this journal in a section you have set aside in your class journal.)

 

1 3: Irony: In a dialectical journal format, find two passages that are ironic. Explain what is ironic about them.

 

4. Write down two discussion questions for chapters 28 30.

 

Title: Journal #7: Chapters 31-33

 

1. Write a paragraph explaining Huck’s moral dilemma about Jim (ch. 31).

Use the following format:

·          Include a topic sentence briefly explaining the dilemma and his decision

·          Give 2 textual supports showing his rationale for the decision (Don’t forget to BLEND your support!)

·          Comment on what Huck’s society says about the decision

·          Comment on who you think is right and why

 

2. How has the return of Tom Sawyer changed things for Huck and Jim? Be specific and use textual evidence to support your answer.

 

3. Write down two discussion questions based on ch. 31-33