Mark Twain / Huck Discussion Questions

American Authors – Mr. Dawursk

The following questions will be discussed in class AFTER we watch the Biography of Mark Twain video. Be prepared to discuss your answers.

1. What does the pen name Mark Twain mean? How many different pen names did Twain have?

2. What is the critical point of Huck's transformation? The heart of the novel? The location where Huck becomes a “dynamic” character?

3. Why did Twain put the manuscript of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn aside for three years? What inspired him to finish it?

4. According to Twain, what is “the very serious business of the humorist?” Give a modern day example of a “humorist.”

5. At Twain’s funeral, author William Dean Howells compared Twain to whom in his eulogy?