The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry finn discussion question

At one point while the townspeople are trying to decide who the real Wilks brothers are, Huck says "anybody but a lot of prejudiced chuckleheads would a seen" that the duke and king are frauds. Do you think this characterization of the townspeople is accurate? Why or why not? Provide a direct quote from the novel.

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This characterization isn't accurate for all of the townspeople as evidenced below.

They made the king tell his yarn, and they made the old gentleman tell his'n; and anybody but a lot of prejudiced chuckleheads would a seen that the old gentleman was spinning truth and t'other one lies. And by and by they had me up to tell what I knowed. The king he give me a left-handed look out of the corner of his eye, and so I knowed enough to talk on the right side. I begun to tell about Sheffield, and how we lived there, and all about the English Wilkses, and so on; but I didn't get pretty fur till the doctor begun to laugh; and Levi Bell, the lawyer, says:

"Set down, my boy; I wouldn't strain myself if I was you. I reckon you ain't used to lying, it don't seem to come handy; what you want is practice. You do it pretty awkward."

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn