My incredibly long 16 page 10,000 word essay

In the chapters that we read, I can only say that Tom seems to be making long, complicated, and very childish plans in order to free Jim. Huck says that they should just take the direct approach of freeing Jim. When Huck told Tom of his plan, Tom said on page 224, “Work? Why, cert’nly it would work, like a rats a-fighting. But it’s too blame’ simple; there ain’t nothing to it. What’s the good of a plan that ain’t no more trouble than that? It’s as mild as goosemilk. Why, Huck, it wouldn’t make no more talk than breaking into a soap factory.” Basically to interpret what Tom said, he said that Huck’s plan would work, but there isn’t any fun or any challenge if they free Jim the ‘easy’ way. He apparently wants to free Jim with an extremely complicated way that is actually drastic in a certain matter. In support to what Tom said on page 225, he says, “It’s as simple as tit-tat-toe, three-in-a-row, and as easy as playing hooky. I should hope we can find a way that’s a little more complicated than that, Huck Finn.” Clearly, Tom seems more superior towards Huck because he feels that his feeble mind isn’t taking the extra step of drastic measures. Clearly, Tom is treating this like a game. It’s like he thinks there are thousands of chances that he has to free Jim, but decides to do the ‘hard’ way to accomplish this. He seems like he’s being a little child because, like Matt said, it’s like he playing a game. He isn’t taking this as serious at it should be taken. This isn’t some manner of stealing a few things, they are trying to free a person who is chained and trapped under the roof of his caretaker. Huck is truly taking this seriously because of course, Jim is Huck’s best friend he really admires him, but Tom’s story toward Jim is different.

Tom is being cruel to Jim. Although this level of cruelty isn’t a measure that is deemed as a harsh manner of absolute inhumane cruelty, but a matter of what Tom considers Jim in this matter. This type of cruelty is pretty much Tom seeming like he’s not even trying to stick with one absolute plan in to trying to free Jim. Tom is consistently changing his plan reiterating that his next plan will be the absolute plan to free Jim, but clearly isn’t. His plans change drastically from digging a tunnel into him and freeing him by going underground to chopping off of Jim’s foot to free him. Many different plans that Tom makes seems to make includes drastic measures taken that are also very time consuming. One of Tom’s latest plans was to bake a pie to free Jim by putting something in the pie. This took him 9 months just to make this. Are you serious? 9 months? That is such an incredibly long time just to bake a pie. Tom’s basic measure of cruelty right now is just the fact that he is wasting so much time. As I stated before, he is treating this like a game where he has a thousand lives and chances to do what he wants and how we wants just as long as he has the power to do that. Tom doesn’t reveal to Jim and Huck his intentional actions because he is pretty much still a little child. He is always denying everything that Huck has to offer even if his plans are straight forward. An example of him denying Huck is on page 229 where Tom says, “Why, drat it, Huck, it’s the stupidest arrangement I ever see. You go to invent all the difficulties.” He knows that Huck’s plans are the best ones into freeing Jim, but he is just wasting time by playing life as a game. If he has to take the initiatives in making life as a game, then clearly he is acting like a little child by using his surroundings for his own pleasures. If he revealed his plan, then no one would cooperate with Tom any more. If there isn’t anyone with Tom to do what he wants, they he can’t do it and he will feel a sense of a betrayal possibly by revealing the truth about Huck and Jim. If he was to do that, they can have that possibility of going to jail, going back to where they were, as well as that chance of being lynched.

[quote author=K Roy link=topic=58.msg871#msg871 date=1228963208]
I don’t think that Tom tells Huck and Jim that the Miss Watson freed Jim because he is jealous how Huck got all the adventures that he wanted and has read about, so he wants to make freeing Jim an adventure just like in the books. “You can get up the infant-schooliest ways of going at a thing. Why, hain’t you ever read any books at all? –Baron Trenck, nor Casanova, nor Benvenuto Chelleeny, nor Henri 4, nor none of them heroes? Who ever heard of getting a prisoner loose in such an old-maidy way as that?” (p 230)
[/quote]

I think that Katherine is absolutely correct when she wrote this. Basically, Tom is just jealous because he is consistently talking about having these amazing adventures. Tom is trying to making is own mini adventure by making Jim’s escape as much action filled and adventurous as possible to basically just get the thrill of it. He wants some sort of excitement so he takes these precautions in order to make his pleasure last as long as he wants. All of the time that he wastes is basically just his own plan to receive his pleasure. Thanks Katherine for bringing this up for me.

From reading the novel of the according chapter, I’m starting to get the feel that Huck is a bit racist considering his situation and how he refers things in life. When he said, “No, Killed a ni****,” It shows obviously that he shows the African American slaves as not equals within his perception. He should have the decency of respecting the slaves as an equal by not referring them as ni****s if he actually respected them. Referring the slaves as maybe a man or a woman would have been less dire than using that term. Huck is questioning why Tom Sawyer is helping Huck in the first place with freeing Jim, obviously a slave, because of Tom’s morals that he grew up with. Huck says on page 217, “Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot, It was the most astonishing speech I ever heard-and I’m bound to say Tom Sawyer fell considerable in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it. Tom Sawyer a ni****-stealer!” Clearly, Huck was astonished by Tom’s decision to help because of how he was raised as a child. Huck says on page 224, "Here was a boy that was respectable and well brung up; and had a character to lose; and folks at home that had characters; and he was bright and not leather-headed; and knowing and not ignorant; and not mean but kind; and yet here he was, without any more pride, or rightness, or feeling, than to stoop to this business and make himself a shame.” Morals has been the main discussion and concept that we have been following throughout the story and is a very big issue in this case because Huck has had his own morals the he was influenced with, but isn’t following it. He was raised from the beginning of his childhood to be respectful and show courtesy, but still has this perception similar like Huck’s.

When Huck saw the duke and the king, he says on page 222, “… [The king and the duke] 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 to one another.” This incredibly long quote was simply how Huck felt about the duke and the king. Although they weren’t great human beings themselves, they were still treated by the cruel inhumane contents showed by some of the townspeople for what they did to the duke and the king. The cruel things that Huck saw made him reminisce about what he witnessed with the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons feud. The cruel things that he witnessed, all of the people he saw die right in front of his adolescent eyes, was such an incredibly traumatic thing that he saw. This is another incident of where he witnessed an almost traumatic scene that has changed his perception on the duke and the king as well as his perception among people themselves.

[quote author=emilydrewniany link=topic=57.msg815#msg815 date=1228788473]
In these chapters Huck is back to lying on the spot once again, this time he’s lying about his identity and why he was so late arriving. When Huck responds to Aunt Sally’s question, “Anybody hurt?” (page 213), he says “No’m. Killed a nigger”. This surprised me when I first read this. I have two theories of why Huck said this. The first one is that Huck really didn’t change as much as everyone thinks he did. I thought that Huck was beginning to change but, I guess you can’t fully change the way you are brought up. Just like the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Huck was raised in a prejudice environment. I think that your childhood influences your personality so much, you may try to change but you will always have little underlying traits from your upbringing. Huck has come so far from the beginning of the story. “I see it warn’t no use waiting words- you can’t learn a ni**er to argue. So I quit” At the beginning you could see that Huck felt superior to Jim, and for intelligent by nature. Later on he said, “But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind” (page 206).
[/quote]

Emily really just opened my eyes for the first time on my perception among Huck. I’m not completely sure on the identity part (don’t really want to explain because it isn’t my point) but I do agree with the fact that Huck has not merely changed from the beginning. He has always had this perception to recognize slaves/ African Americans as ni****s throughout the novel. Nothing has changed from the start. He has not considered them equal because if he had intentionally done that, then his morals would’ve told him by now that he isn’t treating them as equals. Huck has always made himself superior to Jim ever since the start. Once you think about it, Huck has technically never changed, but this whole time we just wanted to believe that adolescence, especially in one of a close infant, has that possibly to change his perception among his surroundings and his morals. He has not changed and I thank Emily for opening my eyes to this point.
This is pretty much a follow up to the other blog’s last question. Basically, this is the climax of the book because this is where Huck makes the biggest decision of his life as well as the biggest decision to where he decides the fate of himself and Jim. Jim has been captured and is to be sold. He receives some information from a man that he is currently stationed in a town about 40 miles away from him. Huck is contradicting with himself about what he should do. On page 204, Huck says, “after all this long journey, and all we’d done for them scoundrels, here it was all come to nothing, everything all busted up and ruined, because they could have the heart to serve Jim such a trick as that, and make him a slave again all his life, and amongst strangers, too, for forty dollars.” Clearly, Huck knows that they have been through so much from their departure of their hometown to their current situation as it is. Huck makes a huge decision on whether or not he should go on with his life without Jim alone or play cat and mouse and go after Jim, his best friend. Huck’s natural morality compared to society’s morality, in this case, is very different. If this was an ordinary person that was a bum, they probably wouldn’t have made the courageous decision that Huck made to run after his friend and bring him back home back to the river. Huck makes a huge decision on what he should think about doing. Instead of revolving around society’s laws and boundaries, he makes his own decision by going off to retrieve Jim, a friend. Society sees Jim as a runaway slave and should be returned to their owner, but Huck sees Jim more than just ‘property’, but as a very close friend and someone who, other than Mary Jane, absolutely cares about and their decisions.

The duke ‘apparently’ seems different in these chapters now because of their failure in the last town in their attempt to steal the money. The duke also tries to prevail against the king now by telling him to let go of Huck when he’s strangling him in his clutches. The duke actually seems like he’s defending Huck at this point which eventually escalades to the point where the duke and the king have a verbal argument about the money being on the dead man’s chest as an attempt for one or the other to run away with the money altogether which the duke ends by saying on page 200, “If you ever dent it again I’ll down you. It’s well for you to set there and blubber like a baby-it’s fitten for you, after the way you’ve acted. I never see such an old ostrich for wanting to gobble everything-and I a-trusting you all the time, like you was my own father.”.A follow up to the conclusion of the argument on page 201, the duke says, “Dry up! I don’t want to hear no more out of you! …… And now you see what you got by it. They’ve got all their money back, and all of ourn but a shekel or two besides. G’long to bed, and don’t you deffersit me no more deffersits, long’s you live.” Clearly, there is a big sign of aggression shown from the duke towards the king. Although all of these events occur, I do not believe that the duke is any less evil or mean spirited than the king because they still have that ambition to steal money by robbing people’s houses and taking what they can. On page 202, we clearly see their plan to steal more money as Huck says, “[Huck and Jim] turned it over and over, and at least we made up our minds they was going to break into somebody’s house or store, or was going into the counterfeit-money business, or something.” Clearly, their ambition to rob innocent people is still in effect so I don’t see him any less of the king. This makes me feel like the duke now has a mind of his own now instead of feeding off of the king’s perception on what they should do. The duke now shows his aggression because he feels like that the plan should have gone accordingly without any error. I also feel like the duke now is very mad at the king because of their argument and how it escaladed to them going into some bar or house to fight with each other (And possibly being the last time we see them). As to what I personally feel upon the duke, I think of lesser of him now because he is lying towards Huck and made incredibly harsh threats towards the king now. He seemed like an alright guy until they started to scam people. Even prior to that, he shows so much aggression now so I think that that will get the better of him, which means I think he is now worse than the king. The only different light that I see in these chapters is that the duke is showing anger.

[quote author=ScottFuggerIsAwesome link=topic=56.msg801#msg801 date=1228700495]
[glow=green,2,300]
In these chapters, the duke and the king start fighting for the first time. After escaping the town and making it back to the raft they accuse each other of taking the money. From this point on the duke seems to hold a grudge against the king. When the king sold Jim and then got drunk, the duke “begun to abuse him for an old fool” (203). This would not have happened before because they used to treat each other as equals or like the king was higher. Also, when Huck inquired about Jim, the duke came right out and told Huck that the king sold him, but lied to Huck about where to. This makes mw think less of the duke. It is one thing to lie to the people you are trying to scam, but he is supposed to be Huck’s friend. I think that the king and the duke are equally evil. They both take advantage of and scam people. On one hand, the king sold Jim, but, on the other hand, the duke did not tell Huck the correct location of Jim. [/glow]
[/quote]

I liked most of the paragraph excluding a few things. I think that the only reason that they start arguing and making false accusations is because they failed horribly at stealing the money (Failed bad). They should have been able to come away with the money, but because of Huck’s intuition, they couldn’t get the money, but it also saved their skins. I think the king thought to himself that he was the bigger person out of the two so he felt he acquired more authority rather than the duke. They felt that they should be arguing because they had lost their best opportunity of getting the money and have nothing else to do but make accusations against one another about what happened and why it happened. They feel that Huck and Jim is now completely inferior compared to their mentality’s so they treat them differently as if they don’t even matter any more. But yea, this definitely makes me think less of the duke because he seemed like a good guy ever since we met him to the point where they were scamming. The duke made harsh threats toward the king and is now lying about towards Huck about the whereabouts of Jim. The duke, in my case, is a punk.

In the chapters that we read today, Huck shows strong emotions, not aggressive, towards Mary Jane. I think Huck shows a lot of emotions towards Mary Jane because of her own nature. Mary Jane is presented as an innocent, caring, emotional, and morally strong character in the novel. Although she is going through a tough time right now due to the death of her family member, she still shows barely any signs of weakness throughout the chapters. Sure, in some cases, people have to let out their emotions once in a while especially one as drastic is this. She still mourns her family member’s death and everything, but does not show weakness when the day comes and she is around all of her peers and the people. Well, she tries not to show weaknesses during the day, but actually shows a huge weakness when she gives basically everything she has to the duke and the king. "Take this six thousand dollars, and invest for me and my sisters any way you want to, and don't give us no receipt for it,"(pg. 164) is where Mary Jane shows the biggest mistake and flaw when she gave her welfare to the duke and the king. To be honest, I know that we [readers] are suppose to look beyond the façade that is showed, but I think Huck likes Mary Jane because she is the only person who has shown Huck affection, excluding Miss Sophia because she was just using him. When Huck and Mary Jane are talking about Huck’s plane to reveal the frauds of the duke and the king, Mary Jane says “Goodbye. I’m going to do everything just as you’ve told me; and if I don’t see you again, I sha’n’t ever forget you, and I’ll think of you a many and a many a time, and I’ll pray for you, too!” (page 184) right before they departed from each other. The perception that we get from the book is that Mary Jane is put her complete trust now into Huck and hopes to revert her wrong doing. On page 182, Huck says “And if it just happens so that I don’t get away, but get took up along with them, you must up and say I told you the whole thing beforehand, and you must stand by me all you can.” Mary Jane responded on the same page 182, “Stand by you! indeed I will. They sha’n’t touch a hair on your head!” This shows how Mary Jane believes everything Huck says and is ready to protect him when the time arrives.

I don’t think that Huck is being dishonest right now because he is always lying about everything prior to this point in time. Why would he just start being honest all of a sudden when he is around Mary Jane? Why didn’t he reveal the plans to the people who attended the little skit that the duke and king did at the town before they came there? Huck is being totally honest right now because he really does like Mary Jane and clearly shows his affections on page 197 when he says while he’s running, “But at last, just as I was sailing by, flash comes the light in Mary Jane’s window! and my heart swelled up sudden, like to bust; and the same second the house and all was behind me no more in this world, she was the best girl I ever see, and had the most sand.” Clearly, Huck really does like Mary Jane enough to even think about her like this and not like Miss Sophia. Huck, I think maybe too early to say, maybe in love with her. That is the only reason why I think that he is honest right now and not prior to any other instances shown in the novel. I don’t think he’s immoral either, because like I stated before, he’s shown to be in love with Mary Jane. Is showing affections toward another person immoral? Especially when we know Huck as not appearing to show any affection towards anyone else like this.

I can clearly see why critics say that this portion of the novel now. It’s like playing cat and mouse now. Basically, Jim is found and captured as well as their raft being gone. Jim has been beside Huck throughout the majority of the chapter. Along with Huck, Jim is the only other main protagonist in the novel that would definitely play an important part if he was separated. Jim is now about 40 miles away from where Huck is right now and he has to run all the way to Jim before his time runs out and all is lost between Huck and Jim. On page 206, Huck is about to write a letter to Tom or Miss Watson (I forgot which) about what just happened to him and was about to send the letter until he says, “I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and says to myself: "all right, then, I'll go to hell" -and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stayed said; and never thought no more about reforming," Huck is playing cat right now and has to go get his mouse, which is Jim.

[quote author=(M.)SalisburySteak link=topic=55.msg793#msg793 date=1228690825]
I think that the critics think this maybe a climax because he is parted from Jim. This is where he will finally decide to either go out of his way to save Jim or continue on depending only on himself. It is a major turning point for his own personal morals at this point in the story. It si here that he decides whether or not to commit to his friendship with Jim, or society's rules.[/quote]

I like what Matt said here. I do believe that the climax of the book is where Jim is departed from the story. What I liked the most is where Matt said that Huck would either have to go out of his way to go get Jim or continue his life depending solely upon himself. It’s really a big issue because we have known Huck as being a solo person from the start when he initially made the choice when he departed from his father. I also like the part at the end where Matt says it is here that he decides whether or not to commit to his friendship with Jim or society’s rules. This is definitely the biggest turning point in the novel where everything starts to change. The only problem I have with this turning point in the novel is that now we are entering the declining action in the book, so all of the good stuff is gone. =(
I don’t think that Abraham Lincoln was necessarily an extraordinary man during his time. Of course, there have been many influential icons of politics and life and how they became what they are today, but that’s just the thing. Abe growing up in the log cabin on February 12, 1809 to the point where he eventually seceded on April 15, 1865 had a lot of things going on during his presidency. Firstly, many people say that he wasn’t necessarily an influential speaker when he first entered the House of Representatives. This can mean that he wasn’t necessarily someone born into having that native tone of speaking in a great manner compared to all of his peers and his surroundings. He tried twice trying to get into the Senate so apparently, there was something that people saw in Lincoln that wasn’t qualifying enough to get into the Senate.

Another contradicting statement that I would like to say is that, and also Mr. Charles can support this because he even stated this in class, he didn’t even have the intention of freeing the slaves initially when his inauguration took place. His intentions was doing, by any means necessary, to keep the Union together in one peace even if it meant keeping every single slave sustained as a slave until the dawn of time of necessary (which clearly wouldn’t have happened). People say that he is this great person that has done the United States, and possibly the world, a great deed by ending slavery. He only did what he did in order to sustain the Union and possibly to keep himself in officer. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation pretty much had no affect whatsoever during this time. In 1863, the Confederacy was not even under Union control until 1865. How can you say that every slave in the Confederate states were to be free when you clearly have no control over them? The South pretty much ignored this whole proclamation because it did not concern them. They weren’t part of the Union and therefore did not listen to any reasons that they had or any words that they said because they were their own nation now and ran themselves. Lincoln clearly had no power over them during this point in the first half and the second half of the Emancipation Proclamation. This was simply a message to everyone that, “Yea I’m here, I think slavery should be stopped and here’s my message about it.” (No, not a legit quote, simply a ratification of my own perception) Lincoln definitely did not have his intentions in the right place to where everyone throughout history thinks that he had.

He has been given the term, “One of the Greatest Presidents of our Time,” simply because majority of the presidents that we had pert y much sucked. You can give him credit for having the guts to officially ending the war and slavery when the time came, but still, some critics say that he should’ve been able to end the war earlier except the fact that he hesitated. Lincoln almost ruined everything he had, which includes his spot in the house, his political reputation, and everything he pretty much has when he said "God of Heaven has forgotten to defend the weak and innocent, and permitted the strong band of murderers and demons from hell to kill men, women, and children, and lay waste and pillage the land of the just." This angered many people in the branch.

Another contradicting thing that is stated on Wikipedia is that, “Throughout the general election, Lincoln did not campaign or give speeches.” Apparently, the Republican Party used this is a political enhancement for their campaign by sustaining a high enthusiastic mentality that he had over the people. This means that he didn’t even say what he would do over his presidency. If a president was to ever gain the president position without campaigning, this can send two messages that I see. First, this can mean that you can use the presidency to do what you want without having the publics consent of what you might do (which is pretty much all presidents do when they get into office so this doesn’t necessarily apply in my argument). This also means that you can also mean that Lincoln doesn’t care about the people and their decisions. He may not even care about what they said, how they would react to what he said, and any perception among them.

So in my conclusion, Lincoln isn’t the man that everyone apparently sees over him and that he shouldn’t even be given the credit that he deserves. I’m just too lazy to write any more about how great he is because everyone else already wrote stuff about that.
` In chapter 28, Huck decides to change his perspective among himself and his situation by telling the truth to Miss Mary Jane. I believe that he does this because of three main reasons. The first reason that I think Huck decides to tell the truth is because on page 180, Huck says “I says to myself, I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place is taking considerable many resks, though I ain’t had no experience, and can’t say for certain; but it looks so to me, anyway; and yet here’s a case where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better and actually safer than a lie. I must lay it by in my mind, and think it over some time or other, it’s so kind of strange and unregular. I never see nothing like it. Well, I says to myself at last, I’m a-going to chance it; I’ll up and tell the truth this time, thought it does seem most like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off just to see where you’ll go to”. Basically, the first reason is because in his situation, he has nothing else to do, but to tell the truth. He has been lying about everything prior to that point and now he has to tell the truth in order for Mary Jane to fully believe him. The second reason I believe that Huck has to tell the truth is because of the duke and the king. On page 184, Huck says, “It made my eyes water a little to remember her [Mary Jane] crying there all by herself in the night, and them devils laying there right under her own roof, shaming her and robbing her; and when I folded it up and give it to her I see the water come into her eyes…”. To sum this quote up, the duke and the king have pretty much robbed these people out of everything they have and are still trying to rob these innocent orphan girls, depriving them of literally everything they have and everything they’re living for. Huck feels very bad the fact that the duke and the king are committing such a horrible act so he tells the truth in order to get his point across faster and quicker prior than making a huge lie.

I think that Huck only had to lie under dire circumstances that he was presented to overcome. As stated before in my first quote on page 180, “I says to myself, I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place is taking considerable many resks, though I ain’t had no experience, and can’t say for certain”. Clearly, Huck isn’t very fond at all of about telling the truth especially under a lot of tension in his current situation. This applies in general about life, when you are under dire circumstances, you must take the initiative in order to reach your goal. Although Huck isn’t very fond of telling the truth, I believe that there is that possibility that he will start telling the truth more and more often. I also believe that this will lead to the downfall of the whole bond with the duke, the king, and possibly Jim.

[quote author=emilydrewniany link=topic=54.msg750#msg750 date=1228440087]
I disagree with Stephan when he said "but I don’t think he did it out of the goodness of his heart; he just felt it would work the best in that situation.". I think Huck was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was determined to help Mary Jane and her family, and he was going to do whatever he had to do in order to accomplish this. He would have lied if that would make the situation easier but for once it worked out differently. Huck obviously knows that lying is bad and I don't think he likes to do it, but knows that there are times when a white lie is necessary. I think a lot of people have a misconstrued interpretation of Huck. I don't think Huck lies any more than any of us. We just realize it more in the story because it's flowered up a lot more to enhance the story.
[/quote]

Well, I don’t agree at all with what Emily said, but I agree with what Steven was saying. I don’t believe that Huck told the truth out of the decency of his heart because of all of his misfortunes and mishaps leading to this very point in time. I agree, people can change over time and this is an instance where he could’ve possibly changed, but the reason I believe he hasn’t changed because of his circumstances. He had to lie in order to preserve himself and in order to protect Mary Jane and her sisters from living in poverty simply from being robbed by an old hag and dead beat loser (losers actually). As I stated before, when you are under dire circumstances, you must take initiatives in order to surpass your situation and proceed with what your goal is. Huck was simply using this because this was the only time he felt absolute remorse over someone, in this case Mary Jane’s sisters and herself, because of what would happen after them. I believe he will change overtime, but this instance was not an example of that just yet. Although Huck isn’t very fond of telling the truth, I believe that there is that possibility that he will start telling the truth more and more often. I also believe that this will lead to the downfall of the whole bond with the duke, the king, and possibly Jim.
Huck has become more critical with his new companions because of their motives that they issued in the latest chapters we read. In their outrageous ambitions to make money, they went into the innocent town recreating a play in order to attract a number of people to attend their play. They used propaganda in order to make the people believe that they were making this incredible play by not allowing woman or children to come to their play because they knew that the men would react in a different manner than woman and children would initially react. Huck was very astonished about their intentions to take money from the innocent people that he said,"It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race” (pg. 157). Not only did they pretty much rob the people in the town, he also robbed people in the next town by lying about being the family’s, that they were robbing, brother. The king’s intention to rob these people in such a critical moment with their loss of a family member is definitely a very conceited move and a very sad move to make. The king and duke’s right time to strike was definitely a smart move considering the fact that they wouldn’t be very aware of the fact that this wasn’t the family’s brother. Mourning for their loss one, they also considered the fact that they would be hasty to retaliate in such a critical state. Previously, Huck felt that his motives towards the king and the duke were simple because he knew that they were liars, but knew that that was the very thing they both shared. Huck made his share of lies during his life that he needed to take in order to protect himself as well as Jim. Huck had no problem before with the king and the duke being beside him in everything that has happened prior to the situation that they did in order to scam people.

The duke and the king made, what I thought, probably a very smart move. They took foresight into the future by predicting how the people would react and took motives in order to surpass the contradictions. They looked into the people’s perspective in order to find out how they would react if they had given the money back to the girls. The duke and the king knew that the people would think that they just made the most gracious move ever and reward them for their efforts for trying to help out the girls. After their identity was figured out by the people, they still took the initiative in order to lie about the fact that they were very good friends with the family. The duke and the king knew that they would insight upon their motives and, once again, reward them for their efforts. They executed their plan so well that the townspeople said, “…everybody crowded up with the tears in their eyes, and most shook the hands off of them frauds, saying all the time: ‘you dear good souls!-how lovely!-how could you!’” (pg. 162) Another quote that I thought was true about the duke and king’s motives is, "Let 'em fetch along their suspicions now if they want to-this 'll lay 'em out. “(pg161) They used their foresight into what the people would think and changed the people’s suspicions that they had over the duke and the king. That showed how the duke and the king completely manipulated the people of the town into giving them the money. To be honest, I am impressed about this well thought out plan.

[quote author=(M.)SalisburySteak link=topic=53.msg728#msg728 date=1228351154]
When theyhaded it over to the girls it showed to the assembly that they were good people, though it was once again part of a larger scheme. Once again Twain shows that people can be easily swayed by material possessions.
[/quote]

This is exactly what I thought, but couldn’t put it into words. I really like that last statement that Matt said because Twain’s purpose of making this point is to show how material possessions can change the motives that people have in order to manipulate their way into receiving what they consider a necessity. The reason why Matt’s post is so important is because that his how the whole book was started and what the book is revolving around. Pap wanted to get the money that Huck had by suing the judge into getting his money back. The reason that Jim ran away is because Miss Watson was about to sell Jim for eight hundred dollars. Jim couldn’t stand over hearing it so he ran away in order to get away. The whole book revolves around material possessions getting the better of people and missing what is more important in life that they are blind to see.
Mark Twain’s perceptive among human nature is that people are evil and do what they want to satisfy their needs. This can apply to a lot of stuff in general in life with thieves, murderers, and rapist. In the book, there is an instance where the three men were chewing tobacco and one of the men says, “I wisht you’d len’ me a chaw, Jack, I jist this minute give Ben Thompson the last chaw I had” (pg. 135). This is an example on how human nature is naturally evil because the man is doing what it takes, which in this case is lying, to satisfy is undying need of chewing tobacco. The addiction that they have with the chewing tobacco overthrows their neutrality that they have with everyone in order to satisfy this corruption that they have over their human beings.

I think that Mark Twain’s intentions when writing this was to present his contradicting thoughts. Twain presents a sense of amusement over the Southerners conception because he shows how the mob of angry people are immediately go into conclusion when Colonel Sherburn shoots the man that he should automatically he lynched for his actions. In one of Sherburn’s statements, he says on page 141, “Do I know you? I know you clear through. I was born and raised in the South, and I’ve lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man’s a coward. In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to beat it. In the South one man, all by himself, has stopped a stage full of men in the daytime, and robbed the lot. Your news-papers call you brave people so much that you think you are braver than any other people-whereas you’re just as brave, and no braver. Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark-and it’s just what they would do”. In that whole paragraph, Sherburn is insulting the people for their hypercriticism because of their intentions. This is also a sense of scorn in the paragraph because he shows that with all of the stuff that happens in the South and North, Sherburn shows how you can’t discriminate against the other faction if they are similar in many ways and shouldn’t be considered upon better than the other.


I think that Twain is more critical to the townspeople by using Sherburn as his messenger. He says that all of the townspeople actions are very hypocritical and very contradicting if you give reason to the current situation. The whole situation involving contradictions between North and South has been a huge issue over the past 30 years prior to this event in the story and for 30 more years to come.

[quote author=ScottFuggerIsAwesome link=topic=52.msg698#msg698 date=1228180993]
[glow=green,2,300]
The tone is defiantly one of scorn, not amusement. Twain seems to be disappointed with the way people treat each other. He demonstrates this by revealing how hypocritical many people are. He also shows that people get enjoyment out of others’ misery, which he does not believe is right.

I don’t necessarily think that Twain presented was scorn. He presents his ideas using Sherburn as his messenger in his speech and in the beginning of the speech; Sherburn starts to laugh because of how hypocritical the people are reacting to what Sherburn has just done. In general, it is kind of funny how the people are lost in their own perception among how they see the world as it is. (Not really, but I have a headache and I really don’t want to elapse on what my main point is)
Huck and Jim love living on the river because it is the scapegoat for their past lives cramped in society’s clutches. On page 113, Huck says “We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel might free and easy and comfortable on a raft”. Huck really likes being on the raft on the river because it is a free zone where they are able to express themselves whatever they want, wherever they want, and how ever they wish to express it. In addition to expressing themselves, they are also relaxing while being on the river. They reach a point of total tranquility when they are on the river.

Huck and Jim had a discussion about the stars and how their origin came to place. Jim’s idea was that the stars were made by the moon. Huck’s idea was that the stars were just there. This shows that there is a definitely a sense of friendship over the two of them because they are bonding. On page 115, Huck says, “Jim said the moon could ‘a’ laid them (the stars); well, that looked kind of reasonable, so I didn’t say nothing against it, because I’ve see a frog lay most as many, so of course it could be done”. Huck shows a sense of being influenced by Jim’s words now because there is that sense of companionship that we have been noticing over the course of the novel. We see the development of their friendship and the trust becoming stronger as the novel progresses.

Personally, I really don’t like the duke and king that Huck and Jim meet. They act as if their lives are supposed to mean something because they are linked to an important entity in the past. They use this as an idea to reminisce about how their lives have gone and how they screwed it up. Lying as a way to hide their messed up lives to the other guys because they don’t want to make it seem that they are such failures. Huck and Jim have to lie to conceal what they have worked so hard to keep and conceal.

I think that their relationship with Huck and Jim will end up in the two men trying to force Huck and Jim, or just Huck, into doing something that he doesn’t want to do because they think that their influence upon them being connected to a higher entity will get the best of them. Being a so called “king”, he will use that to force Huck into doing something that he doesn’t want to like revealing that Jim is a runaway slave. The “king” will think that he has a higher point of authority over them and possibly turn a point of events in the future.

[quote author=(M.)SalisburySteak link=topic=51.msg676#msg676 date=1228089094]
I think that the king will continue to use Huck and Jim to carry out whatever he wants done. Eventually Huck and JIm will find that with the two of them on board life is not as free as it once was with them giving orders. Right now they seem to see the entire ordeal as a game. I think they will try to ask the two to leave, they won't and they will take the raft or threaten to report Jim as a runaway slave if they do not obey their orders. Eventually the harmony between these four will not last and I hope that there will at least be an argument so a little action will happen in this book. A gun fight would be nice though... Anyway the king may want to tell all of them what to do while the duke may see what a bad person he is and side with Huck and Jim in the end. Or nothing could happen and the four of them could live happily ever after in total boredom. I really hope it isn't the last one.
[/quote]

Alright, I just liked everything that Matt said in this paragraph. I agree with your first couple of sentences about how the future will turn out for them. It’s basically what I said in my prediction. The king and duke will try to gain control over Huck and Jim. The only problem I have with your whole paragraph is the thing about the duke possible being with Huck and Jim. If he has to take such extents to lie to start with, then what makes him different from the king? The mentality that he has is similar to the king so he would probably be influenced by it. I also liked your closing remark. (Hope we see some gun action)
In our reading last night, Huck says on page 86, ““Here was this ni**er, which I had as good as helped run away, coming right out flat footed and saying he would steal his children - children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know . . . “. Huck’s conscience is bothering him at this moment for three different reasons that can be a possibility. One of the reasons that I think that Huck is feeling guilty is because he isn’t exactly sure that Jim’s freedom is guaranteed. On page 86, Huck says, “Let up on me-it ain’t too late yet-I’ll paddle ashore at the fist light and tell,” because he isn’t exactly sure that freedom for Jim is exactly close. He’s feeling guilty because Jim might not exactly be free anytime soon. Another reason that I think Huck feels guilty is because he thinks that Jim might not be a good influence when he is free. The quote that Mrs. Geary provided will support my point because he is feeling remorse for having someone who has children just to have them to be taking away. From the tone that Huck say quote, he sounds like a sense of regret if Jim may be free. The last reason why I think Huck feels guilty is because feels remorse for Ms. Watson. On page 85, Huck says, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you that y could see her ni**er go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that you that you could treat her so mean? Why, she tried to learn you your book, she tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she knowed how. That’s what she done,” because he feels very guilty that Ms. Watson tried so hard to be a good influence on Huck just to eventually have her slave and her foster child to be gone.

Huck feels blind to the fact that in his current situation. On page 87, the man says, “Well, there’s five ni**ers run off to-night up yonder, above the head of the bend. Is your man white or black,” and Huck is unresponsive. He is very hesitant because he is considering the situation to come when he tells him an answer. Whatever answers that he presents, he will know the men will want proof to prove that what he says is true. Huck protects Jim on page 87, “I didn’t answer up prompt. I tried to, but the words wouldn’t come. I tried for a second or two to brace up and out with it, but I warn’t man enough-hadn’t the spunk of a rabbit. I see I was weakening; so I just give up trying,” because Jim is a friend. Backstabbing a friend is like backstabbing a family member which no one should ever backstab family.

Huck thinks that he is weak because of what he has to do in order to protect himself and Jim. Huck has to conceal himself and Jim, go from town to town to find out where they are, and lie about their true identity. He thinks that he is weak because he is doing so much to protect Jim because he is a slave and black. He feels remorse for Ms. Watson and feels regret is Jim is free if he decides to kidnap children from an innocent man. I do not think that Huck is weak because he is trying his hardest to conceal Jim for being a good friend. Going through such extents to protect your friend to me shows a great deal of charisma because it takes a lot of guts to protect a friend, let alone a black man during this time.

In the end, Jim decides to pick the path of righteousness by committing good actions that will not cause the two of them. In my case, Huck is doing a great deed protecting him and Jim for now by doing the right actions to protect them because it will take them closer and closer to free territories. They will reach to their designated destination and find out if the bond they have is as strong as it seems.

[quote author=(M.)SalisburySteak link=topic=49.msg635#msg635 date=1227489788]
With everything said and done he finally decides on when to do good. His decision was to only do good if it was the easier course to take. Otherwise he would do bad. Not a very in depth moral philosophy, but he's young so I suppose he will have more time to realize that doing good is scarely the easier path, as it was with keeping Jim hidden.
[/quote]

I like this statement that Matt says. He is definitely doing good by going on the path of good and because it is the easier course for the two of them. The last sentence mostly, I really admire that statement. I think. In the future, Huck will find out if the path that he chose to conceal Jim and protect them will be the right move. Perhaps, there will be a twist and a unexpected turn of events that we will find out what choice Huck ultimately decides to do.
Huck thinks of Jim as an equal person for various reasons. They use each other’s capabilities to survive the environment and other hazards that are to come. Huck really does appreciate all that Jim as had and all that he has been able to accomplish with him in his presence. Huck respects and treats Jim as an equal person, but there are perceptions that Huck grew up that he had adjusted to. Huck grew up using, hearing, and always being well aware of the word ni**** because of his guardians and peers constantly using the word as a term for African American slaves. “He had an uncommon level head for a ni**er,” (pg.74) showed how Huck is simply accustomed to using the term and probably wouldn’t adjust to not using it if he doesn’t think about it. Society greatly influenced him to use the word constantly and would probably not use the word when he stays away from society’s use.

I think that I myself and the whole class can realize that Jim is a very intelligent person with a wide range of capabilities. I believe that Jim’s arguments are logical, but he is just simply referring his words into a different interpretation compared to others. The way he was able to tend and care himself when he was stricken with a vicious bite from a snake was most incredible, “Jim sucked and sucked at the jug, and now and then he got out of his head and pitched around and yelled; but everytime he come to himself he went to sucking at the jug again.” (pg. 52) Just because he uses different interpretations for his intentions doesn’t mean he is necessarily dumb. Everyone has their own interpretation for other things, and his simply depicts something that seems out of the ordinary. He is definitely an intellectual.

I believe that Huck is not prejudice. Similar to my stated information in the first paragraph, he is simply raised and influenced around discriminating black people as servants and slaves. It’s a similar situation when you are insulting someone for being a “fag”. You don’t mean that he is literally a “fag”, but we have our own interpretations and uses of the word that we grew up accustomed to.

[quote author=K Roy link=topic=48.msg602#msg602 date=1227230058]
Jim’s comments are illogical. It doesn’t mean he isn’t smart it just means that he doesn’t understand things that are different, like people that speak different languages.
[/quote]

Your information that you presented was very great until you came into this contradiction. I do not agree at all with this statement simply because it’s just a different interpretation. Everyone has their own conception upon things that some people can’t necessarily realize is logical. I believe that Jim is definitely an intellectual and very logical with his statements and presented information because he is just saying things that you and others are probably just misinterpreting in a different misconception.
I'm pretty sure anyone can tell that just from the first thing that Huckleberry Finn's father says that you can tell that their relationship is definitely not one that you can call a good one. The first impression we get on his dad is a very aggressive feeling because he feels that Huckleberry is a smart mouth just because he can read and write from school. Huckleberry's dad was about to fight him just because of this occasion which shows that surely that their relationship isn't a great father-son bond. The impression that we are receiving from Huckleberry's father on page 20 shows how extreme of measures he takes. "It's so. You can do it. I had my doubts when you told me. Now looky here; you stop that putting on frills. I won't have it. I'll lay for you, my smarty; and if I catch you about that school I'll tan you good. First you know you’ll get religion, too. I never seen such a son,” shows how Huck’s dad will actually enforce hard punishment on Huck if he does not quit school. This isn’t really a great relationship at all considering the fact that Pap is also always drinking and being wasted.

Pap differs from the ideal conception of society because he is a horrible influence on Huck. Pap lived in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere and was always getting arrested by the local police for his disruptive actions. Pap is always wasted from constant over drinking on a daily basis. He also thrashes Huck when anything happens and on occasions will tan his son. That is a horrible way to be treating anyone, let alone your own child. Pap is a horrible role model for Huck and a bad father. As a father, he should be influencing his son with a great deal of representation and giving moral support, but does not express that.

Huck’s view upon society is heavily influenced by his father’s view upon society. Huck began feeling that going to school everyday, dressing up everyday, cleaning his clothes, eating on a dish, and living by Ms. Watson’s rules in the house was just overwhelming and he couldn’t take much more of it until he decided to go along with it when his dad arrived. Huck was a very lazy kid that just wanted to be away from civilized society and smoke. That is heavily enforced when he is abducted by his father to go live with him in the log cabin in the middle of nowhere. Huck thinks on his previous life style and decides that he does not want tor revert back to his old ways with Ms. Watson. Over the next 2 months, he adapts similar concepts that his dad does on his daily routine by being lazy.

Pap is definitely more resentful out of the two. Pap always blames other things that are occurring with his life rather than his own actions. He is blaming the government for not giving him Huck’s money and also accusing of unjustified treason by attempting to take him away from his son. Pap was jealous of Huck’s previous lifestyle because he didn’t have that lifestyle. Sort of as a punishment, he is passing his own traditions that he had to Huck and it is heavily affecting him.

Pap’s conception upon the black man’s current status is ironic because he feels that black people are inferior to him and can’t be given the rights that he has, such as being able to vote. What Pap fails to realize is that he is a dead beat loser that has worked for nothing in his life except being a drunk while the black man might have worked to such an extent in order to gain his position that he currently sustains. Being a college professor and being free are statuses that you aren’t given easily during this time. Pap is being a hypocrite because the black man is wearing white clothes, voting, and has freedom as well as being a well educated man. This is ironic actually because Pap is acting like a black person during those days because they are always criticizing the black people for all of their things that they have and that the black people having nothing as well as being uneducated.

This isn't even all of it. I have to write 15,000 words, and I'm missing 8 more pages. So all of yallz is like, "where the fuck is that lazy Kenshey at?" Or, "Ken, wtf you doing you homo." Or anything else. Well, here it is, so leave me alone, because I got a shit lot more to do.

No, Don't bother reading it because it isn't in order. You also haven't even read the book, so can't really use it as reference or deem it relevant to the discussion.

DON'T BOTHER READING IT!!!!

u rly are serious when u mentioned u were readin that...0.o

i think i broke the scrolling wheel on my mouse

now you can see why im pissed alot recently

Wow, I like just finished this.... God I can't believe it.... It took that long...

Gratz Lee that was the hugest spam ever lollllll