Huckleberry Finn Chapters 1-4 |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 5-11 |
When we are introduced to Huckleberry Finn, he doesn't let his name be known at first. On the very first page, he says "You don't know me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," like maybe Huck did not feel important enough to let people know who he is before they know who Tom is. After that, he goes on to name the people he most associates himself with at the beginning of the book. That kind of surprises me. It makes me think that Huck doesn't care to let people know who he is, or maybe he thinks that people don't care who he is without associating him with Tom Sawyer and the other people in his life. In fact, Huck only allows his name to be brought in when he was being scolded by Miss Watson. In the first pages of the book, I think we get a glimpse as to the way Huck feels about himself.
This book is based in the 1800s, before the Civil War, so we know times have changed. But, in these first few chapters, Huck continually demeans himself unless he's with Tom Sawyer. Whether or not Tom is a good friend for Huck is a moot point because when Huck is with Tom, he's a happier kid. I think that's what these first few chapters try to get across to the reader: that Huck thinks he's alone in the world and that Tom Sawyer is sort of his savior in a way. So of course, when Tom comes up with these ludicrous ideas, Huck thinks he needs to go along with them and ends up doing something like ambushing a church picnic or signing his name in blood as some sort of pact. |
At the end of the fourth chapter, Huck comes home to find his presumed dead father in his room. The next chapter started as Huck explained that he wasn't actually afraid that his father was there, but it came as a shock to him. His father, Pap, went on to tell Huck that he needed to stop going to school and dressing nicely because no son should be better than his dad. I think when Huck hears Pap say that, it tears him down a little bit more. What surprised me was that Huck deliberately started working harder at school and dressing his best, and even started helping Pap with his drinking problem because it meant that Pap would go to jail. I kind of thought that the only reason Huck was doing it was because he's starting to think that he's better off without Pap. By this point, I think Huck started to feel like maybe he only thought he was worthless because Pap told him he should be, but Huck had Miss Watson and Widow Douglas convince him of the opposite.
On page 27, Pap says, "Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful..." I think he's trying to say that the government is corrupt because it is allowing colored people to be free, which I'm sure many people believed at the time. However, I think that the way Twain rights it tells people that it was ridiculous to think as such. That Twain writes that Pap says "govment" instead of "government" means that he was trying to get the point across that Pap wasn't really familiar with the government and though he had his opinions, they could not be considered valid. |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 12-16 |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 17-24 |
In these chapters, Huck started to get a little more open minded. As he spent more and more time with Jim, he realized that Jim was actually a kind and smart person that just wants a better life for his family. And though Huck was still holding on to that conception that white people in the south had, he hoped that Jim would be able to do what he set out to do. I sort of admire that about Huck. Even though he is still a kid, he's deciding for himself the meaning of right and wrong; moral and immoral.
In chapter 15 specifically, Huck and Jim got separated on the water. When they met up again, Jim was so relieved that Huck was alright, but Huck tried to make Jim think that it was all a dream, they were never separated and all that worrying was for nothing. When Huck realized that what he was doing was making Jim feel even worse, he apologized and told himself that he wouldn't do something like that to Jim again even though Huck felt like because Jim was a black man, he did not deserve an apology for something that Huck found so ridiculous. That Huck did it anyway, and resolved not to do it again if it meant not hurting Jim's feelings just shows exactly how much Huck's beliefs had begun to evolve during his time with Jim. |
When Huck is on land, he's always so aware. It made me feel like he was always ready for someone to tell him that they knew what Huck was up to, trying to help get Jim into the north. I can understand that when Huck was George Jackson, he had to be aware, because no matter how much the Grangerfords liked him, he had lied to them about who he was. And because of their feud with the Shepardsons, which really reminded me of the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Grangerfords might feel like Huck was on the other family's side from the start if they found out he was lying to them. Huck really liked staying with that family, in spite of all the chaos that ensued during the time he was with them. When Buck was killed, Huck even said he cried a little because he genuinely thought of Buck as a friend to him.
On the river, I feel like Huck is so much more relaxed with everything. At one point Huck says "It's a lovely life to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened," (Twain 118). It's just him and Jim, and Huck is really comfortable around Jim. And while I'm unsure why the Duke and the King decided to tag along with Huck and Jim, I feel like Huck has so much more trust for people he meets on the water. Being on the river allows Huck to be who he is, and not someone Mrs. Watson, his father or even Tom Sawyer want him to be. I think that those reasons might be why Huck is so much more comfortable on the water. The four of them are basically on the run, and Huck stays calm most of the time. |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 25-30 |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 31-37 |
In these chapters, I really started to wonder exactly who the King and the Duke really are. I was shocked that they would so carelessly con a family out of a deceased relative's money, and confused at what happened to the money they had when we were first introduced to them. I feel like if Huck stays with them much longer, they're going to be forced to let everyone know that they're runaways, and that really won't be a good thing. But when the doctor accuses the King and Duke of being imposters, no one takes him at his word, even though I would assume that being a doctor would give him a really well-respected place in society.
I really don't care for the Duke and the King after reading these chapters. I think that they're ultimately just using Huck and Jim as a way of transportation and I'm really hoping that Huck realizes that they could very well mess things up for them soon. |
In chapter 31, I was really pleased with Huck. When he felt like he couldn't pray because he was running with "stolen property," he thought that maybe telling Mrs. Watson where Jim was could make him feel better, but then he realized that he would only lose Jim, he changed his mind because he knew he didn't want that to happen. He says, "It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. 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 then says to myself: All right, then I'll go to hell-- and tore it up." He didn't want to let Jim go back to being a slave even if it meant he would have to carry the guilt of lying to Mrs. Watson.
In these chapters, I was sort of appalled at Huck because he so willingly put himself into Tom Sawyer's shoes. I understand that Huck considered Tom his best friend and he knew Tom really well, but he just completely disregarded himself and played Tom Sawyer without have any issues with that. It kind out goes back to at the very beginning of the story, when Huck introduces Tom before himself. I think that Huck idolizes Tom way too much and doesn't think as highly of himself when Tom is involved. Also, Huck's plan to get Jim out was much less extravagant than Tom's and therefore much less likely to get caught. But Huck, being Huck, always goes along with Tom's ideas. |
Huckleberry Finn Chapters 38-End
Reading these chapters, I just kept thinking about how dramatic Tom needs to make everything and how Huck is much more down-to-earth and wouldn't have made such a big deal about getting Jim to freedom. They could have achieved their goal if Tom hadn't been writing notes to his aunt and mother about a "cutthroat gang" that was going to be passing through the property that night. And if Tom hadn't have done that, he wouldn't have gotten shot.