Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain designates Huck as an outsider in order to supply him with an honest perspective on the early nineteenth century American society’s position on issues involving slavery. Twain initially reveals society’s stance on slavery through the outcast by presenting Huck’s misgivings about assisting Jim to freedom. Therefore, Huck’s convictions reveal that society instilled the notion that slaves were property and should not escape to freedom. Also, Huck comments that he would rather go to hell than turn Jim over to the authorities, furthermore revealing the idea promoted by civilization that helping a slave was a moral issue resulting in eternal damnation. Additionally, Huck has difficulty humbling himself and apologizing to Jim after the separation in the fog. This dramatic scene highlights the early 19th century doctrine that slaves were foremost property and subsequently human beings. Moreover, as Huck apolo gizes to Jim, he breaks every societal code or standard regarding the treatment of slaves by humbling himself before a nigger. Also, Huck is surprised by Tom’s willingness to aid him in the rescue and release of Jim. Huck’s reaction continues to display the societal beliefs pertaining to slavery, because Huck expects from Tom as from the rest of civilization to receive condemnation for his actions. However, it is later revealed that Tom committed to aid Huck based on the knowledge that Jim was already a free man by Miss Watson’s will, thus demonstrating that society would disapprove of Huck’s assistance to Jim. Twain uses Huckleberry Finn’s interactions with Jim on the Mississippi River to reveal society’s perspective on slavery.... Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn Essay 1. Huck was raised in the south where blacks aren’t free and racism is taught, but despite all this Huck turned out to be a boy who doesn’t fully believe in racism, because his friendship with a black man, Jim let him look past race. 2. Quotes a. â€Å"It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back. It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger – but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry afterwards, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if Id known it would make him feel that way,† (pg. 95). b. Jim warn’t on his island†¦the raft was gone! My souls, but I was scared! I couldn’t get my breath for more than a minute. Then I raised a yell†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Good lan’ is dat you, honey? Doan’ make no noise.’ It was Jim’s voice – nothing ever sounded so good before. I run along the bank a piece and got aboard, and Jim he grabbed me and hugged me,† (pg. 128). 3. Explanation a. â€Å"It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back. It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger – but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry afterwards, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if Id known it would make him feel that way,† (pg. 95). i. Huck thought that playing tricks on a black man was funny, but he didn’t take into account that blacks are human too, and they have feelings that can get hurt like anyone else. In this passage Huck feels horrible because he played a really bad trick on Jim; he made Jim think that he was lost and dead. When Jim realizes that it was all a joke he gets upset because Jim really cares for Huck, he loves him like a son. Because of the way that Huck was brought up, it takes a lot for him to get enough courage to apologize to a black person. After he does apologi... Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain designates Huck as an outsider in order to supply him with an honest perspective on the early nineteenth century American society’s position on issues involving slavery. Twain initially reveals society’s stance on slavery through the outcast by presenting Huck’s misgivings about assisting Jim to freedom. Therefore, Huck’s convictions reveal that society instilled the notion that slaves were property and should not escape to freedom. Also, Huck comments that he would rather go to hell than turn Jim over to the authorities, furthermore revealing the idea promoted by civilization that helping a slave was a moral issue resulting in eternal damnation. Additionally, Huck has difficulty humbling himself and apologizing to Jim after the separation in the fog. This dramatic scene highlights the early 19th century doctrine that slaves were foremost property and subsequently human beings. Moreover, as Huck apolo gizes to Jim, he breaks every societal code or standard regarding the treatment of slaves by humbling himself before a nigger. Also, Huck is surprised by Tom’s willingness to aid him in the rescue and release of Jim. Huck’s reaction continues to display the societal beliefs pertaining to slavery, because Huck expects from Tom as from the rest of civilization to receive condemnation for his actions. However, it is later revealed that Tom committed to aid Huck based on the knowledge that Jim was already a free man by Miss Watson’s will, thus demonstrating that society would disapprove of Huck’s assistance to Jim. Twain uses Huckleberry Finn’s interactions with Jim on the Mississippi River to reveal society’s perspective on slavery.... Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn Superstitions in Huckleberry Finn In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there is a lot of superstition. Some examples of superstition in the novel are Huck killing a spider which is bad luck, the hair-ball used to tell fortunes, and the rattle-snake skin Huck touches that brings Huck and Jim good and bad luck. Superstition plays an important role in the novel Huck Finn. In Chapter one Huck sees a spider crawling up his shoulder, so he flipped it off and it went into the flame of the candle. Before he could get it out, it was already shriveled up. Huck didn't need anyone to tell him that it was an bad sign and would give him bad luck. Huck got scared and shook his clothes off, and turned in his tracks three times. He then tied a lock of his hair with a thread to keep the witches away. "You do that when you've lost a horseshoe that you've found, instead of nailing it up over the door, but I hadn't ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep of bad luck when you'd killed a spider."(Twain 5). In chapter four Huck sees Pap's footprints in the snow. So Huck goes to Jim to ask him why Pap is here. Jim gets a hair-ball that is the size of a fist that he took from an ox's stomach. Jim asks the hair-ball; Why is Pap here? But the hair-ball won't answer. Jim says it needs money, so Huck gives Jim a counterfeit quarter. Jim puts the quarter under the hair-ball. The hair-ball talks to Jim and Jim tells Huck that it says. "Yo'ole father doan' know yit what he's a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he spec he'll go 'way, en den ag'in he spec he'll stay. De bes' way is tores' easy en let de ole man take his own way. Dey's two angles hoverin' roun' 'bout him. One uv'em is white en shiny, en t'other one is black. De white one gits him to go right a little while, den de black one sil in en gust it all up. A bo... Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Homework Assignment Chapters I to IV 1. Even though Tom feels that Huck is not â€Å"respectable,† Huck is likeable, even admirable in many ways. We get certain impressions of Huck’s character in the opening chapters of the book. It seems Huck is used to caring for himself most of the time, but is now living with Widow Douglas. Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, try to â€Å"civilize† Huck, and educate him. Yet almost from the beginning of the book, Huck clearly doesn’t seem to have any interest in education, religion, or being civilized in general. Another important trait of Huck‘s that we learn about quickly is that he is superstitious. â€Å"’I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.’† and â€Å"’I didn’t need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  are examples of his rejection to â€Å"civilization† and his beliefs in supe rstitions. 2. Jim is Miss Watson’s slave. My first impressions of Jim are that he is completely uneducated, very easily fooled, and extremely superstitious. Also, when he can’t explain things that’s were his ability to embellish his stories come from, but they make for entertainment to the rest of the slaves that he tells his stories too. Examples: When Jim hears the noise he‘s determined to make sure he hears it again but he falls asleep in just a short 10minutes, that shows that he‘s easily fooled and not that bright. 3. Although we do not meet Huck’s father in these chapters, we do hear some things about him. Pap isn’t a reliable person, and hasn’t been around for over a year. Ben Rogers tells us that â€Å"’He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬ , which obviously tells us he is a alcoholic with a poor reputation. 4. When Huck wants to smoke, the widow forbids him, saying it is a mean and unclean practice. ... Free Essays on Huckleberry Finn Summary The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn opens by familiarizing the reader with the events of the book that preceded it, Tom Sawyer. In the town of St. Petersburg, which lies along the Mississippi River, Huckleberry Finn, a poor boy with a drunken bum for a father, and his friend Tom Sawyer, a middle-class boy with an imagination a little too active for his own good, found a robber's stash of gold at the end of the earlier book. As a result of his adventure, Huck gains quite a bit of money (held in a sort of trust for him at the bank) and is adopted by the Widow Douglas, a kind but stifling woman who lives with her sister, the self-righteous Miss Watson. Huck is none too thrilled with his new life of cleanliness, manners, church, and school, but he sticks it out at the bequest of Tom, who tells him that in order to take part in his new "robbers' gang" Huck must stay "respectable." All is well and good until Huck's brutish father, Pap, reappears and demands Huck's money. Judge Thatcher and the Widow try to get legal custody of Huck, but the well-intentioned new judge in town believes in the rights of Huck's natural father and even takes the old drunk into his own home in an attempt to reform him. This effort fails miserably, and Pap soon returns to his old ways. He hangs around town for several months, harassing his son, who in the meantime has learned to read and to tolerate the Widow's attempts to improve him. Finally, outraged when the Widow Douglas warns him to stay away from her house, Pap kidnaps the boy, holding him in a cabin across the river from St. Petersburg. Whenever he goes out, Pap locks Huck in the cabin, and when he returns home drunk, he beats the boy. Tired of his confinement, and fearing the beatings will worsen, Huck escapes from Pap by faking his own death. Hiding on Jackson's Island out in the middle of the Mississippi River, he watches the townspeople search the river for his body. After a few days on t...