GROUP THREE: CHAPTERS 21-31

11/4/2010

1. When Huck realizes Jim is homesick, he claims, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” What does this tell you about Huck’s character? How does this epiphany Huck is having bring us closer to Twain's questioning of the morality of slavery?

2. How does Chapter 28 illustrate growth on Huck's part as a character? Use examples as evidence.

3. How does Twain use humor as a balance to the serious moral questions that are raised? Use examples as evidence! (there are a few from what we have read in the novel so far, so I expect different examples to be used!!)

22 Comments

Ashley Thalasinos

4/17/2011 06:32:42 am

Question 1,
I think with what Huck said about Jim missing his family as much as a white person would, shows that Huck looks more at a person than what skin color they are. People look down upon the blacks back then but they cared for people just as much as anyone did. This statement brings us closer to Twians morality on slavery by showing that Huck is not a rascist person because he cares for Jim's well being and is there to comfort him since he is feeling homesick. He sees that Jim cares for his family just like any person would. So it shows that no metter what color you are, you have a caring heart like anyone else.

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 05:47:20 am

Question 1--
When Huck states this line about Jim and his feelings for his family it shows he has emotions too. Huck begins to realize that Jim is just like him, a human. Jim has feelings just like a white man. Huck is starting to see the light on the fact that all men are equal. They have feelings and emotions too. In these days colored people were the outsiders. They were the ones that were less than human and no one cared about who they were, or what they felt like. By Huck seeing that Jim, being a slave, has emotions about his family Huck realizes he is just like any other human. This line shows that Twain is trying to show his audience that slavery is not moral. That slaves are people too. People with feelings and rights just like everyone else. I think Twain does a good job on showing this too. Not only in this one part of the story, but throughout the book.

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 05:50:46 am

Reply to Ashley-- Question 1
Your explanation on this question was really good. Huck has seemed to grow up since the beginning of the book and has a more caring heart. Throughout the story Huck has been there for Jim and has always helped him along the way. This one part just shows his maturity in the fact that he can see colored people have feelings just like he does.

Ashley Thalasinos

4/18/2011 06:11:03 am

Reply to Ragan, question 1

I agree with you on your explanition that Jim has feelings too. Huck sees that Jim is a human and that everyone is alike on the inside and that is what matters and makes you a person. I agree with you as well that the author is showing that slavery is not moral with this line.

Ashley Thalasinos

4/18/2011 06:14:10 am

Question 2,

Chapter 28 shows growth on Huck as a character because he confesses to Mary Jane the truth of the King and Duke. In earlier chapters Huck just lied to anyone that came along but when the King and Duke lied to the Wilkes daughters by claiming they are the girls uncles, hurts Huck. When they steal the money from the innocent girls is what sets Huck off though. He had to tell Mary Jane because he has realized that people don't deserve to be lied to and the girls would have been left poor if Huck let it happen to them. This shows him as a stong and caring character that has matured from the beginning.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 06:24:52 am

Question One---
In the beginning of the novel “Huckleberry Finn”, Huck’s opinions of slavery and African Americans were easily influenced by the culture of that time period. Back then, when it was common for the average “white folk” to have a couple slaves, not many people seemed to have a problem with it. Huck himself also viewed slavery as a normal thing and didn’t see it as a problem at all until Jim came along. On page 123, when Huck realized that Jim is terribly homesick, he claims “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks do for their’n. It doesn’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” Ever since Huck has befriended Jim, he’s realized that African Americans and slaves are equal to the whites. This shows us a dramatic change in Huck’s character. Before Huck went on all of these adventures with Jim, he was not considered a caring and compassionate person. Huck wasn’t even compassionate and respectful to the whites. For example, when Widow Douglas used to ask Jim not to play in the woods because he would get dirty, he’d do it anyway. Now we see Huck’s character slowly turning into a more respectful and compassionate person. This epiphany Huck is having beings us closer to Twain’s questioning of the morality of slavery because in this response Huck has in his mind about Jim missing his family, it shows us that Twain see’s African Americans and whites as equals.

Ashley Thalasinos

4/18/2011 07:05:06 am

Reply to Brandie, question 1

I agree with you on your explanation of Huck and his views on slavery. He sees that slaves are indeed equal to the whites because they have hearts too. Huck is now caring and respects Jim as a person and does not look down on him for his skin color.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 07:05:26 am

Question Two---
Chapter 28 illustrates an innumerous amount of growth on Huck’s character. Throughout the novel, Huck has not been a very honest man when he encountered certain individuals; however, in chapter 28 Huckleberry Finn decides to tell Mary Jane the truth about the Duke and the King. On page 149, 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 aint had no experience, and can’t say for certain; but it looks to me anyway; and for here is a case where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better, and actually safer than a lie”. The compassion in Huck’s character really shines in this chapter. As he sees Mary Jane upset over the separation of the slave family, his heart weeps for her. In this moment, when he accidentally blurts out the fact that the family will, in fact, be reunited in less than 2 weeks, Mary Jane becomes curious and asks how he knows that information. Huck tells her the truth about how the King and the Duke are fakes and not really her Uncles. This takes a lot of strength on Huck’s part because telling the truth is not always easy. You can also see a major growth in Huck’s character because he becomes very self-less in this chapter. Huck’s friendship with Mary Jane has impacted his character, because we can see just how caring Huck is becoming toward others. Huck’s character has grown exponentially over the past few chapters, and I expect it to continue to grow in a positive way.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 07:30:51 am

Question Three---
Mark Twain definitely uses humor in Huckleberry Finn to the serious moral questions that are raised. Even early on in the novel on page 1, Huck describes his experience with Widow Douglas, “When you got to the table, you couldn’t go right on to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything wrong with them.” In this statement, Twain takes praying over your food before you eat it and turns it into something a little less serious in order to balance the seriousness of the morality of prayer. You can also see Twain use humor as a balance to the serious moral question of cussing. On page 21, Huck claims “then the old man got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then he cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn’t skipped any, and after that he polished off with a kind of general cuss all round, including a parcel of people which he didn’t know the names of..”. Twain turns the morality of cussing into a more joking manner by having Huck describe his father.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 07:35:35 am

Response to Ashley Thalasinos Question One---
I completely agree with the fact that the statement Huck makes about Jim shows us the equality Huck is beginning to see between African Americans and whites. This is also a key moment in the book where it shows just how much compassion Huck’s heart has gained ever since the beginning on the adventures he’s encountered with Jim. I also agree with the fact that by using the character of Huck, Twains viewpoint on how slaves are no different from the average white human are shown. Huck is beginning to really care for other people, especially Jim since his heart wept for the emotional pain Jim was going through.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 07:41:31 am

Repsonse to Ashley Thalasinos Question Two---
I agree with you when you said that the reason Huck’s character shows growth in chapter 28 is because he decides to tell Mary Jane the truth about the “King” and the “Duke”. It’s a very hard thing to tell the truth, especially when you are in a hard situation, as Huck claims on page 149. Huck hardly ever tells the truth. In fact, all throughout the book, anytime he’s came across a new group of people, he’s lied to them about something. So Huck telling the complete truth or someone is a huge deal. Huck’s compassion is really shown in chapter 28, because we can tell just how much he begins to care for Mary Jane. I like how you said that this shows him as a very “strong and caring character.” That is very true.

Ashley Thalasinos

4/18/2011 10:35:14 am

Question 3,
Throughout the novel Twian uses humor is serious situations. Like with the King and the Duke he showed them preforming a play that the town didn't like, the circus act in the story and so much more. Also on page 21 when the author is talking about cussing everyone out is humorous and it describes his father.

Ashley Thalasinos

4/18/2011 10:41:10 am

reply to Brandie, question 2
I agree with you on your explanation of this question. Huck's heart did weep for Mary Jane because she was going through a hard time and was being blind sided by her so called uncles. Huck had to tell her the truth and that showed how strong of a person Huck has grown into. In the other chapters he has no respect for anyone and lied to everyone that came his way, but now that he is starting to get to know people better his heart grows with them and he sees people as people.

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 12:22:31 pm

Question 2--
In chapter 28 Huck's character grows in more ways than one. To begin with Huck tells Miss. Mary Jane the truth about where the money is. He says on page 149- " I reckon a body that up and tells the truth when he is in a tight place, is taking a considerable many resks, though I ain't had no experience." He is saying that even though he isn't used to telling the truth he decides that in this situation the truth is the best policy. Huck has grown up in this aspect because to begin with he always tried to talk himself out of a lie. However, now he has realized that telling the truth may not always be such a bad thing. He even says later on on the same page "... the truth is better, and actually safer, than a lie." Huck is learning that by not lying it will be better in the long run. He even thinks that it is weird and not normal to tell the truth, just because he has lied so much before. All these things show growth in Huck's character. Honesty, and not fibbing are steps in a young man's life.

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 12:28:15 pm

Reply to Brandie-- Question 1
I really like how you went back and pointed out the fact that Huck wasn't a compassionate person to begin with. The example used about Widow Douglas is very good. About how he wasn't respectful to even white people. Through the chapters Huck really is maturing and becoming a caring young man. The fact that he is learning that all people are equal is a concept that many adults couldn't grasp in these days. Sometimes kids learn things better than grown adults can! This just shows that all young kids don't always follow the crowd, that some use their mind to think for themselves.

Brandie Owen

4/18/2011 12:35:01 pm

Reply to Ashley Thalasinos Question Three---

I didn’t notice how Twain used humor when the “Duke” and “King” performed their play until you said that! Both of those men were naked on stage and Twain took the problem of being too modest and turned it into something a little less serious. I agree with the example on page 21, with Huck talking about how the father curses at the townspeople, and made it sound humorous. You used great examples!

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 12:39:02 pm

Question 3--
In the story Twain uses humor to balance the serious moral issues raised. In chapter 24 Huck states " Well, if I ever struck anything like it, I'm a nigger. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." In this we know Huck is not a black person, but he is talking about the king and the duke conning men. Huck was saying that by the way the two men had conned these people into thinking these were the two lost brothers of their dead brother was sickening. He said he was ashamed of the human race, more or less, he was ashamed of being white because of these men actions.

Ragan Moore

4/18/2011 12:41:53 pm

Reply to Brandie-- Question 3
Your examples of humor in the book are very good. They helped me see that Twain has used more humor than I thought. I knew all along that humor was being used but your examples in your answer showed me that it was more than I had realized. Thanks for your incite!

Lindsay Whitaker

4/19/2011 10:13:49 am

Question 1:

When Huck says this, it shows that he is realizing that Jim is just like white people. It shows him that even though he is a different color, he has feelings just like white people. This helps Twain show that skin color does not matter. Everyone is the same on the inside.

Lindsay Whitaker

4/19/2011 10:17:03 am

Question 2:

In chapter 28, Huck's compassion and sympathy start showing more. In this chapter, you raelly see how muck Huck cares for and respects Jim. Chapter 28 also brings out Huck's honesty. In this chapter, he tells Mary Jane the truth.

Lindsay Whitaker

4/19/2011 10:21:17 am

Reply to Ashley (question 1):

I agree when you say that Huck sees more than skin color when he looks at Jim. I liked when you said that no matter what color you are, you have a caring heart. Huck is not a racist and he really cares about Jim.

Lindsay Whitaker

4/19/2011 10:23:32 am

Reply to Brandie (question 2):

I liked that you used the quote “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 aint had no experience, and can’t say for certain; but it looks to me anyway; and for here is a case where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better, and actually safer than a lie”. This helps to show that Huck is beginning to become more of an honest person.

GROUP THREE: CHAPTERS 21-31

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