Post character, plot, and thematic information for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain.
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Caroline Blanchard Period 6
Quotes: "The Widow Douglas she took me for a son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in a house all the time..." page 1
"Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy on a raft." page 116
"After all this long journey, and after all we did for them scoundrels... 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 dirty dollars." page 211
"And his Aunt Polly said Tom was right abour old Miss Watson setting Jim free in her will..." page 290
"Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before." page 293
The story begins with the protagonist, Huck Finn (see characters) who is living with his caretaker the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. They try to educate Huck and make him more civilized. Then Pap Finn, Huck’s father, comes into town and takes Huck back to a cabin outside of town where Huck feels as he is being kept prisoner. Soon Huck devises a plan to escape the cabin by sawing a hole in the wall and by killing a pig and throwing it into the water so no one would look for him. Huck also takes the canoe and begins paddling on the Mississippi River. However when Huck reaches his destination and Jakson’s Island he is surprised to find that Jim, Miss Watson’s escaped slave is also there and soon the two begin to take care of one another. Later Jim tells Huck that he is planning to escape to Cairo, Illinois. After a violent storm on Jackson’s Island they are able to scrounge around a house that was washed away in the storm to find food, supplies and even a raft. It is also here where Huck encounters the dead body of Pap Finn. To find the remaining necessary supplies they need, Huck enters St. Petersburg dressed as a girl only to find out that there is a $300 bounty on Jim whom the townspeople are suspecting for the death of Huck so the two set off for Illinois immediately. However the two never reach their destination because the raft collides with a steamship separating Huck from Jim. Huck goes into the local town and Huck is offered hospitality by a local family, the Grangerfords. There he becomes a part of a long rivalry between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, the rivalry reaches a climax when Sophia Grangerford runs off to be with Harney Shepherdson. This ignites a melee between the two families in which Huck witnesses his newly found friend Buck Grangerford getting shot and killed, Huck soon flees the scene becoming reunited with Jim and the two continue to raft down the Mississippi. Their next adventure takes place later when they pick up two con artists that had been run out of town and they convince the two that they are the sons of an English duke and the dauphin of France. The two travel with Huck and Jim, committing small time schemes all the while. It is in one of these occasions when Huck witnesses the attempted lynching of a local townsman Colonel Sherburn after he shot and killed Mr. Boggs the town drunk. The due and dauphins ultimate scheme happens when they reach word of a wealthy gentleman in the next town who has died and they pose to be his two brothers that have come for the inheritance. It is here where we start to see a change in Huck’s mentality as he views this conning as wrong and tries to return the money to the children of Peter Wilks. In their next attempt to get money the dauphin sells Jim in a local town. Huck decides that although society would be against it that he must save Jim. He soon learns that Jim was sold to Tom and Sally Phelps who happen to be the Aunt and Uncle of Tom Sawyer a good friend of Huck’s from his boyhood. Posing as Tom who is expected on a visit Huck begins to create a plan in order to sneak Jim out of captivity. Soon Tom arrives and poses as his younger brother Sid and agrees to help Huck free Jim using an overly elaborate plan. During Jim’s escape Tom is shot in the leg and Jim trades his own freedom in order to see to the wound. However soon after he is recaptured, Tom’s Aunt Polly arrives at the house and reveals Tom and Huck for who they really are. Tom then announces that he had known all along that Miss Watson had died two months prior and as a part of her will she freed Jim. However he chose to conceal this information in order to come up with an overly elaborate plan to free Jim. After that Huck refuses to be adopted by Tom’s family and travels west and that is the last we here of him.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a series of stories based on.. wait for it.. the adventures of a young boy named Huckleberry Finn. The novel begins with a description of Huck's living arrangements. He's currently staying with Widow Douglas who, along with her sister Miss Watson, have decided to help "sivilize" him. Huck objects to these attempts, as he would rather spend the rest of his days cavorting around with Tom Sawyer. (check out that vocab. word usage)
So miserable is he, that Huck elects to have Tom Sawyer sneak him out of Widow Douglas' care. However, he is soon thereafter kidnapped by Pap, his alcoholic father. As all great heroes do, Huck manage to avoid yet another set of living conditions which he finds less than exemplary by faking his own death. Shortly thereafter, Huckleberry Finn encounters Jim.
Jim, Miss Watson's slave, is attempting to escape to Cairo, a city in the North where he will be freed. While hiding from a thunderstorm, they encounter a raft to aid in their travels. They also come across an abandoned shack. Upon entering the shack, Huck notices a body lying on the floor. After examining this body, he realizes it is his father, who has been shot and killed. Huck later decides that he needs to go back into town to investigate.
While investigating, Huckleberry Finn comes across the news that Jim is being accused of murdering him, and a reward is available to anybody with information. He realizes that they must flee the scene. While sailing upstream, the two are briefly seperated. Huck seeks refuge by staying with a family called the Grangerfords. The Grangerfords have been feuding with another local family called the Sheperdsons for so long that nobody remembers exactly what the reason for their disdain was in the first place. This feud is cause for much irony and hilarity throughout the saga.
After reuniting with Jim, the voyage down the Mississippi continues. They eventually meet up with a pair of con-artists who claim to be a Duke and a King. Once they are done convincing Huck and Jim to allow them on the raft, a true motley crew has been assembled. The group decides to put on a play together, to little success. Once the townspeople realize that the Duke and King are really nothing of the sort, the entire crew is forced to depart once again.
Later on in the story, the King elects to turn Jim in, in exchange for the monetary reward which is being offered. Fortunately, Jim's new owners happen to be Tom Sawyer's aunt and uncle. Huck is infuriated with the King, and enlists Sawyer's help to free Jim. Rather than going with Huck's plan which is simple, safe, and likely to work, Tom Sawyer devises an intricate strategy which seems to be considerably more difficult than need be.
Tom Sawyer's complicated plan comes back to haunt him, as it leads to him being shot in the leg during the commotion. However, one might speculate that this sort of adventure is all Sawyer really wanted to begin with. During this scene, Jim takes charge and demands that somebody find a doctor. Jim giving orders to a white man marks an important turning point in the book.
We later find out that Jim has actually been free for months, due to the death of Ms. Watson. Tom Sawyer knew this all along, but neglected to reveal the information so as to generate adventure. Huck claims to be glad to be done documenting his journey, but he expresses a desire to depart for Indian Territory rather than be civilized.
Sorry this is really, really long. I was sort of on a roll. I hope it helps.
Well nobody wrote any Huck Finn themes so I decided to breifly go over a couple of themes:
Racism: Huck Finn is a satirical story meant to show how bad slavery is and how it is still prevalent in their society (Mark Twain wrote Huck Finn after slavery was abolised). He uses Huck and Jim to show how the roles should be as they evolve through their journey down the Mississippi. His satirical idea that slavery was metaphorically still in society can be seen by Jim technically having freedom basically the whole time when they were going down the river, but having to go through the racism of society because nobody knew he was fee until the end. Tom and Huck at the beginning show how white men were dominant, taking action and making decisions for Jim. Tom was especially cruel because he made Jim wait longer than necessary for freedom. He represents the typical white selfish man.
Morality: Huck's struggle for morality also relates to racism. Throughout the stoy, Huck is in conflict with himself, not knowing what the right thing to do. When meeting another boater, he almost gives up Jim because Jim is Miss Watson's "property." Other incidences like this with the Wilks, where Huck helps Mary Jane due to his changed morality shows Huck's personal growth. He thinks that what he's doing is bad, but he doesn't think it would be right to give Jim back. He eventually admits Jim is "white." This shows the growth in huck's morality to show that the social norms are not always right.
"Sivilized": This refers to the contrast between life away from contact of people on the mississippi compared to life in civilization. The book shows how civilized society is really bad obviously for one beause of the slavery that was everywhere. Some characters that definately represented corrupted civilization include Huck's father, who treated huck like property and was mean to him. Another would be the duke and the dauphin who con other people into getting their money. These are also white peoples who show how corrupt and evil they were. Lastly, Tom represents the selfish white man who wants to do things by the book of probably civilization. Through these, the readers see the corruption saw the hyprocrisy of civilization, which is supposedly supposed to be better
Superstition vs. religion: Those who are superstitious seem to be less educated (Africans).
6 comments:
Caroline Blanchard
Period 6
Quotes:
"The Widow Douglas she took me for a son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in a house all the time..." page 1
"Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy on a raft." page 116
"After all this long journey, and after all we did for them scoundrels... 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 dirty dollars." page 211
"And his Aunt Polly said Tom was right abour old Miss Watson setting Jim free in her will..." page 290
"Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before." page 293
Gabrielle Mosher
Pr.6
Characters:
1.Huckleberry Finn: Story’s protagonist; runs away from his dad and travels along the river with Jim, the runaway slave
2.Jim: Miss Watson’s runaway slave who accompanies Huck Finn down the Mississippi River
3.Tom Sawyer: Huck’s best friend; pretends to be “Sid Sawyer” when he and Huck live with Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas
4.Pap: Huck's father; abusive, alcoholic; returns early in the book to claim custody over Huck
5.Widow Douglas: Takes Huck in and tries to adopt and educate him
6.Miss Watson: Sister of Widow Douglas; owner of Jim
7.Col. Grangerford: Father of the Grangerford household; invites Huck to live with his family
8.Buck Grangerford: Colonel Grangerford’s youngest son; Huck’s age and friend; later killed in the family feud.
9.The Dauphin: “The King”; con artist; elder of two con men; sells Jim as runaway slave
10.The Duke: Con artist; younger of two con men
11.Boggs: The local drunk; shot by Colonel Sherburn (in town where Duke and Dauphin perform Shakespearean play)
12.Colonel Sherburn: Shoots Boggs; makes speech about cowardly men
13.Harvey Wilks: British Wilks brother; King impersonates until real Harvey Wilks arrives
14.William Wilks: The British Wilks brother; Duke impersonates until real William Wilks arrives
15.Mary Jane Wilks: Eldest Wilks daughter; red-headed girl Huck begins to like; sister to whom Huck tells the truth
17.Susan Wilks: Second eldest Wilks daughter
18.Joanna Wilks: Youngest Wilks daughter; “hare-lip”
19.Sally Phelps: Tom Sawyer's aunt
20.Silas Phelps: Tom Sawyer's uncle; farmer who purchases Jim from the King for forty dollars
Bayert S
Period 6
Plot Summary
The story begins with the protagonist, Huck Finn (see characters) who is living with his caretaker the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. They try to educate Huck and make him more civilized. Then Pap Finn, Huck’s father, comes into town and takes Huck back to a cabin outside of town where Huck feels as he is being kept prisoner. Soon Huck devises a plan to escape the cabin by sawing a hole in the wall and by killing a pig and throwing it into the water so no one would look for him. Huck also takes the canoe and begins paddling on the Mississippi River.
However when Huck reaches his destination and Jakson’s Island he is surprised to find that Jim, Miss Watson’s escaped slave is also there and soon the two begin to take care of one another. Later Jim tells Huck that he is planning to escape to Cairo, Illinois. After a violent storm on Jackson’s Island they are able to scrounge around a house that was washed away in the storm to find food, supplies and even a raft. It is also here where Huck encounters the dead body of Pap Finn. To find the remaining necessary supplies they need, Huck enters St. Petersburg dressed as a girl only to find out that there is a $300 bounty on Jim whom the townspeople are suspecting for the death of Huck so the two set off for Illinois immediately.
However the two never reach their destination because the raft collides with a steamship separating Huck from Jim. Huck goes into the local town and Huck is offered hospitality by a local family, the Grangerfords. There he becomes a part of a long rivalry between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, the rivalry reaches a climax when Sophia Grangerford runs off to be with Harney Shepherdson. This ignites a melee between the two families in which Huck witnesses his newly found friend Buck Grangerford getting shot and killed, Huck soon flees the scene becoming reunited with Jim and the two continue to raft down the Mississippi.
Their next adventure takes place later when they pick up two con artists that had been run out of town and they convince the two that they are the sons of an English duke and the dauphin of France. The two travel with Huck and Jim, committing small time schemes all the while. It is in one of these occasions when Huck witnesses the attempted lynching of a local townsman Colonel Sherburn after he shot and killed Mr. Boggs the town drunk.
The due and dauphins ultimate scheme happens when they reach word of a wealthy gentleman in the next town who has died and they pose to be his two brothers that have come for the inheritance. It is here where we start to see a change in Huck’s mentality as he views this conning as wrong and tries to return the money to the children of Peter Wilks.
In their next attempt to get money the dauphin sells Jim in a local town. Huck decides that although society would be against it that he must save Jim. He soon learns that Jim was sold to Tom and Sally Phelps who happen to be the Aunt and Uncle of Tom Sawyer a good friend of Huck’s from his boyhood. Posing as Tom who is expected on a visit Huck begins to create a plan in order to sneak Jim out of captivity. Soon Tom arrives and poses as his younger brother Sid and agrees to help Huck free Jim using an overly elaborate plan. During Jim’s escape Tom is shot in the leg and Jim trades his own freedom in order to see to the wound.
However soon after he is recaptured, Tom’s Aunt Polly arrives at the house and reveals Tom and Huck for who they really are. Tom then announces that he had known all along that Miss Watson had died two months prior and as a part of her will she freed Jim. However he chose to conceal this information in order to come up with an overly elaborate plan to free Jim. After that Huck refuses to be adopted by Tom’s family and travels west and that is the last we here of him.
Daniel Howard Porter I
Period Sicks.
Plot Summary:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a series of stories based on.. wait for it.. the adventures of a young boy named Huckleberry Finn. The novel begins with a description of Huck's living arrangements. He's currently staying with Widow Douglas who, along with her sister Miss Watson, have decided to help "sivilize" him. Huck objects to these attempts, as he would rather spend the rest of his days cavorting around with Tom Sawyer. (check out that vocab. word usage)
So miserable is he, that Huck elects to have Tom Sawyer sneak him out of Widow Douglas' care. However, he is soon thereafter kidnapped by Pap, his alcoholic father. As all great heroes do, Huck manage to avoid yet another set of living conditions which he finds less than exemplary by faking his own death. Shortly thereafter, Huckleberry Finn encounters Jim.
Jim, Miss Watson's slave, is attempting to escape to Cairo, a city in the North where he will be freed. While hiding from a thunderstorm, they encounter a raft to aid in their travels. They also come across an abandoned shack. Upon entering the shack, Huck notices a body lying on the floor. After examining this body, he realizes it is his father, who has been shot and killed. Huck later decides that he needs to go back into town to investigate.
While investigating, Huckleberry Finn comes across the news that Jim is being accused of murdering him, and a reward is available to anybody with information. He realizes that they must flee the scene. While sailing upstream, the two are briefly seperated. Huck seeks refuge by staying with a family called the Grangerfords. The Grangerfords have been feuding with another local family called the Sheperdsons for so long that nobody remembers exactly what the reason for their disdain was in the first place. This feud is cause for much irony and hilarity throughout the saga.
After reuniting with Jim, the voyage down the Mississippi continues. They eventually meet up with a pair of con-artists who claim to be a Duke and a King. Once they are done convincing Huck and Jim to allow them on the raft, a true motley crew has been assembled. The group decides to put on a play together, to little success. Once the townspeople realize that the Duke and King are really nothing of the sort, the entire crew is forced to depart once again.
Later on in the story, the King elects to turn Jim in, in exchange for the monetary reward which is being offered. Fortunately, Jim's new owners happen to be Tom Sawyer's aunt and uncle. Huck is infuriated with the King, and enlists Sawyer's help to free Jim. Rather than going with Huck's plan which is simple, safe, and likely to work, Tom Sawyer devises an intricate strategy which seems to be considerably more difficult than need be.
Tom Sawyer's complicated plan comes back to haunt him, as it leads to him being shot in the leg during the commotion. However, one might speculate that this sort of adventure is all Sawyer really wanted to begin with. During this scene, Jim takes charge and demands that somebody find a doctor. Jim giving orders to a white man marks an important turning point in the book.
We later find out that Jim has actually been free for months, due to the death of Ms. Watson. Tom Sawyer knew this all along, but neglected to reveal the information so as to generate adventure. Huck claims to be glad to be done documenting his journey, but he expresses a desire to depart for Indian Territory rather than be civilized.
Sorry this is really, really long. I was sort of on a roll. I hope it helps.
I thought I had the Huck Finn plot summary? -Porter
Well nobody wrote any Huck Finn themes so I decided to breifly go over a couple of themes:
Racism: Huck Finn is a satirical story meant to show how bad slavery is and how it is still prevalent in their society (Mark Twain wrote Huck Finn after slavery was abolised). He uses Huck and Jim to show how the roles should be as they evolve through their journey down the Mississippi. His satirical idea that slavery was metaphorically still in society can be seen by Jim technically having freedom basically the whole time when they were going down the river, but having to go through the racism of society because nobody knew he was fee until the end. Tom and Huck at the beginning show how white men were dominant, taking action and making decisions for Jim. Tom was especially cruel because he made Jim wait longer than necessary for freedom. He represents the typical white selfish man.
Morality: Huck's struggle for morality also relates to racism. Throughout the stoy, Huck is in conflict with himself, not knowing what the right thing to do. When meeting another boater, he almost gives up Jim because Jim is Miss Watson's "property." Other incidences like this with the Wilks, where Huck helps Mary Jane due to his changed morality shows Huck's personal growth. He thinks that what he's doing is bad, but he doesn't think it would be right to give Jim back. He eventually admits Jim is "white." This shows the growth in huck's morality to show that the social norms are not always right.
"Sivilized": This refers to the contrast between life away from contact of people on the mississippi compared to life in civilization. The book shows how civilized society is really bad obviously for one beause of the slavery that was everywhere. Some characters that definately represented corrupted civilization include Huck's father, who treated huck like property and was mean to him. Another would be the duke and the dauphin who con other people into getting their money. These are also white peoples who show how corrupt and evil they were. Lastly, Tom represents the selfish white man who wants to do things by the book of probably civilization. Through these, the readers see the corruption saw the hyprocrisy of civilization, which is supposedly supposed to be better
Superstition vs. religion: Those who are superstitious seem to be less educated (Africans).
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