“sivilization” vs. civilization: Huck’s two different worlds are sivilization and civilization. Sivilization is what Huck perceives society as, and civilization is what they actually are like. Sparknotes says, “Twain implies that it is impossible for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how “civilized” that society believes and proclaims itself to be.”
Hypocrisy of Christianity: Example: “Ben Rogers said he couldn't get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settled the thing. They agreed to get together and fix a day as soon as they could, and then we elected Tom Sawyer first captain and Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so started home” (Twain 10).
Religion vs. Superstition: African Americans are depicted as superstitious while whites are depicted as religious.
Real violence vs. Fake Violence: When Huck and all of his friends have their meeting about the gang of robbers, they talk a lot about what they are going to do. Tom says, “Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn't let on. Kill the women? No; nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and you're always as polite as pie to them; and by and by they fall in love with you, and never want to go home any more" (9). But then when Huck meets the Grangerfords and Shepardsons, he experiences real violence which results in all the of the male Grangerfords dead.
Internalized Oppression: Example: Jim letting two children take advantage of him because he feels inferior.
Perpetuating Stereotypes: The way Jim talks in the novel shows the stereotype that blacks are unintelligent. “Say, who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn’ hear sumf’n. Well, I know what I’s gwyne to do: I’s gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it ag’in” (5).
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn – plot The book starts out by giving a brief background of the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The adventures of Tom Sawyer end with Huck finding a hidden stash of robber’s gold, and Huck ends up with a good amount of money. Huck lives with the widow Douglass who lives with her sister Miss. Watson, in St. Petersburg Missouri near the Mississippi river. Huck is still getting used to living with them and so far doesn’t like the life that rich kids live, with church, school, and manners. In time Huck learns to appreciate the life that he is living and starts to prefer it to his old life of poverty. Tom Sawyer invites Huck to join his gang of robbers, and Huck is happy to join, until his father shows up in town and eventually takes Huck back to his house by force. Huck is under constant watch and kept locked up when alone so he doesn’t run away from his father. Huck is able to escape on a canoe he found floating down the river. Huck kills a pig and uses the blood to make it look like he had been murdered. Huck then takes the canoe to an island he knows that nobody ever goes to. On that island he finds Jim, a slave that belongs to Miss. Watson. Huck and Jim find a raft with a house on it; they loot the house and find a dead body on it and Jim doesn’t let Huck see the man’s face. Jim and Huck leave the island because they heard someone is going to search it. They head down river on the raft and decide to leave it at the mouth of the Ohio River so they could ultimately head north where Jim will be free. Huck struggles with the idea of helping a runaway slave the whole way down river. Huck and Jim miss the Ohio River and when a steam boat hits their raft they are separated. Huck ends up with the Grangerfords, a rich family in the south who are involved in a family conflict with the Shepherdsons. Huck finds Jim with the raft and they resume going down river together. They later rescue two men who are being chased by bandits their names are The Duke and The Dauphin. The Duke and the Dauphin pull several scams when they are with Jim and Huck. One scam is when they pose as Peter Wilks brothers who he left a lot of money to in his will; Huck is particularly disturbed with this scam and tells Peter Wilks sister about it. After several more scams the Duke and the Dauphin sell Jim to a farmer and tell him that he is a runaway with a large reward. Huck decides to free Jim, and realizes that the people who are holding Jim are Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle. They mistake Huck for Tom and when tom arrives he poses as Toms little brother, Sid. Tom makes an overly elaborate plan to free Jim, which Huck follows. They succeed in freeing Jim but Tom is shot by someone who is chasing them. Jim gives up his freedom to help Tom, and he ends up in the same place as before. Tom after being shot tells everyone that Jim has been free all along because Miss. Watson stated in her will to free him. Jim later tells Huck That the man they found on the raft that had been shot, when they were on the island was his dad. Toms aunt offers to adopt Huck but Huck decides to head west. David Ristau
Huck Finn Characters: (First Half) Huck: son of Pap, Tom Sawyers best friend. He runs away to escape his drunk, abusive father, forced to survive traveling down the Mississippi with Jim, a runaway slave. Huck is very contemplative, clever, and makes his own conclusions despite the societal norms he grew up with; he is also very influenced at times especially by tom. The time Huck spends in outcast, and running, makes him skeptical about the mainstream ideas of society and his instincts force him to question what he’s been taught. Quotes: “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”, “I knowed he was white inside”, “It was a close place. I took . . . up [the letter I’d written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it.” Jim: Miss Watsons slave, very superstitious, practical, and selfless; Jim also shows Huck that his compassion and kindness has nothing to do with his race, he’s the best role model for Huck. Jims protection of Huck, when he shields him from Pap’s corpse, plays along with Toms games, and loyalty to both boys reveals that Jim he’s one of few good characters. Since Jim is a black runaway slave, he must do as the other white characters tell him, even Huck which is ironic because Huck is much younger, poor, and uneducated. Jim is an example if internalized oppression. “Jim he couldn’t see no sense in most of it, but he allowed we was white folks and knowed better than him; so he was satisfied, and said he would do it all just as Tom said.” (248)“I never see a n** that was a better nuss or faithfuler, and yet he was ricking his freedom to do it…” (285) Tom Sawyer: Tom is Huck’s best friend, but has been raised very differently, he is wealthier and trusts the beliefs he’s been taught along with the romanticism in storybooks; he loves adventure but unlike Huck, (ironically)Tom creates his own by following and adhering to rules that are more concerned with style. Tom’s outrageous and satirical plotting to rescue Jim, demonstrate the real inhumanity of society has instilled in Tom. “Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides” (238) Pap: Huck’s father is a drunk, illiterate, racist and cruel man who abuses Huck and disapproves of Huck receiving any education, he represents that despite fact that he’s one of the most evil characters in the novel, he simply gets away with everything because he’s white.
Characters (Second Half) Widow Douglas & Miss Watson: Two sister who adopt Huck; Widow’s values are less harsh; she’s more mild in her discipline and patient with Huck, while Miss Watson is more strict and religious, and also owned slaves. Quotes: “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me…”, “Her sister, Miss Watson…she worked me middling hard for about an hour, then Widow made her ease up.”, “She [Miss Watson] said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn’t say it for the whole word; she was going to live so as to go to the good place.” (Twain 2-3) Duke & King: Two frauds that Jim and Huck meet down the river, the younger man claims to be the heir of Duke of Bridgewater, and the older man says he’s the lost son of King Louis XVI of France, and together they create schemes to fool people like when they pretend to be the brothers of a deceased man to steal his family will. The Grangerfords: The Grangerfords is a family that takes Huck in after his raft gets destroyed and he’s separated from Jim. They are seemingly kind, and generous hosts to Huck, though they own many slave/servants and have a violent and constant feud with a local family, the Shepherdsons. This is an example of twain satirizing not only romanticism like family honor, but also mocking Christianity. Quotes: “a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other mans brother kills him; then the other brothers…and by and by everybody’s killed off, and there ain’t no more feud.” Says Buck (107), “Next Sunday we all went to church…the men took their guns along…it was pretty ornery preaching-all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness…” (109)
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Thank you to Reid, David, Maddie, Maria - Per 5
Final group -- Finally: Maria, David, Aditi
Themes in Huckleberry Finn:
“sivilization” vs. civilization:
Huck’s two different worlds are sivilization and civilization. Sivilization is what Huck perceives society as, and civilization is what they actually are like. Sparknotes says, “Twain implies that it is impossible for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how “civilized” that society believes and proclaims itself to be.”
Hypocrisy of Christianity:
Example: “Ben Rogers said he couldn't get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settled the thing. They agreed to get together and fix a day as soon as they could, and then we elected Tom Sawyer first captain and Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so started home” (Twain 10).
Religion vs. Superstition:
African Americans are depicted as superstitious while whites are depicted as religious.
Real violence vs. Fake Violence:
When Huck and all of his friends have their meeting about the gang of robbers, they talk a lot about what they are going to do. Tom says, “Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn't let on. Kill the women? No; nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and you're always as polite as pie to them; and by and by they fall in love with you, and never want to go home any more" (9). But then when Huck meets the Grangerfords and Shepardsons, he experiences real violence which results in all the of the male Grangerfords dead.
Internalized Oppression:
Example: Jim letting two children take advantage of him because he feels inferior.
Perpetuating Stereotypes:
The way Jim talks in the novel shows the stereotype that blacks are unintelligent. “Say, who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn’ hear sumf’n. Well, I know what I’s gwyne to do: I’s gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it ag’in” (5).
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn – plot
The book starts out by giving a brief background of the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The adventures of Tom Sawyer end with Huck finding a hidden stash of robber’s gold, and Huck ends up with a good amount of money. Huck lives with the widow Douglass who lives with her sister Miss. Watson, in St. Petersburg Missouri near the Mississippi river. Huck is still getting used to living with them and so far doesn’t like the life that rich kids live, with church, school, and manners. In time Huck learns to appreciate the life that he is living and starts to prefer it to his old life of poverty. Tom Sawyer invites Huck to join his gang of robbers, and Huck is happy to join, until his father shows up in town and eventually takes Huck back to his house by force. Huck is under constant watch and kept locked up when alone so he doesn’t run away from his father. Huck is able to escape on a canoe he found floating down the river. Huck kills a pig and uses the blood to make it look like he had been murdered. Huck then takes the canoe to an island he knows that nobody ever goes to. On that island he finds Jim, a slave that belongs to Miss. Watson. Huck and Jim find a raft with a house on it; they loot the house and find a dead body on it and Jim doesn’t let Huck see the man’s face. Jim and Huck leave the island because they heard someone is going to search it. They head down river on the raft and decide to leave it at the mouth of the Ohio River so they could ultimately head north where Jim will be free. Huck struggles with the idea of helping a runaway slave the whole way down river. Huck and Jim miss the Ohio River and when a steam boat hits their raft they are separated. Huck ends up with the Grangerfords, a rich family in the south who are involved in a family conflict with the Shepherdsons. Huck finds Jim with the raft and they resume going down river together. They later rescue two men who are being chased by bandits their names are The Duke and The Dauphin. The Duke and the Dauphin pull several scams when they are with Jim and Huck. One scam is when they pose as Peter Wilks brothers who he left a lot of money to in his will; Huck is particularly disturbed with this scam and tells Peter Wilks sister about it. After several more scams the Duke and the Dauphin sell Jim to a farmer and tell him that he is a runaway with a large reward. Huck decides to free Jim, and realizes that the people who are holding Jim are Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle. They mistake Huck for Tom and when tom arrives he poses as Toms little brother, Sid. Tom makes an overly elaborate plan to free Jim, which Huck follows. They succeed in freeing Jim but Tom is shot by someone who is chasing them. Jim gives up his freedom to help Tom, and he ends up in the same place as before. Tom after being shot tells everyone that Jim has been free all along because Miss. Watson stated in her will to free him. Jim later tells Huck That the man they found on the raft that had been shot, when they were on the island was his dad. Toms aunt offers to adopt Huck but Huck decides to head west.
David Ristau
Huck Finn Characters: (First Half)
Huck: son of Pap, Tom Sawyers best friend. He runs away to escape his drunk, abusive father, forced to survive traveling down the Mississippi with Jim, a runaway slave. Huck is very contemplative, clever, and makes his own conclusions despite the societal norms he grew up with; he is also very influenced at times especially by tom. The time Huck spends in outcast, and running, makes him skeptical about the mainstream ideas of society and his instincts force him to question what he’s been taught. Quotes: “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”, “I knowed he was white inside”, “It was a close place. I took . . . up [the letter I’d written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it.”
Jim: Miss Watsons slave, very superstitious, practical, and selfless; Jim also shows Huck that his compassion and kindness has nothing to do with his race, he’s the best role model for Huck. Jims protection of Huck, when he shields him from Pap’s corpse, plays along with Toms games, and loyalty to both boys reveals that Jim he’s one of few good characters. Since Jim is a black runaway slave, he must do as the other white characters tell him, even Huck which is ironic because Huck is much younger, poor, and uneducated. Jim is an example if internalized oppression. “Jim he couldn’t see no sense in most of it, but he allowed we was white folks and knowed better than him; so he was satisfied, and said he would do it all just as Tom said.” (248)“I never see a n** that was a better nuss or faithfuler, and yet he was ricking his freedom to do it…” (285)
Tom Sawyer: Tom is Huck’s best friend, but has been raised very differently, he is wealthier and trusts the beliefs he’s been taught along with the romanticism in storybooks; he loves adventure but unlike Huck, (ironically)Tom creates his own by following and adhering to rules that are more concerned with style. Tom’s outrageous and satirical plotting to rescue Jim, demonstrate the real inhumanity of society has instilled in Tom. “Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides” (238)
Pap: Huck’s father is a drunk, illiterate, racist and cruel man who abuses Huck and disapproves of Huck receiving any education, he represents that despite fact that he’s one of the most evil characters in the novel, he simply gets away with everything because he’s white.
Characters (Second Half)
Widow Douglas & Miss Watson: Two sister who adopt Huck; Widow’s values are less harsh; she’s more mild in her discipline and patient with Huck, while Miss Watson is more strict and religious, and also owned slaves. Quotes: “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me…”, “Her sister, Miss Watson…she worked me middling hard for about an hour, then Widow made her ease up.”, “She [Miss Watson] said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn’t say it for the whole word; she was going to live so as to go to the good place.” (Twain 2-3)
Duke & King: Two frauds that Jim and Huck meet down the river, the younger man claims to be the heir of Duke of Bridgewater, and the older man says he’s the lost son of King Louis XVI of France, and together they create schemes to fool people like when they pretend to be the brothers of a deceased man to steal his family will.
The Grangerfords: The Grangerfords is a family that takes Huck in after his raft gets destroyed and he’s separated from Jim. They are seemingly kind, and generous hosts to Huck, though they own many slave/servants and have a violent and constant feud with a local family, the Shepherdsons. This is an example of twain satirizing not only romanticism like family honor, but also mocking Christianity. Quotes: “a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other mans brother kills him; then the other brothers…and by and by everybody’s killed off, and there ain’t no more feud.” Says Buck (107), “Next Sunday we all went to church…the men took their guns along…it was pretty ornery preaching-all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness…” (109)
maria
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