Huck Finn-Theme

One of the major themes of Huck Finn would be that society is not always right in their way of thinking. Huck has grown up to learn that black people aren't the same as white people and shouldn't be treated the same either. Huck goes with his true feelings and doesn't tell on Jim when he thinks he should because he believed he was doing something very wrong by helping Jim out of slavery, when in actuality he is doing the morally right thing. Society fills kids with their beliefs and because kids know no different, they think it is right then. One thing Huck learned "Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an all," (pg.115) which was the part in the book when he thought he was doing the wrong thing. He also said he was going to go to hell and didn't care because he wanted so desperately to help Jim. In reality, we know that helping the blacks wasn't a sin, but an act of kindness and you wouldn't go to hell for it. So the major life lesson we get from this is that you can't always listen to people in society and the people you associate with, do what you want to do, and what you think is right. You don't always have to follow the crowd, which is like the writings in Henry David Thoreau in saying you can rebel and do your own thing.

Huck Finn-Chapter 39-40/Summary

At the beginning of this chapter Tom and Huck go and catch their mice and store them under Aunt Sally's bed and they got out so they had to catch more mice. They also caught spiders and snakes. He also talks about how much Aunt Sally is jumpy whenever she sees a spider, snake, or mouse. Then they put a note on the front and back door that scared the family and then they had another note that said that it was an Indian that was putting the notes out and they were coming to get Jim. They put the letter in the collar of the watchman by the back door because he was asleep. Everyone was getting uneasy and kind of scared for when the Indians came. Then in the night when they were going to leave they were getting a lunch ready to take with them, but realized they forgot the butter. So Tom sent Huck down to get it from the cellar and on his way back up, Aunt Sally caught him up and wanted answers to why he was down there but he couldn't come up with anything so she sent him to a room which was full of townspeople ready to attack the Indians when they came. Huck is now nervous and sweating so when Aunt Sally came back to question him he still didn't know what to say and the butter started to melt and she saw it and freaked out that his brains were coming out and then took off his hat and saw the butter. She wasn't mad that he took the butter just relieved that his brains weren't coming out of his head. She sent him back up to bed and he snuck out the window. He told Tom everything and so they had to leave really quick but they heard the men outside the door trying to get in. Then they said they were going to hide in the shed and when the Indians came they would get them right there, so they came into the shed and Jim, Huck and Tom snuck out through the hole, in that order, because Tom said that was the way it had to be. Then they were in the lean to and listening until it was clear to run to the raft. They took off and there was shooting at them and they let the dogs go after them but when the dogs realized it was just them, they kept running on in search of the Indians. Then they got to the raft and started floating down the river and Tom told them he got shot in the leg. Jim and Huck decided they needed to get a doctor to Tom and Tom didn't like the idea, but finally had a plan that he would agree to. Huck was to tie up the doctor and blindfold him and walk him around town for awhile until he was lost and then take him to where they were and search him and take away his chalk. Huck agreed to his commands.

Huck Finn-Summary

Tom and Huck have all these things that they need to get for Jim and one of the things was a spoon. Aunt Sally noticed that one of them were gone and during breakfast they also realized a bunch of other things were gone. Everyone kept finding excuses for the things missing and never blamed it on someone stealing it. They ended up finding the spoon in Uncle Silas's jacket and then Huck and Tom decided that he wasn't a reliable person so they would have to use Aunt Sally to get the things to Jim. They then played a joke on Aunt Sally with the spoons. She would count them and there would be 10, but when she counted again there would be 9 and that went on for awhile. They also did that with the other items that Jim needed. Also in these chapters they were with Jim and they went to go get him a rock so he could write what he wanted to on it, but it was too heavy so they snuck him out of the hut and Jim helped them get the rock into the hut. They also made a pie for the black slave watching Jim, for his witch project, and they put the rope in it for Jim. Then they were with Jim in his hut and Tom kept saying everything that Jim needed to do while he was a prisoner because all the things he was saying is what real prisoners do. They were absurd things some examples would be the rattle snake, spiders, play music for the spiders, have a mouse, watering a plant with his tears and scratching words into a rock. Jim didn't really like the idea of any of these things, but he said that he wasn't being a very good prisoner so he would just do what he was told from now on. I thought everything Tom was saying and having Jim do was funny. They are things that are so ridiculous it was funny.

Huck Finn-deformed conscience

One major influence in Huck's life would be the people he grew up around. For example he has been taught that black people aren't equal to white people and that they should never be treated the same as white people. He also thought that they have different feelings than white people until he is around Jim more. One time Huck got to thinking about what he was doing by helping Jim escape, and that got on his conscience about how he was doing a horrible thing and was going to hell for it, which is ironic because we know that in actuality he was doing the best thing possible any morally right person would do. His father has also deformed his conscience because he grew up with his father and watched him do and say things that weren't right, but how was Huck to know any different? One example would be when Huck was going to take something and he called it "borrowing" because that is what his father always had said. Tom explained to Huck that it was actually stealing, not borrowing. There are many things that he has picked up from his father that he doesn't actually realize because he thought they were okay.

I believe that these influences are still in the world today. People don't even realize how much society and family members influence our everyday life. We watch everyone around us and learn from them what is right and what is wrong, even if their deceptions of right and wrong are wrong, and we know no different. People speak their mind all the time and we take all this information and store it into our own minds because we think it is right.

There are a lot of forces available to try and change the "deformed conscience" and there are also many more rights for black people. Before black people couldn't even do something without asking and now they are running for president and I think it is a wonderful thing that makes people realize they aren't any different than white people are. Of course, there are still racist people in the world today and they have their mind set about their beliefs because that is how they grew up, that is what they learned.

Huck Finn-Chapters 31-34

I think that Huck is a round character because he has undergone so many psychological changes throughout the book. I think his decision making and the way he views the world has changed. At the beginning of the book he was naive and didn't understand right from wrong. After the king and the duke, I think he realizes what you do affects other people no matter right or wrong. He even feels bad when the king and the duke take the money so he tells Mary Jane everything about them. Another example would be how Huck now has more feelings toward Jim than he had before when he just thought of him as a slave. He cares what happens to him because of all they have been through together.

I believe Jim is a flat character because we really haven't seen him change much at all. In fact the only times we do see him, he is still naive and doesn't fully understand what is going on. One example would be when he thought the king and the duke were really a king and a duke. Another time was when the slave showed Huck and Tom the runaway black person who ended up being Jim and Jim shouted out like he knew them, which wasn't a smart idea and could have got them caught. Jim has always cared for Huck, and still does after all they've been through together.

Huckleberry Finn-Chapters 24-26

Huck is changing as a person throughout this whole book. I can tell this because when the book first started he was young and naive and didn't quite understand right from wrong yet. In these chapters you can tell dramatically that he understands what is right and wrong because he is going to take the money from the frauds so he can give it back to Mary Jane and her sisters because he realizes it isn't right.

Huck has been able to learn through his experiences what is right and what is wrong. He has been able to learn more morals and I think he realizes how good the widow was to him because everything he is learning now she had tried to teach him. He realizes that what the king and the duke are doing is wrong and he feels bad for Mary Jane and the other girls so that shows that he is maturing and understanding what is happening around him because before he was young and innocent and didn't fully understand. Jim still thinks that they are really a king and a duke and Huck never even cares to tell him the truth because it would be too hard to explain, which shows he understands more than Jim does in the real world now and he is only a young boy while Jim is older.

Huck and Jim were really close when they first found each other on the island, but now that Huck is growing up and sometimes I wonder if he doesn't wonder if they really should be doing what they are doing. After Huck and Jim run into the king and the duke, Huck doesn't have much to do with Jim now because he is always with the king and the duke on land and because Jim is black he can't go with them everywhere. I don't even know what Jim did while they were on land being Mr.Wilk's brothers. But if the king and the duke weren't involved with them I believe Jim and Huck would be closer. Jim still thinks that they are really a king and a duke and Huck never even cares to tell him the truth because it would be too hard to explain, which shows he understands more than Jim does in the real world now.

Huckleberry-chapter 23

They do a play, which isn't much of a play. The king crawls across the stage naked and all painted up colorful. The crowd got mad but since they didn't want to look stupid they told everyone it was a good play and so the second night they had a good crowd again. The third night though they had a big crowd but they all had rotten fruit and dead animals to throw at them. They collected the fees and went to the raft and got away from that town. I think Twain is trying to make fun of people who are sneaky and get away with things that other people don't realize right in front of their faces. It seems so obvious but people don't always realize.

Then they are floating down the river and Jim is talking about how he had beat his daughter because he didn't realize she was deaf and dumb. He feels bad and Huck says "i do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their'n." This shows just how much he has learned in his life that black people don't have the same feelings as white people and that they aren't exactly the same as white people even though they are.