Pete Yemc
Period 7
10/10/98
Huckleberry Finn
The Final 144 Pages
In this journal, I am going to reflect on mainly two aspects of the book (but who knows, maybe more), Tom Sawyer versus Huckleberry Finn, and the aspects of Southern slavery revealed and debated in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. However, at the end of Huck Finn, GeorgeÊP. Elliott (of Barnard College) writes a beautiful afterword which touches on some of the subjects which I wish to discuss. So here is my "Notice" (Similar to TwainÕs Notice on page 10): I read the afterword and understood its points, but what I write here is of my own thought and any connection between the two is merely coincidental.
So anyway, when Tom Sawyer reemerges into Huck's life on page 219, he brings with him forty-eight pages of pointless imagination which all but falters HuckÕs original plan to save Jim. Thus in these seven chapters, we the readers discover all of the numerous differences that Twain had not made prevalent in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. My outlook on the two very different boys specifically boils down to this; Tom Sawyer tries to make his life into an adventure, while HuckÕs life is an adventure, whether he likes it or not. Tom is the more book smart of the two, while Huck is the more street smart (When Huck questions the reason why the bed leg must be sawed off, "a body could lift up the bedstead and slip the chain off." TomÕs response is "You can get up the infant-schooliest ways of going at a thing. Why, hainÕt you ever read any books at all" [page 233]). Tom purposefully tries to make his life more interesting, because it is already too ordered and structured. Tom has a family and goes to school regularly. If he ever tries to defy someone, it is merely the adult figures closest to him (Aunt Polly). Huck, on the other hand, is forced to live his life as an adventure, because it has never been ordered. It is because of this that Huck will probably end up questioning and escaping from his society, while Tom will probably conform to his society and become just what Aunt Polly or Widow Douglas would have wanted him to become.
My second topic of discussion is illustrated in the book as part of HuckÕs defiance of his society. Where Mark Twain may have used Tom Sawyer as a coming-of-age story, Huck Finn has the definite moral implication of antislavery. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the problem of his compassion versus his societal implications. Whilst on the river, HuckÕs refuge of escape, he is able to see the commendable side of the Negro slave. But when Huck has to approach or think about the shore, he is hit with the moral implications of what he is doing; he is freeing a slave. This is a crime so horrendous, that people were actually shot for committing it. Several times Huck faces points where he questions his own actions, but upon reflecting "[he] couldn't seem to strike no places to harden [him] against[Jim]" (page 209). Finally just prior to going to rescue Jim from Uncle Silas, Huck makes his final decision on the matter, defying a major aspect of his society (besides slavery) by condemning himself to hell.
With Huck Finn debating his values like this, it leads me to question what Mark TwainÕs own views on slavery were. Geographically, when Mark Twain was Samuel Clemens, he lived in Missouri and probably was brought up with some of the slavery values. However, upon establishing his pen name, Mark Twain lived in Connecticut, right in the heart of abolitionist territory. Because of his relocation, I wonder whether he was just like Huck Finn (making this book an autobiography), who questioned to values of his own world.
All right, because I have to fill space, and like I said, I might discuss other topics besides slavery and Tom vs. Huck, here is my comparison of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (which I have also read). The two books reflected greatly on the two characters from which they were titled. Tom Sawyer's book had a set plot with a set antagonist (Injun Joe). Tom and Huck had witnessed a murder and found the gold which had been the cause of that murder (and Injun Joe wanted to kill the two young-uns). In contrast, Huck Finn's book did not have a set plot or antagonist, but was rather a description of the adventures of the two escapees while they travelled down the river. These two styles of plot reflected on the characters. Tom Sawyer prefers his life to be like a book and Tom Sawyer was written in the distinct form of a book. Huck Finn's life becomes an adventure like a book but Huck Finn is written more randomly than a book. This is just like the character of Huck, which is very random.