Monday, October 13, 2008
Rattlesnakes, Dense Fog, and Murderers- Oh My!
Esteemed ladies and gentlemen of this class, what advice do you have for Huck for the next time he is pretending to be a girl? (This is probably an easier question for the ladies of the class to address...)How has Huck been battling with his conscience in this section? (Specifically with the murderers and his thoughts about Jim...) What is Huck's internal conflict regarding Jim? How does the conflict illustrate the theme of inherited prejudice vs. respect for human dignity? What contrasts do you notice between natural life on the river and the "civilized" life of society in this section? Going along with the theme of truth vs. falsehood, what do you notice about Huck's lies? What does he lie about? In which situations are the results favorable? Which lies come back to haunt him? Do you see a pattern here? *As always, you may choose to address any of these questions or float off in your own direction...(attempted river pun)
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4 comments:
This section of the novel is very interesting because we actually learn, despite doubts before, the Huck has a conscience. One act that Huck doesn't feel guilty for is his time as a drag queen. He feels more embarrassed, I'd say. In the passage, nothing is mentioned about Huck changing his voice to be feminine in any way. He also hasn't properly bathed in quite some time, and is wearing old, dusty clothes. Just imagine a dirty and smelly kid trying to act like a girl, with absolutely no voice change at all. Luckily, he actually tries to walk like a woman, but this attempt was probably a failure also. Huck needs to clean up, talk like a girl, and just ACT more girly. As pointed out by Mrs. Loftus, Huck shouldn't have been showing off his boyishness by throwing lead with perfect aim.
Huck actually has a conscience! We learn this interesting fact after the incident with the rattlesnake. Huck's laying of the dead rattlesnake by the unsuspecting Jim seemed harmless at first, until you realize that a rattlesnake can find the body of it's dead mate (go figure). Jim is bitten by the dead rattlesnake's mate, and Huck feels guilty, but makes sure to cover up for his dangerous joke. Huck's true conscience shines through after he and Jim abandon the men on the wreck. Huck actually feels bad about leaving the murderers on the shipwreck to die, and he tries to remedy the problem. You see just how bad Huck feels after the men on the ship perished.
Just goes to show that even the most mischievous person can actually have a guilty conscience...
Wow....Steph you wrote a LOT.
Yeah I'm not gonna match that...
I though the internal conflict that Huck has was quite interesting. He is torn between respecting Jim's human dignity and turning Jim in. Huck has been raised to treat slaves as property, and so he feels obligated to turn Jim in. He actually feels quite bad about it. Huck also has a great respect for human dignity which comes into conflict here. He respects Jim as a person, which creates quite a predicitment for poor Huck. The moral limits that society has set for Huck is in conflict with his good nature. Hmm, what to do?
I am going to have to agree with Corey. During the whole time that Huck is with Jim, he doesn't know whether he should treat him like a slave or like a true human being. Just like Corey said, Huck feels obligated to treat Jim as a slave. However, by the action (or lack of action) that Huck took by not turning Jim in proves that he views Jim as a friend and companion and strays from the society's view. After all, the two are basically stranded from society anyways, so Huck probably figured it wouldn't really matter. This issue also leads to some of Huck's lies, who often found himself stretching the truth to protect Jim.
Huck clearly does not know much about girls. All he did really was dress like a girl. It especially helps that if he is going to lie about his real identity or name, he should remember it AND stick to it. I also think that if Huck is going to use a thread and needle, he should actually know how to use it, instead of pretending to know. He should have left it alone altogether. Huck was clever enough to think of plausible stories right on the spot of where and who he was. Overall, though, his disguise as a girl was pretty lame.
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