English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn
King of wishful thinking
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kendall Brown
As a young boy who is prone to fits of the imagination, Huck tends to create fantasies, which involve the people who are closest to him. Because of his unstable childhood, he craves the comfort of living with one person whom he can call his family. While Pap’s background in...
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Posted by kbrown2 on November 03, 2003 at 11:15 PM
Huck understands the Subtleties of Life
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jennifer Bernstein
Huck realizes that sometimes telling a “stretcher” may be the right thing to do. When Huck tells one to two slave hunters, for example, he does so to save Jim, who he knows depends on him and trusts him. Huck proves that knows that the law and social conventions dictate...
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Posted by jbernste on October 28, 2003 at 09:53 AM
Contrasting Power
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Smith
Both Jim and Huck hold contrasting power in their relationship, as one is a child and is white, while the other is an adult but is black. Particularly, Huck doesn’t know what to think about Jim’s intelligence, as Huck both looks up to Jim and looks down to him as...
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Posted by asmith9 on October 28, 2003 at 09:51 AM
What's So Great About Tom Sawyer
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Meredeth Lammert
Through his idolization and constant praise of Tom Sawyer’s bravery and greatness, Huck makes Tom ‘seem’ extremely brave and heroic where in actuality Tom is a playful and adventuresome product of good books, a good imagination, and a taste for mischief. The games the band of robbers play is very...
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Posted by mlammert on October 28, 2003 at 09:50 AM
Huck & Pap
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Merrie Railsback
The difference between the way Huck sees Pap, and the way his father really is is striking. The outside world sees Pap as a druken, abusive father, which from Huck's accounts we know has much truth to it. Huck, however, seems to have a surprisingly good regard for his father....
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Posted by mrailsba on October 28, 2003 at 09:40 AM
Huck's Presentation of Pap
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn
The disparity between Huck's presentation of pap through his personal narrative and the actuality of pap's behavior can be subtly traced through Huck's comments. Huck makes every effort to play down the danger he faces from his father, assuring the reader that he can handle any of pap's violent...
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Posted by ebutton on October 28, 2003 at 09:39 AM
Death...What's the big deal?
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Julie Calareso
“I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead. I heard an owl, away off, who-whooing about somebody that was dead, and a dog crying about somebody that was going to die.” (16). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s world is filled to the brim with images and...
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Posted by jcalares on October 28, 2003 at 09:34 AM
How Pap is viewed
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Mike Stratton
Huck when stolen away to be a slave to his father is not entirely opposed to the life style being forced upon him. “Two months or more run along, and my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I didn’t see how I’d ever got to like it...
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Posted by mstratto on October 28, 2003 at 09:31 AM
The "Stretchers" of the King and the Duke
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Paul
“I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another” (13). This quote, taken from the opening of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, introduces the reader to a theme that will be prevalent throughout the novel—lying. Although “stretchers”—Twain’s term for lies—are ubiquitous (and are often fabricated by Huck, himself), of the...
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Posted by apaul on October 28, 2003 at 09:20 AM
Money Can’t Buy Happiness…and Huck Knows It
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dan Herzberg
To most people, money is an essential part of life. Among other uses, we use it to buy food, pay for our education, and insure we have adequate healthcare. Yet to Huck, money is simply not all that important. When he talks about the 6,000 dollars he has— a massive...
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Posted by dherzber on October 28, 2003 at 09:11 AM
Huck's Affinity to Pap
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Drew Fulton
Huck’s ties to his father and his respect for this man are somewhat startling. As they spend time in the cabin in the woods we get to see the man that Huck calls Pap. After two months Huck says “and it warn’t long after that till I was used to...
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Posted by afulton on October 28, 2003 at 09:00 AM
Tom Sawyer in Huck Finn
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jeff Nolin
From the way Huck is telling the story, Tom Sawyer seems to take on a leadership role amongst the other kids and they all look up to him and seem willing to take part in all of his ideas. The kids seem to think his ideas are good and that...
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Posted by jnolin on October 28, 2003 at 08:58 AM
Pap and Disparity
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Krippner
A dichotomy exists between the father character of “pap” Huck relates to us and the type of father we can deduce Huck actually possesses. Despite the abusive way in which Huck’s father treat’s him, Huck never actually verbally abuses him to his audience, and is often ready to appease him....
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Posted by kkrippne on October 28, 2003 at 08:11 AM
Huck and Heroism
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Monica Ruzicka
Huck’s muddled conception of morality results from his undefined status in society, as he is not an orphan, per se, but he also does not have a settled residence and family. He experiences the rigid rules of life with the widow as well as the unruly lifestyle of his father,...
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Posted by mruzicka on October 28, 2003 at 07:42 AM
Huck's Bigotry
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Ryan Helminiak
In Huckleberry Finn, it may sometimes seem like Jim isn't very clever, but in reality Jim has an unusual capacity for discernment. Huck is not an innocent narrator on whom we can rely for nonbiased narration. In reality, Huck is very biased against black people, and thus we shouldn't accept...
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Posted by rhelmini on October 28, 2003 at 07:22 AM
Ethanol and Hallucination
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Aki Makino
Although Pap is depicted as a worthless and hallucinating father, in reality he deeply cares about Huck more than anything. At first, Pap may appear to be a father who swindles money from his son for booze (Twain, 33), and who does not believe in education (Twain, 31). In...
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Posted by amakino on October 28, 2003 at 05:33 AM
Tom's reality versus Huck's reality
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jeb Bobseine
There is a great disparity in the seriousness which Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn approach certain incidents. The disparity first appears in the scene with Jim, when Huck and Tom are almost discovered by Miss Watson’s slave. After Jim falls asleep, Tom wants to tie Jim to the tree, but...
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Posted by jbobsein on October 28, 2003 at 02:41 AM
Be True to Your Feelings
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Nicole Colucci
There is a growing disparity between Huck’s treatment of Jim and his true feelings toward Jim as an individual. In the early chapters, there are multiple instances in which Huck disparages Jim through either demeaning comments in his narrative or through his debasing schemes. He makes remarks such as “I...
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Posted by ncolucci on October 28, 2003 at 02:24 AM
No Stock in Dead People
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Matthew Roy
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the topic of death is ubiquitous. In the beginning, the widow Douglas falls short in teaching Huck about Moses because she happens to mentions “that Moses had been dead a considerable time,” and Huck “don’t take no stock in dead people”...
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Posted by mroy on October 28, 2003 at 02:13 AM
Rifts in Perception
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Frank Chi
To perceive the events around Huck Finn through his own eyes displays many notions of ambiguity. Twain utilizes this means of narration to both manifest the views of the young southern adolescent frustrated by social dogmas and human morality as well as the reality behind Huck’s sometimes misleading narration. Huck’s...
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Posted by fchi on October 28, 2003 at 01:48 AM
A poor excuse of a Father, but a wonderful one for a Friend
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Torri Parker
The character of Pap is viewed by many of the townspeople as a worthless excuse for a father. Even Huck, does not like the way he treats him by beating him with the cowhide. Because Pap is all that Huck has, it seems that he should be there for...
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Posted by cparker on October 28, 2003 at 01:39 AM
The Adventures of Huck v. Tom
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dro Joseney
Huck is in a fierce competition with himself to top Tom Sawyer and his adventures. Tom is perceived as the leader of the pack but in all reality, he doesn’t know much. He makes outrageous claims, like when he told his group of robbers about a group of people who...
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Posted by cjoseney on October 28, 2003 at 01:04 AM
White Fog
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jim Light
There is a kind of haze that frames the character of Jim; perceived by the world as a naive slave, Jim is actually loyal and wise—causing Huck to continually question his own moral bearings. This becomes most evident when Huck’s raft runs straight into a thick, white fog. Huck and...
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Posted by jlight on October 28, 2003 at 01:01 AM
Huck's False Heroism
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kelsey Hughes
Huck Finn’s sense of heroism is far from what he perceives. He’s living in his dream world filled with the excitement of running away, and the idea of this band of criminals with Tom Sawyer. He comes upon the ship wreck and then finds what could be a murder happening....
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Posted by khughes2 on October 28, 2003 at 12:33 AM
It's Hard to Be Brave in the Presence of Dead Men
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Katie Mitterling
While Huck Finn talks about death as an illustrious and violent affair—the stuff of horror stories, he assumes a very different attitude when he sees it. Making plans to become infamous robbers and murderers, Tom Sawyer's Gang decides that traitors "must have his throat cut, and then have his...
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Posted by kmitterl on October 28, 2003 at 12:29 AM
Jim is a man of integrity
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Emily Hubbard
Throughout Huckleberry Finn Jim is portrayed as a savage and worthless being. When Huck is believed to be dead, the people “thinks he [Jim] has killed the boy [Huck] and fixed things so folks would think a robber done it” (p. 73). One man calls Jim “the meanest, treacherousest,...
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Posted by ehubbard on October 28, 2003 at 12:17 AM
Jim and Huck
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Erica Michel
In Huckleberry Finn the way Jim is talked about by Huck, and the way that Jim is supposed to be in the novel are very different. When Huck describes Jim, or talks about his actions he describes them the way they should be viewed by society during this time period....
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Posted by emichel on October 28, 2003 at 12:16 AM
The Reality of Death
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Greg Pearson
Huck’s view of death in the beginning of the novel is largely informed by the books he reads, which either romanticize or glorify violence. This can be seen clearly in the attitude of Tom Sawyer’s gang. Their oath is basically a statement of who to kill and why. “Some [even]...
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Posted by gpearson on October 28, 2003 at 12:13 AM
The Not-So-Selfless Widow
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Chris Johnson
The Widow’s portrayed as a selfless woman - intent on helping others. Some of her actions support this statement: she cares for Huck as her own and tries to “get the court to take [Huck] away from [his abusive father] and…be [Huck’s] guardian” (p. 33); and she also “try to...
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Posted by cjohnso2 on October 28, 2003 at 12:01 AM
Huck in Shining Armor
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Taneisha Wilson
In Huckleberry Finn, Huck pretends to be a hero but he’s actually just a scheming liar. In one instance Huck and Jim come upon a ship wreck and curiosity leads them to check it out. Instead of treasures Huck and Jim happen upon an-almost-murder. Instead of saving the man who...
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Posted by twilson on October 27, 2003 at 11:51 PM
Money is of no Importance
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Ryan Hurd
For a child such as Huck, whose love is adventure and danger, a tangible measurement of wealth like money, is of no importance to him or his fellow robbers. Regardless of their premature collection of “six thousand dollars a piece,” the two continue their ways as if nothing has changed...
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Posted by rhurd on October 27, 2003 at 11:25 PM
Living Large on a Little Raft
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dan Yingst
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck scorns the civilized life and instead opts to cruise down the river on his raft with Jim. This life suits Huck who is more accustomed to a natural way of life. In fact, he states that “all around, we lived pretty high” (76)....
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Posted by dyingst on October 27, 2003 at 11:10 PM
Tom Sawyer
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alix Roy
Throughout his adventures, Huckleberry Finn remains in awe of his friend Tom Sawyer. Huck starts his narrative by admitting that the reader has probably never heard of him, “without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’” (13). Tom is portrayed in The Adventures...
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Posted by aroy on October 27, 2003 at 11:09 PM
The "Moral" Truth or the "Moral" Stretcher
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jade Dunn
Throughout the rafting adventures of Huck and Jim, Huck frequently makes the choice to tell a “stretcher” – a lie. Although many of his lies are told in order to keep himself from being sent back to his “civilized” life with the widow, many of them are also told...
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Posted by jdunn2 on October 27, 2003 at 10:06 PM
Huck's Reality vs. Tom's Imagination
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Eric Davich
Huck looks up to his friend Tom Sawyer and wants to embark on adventures with him and his band of robbers. What Huck does not realize is that Tom Sawyer’s adventure stories are all taken from “pirate books and robber books” (p. 21). For the first adventure of Tom Sawyer’s...
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Posted by edavich on October 27, 2003 at 09:32 PM
Huck seizes the day
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Molly McCarter
Huck is a determinedly practical minded child. He has faith in that which he has experienced and that which he can touch, feel, or see. He lives in the physical, immediate world. Religion and make-believe are luxuries which belong to people who live in a safer world than he does....
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Posted by mmccarte on October 27, 2003 at 09:11 PM
Old Dog and New Tricks?
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Niki Alvarez
Though Huck complains about living with the widow at first, it is evident that he actually begins to enjoy living in her household, despite Miss Watson’s constant “pecking” (5)* at Huck, and telling him not to “scrunch up like that” (4). Huck says that “by and by, [he] got so...
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Posted by nalvarez on October 27, 2003 at 09:08 PM
The Widow acting as Huck's Conscience
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Tasha Graff
Huck Finn is consumed with questions of right and wrong and good verses evil. He often reflects on things in terms of what other people would think, like Tom Sawyer or the widow and Miss Watson. When Huck and Jim are talking about Solomon (p 86-90), Jim gets riled up...
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Posted by tgraff on October 27, 2003 at 08:49 PM
ladies, ladies, ladies
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jin-Sun Kim
Huck encounters one of the few girls in the novel when he meets and stays with the Grangerford family. Huck meets the two daughters of Colonel Grangerford and is extremely taken by them. Charlotte and Sofia are both much older than he, but Huck describes them as if they were...
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Posted by jkim3 on October 27, 2003 at 08:15 PM
The Wealth of Adventure
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kira Chappelle
The theme of money is seen throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though it would be much more accurate to call it “treasure” in light of Huck Finn’s narration. Its frequent presence makes it seem that money is very important to Huck, but it is not the monetary value as...
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Posted by kchappel on October 27, 2003 at 08:14 PM
Understanding Death; Appreciating Life
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Sophie Wiss
In Huck’s world, death seems to be on the forefront of his every thought. It appears as though he is unable to avoid death no matter what distance he travels, and as he experiences the mortality of more and more people in his life, he only begins to understand the...
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Posted by swiss on October 27, 2003 at 07:49 PM
Tom Sawyer's Band of Robbers
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Eli Maitland
Tom Sawyer, the self proclaimed leader of his band of robbers, demonstrates one of the many disparities in the book between fantasy and reality. Early in the story, Huck sneaks out of his house in the middle of the night to meet up with some other boys who all sign...
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Posted by emaitlan on October 27, 2003 at 06:28 PM
Tom's "civilized" ways vs. Hucks "natural" approach
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Meghan Gillis
The character of Tom Sawyer provides a needed contrast against Huck’s character. Tom Sawyer is an adventurous, romantic character with dreams of robbery, death and gold. The only problem is that robbery seems to be against Sunday-school children and the gold was snacks that the children had been eating. For...
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Posted by mgillis on October 27, 2003 at 03:48 PM
What Would Tom do?
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jason Lewis
“I was just a-biling with curiosity; and I says to myself, Tom Sawyer wouldn’t back out now, and so I won’t either; I’m agoing to see what’s going on here” (77). Tom Sawyer is put on a pedestal by both Huck and the other young boys, representing the courageous and...
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Posted by jlewis2 on October 27, 2003 at 03:25 PM
Huck's Reality
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Britta Bene
There is a disparity between how the town’s people react to the dead body in the river and how Huck responds to it. The people who found the body “judged it was him [Pap], anyway; said this drowned man was just his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long...
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Posted by bbene on October 27, 2003 at 02:38 PM
Huck and Jim
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Andrew Morrison
Jim is one very important ‘entity’ that must be considered. Huck struggles with his view of Jim, because he is being pulled in opposite directions by the social norms of the time and their budding friendship. This becomes wholly apparent in chapter 16 when the ramifications of his actions in...
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Posted by amorriso on October 27, 2003 at 01:35 PM
Huck’s Misunderstanding of Jim’s Hair-Ball
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Ged Wieschhoff
Jim’s hair-ball seems to Huck to be a supernatural being whose knowledge will prepare Huck for his future. In reality, Jim’s hair-ball is nothing more than a gimmick that Jim uses to earn himself petty cash. Jim uses a well choreographed ceremony, dropping the hair-ball on the floor twice and...
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Posted by gwieschh on October 26, 2003 at 10:08 PM
05 Blog assignment
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Mark Phillipson
Post before class on Tuesday 10/28 "I reckoned he believed in the A-rabs and the elephants, but as for me I think different. It had all the marks of a Sunday-school." (HF ch. III) Huck's world is full of elements that aren't quite what they're said to be. Pick one...
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Posted by mphillip on October 23, 2003 at 09:46 AM