While surrounded by more than seventy books during the four years of Angelicum’s Great Books program, only a number genuinely touched and inspired me. It is not meant to be perceived that the other books were stultifying, on the contrary, a majority of the books were pleasant and intriguing to read. However, while Emma was a touching story and a pleasure to read, the characters in it were not ones that moved me and inspired deep thought. The characters that did inspire me were ones that had been thrown into harsh decisions in times that were the world was changing and still stayed determined in choosing a just conclusion. Numa Pompilias was a layman who reluctantly became an emperor for Rome whereas Huckleberry Fin was a small town nuisance, …show more content…
Not only was he happy with his lifestyle of simplicity and humility, but he intended to keep it that way. He was known as a pious and righteous man who prayed often and was wise in his advice. When the throne of Rome was in need of a new emperor the people started to search for a man who could rule wisely and thoroughly instruct the people. Like King Solomon from the bible, word of Numa’s wisdom and devoutness spread and came to the ears of the Senate. Upon hearing of the famous Numa Pompilias, the Senate of Rome send out a messenger to ask Numa to be their emperor. He fervently refused not wishing to give up his lifestyle of peace. However, when the people of Rome continued to plead, he reluctantly put aside his self-wishes and became the emperor for the people of Rome. Through this act of selflessness, the people of Rome prospered without war for forty years. Numa Pompilias invented trades and set the idle hands of Rome to work. The character of Numa inspired me to overstep comfort zones for the sake of the people around one’s self. Numa Pompilias became the emperor for people he was not familiar with, yet, he loved them and his nation enough to abandon his comfortable life and become a ruler in times that were …show more content…
The story of Huckleberry Fin takes place in Missouri, in a town called St. Petersburg. He originally is under the guardianship of a Widow who is trying to “civilize” him with religion and education. After a turn of events Huckleberry Fin is taken to Illinois with his drunken father and pushed into desperation by his father’s violence, Huckleberry Fin fakes his death and runs away only to meet a fellow run away like himself, or so he thought. While Huckleberry Fin faced the label of the “drunks son” given to him by the people of St. Petersburg, Jim had to face the world forcing him to work and serve under whichever master he was sold to. A world that was forcing him to believe he was less than a white man. Jim was a slave and while Huckleberry was originally interested in him due to him being an outcast like himself. He later realized the cruelty that Jim was put through just because he was different on the outside. When given the opportunity to turn Jim in for reward money Huckleberry Fin decided against it. While the money could have benefited him, he decided to let Jim stay by his side as a
This young boy’s name is Huckleberry Finn, and he is brave and yearning for adventure. He begins the story with a newly acquired fortune, but goes back to living in rags and in a barrel. Huckleberry is convinced by his best friend, Tom Sawyer, to go back to living with “The Widow” so that he can join Tom’s newly created band of robbers. The Widow Douglas is a woman who takes Huckleberry as her son and does her best to “sivilize” him: teaching him how to behave and forcing him to go to school. Huckleberry slips off and joins “The Tom Sawyer Gang” and pretends to rob people for about a month before he resigns. All this time, Huckleberry is getting used to living with the widow, even admitting that he likes it a little bit. Then, one day, his father shows up, demanding his fortune and eventually taking him to his log cabin, hidden in the woods. There Huck hunts and fishes, but is not permitted to leave. Eventually, “pap got too handy with his hick’ry” so Huck escapes down the river when his father is drunk. Huck hides on Jackson’s Island and meets Jim, The Widow’s slave. Huck learns that Jim had run away from The Widow and so they decide to help each other out. But when Huck learns of a plan to search the island, they leave down the river. Several days later, they almost run into some robbers on a wrecked steamboat and manage to escape with their loot. When Huck and Jim land on the bank
Jim is a typical slave yet he represents morality in the community. Located in the south, slavery was widely accepted and a part of southern culture. When people see him, they think of a slave, not a person. While on the Mississippi, Huck begins to realize Jim is just another human being. Both Huck and Jim are running from society towards freedom. This is what the Mississippi offers them, freedom.
The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, covers the situations and people Huckleberry Finn encounters after he runs away. Huck prevents his alcoholic father from getting his fortune and is able to run away after his father, Pap, kidnaps him and leaves town. It has many colorful characters that exhibit several facets of society at that time in history. It is anti-racist although it uses the word "nigger" frequently. Huck seems to struggle throughout the book with what he has been taught and what is morally right. His main and most consistent interaction is with Jim, a runaway slave. Although he had been taught differently throughout his entire life, he eventually makes the choice to go against what society deems to be right and be Jim's
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written by Mark Twain and published on December 10, 1884. This picaresque novel takes place in the mid-1800s in St. Petersburg, Missouri and various locations along the Mississippi River through Arkansas as the story continues. The main character is young delinquent boy named Huckleberry Finn. He doesn’t have a mother and his father is a drunk who is very rarely involved with Huck’s life. Huck is currently living with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who attempt to make the boy a more civilized and representable citizen. Later Huck runs away and meets this runaway slave named Jim and they become good friends. As Jim and Huck travel down river in their raft they experience many conflicts.
Huckleberry Finn is a young, white male who becomes friends with a black man by the name of Jim. Huckleberry Finn is thirteen , while Jim is pushing forty. Huckleberry has befriended Jim who is a runaway slave, so by the law of the land Huckleberry is the wrongdoer from get go. “The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it” (Twain 1), which automatically shows Huckleberry is a misfit. Huckleberry is a young boy who is discovering what life is to
Huck Finn's relationship with slavery is very complex and often contradictory. He has been brought up to accept slavery. He can think of no worse crime than helping to free a slave. Despite this, he finds himself on the run with Jim, a runaway slave, and doing everything in his power to protect him. Huck Finn grew up around slavery. His father is a violent racist, who launches into tirades at the idea of free blacks roaming around the countryside. Miss Watson owns slaves, including Jim, so that no matter where he goes, the idea of blacks as slaves is reinforced. The story takes place during the 1840's, at a time when racial tensions were on the rise, as northern abolitionists tried to stir up trouble in the South. This prompted a
In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it follows the story of a young boy named Huck who goes on an adventure with a runaway slave named Jim. During this time period slaves aren’t viewed as citizens but as someone who doesn’t deserve to have any rights. However, Huck saw Jim in several other ways than him just being a slave. He saw Jim as a father figure, a slave and a friend.
Jim is a runaway slave. He lived on Jackson’s island across the river from where the community he was originally at. By being a runaway slave, Jim is breaking the law. He is owned by another human, Miss Watson. Jim is considered the legal material property of another person. Huck rejects this legal law, and agrees to help Jim break the law by escaping. Huck is shocked at himself for doing this and even believes he will go to hell for his actions. But Huck decides to choose friendship over what society tells him to do. When Huck and Jim are on the adventure down the Mississippi, their friendship grows stronger and stronger. They depend on each other to survive. Huck attempts to turn in Jim. When Huck and Jim came to the shore by a town. Huck gets off and looks for someone to report Jim. However, Huck runs into some white people wanting to capture runaway slaves. They Huck if he had any others in the boat with him. Huck get scared for Jim and told them that there was his mom, dad and sister in the boat and they all had small pox. By doing this, Huck puts his heart ahead of his head. Huck and Jim returns to St. Petersburg. Jim gets to be free, although Huck doesn’t realize that. Huck saw Jim in a building thinking that Jim was now a slave that couldn’t leave the plantation. So he got Tom Sawyer and then Tom wanted to plan out a way to get Jim out. The plan that Tom had was ridiculous because they could just walk in and take Jim away. Huck tried to point that out to Tom but, as stubborn as Tom is, they did Tom’s plan. A while later, they finally got Jim
uckleberry Finn, a fun loving care free boy who lives along the Mississippi River slowly matured into a young man throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. He has shown mental maturity various times through certain decisions he has had to make. He even goes against what he has been taught to do the overall right thing. He does the wrong thing in society's eyes to help his slave friend, Jim. He even goes against God. Huck’s mindset changes and enhances for the better. Friendship can mean the world to some. While Huck and Jim are on a raft heading down the river they are confronted by men who are looking for runaway slaves. Huck has been taught by Miss Watson and the widow that helping a slave is
In the American classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character Huck and runaway slave Jim are on a journey down the Mississippi River. Huck is escaping his abusive, alcoholic father. Jim is escaping slavery to become free and eventually by his family. They both left their homes in St. Petersburg,
Huckleberry Finn plays the part of the main character, he is thirteen and the son of a drunk. He lives in Petersburg, Missouri on the Mississippi River. At the beginning of the book, Huckleberry Finn is living with Widow Douglas. Huckleberry Finn is set for life with six thousand dollars to boot until his father came and kidnapped him. He lives with his father, Pap, in a log cabin. Huck is scared that Pap will kill him so he fakes his own death. He goes to an island and meets a runaway slave named Jim. They had to leave the island, on the way to Cairo they find a steamboat and take it to sail but pass Cairox. They meet two new people, Dauphin and the Duke, and at every town, they steal money from the townspeople. Huck and Jim agree to ditch Dauphin and the Duke, but the Duke
The Mississippi River, as depicted by Mark Twain in his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a recurring symbol representing freedom whose many challenges allow Huck to develop his own code of life in light of what society may have taught him. After faking his own death in the Mississippi River, Huck set himself free from the demands of Pap and society. When Jim and Huck reunite, Huck ultimately decides “people could call me a down low ablitionist” rather than turn Jim in, demonstrating how Huck is beginning to develop his own morals despite the racist views white society has taught him. As Huck and Jim continue to use the river to travel north, they’re both riding to freedom, but the journey is riddled with
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the story’s title character walks the reader through his journey, starting with his stay in his adopted home and ending with the freedom of his foster parents’ runaway slave, Jim, who had become one of Huck’s greatest friends. The real adventure starts when Huck decides to fake his death in an effort to escape from his father, who had kidnapped him from his adopted parents, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. After his getaway, Huck encounters Jim, and in an effort to avoid both of them being recaptured, they set forth down the Mississippi river headed toward the free state of Illinois.
Alex Ruggiero April 14, 2016 Mark Twain’s Novel, Huckleberry Finn is staged in pre-civil war Missouri and tells the story of a 13 year old boy named Huckleberry Finn, who escapes his abusive father and attempts to head to the Northern States with an escaped slave named Jim. Throughout the book numerous conflicts occur that make Huck claim the society he lives in is hypocritical and desire a new life in the Western Territories. Huck’s desire to leave Missouri and go west can be traced back to the early stages of the book when he is adopted by Widow Douglas and her sister
A major theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is slavery and our evolvement towards the institution. “In fact, Twain’s novel is often taught as the text that epitomizes this tradition, with Huck held up as its exemplar: a boy courageous enough to stand against the moral conventions of his society. . .” (Bollinger, 32 – Say It Jim) In the beginning of Huckleberry Finn’s relationship with Jim, he has little respect for him and as their journey progresses he