In the first chapter Huckleberry Finn relays his version of the events that transpired in the conclusion of The Adventure of Tom Sawyer. He explains that he and Tom Sawyer became very wealthy after uncovering a cache of gold that was hidden by a band of local robbers, and how after this, under the supervision of Judge Thatcher, Huckleberry’s money was invested and he was placed into the care of the Widow Douglas to be “civilized”. Huckleberry reveals that Judge Thatcher and the Widow Douglas’s justification for this was that they were doing this “in his best interest” but what Huckleberry lets on throughout the chapter is that they never asked for his opinion in the matter, or considered how onerous or unwanted the change would be. He …show more content…
The chapter closes with Huckleberry slipping out at night in response to Tom Sawyer’s call which is coded as the meow of a cat.
In chapter two Huckleberry has joined Tom Sawyer on a nighttime excursion, unbeknownst to the Widow Douglas. Their destination is a cave outside of town for the first meeting of Tom Sawyer’s gang of robbers, but very early into their journey they encounter a spot of trouble. Miss Watson’s African American slave, Jim, hears the movement of Huckleberry and Tom as they pass the kitchen and, confused as to the origin of the disturbance, sets himself down unwittingly between Tom and Huckleberry waiting until he hears the noise again. When he falls asleep Tom and Huckleberry first retrieve some candles from the kitchen, leaving a nickel as payment, and then Tom playfully hangs Jim’s hat on a branch, before he and Huckleberry make their escape. Huckleberry mentions that Jim interprets this prank as a sign of witchcraft, and then describes how Jim creates a tall-tale about how he was entranced by witches and met the devil that night. This story earns Jim acclaim and respect throughout the local slave population, which Huckleberry mentions, goes to his head a bit. This informal introduction to the character Jim leads the reader to conclude that Jim is uneducated (as typical of the slave population at the tine) and proud, but that the stubbornness exhibited in his
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, Miss Watson’s slave, is introduced in the first few chapters as a nincompoop. While Tom and Huck were sneaking by Jim, Tom placed Jim’s hat on a tree limb that was right above Jim’s head. When Jim woke up he claimed that only the witches could have done such a thing. Jim was so proud that he told all the slaves about it. This may have been one of the reasons why there were tremendous amounts of people who disapproved of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The fact that Jim is portrayed as stupid and uneducated causes this group of “Huck Finn Haters” to deem this novel racist. As the story presses on, Huck and Jim’s lives become intertwined when they bump into each other on Jackson’s Island. They both escaped from society and were now spending their time smoking pipes and staring into the vast Mississippi River. Huck knew that Jim was a runaway and felt
Huck has a grim attitude toward people he disagrees with or doesn't get along with. Huck tends to alienate himself from those people. He doesn't let it bother him. Unlike most people Huck doesn't try to make his point. When Huck has a certain outlook on things he keep his view. He will not change it for anyone. For instance in Chapter Three when Miss Watson tells Huck that if he prayed he would get everything he wished for. “Huck just shook his head yes and walked away telling Tom that it doesn't work because he has tried it before with fishing line and fishing hooks.” This tells us that Huck is an independent person who doesn't need to rely on
In the beginning of this Huckleberry Finn, Huck was an uncivilized and ignorant boy. When he moved in with the Widow Douglas, she "allowed she would [him]" but he did not want to stay with her because she was so "regular and decent... in all her ways" (2). He did not have what most people would consider morals. He was so against things moral and civilized that
While Huckleberry and Tom sneak out of the house, Huckleberry trip and the noise wakes Jim, the slave. Jim sets out to find what was making the noise but then falls asleep waiting. The boys needed candles so Tom went in and got some from Miss Watson's. When Jim is sleeping, Tom hung his hat from a tree limb and ever since, Jim told everyone that witches put a spell on him and took him around the world. All the niggers were impressed and he was known an authority of witches. Tom and Huckleberry meets the other town boys inside a hidden cave. Tom declares that their band of robbers were going to be known as “Tom Sawyer’s Gang”. The boys are told they have to take an oath and write their names in blood. The consequences for exploiting the secret
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with the boy, Huckleberry (Huck for short), telling a story in a very conversational tone. The story is a recap of Twain’s previous novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which Huck and Tom find a robber’s treasure of 12 thousand dollars, and invest it in the bank. Tom had apparently reached out to Huck again, asking him to join Tom’s very own band of robbers. Huck, of course, agreed, and moved back in with Widow Douglas, who cares for him, and makes sure he remains clean. Huck, however, is selfish, and dislikes being “civilized.” He accepts religious and social views the widow enforces upon him, yet decides for himself if he wants to follow them, and doesn’t tell her so as to not cause any unnecessary
Originally, Huck believes that he should turn in Jim, a slave running away from being sold by Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. He does not see it as following the law, he just believes that it would be immoral for him not to turn in Jim to the cops. Huck Finn was raised to accept the idea of slavery which has been shaped by a society who accepted slavery. The pranks that Huck Finn pulled on Jim reflects Huck Finns attitude towards Jim 's intelligence. In the scene after Huck Finn and Jim get separated in the fog, Huck thinks Jim is stupid enough to believe that none of it
Huckleberry Finn is running away from an abusive parent and started off his adventure alone, but soon finds Jim who is a runaway slave of Miss Watson’s. They continue their journeys together and become friends and will do anything to protect each other. Along the way, when they are together they come across two people in need of help. “Just as I was passing a place where a kind of a cowpath crossed the crick, here comes a couple of
Throughout the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character, Huck goes through major changes. The story is set before the Civil War in the South. Huck is a child with an abusive father who kidnaps him from, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, the people he was living with. He eventually escapes from his father and finds Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. As Huck travels with Jim, Huck begins to realize that Jim is more than a piece of property. During the travel down the river, Huck makes many decisions that reflect his belief that Jim deserves the same rights he has. Because of these realizations, Huck chooses to do the right thing in many instances. Some of these instances where Huck does the right thing instead of society’s
The chapter continues with the two boys, Tom and Huck, carefully walking through the path. They walk past the kitchen, where they try to avoid Jim, Miss. Watson’s slave. Jim hears them and comes to investigate. The two boys are hiding, while Jim comes close to them, but doesn’t see them. Jim decides to stay in that position until he hears the noise again. While Huck is debating whether he should scratch his nose, Jim falls asleep. Tom tells Huck about Jim, that he is respected by the other slaves, for going against the devil. But Jim had begun to become cocky for seeing the devil and fighting the witches.
In the beginning of the novel, Huck’s views on slavery had been skewed by society and by the civilized Miss Watson’s righteous and moral views. Huck finds it all fun and games when he and his comrade, Tom Sawyer, play a trick on Jim; Tom Sawyer and Huck remove Jim’s hat from his head and place it on the branch above him. When Jim wakes up, he believes he has been bewitched, adding to his dim-witted and brainless appearance. Only later on in the novel does Huck realize what Jim really means to him.
Huckleberry’s life is changed and influenced by Tom Sawyer, the widow, his father, Miss Watson, and Jim. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry’s best friend, is a wild imagination often caused trouble for him and others. Throughout the book, Huck questions what he is doing, and wonders if Tom would do the same. He almost always decides Tom would agree with his decisions and be on his side. When Huck’s life completely turns around, he receives thousands of dollars and a place to stay with a widow from town.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the theme of individual identity, especially contrasted against mob mentality and assimilation, is present in almost every chapter of the novel. Throughout the novel, the characters within the story, especially Huck as the protagonist, make decisions regarding which type of mentality they will use, which then affects their relations with other characters, such as Tom Sawyer. In the book, Twain uses both Huck 's idealization of Tom and Tom, the physical being, as secondary characters to help the reader understand how Huck falls into both of these mentalities and how his identity as individual changes throughout the novel. This insight allows the reader to better understand Huck 's character by showing Huck 's response to the pressure to assimilate to mob mentality, mainly through his relationship with Tom, and development in his ability to think for himself by contrasting his behavior in Tom 's presence and absence along with the reasons this development occurs.
In the beginning of this novel Huckleberry was an ornery boy, who liked to do as he pleased. The superstitious Huck, and his friend Tom try to create a gang of robbers, While sneaking out at night to go on secret adventures, they find Miss. Watson’s slave Jim sleeping under a tree. Although they could just pass by him and ignore him, they decide to pull a prank on him. “Tom said he slipped Jim’s hat off of his head and hung it on a limb right over him, and Jim stirred a little, but he didn’t wake” (18). When they played
Are there literary works that are not appropriate enough to be read in schools? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a satirical adventure novel set in the United States during the 1800’s might be an example of one of these literary works. Mark Twain uses several outlets in the form of fictional characters for his political and social views, which in itself is not bad. Unfortunately, many students who have read this book do not fully grasp this concept, and still think that it is bad to read because of racist themes. Although this novel is an American literary classic and it teaches good morals, I do not think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be included in the curriculum because high school students are not mature enough