In the Colonel Sherburn scene from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the dialogue between Sherburn and the mob reveals the cowardice of human beings. After killing Boggs, the mob decides to go lynch Sherburn's house out of anger. In an anger, rage Sherburn comes out finding it amusing that the townspeople are planning to lynch him, “ The idea of you lynching anybody! It’s amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck enough to lynch a man! Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a man?.” criticising the crowd. The crowd won’t stand up during daylight, but at night they seem to want to stand up for what's right. …show more content…
When the crowd seems to be quiet and defenseless, Sherburn attacks more, “ In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it. ..” belittling the men in the crowd. The quietness of the mob and Sherburn’s tone of language reveals they are used to it and have accepted it. Sherburn keeps on going by saying, “So they always acquit; and then a man goes in the night, with a hundred masked cowards at his back, and lynches the rascal. Your mistake is, that you didn’t bring a man with you; that’s one mistake, and the other is you didn’t come in the dark, and fetch your masks..” The crowd is full of average men who in the South wouldn’t be considered a real man. The only man in this is crowd is Buck Harkness and he’s only part of a man. The only reason Sherburn considered him part of a man is because he’s the one who started it. The way Sherburn criticizes the crowd he’s comparing them to the South. Sherburn’s attitude to the crowd rioting at night and wearing a mask makes it seem it’s personal. At some point Sherburn may have been involved in a KKK riot or have seen it
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, racism “Maycomb’s usual disease” (Lee To Kill a Mockingbird 88) sends the lynch mob “stark raving mad” (88) First, the lynch mob demonstrates “Maycomb’s usual disease”(88) through anger. “Nobody got out. We saw Atticus look up from his newspaper. He closed it, folded it deliberately, dropped it in his lap, and pushed his hat to the back of his head. He seemed to be expecting them” (201) .This sangfroid act of Atticus accentuates his sedate manner and offers a sense of mystery to the readers, how is the so calm, when something bad is about to happen? Atticus was expecting the disgruntled mob. However, Atticus must remain calm for Tom. He is also keeping violence from getting out of
Maturity is not a fickle expression such as happiness or frustration, but rather an inherent quality one gains over time, such as courage or integrity. Before maturity can be expressed, the one who expresses it must have significant confidence in himself, since self-confidence is the root of maturity. Being flexible and formulating one's own opinions or ideas are aspects of maturity, but neither is possible without self-confidence. The greatest aspect of maturity is the ability to make decisions which society does not agree with. Whether or not one follows through with these ideas is not important. What is important is the ability to make the decision. These decisions represent the greatest measure
The first eleven chapters of Adventures establish Huck's character prior to his journey on the river with Jim. Dealing with external difficulty is easy for Huck, as he consistently adapts to his environments; however, his actions contradict his desires, revealing that Huck is conflicted.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn satirizes gratuitous violence, excessive greed, and racism. First, Twain illustrates the satire in the gratuitous violence with the backwater families and the rural country people starting with the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons. Huck first meets the Grangerfords when Huck and Jim’s raft breaks apart and Huck ends up on a shore. Huck meets Buck Grangerford who asks if Huck is a part of the Shepherdson family, in which Huck responds that he is not. Buck explains to him that the Grangerfords and the Shepherdson’s have been in a feud with each other for as long as the families can remember, however, no one knows or can even remember how or why these two families are fighting. Twain goes on to explain that the two families even go to church with their rifles while the priest preaches about love and peace. Twain also uses Boggs and Sherburn to further satirize these nonsensical violent habits. Boggs, who is very drunk, keeps causing a ruckus and speaking ill of Sherburn. Sherburn tells him to stop, but Boggs does not listen, so Sherburn shoots and kills Boggs. Soon after a mob forms declaring that they must kill Sherburn in retaliation. Sherburn tells the mob that they do not have the prowess to go through with their plan to kill him. He says that “Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a man? Why, a man’s safe in the hands of
The critic Kenny Williams states that the Colonel Sherburn scene inThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark twain, “allow[s] a brief platform for Twain to express his own contempt for mobs in an era known for such activities and lawlessness.” This draws the attention to other scenes Twain uses to show his contempt for activities in society. In his novel Mark Twain uses characters and scenes to show his disdain for zealot faith, corrupt human nature, and blind adherence to law.
When the King and Duke decide to put on an unplanned play in the nearest town, they find themselves in the middle of a mob. The town’s drunk is shot and killed by Sherburn, and Sherburn calls out society, saying, “If any real lynching is going to be done here, it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion; and when they come they will bring their masks…” (Twain 111). Sherburn calls out the mob on their hypocrisy, and how they will only attack when masked. This symbolizes society’s unjust actions and how it is flawed.
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Colonel sherburn is portrayed as the most intimidating man in town. Regarding to Sherburn's speech about being a man, he calls all humans cowards and that they are ignorant for creating a mob. Contradicting to his speech, Mark Twain reveals that Sherburn is a hypocritical man. Sherburn claims that the mob is ignorant but in fact he doesn't not realize that he is too as well.
“The idea of you lynching anybody! It's amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck enough to lynch a man! Because you're brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a man? Why, a man's safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind—as long as it's daytime and you're not behind him” (133).
Is it better to build an independent character or avoid racial stereotypes? In the book “Huckleberry Finn” Jim is portrayed as a much more human character in the movie from the start and this really goes against what the purpose of the whole story was trying to do, develop his character as seen from Huck, go from slave to an equal. Jim’s moral development in the movie is removed by the lack of degrading characteristics at the beginning of the movie.
Wisdom is to maturity as writing a paper is to taking an English course. And wisdom can only be gained through life experience, good, bad, or in between. Huck’s maturity is developed through his adventure down the Mississippi River, where he must make “adult” choices that will affect not only him but his dependent friend, Jim, showing that all kids need is to be given responsibility in order to become responsible.
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows the development of a young boy named Huck Finn. We see Huck develop in character, attitude and maturity as he goes on his adventure down the Mississippi River. This is displayed through his search for freedom from civilization and it's beliefs and through his personal observations of a corrupt and immoral society. Most importantly, we are in Huck's head as he goes through his confusion over his supposedly immoral behavior and his acceptance that he will “go to hell” as he conquers his social beliefs.
“‘Kill them, kill them!’ It made me so sick I most fell out of the tree,” Huck thinks as the Shepherdson men shout, firing and slaughtering the Grangerford boys. In the novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the quarrel among the families has gone on for over thirty years. The living family members no longer remember why they fought; they had become accustomed to the senseless violence. Death has become the norm for the families; Huck finds the feud disturbing and pointless. The rivalry between the families ties in with one of the main themes of the novel: society goes along with the crowd, or is easily peer pressured, and the conflict symbolizes Mark Twain’s thoughts on the Civil War.
As human beings, we all have the right to be our own independent individuals; we are all entitled to our own beliefs and rights under the constitution and declaration of independence. Throughout all the writings studied by different authors, they all reflect the spirit of individualism in the wake of cultural and political change. Depicted in Mark Twain's satiric novel,The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the 14 year old advocate huck exposes the hypocrisy of white society's morals during his childhood in the Antebellum South widow douglas his care taker attempts to civilize him by trying to save his soul, because she believes that she has to help him live a better mannered life like herself but, he will not conform to society he rather be himself. The author's purpose for authoring his writing is to inform individuals about racism also to show individuals that it is wrong and how people use religion as an excuse to justify it. Illustrated in Walt whitman's poem ¨Song Of Myself¨ from book Leaves of Grass the poet explains that every individual has a purpose and a journey they must follow and find, also that every individual is made up of the same things so there should be no reason for anyone to feel belittled.the author's main purpose for writing this was to get individuals to enjoy life and not fear death. James McPherson published a nonfiction novel called What We Fought For to help Americans understand why Union soldiers fought against the
People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.
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.