I believe Huck's youth plays a key role in this story. By just looking at the the adventure, Huck and Jim are doing something no one else would do in their right mind. As a young person, Huck wants to do something exciting just like we thought as kids. Only a kid would think that going on this adventure would not be crazy. Most people would try and be rational and try to solve the problem with logic.
Jim is in a desperate position because he is a slave. He sees that he has no other choice but to run. That is probably true because slaves had no choice in anything. His desperation is what drove him to run. On the other hand Huck ran because he had to stay away from his father and was excited for an adventure. He joined Tom Sawyer's gang because he wanted adventure.
I think this is a really good point... It ties the two characters together well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, maybe even more than youth, it's naivety that leads them both to run. This could apply to either Huck or Jim. For Huck, this probably would stem from his youth, and the kinds things Matt noted. Huck uses logic to a point, being that he is the realist of the novel, but he abandons it in favor of his impulses (possibly stemming from his desperate state) far sooner than a mature and fully rational adult would. He doesn't think through the consequences or necessarily realize the extent of the moral battle he is undertaking. He doesn't recognize the things that are going to complicate their journey (food, transportation), but just seems to act on impulse and figure it out as he goes (often getting coincidentally lucky, as with the arrival of the raft). On the other hand, he does continue to be resourceful and somewhat logical as the journey progresses, for example when he finds the women's clothing on the house boat and needs information, so he puts the two together and goes in a girl's disguise to the mainland.
Jim's naivety is the result of being an uneducated slave--having not learned the way he should be, Jim is unaware of certain aspects of society, and although he has realized that what he is doing by running might bring him heavy consequences, he choses to act on the self-preservation instinct in an attempt to save his life.
It's also interesting that both of their instincts lead them away from society. On the surface, this is simply a uniting factor between them, but even more so, it is an embodiment of Twain's underlying argument throughout the novel--that society is corrupt and wrong in so many ways. It really emphasizes society's corruption because only those whose ideas have not been completely suppressed by the society (those who are naive in the eyes of society) can really realize the issues they are facing.
I somewhat agree with both of your guys point, but, on that point with Huck joining Tom Sawyers gang, because he wants an adventure, i think Huck joins Tom Sawyers gang because he wants to be a part of something, he wants to feel like he belongs, and even though the gang makes Huck feel like an outside, he is still a part of something, and he liked that. Another thing about the gang was that Huck also thought that when they would steal things, and then Tom Sawyer would pretend it was gold, or silver. Huck didn't understand that and thought that it was childish...kinda.
ReplyDeleteAll I'm saying is that i think Huck doesn't want an adventure as much as he want to belong, and fit in with people. His people, but he doesn't want to change to fit it.
I really like that last point you made--that Huck wants to fit in, but he isn't willing to change himself to fit in. That idea shows the kind of paradox (or maybe conflict is a better word here) that defines Huck throughout the novel. However, I think it goes deeper than simply wanting or not wanting to fit in.
ReplyDeleteHe is a very interesting character in that he definitely knows what he believes is right and what he believes is wrong--he just can't figure out why what he thinks conflicts so clearly with society's ideas of right and wrong. I think this is a lot of what leads him into the central conflict (that Nora mentioned) that Huck experiences, because he doesn't want to compromise his morals, and at the same time, he doesn't want to be seen as an outsider either. Therefore he ends up stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, because whichever way he moves, he compromises one of the two and he knows that it feels wrong, and it wears on him.
However, I think we are finally now seeing Huck overcome this battle, as he begins to make decisions in accordance with his own conscience rather than society's. An earlier instance that shows him moving in this direction is in chapter 16 when he feels conflicted emotions about not giving Jim up to the slave hunters. at the conclusion of this scene, Huck decides that he is going to disregard morality (irony because his "morality" is so backwards) and just go with whatever is "handiest" (his conscience). Now, as the book progresses we see more instances in which he follows his own conscience, shifting away from the influence of society. Some examples of this are when he helps the Wilk sisters, revealing the dauphin and duke for being fraudulent and his search for Jim in which he essentially decides that it is worth risking himself for Jim--an idea that puts them on a strangely equal playing field for the first time in the Novel.
Ultimately, I think that as Huck progresses through the novel, we definitely see him mature. In this maturity, he begins to find a new sense of self, and of his identity. However, it is not an easy coming of age process for Huck as we have seen in some literature in the past--rather, Huck does battle with it every step of the way and I think that by the end we will see him come to a full self realization after he works through some of the roadblocks (mainly society's backwards beliefs) that are in his way.
I really like that last point you made--that Huck wants to fit in, but he isn't willing to change himself to fit in. That idea shows the kind of paradox (or maybe conflict is a better word here) that defines Huck throughout the novel. However, I think it goes deeper than simply wanting or not wanting to fit in.
ReplyDeleteHe is a very interesting character in that he definitely knows what he believes is right and what he believes is wrong--he just can't figure out why what he thinks conflicts so clearly with society's ideas of right and wrong. I think this is a lot of what leads him into the central conflict (that Nora mentioned) that Huck experiences, because he doesn't want to compromise his morals, and at the same time, he doesn't want to be seen as an outsider either. Therefore he ends up stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, because whichever way he moves, he compromises one of the two and he knows that it feels wrong, and it wears on him.
However, I think we are finally now seeing Huck overcome this battle, as he begins to make decisions in accordance with his own conscience rather than society's. An earlier instance that shows him moving in this direction is in chapter 16 when he feels conflicted emotions about not giving Jim up to the slave hunters. at the conclusion of this scene, Huck decides that he is going to disregard morality (irony because his "morality" is so backwards) and just go with whatever is "handiest" (his conscience). Now, as the book progresses we see more instances in which he follows his own conscience, shifting away from the influence of society. Some examples of this are when he helps the Wilk sisters, revealing the dauphin and duke for being fraudulent and his search for Jim in which he essentially decides that it is worth risking himself for Jim--an idea that puts them on a strangely equal playing field for the first time in the Novel.
Ultimately, I think that as Huck progresses through the novel, we definitely see him mature. In this maturity, he begins to find a new sense of self, and of his identity. However, it is not an easy coming of age process for Huck as we have seen in some literature in the past--rather, Huck does battle with it every step of the way and I think that by the end we will see him come to a full self realization after he works through some of the roadblocks (mainly society's backwards beliefs) that are in his way.
I agree with Molly's points that Huck is finally progressing as a person, finally being more self reliant, and starting to shift his morality to the morals that we consider to be correct.
ReplyDeleteI think a great example of these three movements in Huck's character is when they are at Aunt Sally's house and Tom continually insists on freeing Jim in a certain way, but at almost every detail Huck questions Tom, and even though he normally caves into Tom's ways, we see him starting to be more concerned about Jim's well being than the somewhat imaginary scenery that Tom is setting up. Huck continuously questions Tom and this is a clear progression from the beginning of the book where Huck would kind of aimlessly go along with Tom's plan with no questions ask and be strictly a follower. He continues to follow at this point in the story but he is starting to understand that maybe some of these things are not necessary and that the well being of his friend, Jim, may take precedent over these fine details.
I really like all the points you guys made! Just like we talked about in class I definitely agree that Huck's childhood is key to this story. However when it comes to the issue whether Huck is doing this to belong or for adventure, I have to argue on the side of adventure. As all of you point out Huck is just a young boy, and all young children want is adventure. We see Huck repeatedly running away from places almost the moment after he really starts to belong. This starts at the very beginning and continues throughout the entire novel. I really like all the points you guys made and it definitely made me rethink some of my past ideas.
ReplyDelete