1. What do we learn about Jim in these chapters?
That he is very kind and treats Tom and Huck as if they are the same skin, Huck even says he is white on the inside. He really does believe in superstition.
2. What effect does the Doctor's speech in support of Jim have? How do you feel about that?
He saves Jim's life and he says hes good he shouldn't be hanged and the doctor.
3. What is the significance of the bullet?
Its like a souvinier of his adventure, and its like a game piece puzzle.
4. Where is Huck going at the end of the novel? What does this imply about his view of the world in which he lives?
To the west. It implys he wants to leave everyone and go on another adventure and not be civiliezed, he wants to be free again like on the river.
5. Comment on the style of the novel. Do you feel it represents the Realist tradition as we have discussed it? What aspects of Huck's character make him a good narrator? What problems did you encounter (if any) due to Huck's narration? Speculate on how a different narrator or a third person omniscient narrator would impact the story.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Episode 1-4
Episode 1
Theme Superstition vs Religion:
ex Huck killing a spider and thinking he would have bad lucka
Gullibility:
ex Huck thinking the hairball talks to Jim.
Appearance vs Reality:
ex Huck battles elephants and A-rabs but really it is a sunday school
Allusions:
1001 arabian nights, Bible, Don Quixote, Moses
Characters:
Jim, Tom, Huck, Pap, Widow Douglas, Joe Hopper, Judge, Ben Rogers, Miss Watson, Tommy Barns
Note:
Exposition
Summary:
He hates praying over the food before every meal. The Widow tries to teach Huck about Moses, but Huck doest care when Moses is dead. Huck cant smoke but approves of snuff. Huck joins the gang. Huck and the gang attack the sunday school. Huck wants to get rid of money, and paps is at the house.
Episode 2
Summarize- Pap was waiting for Huck in his room, and talking to him about money, education, and relgion. Paps promises he changes to a better person and not a drunk. Paps then gets really drunk and trashes his room and falls off the roof and breaks his arm. Huck then gets taken away to the cabin where he kinda likes it because he is free from being a neat person and can do whatever he wants. Paps gets really drunk and beats him and he has a whole speech about "govment" He drinks alot and sees the Angel of Death and thinks snakes and crawling up his skin and biting him. He goes crazy and passes out. Huck runs away and makes a fake dead body and takes everything in the cabin and runs away on a raft he finds earlier.
Characters- Paps
Theme- Meaning of family
Episode 3: The Island
Themes Rebirth - Jim escapes slavery and starts a new like as a free man. Huck escapes his father and becomes free. Appearance vs. reality - Huck pretender to be two different people. Jim thinks Huck is a ghost when he is really alive.
Characters- Huck (Marry Sarah Williams & George Peters are aliases of Huck's own invention), Jim, Tom, Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, Pap, and Mrs. Judith Loftus.
Summary- The entire chapter is mostly spent on Jackson Island. It starts when Huck wakes up on the island after he had ran away from his father and faked his death. That morning a ferryboat passes the Island that has Pap, Judge Thatcher, Tom Sawyer, Tom’s aunt Polly, some of Huck’s young friends, and more on board, all discussing Huck’s murder. They shoot cannonballs over the water and float loaves of bread with quicksilver inside, in hopes of finding Huck’s corpse. Huck catches one of the loaves and eats it, but he feels guilty that he has upset those who care about him. Huck spends three days on the island, living on berries and fish. He spends his nights counting ferryboats and stars. On the fourth day, while exploring the island, Huck finds Jim, who at first thinks Huck is a ghost. Huck is happy he will not be alone on the island but shocked when Jim explains that he has run away. Jim says that he overheard Miss Watson discussing selling him for $800 to a slave trader who would take him to New Orleans. Jim and Huck talk about superstition, and Jim’s failed investments, most of which have been scams. Jim is not too disappointed by his failures, since he still has his hairy arms and chest, which, according to his superstitions, is a sign of future wealth. In order to make a hiding place should visitors arrive on the island, Jim and Huck take the canoe into a large cave in the on the island. The two safely wait it out a storm inside the cave. The river floods, and washes out a house down the river past the island. Inside, Jim and Huck find the body of a man who has been shot. Jim and Huck make off with some odds and ends from the house. Huck has Jim hide in the bottom of the canoe so that he won’t be seen, and they make it back to the island safely. Huck wonders about the dead man, but Jim warns that it’s bad luck. Huck already has bad luck by finding and handling a snake’s shed skin. Sure enough when Huck plays a joke by putting a dead rattlesnake in Jim's bed, its mate comes and bites Jim. Jim’s leg swells but gets better after several days of rest and whisky drinking. A while later, Huck decides to go ashore to get information about what has happened. Jim agrees, but has Huck disguise himself as a girl (Mary Sarah Williams), using one of the dresses they took from the house. Huck practices his girl impersonation and then goes for the Illinois shore. In a shack, he finds a woman who appears to be a newcomer to the town. Huck is relieved because she will not be able to recognize him. The woman lets Huck and he introduces himself as “Sarah Williams”. She reveals that Pap was a suspect in Huck's murder and that some townspeople nearly killed him. Then, people began to suspect Jim because he ran away the same day Huck was killed. This was because he spent the money the judge gave him to find Huck, on whiskey. Now there is a $200 reward for him. Meanwhile, there is a $300 bounty out for Jim. The woman has noticed smoke over Jackson’s Island and has told her husband to look for Jim there. He planed to go there tonight with another man and a gun. The woman looks at Huck suspiciously and asks his name. He says, “Marry Williams.” When the woman asks about the change, he tries saying his full name is “Marry Sarah Williams.” Finally, she asks him to reveal his real male identity, saying she understands that he is a runaway and she will not turn him in. Huck says his name is George Peters. She tells Huck to send for her, Mrs. Judith Loftus, if he has trouble. Back at the island, Huck builds a decoy campfire far from the cave and then returns to the cave to tell Jim they must leave. And so they did.
Episode 4: On the river
Themes- Tolerance Vs. prejudice – Huck apologizes to Jim which is un heard of in this time.
Summary:
Jim and Huck spend the next few days traveling down the river. They only travel at night to avoid being seen and questioned. One night, they see a wrecked steamboat ahead of them. Huck convinces Jim to tie the raft to the boat and climb on board. They are surprised to hear voices, which Huck goes to investigate. There are three robbers on board, two of whom have tied up the third man. The two men finally decide to kill their partner by leaving him on the boat and waiting until it sinks. At this news, Huck scrambles back to rejoin Jim. They then discover that their raft has come untied and floated away. Having lost their raft, Huck and Jim search along the crashed ferryboat for the robbers' skiff. Just as they find it, the two robbers emerge and place the goods they have looted into the skiff. Huck and Jim jump into the skiff, cut the rope, and speed away downstream. Before morning, they manage to find their raft again and recapture it. Jim is hoping to reach Cairo, at the bottom of Illinois where the Ohio River merges with the Mississippi. From there, both he and Huck will be able to take a steamboat upriver and into the free states where Jim will finally be a free man. As they approaching that section of the river, a dense fog arrives and blankets everything in a murky white. They land on the shore, but before Huck is able to tie up the raft, the raft pulls loose and starts floating downstream with Jim aboard. Huck jumps into the canoe and follows it, but soon loses sight of it in the fog. He and Jim spend several hours tracking each other by calling out, but a large island finally separates them and Huck is left all alone. The next morning, Huck awakens and luckily manages to catch up with the raft. He finds Jim asleep and wakes him up. Jim is glad to see him, but Huck tries to play a trick on Jim by telling him that the events of the night before were just a dream. After some convincing, Jim starts to interpret the "dream." After some time, Huck finally points out the leaves and debris left from the night before, at which point Jim gets mad at Huck for playing such a mean trick on him. Huck feels terrible about what he did and apologizes to Jim. As Jim and Huck float downriver, Jim restlessly searches the riverbank for the town of Cairo. Heading to shore to determine what town they are near and with the intention of reporting Jim. They continue watching for Cairo, but are unable to locate it. After several days, both Huck and Jim begin to suspect that they passed Cairo in the fog several nights prior. While drifting downstream, they encounter an oncoming steamboat. Instead of getting out of their way as the steamboats usually do, the boat ploughs directly over the raft. Both Huck and Jim are forced to dive overboard. Huck emerges and grabs a piece of wood with which he paddles to the shore. Jim is nowhere to be seen.
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