This post will be focusing on the first part of the book The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn is one of Tom Sawyers best friends and loves adventure just as much as him.One of the themes of the first half of this book is friendship. In this book, Huckleberry Finn runs away from his abusive father with an African-American slave named Jim. At the time that this book is set in, the slaves are looked at as animals and not as equals; "The men was very huffy, and some of them wanted to hang Jim for an example...But the others said don't do it...his owner would turn up and make us pay for him." (Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 230) But Huck befriends Jim and thinks nothing of the prejudice around him. This shows the innocence of children. Just like today, many children are blind to the circumstances around them even though influences are everywhere. It is interesting that Huck isn't affected by the influences because, they are all around him and are even more substantial than the influences today.
This part of the book very clearly shows that there are no limits to love and friendship. If Huck would have been caught with Jim, he would have been punished severely but he still stuck beside him all the way to the end; "Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck, you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had, en you's de only fren' ole Jim's got now." (251) Friendship can exist in a world of hatred and inequality. We chose who we befriend and who we leave out; labels and stereo-types shouldn't decide for us.
In my opinion, this section of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a really nice message of friendship conquering all. It also demonstrates that we as humans shouldn't let our societies influence our choices and decisions. Our lives can be whatever we want and should be of our choosing.
In this post, I think you did a really good job of describing how 'love conquers all', and of tying it to modern times. One thing I noticed though was that you started by saying that the post would focus on the first 100 pages of the book, but your quote was from page 230. You could maybe just say that you're focusing on the beginning of the book, and leave out the number of pages.
ReplyDeleteJessica raises a valid point.
ReplyDeleteThe focus of this response may help you later with your apologia - how much of what we experience today with racism and discrimination are the results of children being taught that kind of thinking? We live in a time where an African American can become President of the U.S. A. , but there is still racism on our streets and in our classrooms. How much of that can we lay in the laps of the parents and thus society as a whole? Are children born with the capacity to hate or do we collectively 'write' that on their Tabula Rasa - Blank slate?