Claim

Chapter 1-16  Trinity Gomez

Is it “Sivilised” or “Civilized”?

Huck makes the claim that all the people he meets are trying to “sivilize” him. At the beginning of the book he says, ”The Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out." (1) What does it mean to be civilized? According the internet (yes, the very reliable internet) it means to “bring (a place or people) to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development considered to be more advanced,” or “polite and well-mannered.”  The society that Huck lives in has a similar definition of what it means to be civilized and Huck thinks it is complete joke. (No wonder he spells civilized with an “s” it’s the same first letter as slavery, and slavery is still a thing and that isn’t very sivilised.)  Huck’s father is the town drunk, so he has never had an adult figure telling him what to do. He never had to change his clothes, he never had to shower, and he never had to have manners. Now, he has people telling him what to do left and right, and they aren’t even his own parents. He also believes it should be able to be himself and do what feels right to him. He doesn’t want to live a life where he has to have perfect posture, mind his P’s and Q’s, not smoke, and wear clean clothes. SERIOUSLY WHO WANTS TO WEAR CLEAN CLOTHES. He thinks that life should be lived as an adventure and no one should be so uptight.

Chapter 17-21 Margo Irie

Claim and Evidence

Claim:

Others are not your responsibility.

Evidence:

“ I hadn't no objections, 'long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn't no use to tell Jim, so I didn't tell him. If I never learnt nothing else out of pap I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way”(141).

Upon meeting two frauds and con artists along the river with Jim, Huck Finn learns how to deal with liars. Huck began to understand though he knew these two people him and Jim met were con artists, the best way to keep peace was to “let them have their own way”(141). This meant that Huck Finn was learning that the actions these two liars pursue does not fall under the responsibility of himself and Jim.

Chapter 22-28 Margo Irie

Claim:

Music is good and honest.

Evidence:

“Music is a good thing; and after all that soul-butter and hogwash, I never see it freshen up things so, and sound so honest and bully”(184).

Huck Finn truly hears music as he listens to the king finish his final words and the crowd joins in singing with all their might in chapter 25. This listening to all these people coming to one place and singing “just warmed you up and made you feel as good as church letting out”(184). This feeling inside Huck Finn of warmth made him realize “Music is a good thing”(184). Huck Finn establishes the claim that music is a beautiful “sound so honest”(184).

Chapter 29-35 Natalie Fung

What goes around comes around 

“I knowed it was the king and the duke, though they was all over tar and feathers, and didn't look like nothing in the world that was human—just looked like a couple of monstrous big soldier-plumes.” (232)

In this chapter the moral/claim is karma, since the Duke and the King tricked Jim into going back into slavery that means that karma will get them back with an action equally as cruel. In the later portion of the reading, Huck recognized the scam team but this time covered in tar and feathers. Which was karma, in this case Twain, playing the team at their own game with public humiliation.

Chapter 36-the last Carmen Mascarenhas 

Claim: Man would rather be heroic than be good

Evidence: TOM SAWYER PEOPLE! He’s kind of addicted to the thrill of uncertainty and panic. This kid makes everything at least 15x harder than it has to be because God forbid he does something that isn’t as intricate and complex as possible. Here are just a couple of situations in which he almost screws everything up just so he can have as much fun as possible.

• When Tom was shot: “We was all glad as we could be, but Tom was the gladdest of all, because he had a bullet in the calf of his leg” (305)
• Tom on trying to help a slave run away: “Tom was in high spirits. He said it was the best fun he ever had in his life, and the most intellectual; and said if he only could see his way to it we would keep it up all the rest of our lives” (277)

Throughout this whole section, Huck is constantly having to reason with Tom to make sure he is “satisfied”. While Huck is just trying to get everyone out alive and Jim is scared for his life, Tom thinks everything is a game and wants to make this adventure the best game ever. Tom doesn’t really care about the outcome of the situation; he’s fine “leaving Jim to [their] children to get out” (277) and going on to play the hero in any other case he can. Tom is human, Tom is selfish, Tom wants to be the hero, not the problem solver.