Logos

Chapter 1-16  Kristen Allan

“And she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself. “ (15)

After Huckleberry loses interest in Moses because he’s just a figure of the past, he’s then denied a smoke by said Widow, claiming it was unclean and bad practice. However, the widow was no Thomas Jefferson and understood hypocrisy

Chapter 17-21 Carmen Mascarenhas 

“Each person had their own n—— to wait on them- Buck, too. My n—— had a monstrous easy time, because I warn’t used to having anybody do anything for me, but Buck’s was on the jump most of the time” (119).

Backwards logos! It’s a thing! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn isn’t exactly a persuasive essay, so finding logos takes a little bit of thinking. I’ll take you through my thought process really quickly. Here’s what I know: Twain has a motive in this book-  slavery doesn’t make sense. At the same time, Twain’s main character has been taught by society that slavery makes perfect sense and is an absolute necessity. So how can Twain possibly convince his reader that slavery is bad when his main character fundamentally believes that it isn’t? Well, here’s where backwards logos comes in. Twain is proving that slavery is wrong by injecting Huck’s uneducated opinion into every situation he encounters. In other words, the logos is in what Huck sees, not what he thinks or says. In the quote above, Huck isn’t saying that slavery is wrong; in fact, he willingly accepts the slave from the Grangerfords. However, Huck’s casual commentary that his slave didn’t do much because he wasn’t used to having a slave says it all. Slavery isn’t a necessity, but some people, like Buck, can’t live without it because they are so used to it. This is the logic Twain is trying to impart on his readers.

Chapter 22-28 Natalie Fung

Mark Twain was a heavy drinker, yet not crossing the lines that were alcoholism. Twain had two rules when it came to drinking the first was to never drink alone and the second was to never decline if someone offered. Connecting this to the plot of the novel during chapters 21-28, Twain introduces the character of Boggs in chapter 21, who is the town's drunk. Boggs is known to drink a little too much (putting it lightly) and then throw empty threats to townsfolk he does not like. Yet he is known for these threats and gets laughed at for them. Huck describes the screen for the reader by saying, "there was considerable whiskey drinking going on, and I see three fights" (Twain 143-144).

Chapter 29-35 Trinity Gomez

Use Your Noggin

Huck starts chapter 35 saying, “It would be most an hour, yet, till breakfast, so we left, and struck down into the woods; because Tom said we got to have some light to see how to dig by, and a lantern makes too much, and might get us in trouble.”(265) Tom seems to always be using his brain to get the boys out of sticky situation. Tom uses logic, I mean he persuaded me when he said that the light might get them caught. It’s like if someone was going to sneak out in the middle of the night to go out to a party they weren’t allowed to go to (because I know we’re all rebels) , but when they did it they shined a light in their parents’ faces to wake them up. It doesn’t add up, it isn’t logical. Tom made the same connection, and said it makes the most sense to stay on the DL, which persuades Huck to agree with his plan.

Chapter 36-the last Margo Irie

“It ain’t no use, Huck, it ain’t a-going to work. If we was prisoners it would, because then we’d have as many years as we wanted, and no hurry; and we wouldn’t get but a few minutes to dig, every day, while they was changing watches, and so our hands wouldn’t get blistered, and we could keep it up right along, year in and year out, and do it right, and the way it ought to be done. But WE can’t fool along; we got to rush; we ain’t got no time to spare. If we was to put in another night this way we’d have to knock off for a week to let our hands get well—couldn’t touch a case-knife with them sooner”(273).

Being logical, Tom tells Huck “it ain’t a-going to work”(273) when speaking about digging for years and years to come. Tom uses examples such as getting “our hands...blistered”(273). Tom knows they “got to rush” as they “ain’t got no time to spare”(273) meaning they must move on rather than continue digging for over thirty years. This evokes logos in the reader, as this show the reader why this tactic would not work for the boys. By describing the blisters and years and years of digging, Tom explains with examples why this is not a practical idea. However, the boys have also learned they “can’t fool along”(273) and must keep at a constant pace, for if they do not they will be stuck with blistered hands inadequate to even hold a knife. The descriptive examples given in this excerpt describes with evidence to the reader why Tom and Huck will not be able to stay stationary and dig, and for what reasons they must keep moving.