Chapter 1-16 Natalie Fung
Belief in the superstition of bad luck can influence others.
“I had heard about some of these things before, but not all of them. Jim sknowed most everything. I said it looked to me like all the signs was about luck, and so I asked him if there warn’t any good-luck signs.” (52)
Spreading Anxiety
On Jackson Island Huck Finn is accompanied by fleeing slave, Jim, who teaches Huck about superstition when it comes to receiving bad luck. One of Jim’s many examples is that one who is cooking “mustn’t count” (Twain 52) what they are preparing or going to kill. Even before Huck met Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck believed in superstition of bad luck. A second example would be when a spider got flung into the fire and “lit in the candle” (11). Huck believes Jim when sharing his superstitions telling readers, “Jim knowed most everything” when it came to bad luck. During the era that Huckleberry Finn took place in, 1840s, superstitions were very high, as the reader can already tell from reading the first sixteen chapters.
Chapter 17-21 Trinity Gomez
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
A common theme in chapters 17-21 is lie and deceit. Huck believes that one must lie in order to be protected from society. Huck does not one to get caught in the towns he visits along the Mississippi River, so he makes up alternate identities. When Huck arrived the Grangerford this is the first scenario that happens, "Be done, boys! Who's there?" I says: It's me.""Who's me?" "George Jackson, sir." (107) The first thing Huck does is lie, tell me about having trust issues. Anyway, lying is also a common theme with the people that Huck and Jim encounter. For example do you really believe that the Duke is really a Duke and that the King is really a king, c’mon why would someone living along the Mississippi if they were truly French heirs. Huck learns lie and deceit because he was exposed to it at a change age, I mean his dad is the town drunk! He must have fed Huck large amounts of BS on a daily basis.
Chapter 22-28 Carolyn Lo Coco
One must struggle in order to grow. As Huck experiences being at fault and the death of a stranger, he feels sad and guilty and decides to grow from his experience. Huck plays a trick on Jim, and he ends up feeling guilty and having to apologize to a black man, and after "I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way.” As Heck relies his wrong doings and takes responsibilities for them, he learns from them and starts to improve from them and become his better self.
Chapter 29-35 Trinity Gomez
Theme
Home is Where the Heart Is
Huck ends up at Tom’s Aunt Sally’s House and says “She grabbed me and hugged me tight; and then gripped me by both hands and shook and shook; and the tears come in her eyes, and run down over; and she couldn't seem to hug and shake enough, and kept saying, "You don't look as much like your mother as I reckoned you would; but law sakes, I don't care for that, I'm so glad to see you! Dear, dear, it does seem like I could eat you up! Children, it's your cousin Tom!—tell him howdy." (245) The theme of family runs throughout this section of the book. Huck had never felt what it feels like to have a family that loves and cares for him. You could say that Jim and Tom were the only person he felt a familial connection to. Huck is lacking in the family department, so it is nice to see how his experiences with families get better and create a genuine feeling of love for him.
Chapter 17-21(comment): Trinity, first of all your creative title is so funny!Secondly, your explantation was super entertaining. I agree with you, lies and deceit is a huge theme that keeps coming up through these chapters. It also connects to the topic of social class, since these chapters introduce the Grangerfords and the Shepherdson to Huck as well as the reader. They are the rich families that duels to the literal death because of the feud that goes way back.
ReplyDeleteThanks I also really enjoyed your theme of superstition. It is so true how Jim was constantly "spreading anxiety" to Huck. It is funny how personal belief can make people so paranoid. I also feel that Jim's strong belief in superstition comes form his slave background. Slave's past a lot of traditions through word of mouth and told a lot of stories to their children, so Jim would have heard all of these folk stories growing up in the slave community.
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