Name: Aditya Hublikar
Journal
Date: 1/23/11 Period: 1
Chap/Pg# The book says:
“I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no
way. It got to troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't
stay still in one place … I got to feeling so mean and so
miserable I most wished I was dead. I fidgeted up and
Chapter 16 down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was
– Page 87- fidgeting up and down past me … He's white.”
89
“Another was Henry Clay's Speeches, and another was
Dr. Gunn's Family Medicine, which told you all about
what to do if a body was sick or dead”
Chapter 17
– Page 101
“Dat truck dah is TRASH; en trash is what people is dat
puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed
… It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up
to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I
warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do
Chapter 15 him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one
– Page 86 if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way.”
Double-Entry Reading
for Huck Finn Chapters 11-32
I say:
This chapter serves the dual purpose of both showing the
influence on Huck by deep seated southern morals as well
as show Huck’s ongoing internal struggle against these
same morals. After reading the views on pro-slavery, I
now know how hard it must have been for Huck to make
the decision that he made. This passage shows that Huck
is actively fighting those morals, but only within himself.
He does nothing to oppose slavery as an institution, but
only opposes it when it suits him best. I believe Huck
decides to save Jim based on the fact that Jim is Huck’s
friend and not because he is a slave. Therefore, Huck has
a long way to progress before he can break the shackles
holding him to southern beliefs. However, the fact that
Huck thought about the fact that Jim is a slave before
saving him shows that he chose to disregard that fact,
which is definitely a step closer to becoming anti-slavery.
While reading this passage, the name Henry Clay struck
me as significant as I have been learning about him in
social studies class. Henry Clay was a master politician of
his time and came up with a plan to fix the country’s
economic problems. His plan consisted of a national bank,
protective tariff, and internal improvements. This was
significant at the time because support for this bill was
split along sectional lines; the north was in favor of it and
the south was strongly against it. Therefore, I found it
ironic how a prominent family in the south would have a
book with speeches by someone who was a hero of the
north. Perhaps it was to show the ignorance of
southerners, or maybe to show that Mark Twain himself
supported the American System and in effect, the views of
the north; for example, the anti-slavery movement.
This passage is of monumental importance in the novel, as
it portrays a white boy saying sorry to a black man, and a
slave. This sort of behavior was unheard of at the time of
this novel, as most people in the south were racist. The
fact that Huck “humbles” himself to Jim, in my eyes,
separates him from the blatant racism in the south.
Although it does not prove he is an abolitionist, as it took
him fifteen minutes before he could convince himself to
do it, this act shows that Huck, without a doubt, is not
racist. If Huck was racist, he would, for one thing, never
have befriended Jim. More importantly, he would never
have apologized to a black man, friend or otherwise.
According to the packet we read, Racists viewed blacks as
animals with no feelings, so the fact that Huck feels sorry
for Jim and for hurting him proves that he is not a racist.
 “Next Sunday we all went to church, about three mile,
everybody a-horseback. The men took their guns along,
so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood
them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done
Chapter 18 the same. It was pretty ornery preaching--all about
– Page 109 brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but
everybody said it was a good sermon, and they all
talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot
to say about faith and good works and free grace and
preforeordestination, and I don't know what all, that it
did seem to me to be one of the roughest Sundays I had
run across yet.”
Chapter 21 “To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin
– Pages That makes calamity of so long life;
136-150 For who would fardels bear, till
Birnam Wood do come to Dunsinane,
But that the fear of something after death
Murders the innocent sleep,
Great nature's second course,
And makes us rather sling the arrows of outrageous
fortune
… THE KING'S CAMELEOPARD,
OR THE ROYAL NONESUCH!!! Admission 50 cents.
Then at the bottom was the biggest line of all, which
said: LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED.”
Chapter 25 The King pretends to be a preacher in order to make the
– Pages townspeople less suspicious.
163 - 170
This passage is a perfect example of satire in this novel. In
this passage, Twain depicts men going to church with
guns between their knees, which is Twain’s was of poking
fun at religion and its obvious hypocrisies. Twain is
satirizing the fact that people feel it disrespectful and
inappropriate to conduct violence on a Sunday, as it is the
day to go to church. However, they feel it is okay every
other day. They try and behave themselves in church as
best as possible too look good in front of god, and also to
look good in front of eachother. The Grangerfords and
Shepherdson’s are depicted with “guns between their
knees” as an emphasis on the fact that the only peace
between the two families in at church. All other times, it is
just fine to kill each other. This passage, along with
another instance in the beginning of the book when Tom
Sawyer’s gang refuses to meet on Sundays, shows
Twain’s bitterness and skepticism of religion. Twain was
not a very religious man in his time, and his writing
reflects his point of view perfectly.
I feel that his passage was very clever, and quite amusing,
how the Duke and the King strung together many different
Shakespearean plays into one soliloquy. However, as I
had anticipated, no one showed up to watch it. Then, when
they put up complete trash, the whole town shows up. I
feel this is very ironic as you would expect people would
want to see a classic play over vulgar and disgusting
garbage, but that is not the case. I have realized that this is
the case in real life as well. For example, people all over
the world swarm to their TV’s to watch pointless drama
shows such as The Jersey Shore, but you will never find
people so excited about reading a classic peace of
literature. Although this is unfortunate, it is what I see in
my everyday life.
In this part of the novel, Twain takes another stab at
religion. The King, who is a lying and cheating scoundrel,
pretends to be a prominent religious figure. He does this to
make the townspeople trust him, and it works. Another
example of this is when he decides to give the money to
the girls as a way of misleading the townspeople further.
This is Twain’s way of satirizing the religious institution;
that there are many corrupt and dishonest people within
the ranks of many churches. These people take advantage
of their position and use it to con and cheat people. He
wants to make a point that religious figures are not what
they seem and that religion itself is not what it seems to
be. He feels religion is an institution for corrupt, shameful
people who are trying to make up for their sins in the
presence of other such people.