Huck Finn Blog Post 3

During Huck Finn’s adventures, he becomes separated from his friend, Jim. He finds himself at a very strange home belonging to the Grangerfords. The Grangerfords are a very odd family that Huck stumbles upon. Huck is greeted by vicious dogs trying to attack him and several guns pointing towards him. They are hesitant to allow Huck into their home at first, fearing he is someone by the name of Sheperdson. Huck soon learns that the Sheperdson family is quarreling with the Grangerford family. The element of humor ties into this situation because the two families have no idea why are they are so violently fighting. The feud between the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons has become second nature for them. “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 them between or stood them handy against the wall. The Sheperdsons done the same” (Twain, 111). Twain includes this dispute in the novel to add humor to the story line. It is humorous because there is absolutely no direct point to the fighting, yet it is a major part of each person's life.

Although the Grangerford scene symbolizes humor, it also presents the element of sadness. The violent behavior has been carrying on for almost thirty years and has killed plenty of family members since. Three of the recent Grangerford children have lost their lives due to the fighting. This was very tragic for the family, but they also lost a loved one due to another cause. The character that is mentioned in the novel is Emmeline, a Grangerford. She was a very special family member and she lost her life due to sickness. “This was all there was of the family now, but there used to be more- three sons; they got killed; and Emmeline that died” (Twain, 108). Emmeline was not a particularly joyful character, she wrote dismal poetry and surrounded herself with dreary photographs.  Her loss seems to have impacted the family very much. Since the family so regularly experiences death in their family, it is not going to stop them from continuing the violent battle with the Sheperdsons. 

Twain creates an allusion to a British play, “Romeo and Juliet,” during the story when Huck is at the Grangerford’s home. “Romeo and Juliet” tells the story of two clashing families and the theme of love between the families. Romeo comes from a poor, troublesome family called the Montagues. He is always acting as a nuisance. Juliet, however, was raised by her strict and pompous parents, the Capulets. When Romeo and Juliet cross paths, they instantly fall in love. Romeo and Juliet are aware that their relationship would never be accepted by their parents. This causes conflict between the families and ultimately results in death of the two lovers. This relates back to “Huck Finn” because two of the characters in the novel act very much like Romeo and Juliet. Sophia Grangerford and Harney Sheperdson run off together in the story to get married. “Well, den, Miss Sophia’s run off! ‘deed she has. She run off in de night some time-nobody know jis’ when; run off to get married to dat young Harney Sheperdson, you know- leastways, so dey ‘spec” (Twain, 114). Following this incident, the remaining family members act just as the family members in “Romeo and Juliet;” they are very angry. The actions that Sophia and Harney performed soon result in more fighting and death for the two families.

Huck Finn Blog Post 2

Huck Finn and Jim act as a family for one another. Huck, growing up without a very supportive family, never spent quality time with his father and barely knew his mother. Jim is a runaway slave who is separated from his family most of the time. When Jim and Huck find each other on the island together, there is no one else there to live with. They connect and soon find that they have a family-like relationship. Jim acts as a fatherly figure for Huck. “Hello, what’s up? Don’t cry, bub. What’s the trouble” (Twain, 77)? It is important for Huck to have someone like Jim who will comfort him in his sorrow and accompany him in his loneliness. Although Huck has a father, he is an irresponsible alcoholic and pays little attention to Huck’s happiness. A parent like Jim is just what Huck needs while living in the woods all alone. The two look after one another and Jim is very much like a parent for Huck. He always wants to shelter him in every way.  “’It’s a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He’s been shot in de back. I reck’n he’s ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face-it’s too gashly” (Twain, 57). This incidence is significant because Jim knows that if Huck were to look at the face of the dead man, he would not enjoy what he saw. Therefore, Jim does not allow Huck to look at the face; he is protecting him.

Protecting each other is not the only reason why Huck and Jim resemble a family. They also act as a family because they entertain each other and enjoy each other’s company, the same way a family would. The woods do not provide very much entertainment for the two, so therefore they rely on each other for their distraction from the undesirable state they are in. “I read considerable to Jim about kings and dukes and earls and such, and how gaudy they dressed, and how much style they put on, and called each other your majesty, and your grace, and your lordship, and so on, ‘stead of mister; and Jim’s eyes bugged out, and he was interested” (Twain, 81). Sharing stories and spending time together is a common occurrence for Jim and Huck. The two of them have a very special relationship; such a strong bondage between a young white boy and a grown slave is extremely uncommon.  They live in a home together in the woods where they do family-like things such as eating dinner together. “’Jim, this is nice,’ I says. “I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here. Pass me along another hunk of fish and some hot cornbread’” (Twain, 55). This quote shows that not only do Jim and Huck practically have to put up with one another, but they enjoy each other’s presence.  This is an important quality for a family to have, and it is definitely a quality that the two possess.

Huck Finn Blog Post 1

Throughout the first ten chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain proves that Huck Finn is an independent character. Huck proves his independence by constantly taking care of himself. When Huck’s troublesome father takes Huck into the woods so they can live together, the idea of independence is presented. Huck’s father is a terrible alcoholic and leaves Huck locked in the house alone some nights. He locks Huck in the tiny cabin and goes to town and gets drunk, sometimes not returning for several days. It is during the times when Huck is alone that he must be self-sufficient. “He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome” (Twain, 32). Living this way for several months caused a loneliness to develop in Huck’s life. He was often forced to be independent and abandoned.

Huck Finn shows by his actions that he is carefree. Huck is not living an orderly life by any means. He was taken in by a widow but did not enjoy his life there. The reason he felt this way was because of the organization. Huck does not want to live his life in an orderly way. He pays little attention to the big picture, but yet focuses on the moment he is in. The only thing Huck truly cares about is his troublesome friend, Tom Sawyer. When the housekeeper, Mrs. Watson, tells Huck that she does not think he will go to heaven, Huck barely cares. “I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together” (Twain, 13). This is a perfect example to represent how nothing truly matters in Huck’s eyes, just as long as he is with Tom Sawyer.