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.