Huck Finn is overrrr

The truth will set you free, or in the case of Jim and Huck, the exact opposite.  It seems like every time the two partners get into trouble to only way out is a good old Huck Finn lie.  Tom, Huck, and Jim are all enslaved by their adventurous ideas.  Well, Jim is also enslaved because he’s black and they had him chained to a bed.  The trio is able to escape and become free until Tom is shot in the leg.  Jim must then go into hiding again because of the whole runaway slave thing.  Obviously, if this were a different historical period Jim would not have to hide.  But, he is forced out of hiding to help save Tom’s life…and then he goes back to being a slave.  Are all the men on this “expedition” enslaved to each other?  Jim wasn’t that close with Tom and he could have just let him die, but he didn’t.  The boys also seem to find great freedom in sneaking out.  When they are all alone at night, it almost seems as if that is the only time that they are ever truly free.  They are living a lie and the only time that they are not slaves to the fake life that they have created is when no one else is around.  The only time that Jim is truly and honestly free is when Tom reveals that Miss Watson has set him free in her will.  This clearly ends his enslavement.  With the book being done, we have been able to look at freedom vs enslavement through various lenses, including the main one of historical with the whole black people slave thing that we had going on for like 200 years.  Yeah…

31-35 Kevin

In chapters 31-35, Huck becomes free from the Duke and the King.  He has the opportunity to leave and with it start his life over fresh.  But, Jim has been sold and Huck can’t just leave him there.  Is Huck being enslaved by Jim?  If it weren’t for Jim, Huck could have achieved his goal by now.  However you look at it, whether you think Jim is unknowingly enslaving Huck or not, Huck definitely feels a very strong connection to Jim. 

            We also see that Huck’s internal struggles continue.  Even though the Duke and the King were bad people and con men, Huck still feels bad after they die.  His conscience is eating him alive, and his internal fighting enslaves his thoughts.  When Tom comes into the picture, Huck needs help with getting Jim back.  Huck could probably do it by himself, yet he asks Tom to help him, complicating the matter.  Huck and Tom cannot agree on a plan and Huck has to listen to Tom.  One might say that because of how Huck asked for Tom’s help and the fact that he even allowed Tom’s crazy hole idea to be an option shows that Huck may be a slave of his very best friend.  Huck was free from this enslaving friendship when he “died”.  If this is the only way that Huck can be truly free, then Huck needs someone to help him. 

Chapters 26-30

Just looking at huck, enslavement has taken on a new form in the recent chapters. He has become a slave of his own conscience. Also, he has become a slave to the duke and the dauphin. In regards to his conscience, huck has tremendous internal conflict. Throughout the novel, he has some moments when he wants to turn Jim in but he doesn't. Now, his internal conflicts come from the Wilks family. Huck wants to get the money back for the sisters, and he eventually does. What he really wants to do is blow the cover of the duke and the dauphin. Especially when the slave family is broken up, huck's internal enslavement becomes more evident than ever. He wants Mary Jane to know that the family will be together again soon. In these chapters, huck's internal conflict is the main form of enslavement. However, we also see conflict in the duke and the dauphin for the first time. They get into an argument about what to do with the money while huck is in the closet. Another place we see enslavement in the novel at this point is huck's relationship with the duke and the dauphin. Huck legitimately has to act as their slave even though he knows their secret. I would have used my knowledge against them and left them there. In another sense, it almost seems as if Jim gets to be free for a little bit during the other characters' stay in the Wilks residence. He can't go anywhere, but it's still better than being back at home.

Huck Finn Kevin Rennie

Just because of the time period the book takes place in, the idea of freedom verses enslavement can be closely linked with social class. Huckleberry Finn and Jim both come from the lower end of the social pyramid. Even when huck fakes his own death, he wants Tom, someone from the upper social class, to be there to help him. If huck had come from a higher social class, he probably would not have fakes his own death. Hell, we wouldn't even have the book if huck wasn't in the social standing that he is in now. Tom reads about things in books and thinks about doing them. Huck, on the other hand, just puts them into action. He has the guts or lack of fear to do the things that the boys in the higher social classes won't do.

The idea of freedom and enslavement can be looked at through all of the lenses. The lenses that I find most affective to look at are social class, race, and historic. Yes, the novel would be completely different if either huck or Jim had been female, but the other lenses have more of an impact on the novel. Had Jim been white, for instance, he would more than likely would have not been a slave. And huck's social standing leads us to believe that he wouldn't have done any of this is he had come from a stable family. To look at it through a historical lens, I don't think that a young boy and a big black man would be able to survive in a raft in the Mississippi River. Just my opinion.

Stalin like Josef

Miss Watkins said I'm first in charge..thanks