Huck and Jim have now been spending a lot of time together floating down the river and are becoming friends. Huck is Jim's only friend, and the only one he can trust.
After jim and Huck were separated in the fog Huck probably thought that he could make a fool out of Jim and it would still be funny. Huck told Jim that it was all a dream, but really Huck was there all along. yet he had no idea the trick really hurt Jim deeply. Huck says "it was fifteen minutes before i could work myself up to go and be humble to a nigger- but i done it , and i warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither." Huck was feeling sorry for Jim that he pulled that prank and was glad he apologized. Huck never had the intention to hurt Jim. After all Huck is just a little boy who admires Tom . Tom gave Huck the inspiration to pull pranks on less intelligent folks, especially blacks.
when Huck and tom began to come closer to freedom Huck had second thoughts about helping an escape slave to freedom. Huck was so close to turning Jim in, but lucky for Jim they ran into a couple of slave searchers. Huck came up with a story and ended up getting 40 bucks out of the deal. it ended up to be a good thing the he didn't turn in Jim. also had he turned in jim he would no longer have a buddy to go along with him in his adventure.
at the end of the scene was when Mark Twain had writers block. this may have been from having great ideas that led him up to this point. he also flew by the big scenes that were so great. if he hadn't this book wouldn't be half the book it is today. Mark needed time to come up with more great scenes. i think he wanted to continue to make the story kid friendly.
one thing is though, I think that Huck is trying to play that trick on Jim so that Jim won't get mad about what happened. I don't think Huck is trying to be mean to him or really do anything funny. I think he could also have been doing it to save them from having a bad memory.
ReplyDeleteNaomi,
ReplyDeleteGood post. I'm glad that you're focusing on the evolving relationship between Jim and Huck as it seems increasingly central to the novel (and to the question of the book's value in the classroom). I'll be interested to hear what you think of the reading assigned over the break.