The farther I get into this story, the more interesting it gets! Sometimes, I get a little lost and confused while reading the book and trying to understand what Jim is saying but, I guess, that's just insight into how they spoke back then and what the society was actually like in those times. Personally, I think those things are fascinating to learn about and I really like how we are learning them through this book. I didn't know that Jim was escaping, for some reason, I just thought they would stay on that island and hide out, indefinitely and live off the land, but, I suppose, that would't fit in too well with the Adventure part of the title. It was hard to really understand what was happening while they were on the wreck and when they stole the canoe, I don't see how that would make them any better than the hooligans who were going to kill that guy by drowning him. I also don't understand how trapping three individuals, instead of just one, is better. However, that shows that he has some form of morals, however skewed.
At the end of chapter 15, Huck plays a very mean trick on Jim, and Jim calls him out on it. Huck immediately regrets his trick, and wishes he hadn't done it. He says, "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 afterward, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I would't done that one if I'd 'a' snowed it would make him feel that way" (Twain 86). This scene is once again depicting that Huck is, actually, a morally sensitive person, and cares about others feelings like he does his own. He looks up to Tom Sawyer, famous for his lack of caring, but, little does he know, that Tom is actually a horrible influence on him. Huck is trying to have adventures like Tom does, trying to be just like Tom, but his sensitivity to others feelings get in the way of him being Tom 2.0, and I, honestly, think he resents that.
Right after he pulls an awful trick on Jim, Huck is presented with a huge moral problem. Jim shares that he's longing for freedom, and how close there are to obtaining his freedom, because of this, Huck begin to get uneasy. Huck was taught that blacks are property first, and then people, not the other way around. Now that he realizes that he is helping Jim, and possibly Jim's wife and kids, to freedom, he is starting to get cold feet about this whole freedom business. He needs to get his priorities straight, whether he's Jim's friend first, or a semi law-abiding adopted son of Widow Douglas. It's got to be hard to decide, because if he helps Jim to freedom, and then gets caught, while he's supposed to be dead, that's going to cause a lot of problems. Particularly for Jim, because if he gets caught, he'll be hung, for sure; because he ran away, disregarded that bounty placed on a young boy's head, and is trying to become a free citizen of the United States. If we think back to chapter 11, Huck's dad, Pap, is very much not okay with this happening in the U.S. He views blacks as property, and to him, that's what they will always be, they don't get to be free, only white people. Therefore, if he knew that his son was gallivanting off with a slave that he was helping to freedom, Huck would get beaten, for sure. Huck is used to going against his father's wishes and being his own person, but he's not sure if he's ready for this level of rebellion yet.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.
At the end of chapter 15, Huck plays a very mean trick on Jim, and Jim calls him out on it. Huck immediately regrets his trick, and wishes he hadn't done it. He says, "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 afterward, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I would't done that one if I'd 'a' snowed it would make him feel that way" (Twain 86). This scene is once again depicting that Huck is, actually, a morally sensitive person, and cares about others feelings like he does his own. He looks up to Tom Sawyer, famous for his lack of caring, but, little does he know, that Tom is actually a horrible influence on him. Huck is trying to have adventures like Tom does, trying to be just like Tom, but his sensitivity to others feelings get in the way of him being Tom 2.0, and I, honestly, think he resents that.
Right after he pulls an awful trick on Jim, Huck is presented with a huge moral problem. Jim shares that he's longing for freedom, and how close there are to obtaining his freedom, because of this, Huck begin to get uneasy. Huck was taught that blacks are property first, and then people, not the other way around. Now that he realizes that he is helping Jim, and possibly Jim's wife and kids, to freedom, he is starting to get cold feet about this whole freedom business. He needs to get his priorities straight, whether he's Jim's friend first, or a semi law-abiding adopted son of Widow Douglas. It's got to be hard to decide, because if he helps Jim to freedom, and then gets caught, while he's supposed to be dead, that's going to cause a lot of problems. Particularly for Jim, because if he gets caught, he'll be hung, for sure; because he ran away, disregarded that bounty placed on a young boy's head, and is trying to become a free citizen of the United States. If we think back to chapter 11, Huck's dad, Pap, is very much not okay with this happening in the U.S. He views blacks as property, and to him, that's what they will always be, they don't get to be free, only white people. Therefore, if he knew that his son was gallivanting off with a slave that he was helping to freedom, Huck would get beaten, for sure. Huck is used to going against his father's wishes and being his own person, but he's not sure if he's ready for this level of rebellion yet.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.