Wow! What an adventure our Huck Finn is having! He's living the American Dream to the fullest, that is for sure. He ran away from home, he's going on adventures, he met a King and a Duke, he's steeling the hearts of beautiful young ladies and he narrowly escaped jail. He is having an amazing vacation, I wish mine were more like his, more interesting at least. My favorite part of this book so far, is how Huck came clean to Mary Jane. He told her the truth, and I think that's something new for him, he seems to tell a lot of lies to get out of trouble, and always seems to wind up in more trouble than when he started. Now, when he came clean, him, the King and the Duke, were already in a heap of trouble, so Huck decides to try something new, and tell the truth. He tells Mary Jane what really happened in order to help her out, he wanted her to get the money that really belonged to her instead of the King and the Duke making off with it, so he tells her they are frauds, and not really her uncles. She is astonished, and Huck tells her where he hid the money so she can get it back, if no one else moved it. This is my favorite part of the book so far because he realizes what a bad influence the King and Duke are on Jim and himself, for example, "I got to tell the truth, and you want to brace up, Miss Mary, because it's a bad kind, and going to be hard to take, but there ain't no help for it. These uncles of your ain't no uncles at all; they're a couple of frauds--regular dead beats" (Twain 187). He decides to tell the truth to try to get them jailed so he is no longer affiliated with this troublesome couple. However, his plan fails, Jim and Huck are still plagued with the frauds, but, luckily, the town and the deceased family members are not.
Twain did a fabulous job of portraying the King and Duke as a couple of characters that highly over played their hand. They both asked to be called names of royalty, they expected to be waited on by both Jim and Huck, they expect special treatment where ever they go, and don't allow Huck or Jim to question any decision they make, much less voice their opinion. The King makes multiple threats towards Huck, such as, " ... 'Oh, yes, it's mighty likely!' and shook me up again, and said he reckoned he'd drown me" (Twain 206). They are just both very rude to him, however, the King more so than the Duke. I love Twain's development of the characters, but I strongly dislike the King and the Duke, however, the King is, quite easily, my least favorite character so far in this novel. He's rude, he's a scoundrel, he lies and cheats for money with no shame whatsoever, and has total disregard for anyone around him because he labors under the belief that he is a mistreated King and should sit on the throne in Versailles. Huck is also a scoundrel, but some exceptions must be made on his behalf. The first exception, is he that he is a boy around the age of 10. Boys around that age are not expected to make any fabulously mature decisions around that age. Exception number two is that Huck feels some remorse for what he has done, he knows it is not right when he is doing it, and he feels bad about it afterwards regardless of whether he gets caught or not. The King only feels bad when he gets caught, and he feels bad in the sense that he should have made a better decision so as not to get caught, not the he regrets his actions and wishes to be a better person starting tomorrow.
Even Jim, who doesn't seem to be around every often, is getting real sick and tired of the King and the Duke. He wants them gone, but Huck and him have no power to banish them from their adventure, because they are "royalty". Huck realized long ago that these men were not actually anything special, it was obvious by their dialect that they had never been to England. For example, " 'It ain't no use talkin'; bein brothers to a rich dead man and representatives of furrin heirs that's got left is the line for you and me, Bilge. Thish yer comes of trust'n to Providence. It's the best way, in the long run. I've tried 'em all, and ther' ain't no better way' "(Twain 166). This is an excerpt from the King's speech and it is so so obvious that this man was not raised as the Dauphin King of France, King Louis XVI would not allow that kind of English spoken in his castle, the same way Mrs. BG wouldn't allow it in her classroom, because it's wrong. Somehow he just forgot how to speak French, his native language, at that? I don't believe he's the King one bit, but if he's not the King, then who is he? That's my only question from these chapters.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.
Twain did a fabulous job of portraying the King and Duke as a couple of characters that highly over played their hand. They both asked to be called names of royalty, they expected to be waited on by both Jim and Huck, they expect special treatment where ever they go, and don't allow Huck or Jim to question any decision they make, much less voice their opinion. The King makes multiple threats towards Huck, such as, " ... 'Oh, yes, it's mighty likely!' and shook me up again, and said he reckoned he'd drown me" (Twain 206). They are just both very rude to him, however, the King more so than the Duke. I love Twain's development of the characters, but I strongly dislike the King and the Duke, however, the King is, quite easily, my least favorite character so far in this novel. He's rude, he's a scoundrel, he lies and cheats for money with no shame whatsoever, and has total disregard for anyone around him because he labors under the belief that he is a mistreated King and should sit on the throne in Versailles. Huck is also a scoundrel, but some exceptions must be made on his behalf. The first exception, is he that he is a boy around the age of 10. Boys around that age are not expected to make any fabulously mature decisions around that age. Exception number two is that Huck feels some remorse for what he has done, he knows it is not right when he is doing it, and he feels bad about it afterwards regardless of whether he gets caught or not. The King only feels bad when he gets caught, and he feels bad in the sense that he should have made a better decision so as not to get caught, not the he regrets his actions and wishes to be a better person starting tomorrow.
Even Jim, who doesn't seem to be around every often, is getting real sick and tired of the King and the Duke. He wants them gone, but Huck and him have no power to banish them from their adventure, because they are "royalty". Huck realized long ago that these men were not actually anything special, it was obvious by their dialect that they had never been to England. For example, " 'It ain't no use talkin'; bein brothers to a rich dead man and representatives of furrin heirs that's got left is the line for you and me, Bilge. Thish yer comes of trust'n to Providence. It's the best way, in the long run. I've tried 'em all, and ther' ain't no better way' "(Twain 166). This is an excerpt from the King's speech and it is so so obvious that this man was not raised as the Dauphin King of France, King Louis XVI would not allow that kind of English spoken in his castle, the same way Mrs. BG wouldn't allow it in her classroom, because it's wrong. Somehow he just forgot how to speak French, his native language, at that? I don't believe he's the King one bit, but if he's not the King, then who is he? That's my only question from these chapters.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.