Thursday, July 9, 2009

Reflections and Reactions to Huck Finn

Honestly, when I started reading Huck Finn, I wasn't exactly sure if I would enjoy it or not. Usually, I when I pick up a book, it's a love story or one that's depressing. But to my surprise, I really liked Huck Finn a lot. I loved the humor, adventure, and the role that friendship played in it. It's able to tie so many different aspects and trigger pretty much any emotion, and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.

I definitely think what I liked most about this story was seeing Huck become friends with Jim, and then risk everything to help save him after he was captured. Towards the beginning of the book, Huck and Jim were just kind of together. There wasn't much of a friendship or anything like that, from Huck's perspective atleast. Jim was just thankful that he wouldn't have to be sold and moved from what he thought of as his home. But as the story continued, Huck and Jim grew to care about eachother, and I think that showed how much Huck grew as a person. It might have been from leaving the "sivilized" world, having Jim relying on him, or because he never had someone to care for or that cared about him. He was used to his father, and that really wasn't much of anything but hate. Either way, Huck showed how much compassion he is capable of having, and I really enjoyed seeing that come out.

What are your feelings towards this? Is there something else that could have become known about Huck from his relationship with Jim? What do you think?

6 comments:

  1. In a strange environment, you will run to what you know every time. Think about a stand band or choir competition, whatever. You'll talk to the people you know the most, whether you actually like them or not. While Jim and Huck were stuck with each other a little more so than our band or choir student, they relied on each other simply because it comforted them. They were both setting out on a new path, and glad to do so but scared at the same time. Keeping a part of their old life with them made it seem a little less scary. If you ask me, they became friends by default.

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  2. That was also one of my favorite parts of the book too, M. Huck didn't have to care for Jim or become his friend. I see what you're saying John about them becoming friends by default, but I'm not sure about that. In a way, they would have to in order to survive, be able to work with each other. The part where I think Huck grew and it was an amazing part of the book to see develop, was how he truly cared for Jim and would risk everything for him. He saw him as a person, and not just a black man that helped back home where he came from. They might have become friends by default, but the level of compassion and reliabilty that grew into a special bond between the two was much more than that I think.

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  3. I agree with Jill. It couldn't have been by default. You can take such things back. If Huck was willing to go to hell as he thought he would if he helped Jim, then he wouldn't have risked it all for a mere default friend. He actually liked him. And yes, it seems as if Jim became like a real father figure. He always called him honey, and took over Huck's watches and such. It may have been forced into action, but the relationship was barrier breaking.

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  4. Huck was probably the first white person to treat Jim like a human being. This was very dangerous to Huck himself, but despite the danger Huck continued to allow their relationship to grow. This just shows how much he cared for him even though it wasn't exactly their "choice" to be together.

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  5. I agree with Pickle and John. I also have some thoughts of my own thought. Jim was a runaway black man, so in a way he kind of had to becomes friends with Huck so he could try and get his freedom. I'm not saying that is the only reason why Jim and Huck became friends. It takes two to make a friendship so it wasn't just all because ofJim. I think that Huck needed a friend. I think throughout the story Huck was confused and needed someone. Huck really didn't have any friends, well there was Tom but I don't know if you could really call that a friendship? I think that by Jim and Huck being alone and both wanting something their friendship just worked out and they both got more then they expected, which is good. I just think that maybe the friendship started out as being convenient but then grew into the real thing.

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  6. I really enjoyed seeing Huck and Jim grow as friends throughout this book. I also agree with Molly when she said that it takes two people to make build a friendship. It wasn't just Huck because he could help Jim to freedom, both of them had to contribute to make the friendship blossom. I liked seeing how much Huck changed, like Pickle said. By the end of the book, he just cared so much more and was definitely more compassionate towards everyone.

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