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I do not agree at all. The novel should not end. This a turning point in the story. It is the climax. You don't end a novel at its climax. I would want to know what happened after Huck decided to not send the letter to Miss. Watson telling her he knows where Jim is. He had felt guilty for accompanying Jim on his escape and thought for sure he would be going to Hell. (Huck is already infuriated because the King and the Duke made a fake handbill to turn in Jim for a $40 reward.) Before he sends the letter, he thinks about all the great times he and Jim had floating down the river on the raft. He can't see Jim as being someone who is disgraceful and worthless. Huck decides that he'd rather save his friend rather than send the letter. He would go to hell in order to stick up for Jim and lead him on his way to freedom.
ReplyDeleteUp until chapter 31, the novel has each chapter going back and forth from the river to shore. There has been conflict of prejudice, racism, and slavery. Huck is also struggling between right and wrong as you already know because he doesn't know if it's right to help African Americans or wrong. He doesn't know the right and wrong ideas that could cause him to go to heaven or hell. He believes very strongly that his people will shun him forever for being with Jim on his escape. However, it enrages Huck that the King and the Duke create that fake handbill, and he follows his heart, not his conscience.
Chapter 31 ends at a suspenseful spot. It would drive me crazy to not know whether or not Jim made it to freedom, whatever became of Pap Finn, and if Huck had decided to go back to the Widow Douglas or just keep on rafting down the river.
I think the climax is symbolizing Huck searching for his true identity and the difference between right and wrong. It's as if he finally reached a breaking point and is going in the right direction. It is good the novel continued on because Huck had a partial plan figured out and knowing how his life turned out would not make the novel a very good read, at least to me. I really don't know if how to explain what I'm trying to get at. I just hope my point gets across.
I think it should have ended.
ReplyDeleteEnding at the clmax is called a cliff hanger right? Its done all the time.
I agree with both Katie and John. I would hate not knowing what happened in the rest of the novel if it just ended there. On the other hand, it would make a great cliff hanger.
ReplyDeleteThis showed how far Huck had grown in his character. It's the ultimate sacrifice Huck could give to show he had befriended and come to love Jim, as a person. He even said that Jim was white inside. At the time, this was going against everything that society was throwing Huck. Huck had gone from just seeing everything as society had, to standing his ground on what he believed was right and what was wrong.
This statement was something that Huck did to break the barriers of racism, segragation, and slavery, personally. If the novel would have ended here, I think it would have been on a good note. It would have shown Huck's progression. As Katie said, Huck learned to follow his heart. I think that's very admirable, considering he was risking his whole reputation, and he didn't even know what else was at stake possibly. I think this would have been a great ending to the book, but I enjoyed the way it did also.
Although it would be nice to know if, and how Jim escaped, and what happened to Huck, I do not wholly disagree with ending the novel at that line. It shows how Huck’s attitude towards Southern social classes has changed, and he thinks of Jim as a person, rather than property. It shows he is courageous to try and free Jim, even though all he’s ever heard of is that he would go to hell if he tried to take someone’s slave away from them. He was breaking the southern lifestyle, tearing apart all the illusions of segregation and racism he had been fed since the first day he could eat it up. That line would have been a powerful statement to end on, really leaving a lingering impression on the reader. It would also leave the escape and aftermath up to the reader to try to determine. I guess it’s a “more romantical” way to end it. Alas, Huck isn’t like that, but rather practical, so it makes more sense to go on in the tale, and leave less ends open.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it should have ended there at all. As everyone has said, you wouldn't really get to see how much Huck grows as an individual if it ended there. Sure you could see some growth, but not as much as there was. Going against the norm of what a white person is, Huck showed bravery and compassion by not caring what would happen by saving Jim. As Jill said, Huck showed a lot by breaking the racial barriers and as I stated in my own topic, that friendship is what I enjoyed most.
ReplyDeleteBut John, it would definitely make a good cliff hanger.
Huck talking about the Widow Douglas:
ReplyDelete"She told me what she meant-I must help other people, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself...I went out into the woods and turned it over in my mind a long time, but I couldn't see no advantage about it-except for the other people."
How's that for irony?
Although it would drive me mad if the book ended there, I think it should. Because in that moment we see just how far Huck has come; he puts everything on the line there.
I really like how Jill said it: "This statement was something that Huck did to break the barriers of racism, segragation, and slavery." That's exactly what he did, and that was not something you did at that time.
Huck defied basically everything he ever knew or was struggling with and, like Katie said, followed his heart.
Yes, it'd be bittersweet for it to end there, but I think that it would have made for a great ending.
I really did not care for the rest of AHF after that moment so I'm going to say the book should've ended. Tom Sawyer got less funny as he dragged on Jim's escape and the ending seemed like a fairy tale. It reminded me of how the Harry Potter series ended with them growing up and living happily ever after. Mostly everyone I talked to could have done without that. It also became very ironic how everything came together in the end. That reminded me of Seinfeld but without Cramer or George, I wasn't feeling it.
ReplyDeleteEnding the book there would emphasize the point in the story and that already showed how much Huck Finn has grown and matured through his adventures.
Another thought, the book wasn't written in a way that it would make sense to end there. The story kept trucking along at an even pace. It was meant to entertain first and for the scholarly, to find another meaning behind the words of Huckleberry Finn.
I would have really liked it if the book ended right there. It was probabaly my favorite part of the book and finally Huck had reached a decision about where he stood. Originally he thought that helping a slave get their freedom was a horrible thing to do. He thought it was wicked of him to steal Miss Watson's property when she'd always been so good to him. At this point, he finally realises that Jim was a human being more than he was property, and the real wicked thing to do would be to betray his trust. The ending of the book drags and isn't neccessary because the point has already been made.
ReplyDeleteI think it should have ended there. The suspense of a cliff hanger would have been a great ending compared to them going off or a rambling useless rescue mission that turns out to be pointless. Jim was free the whole time technically so they went through all that time and effort for nothing. Seems like a waste to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone. I guess I'm a little two-sided in most cases. Cliff hangers are classic and it leads our minds to wonder and create our own perfect ending, regardless if it happened or not. But then again, I enjoyed reading the success and long fought for freedom of Jim from slavery & of Huck from Pap and Miss Watson. It's a happy closure.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pickle and James. I feel that the story should have ended at chapeter 31. After Huck distoys the letter the story really didn't have any meaning. Maybe Twain thought it did, but if so I did not pick up on it. I thought the ending was boring and drug on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah. If the book had ended there, you wouldn't get to see Huck grow as a person and a character. Also, I personally hate cliff hangers because when I read a book, I always have to know how it ends. But that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with John. Cliff hangers are a good ending because you can make up what happens next. Sometimes its not always best to let the author decide what is going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Pickle. It kind of was a waste to ramble on about how much more free he was going to be. Suspenseful cliff hangers make a great ending to stories. They really let your mind wonder what was going to happen next and you can shape your own endings, which is more fun than letting the author do that for you.
ReplyDelete