I'm so glad we read this book. The discussion was very helpful. I liked Diane's thought about how Twain portrayed Jim as humble, loyal, meek, and strong.
Reading Huck has inspired me to think long and hard about what things I am blind to. Louie says we are sinners by "birth, choice, habit and generational influence...I think we could add "cultural influence" too.
Huck's War on the Mississippi: Huckleberry Finn, a young adolescent, is kidnapped by his father, a drunkard, and is held captive in a hut (outside of civilization). He escapes by staging his own murder and sets off down the Mississippi River with runaway slave, Jim, on a raft. Huck decides to help Jim to freedom despite his unexplored conviction that such an action is "wrong." Together they endure many formative adventures and Huck and Tom Sawyer finally free the freed Jim according to Tom's romantic plan.
Also, let me add Austin's title since he's in Hawaii and won't be getting to this anytime soon. Austin's title: "Society is for Idiots" or maybe it was "Civilization is for Idiots."
I agree with Austin's emphasis here on "civilization" as the book's main theme. Twain wanted his readers to recognize good and evil apart from what man and his broken system's define them to be. He calls us, rightfully I believe, to consider a higher moral source that would allow those who tapped it to know what is right and wrong in whatever situation they came across. Twain does not name this moral source, nor does he create a character who perfectly aligns with it, which of course, deeply bothers all of us idealist readers, right?
One more thought. Is Twain's world one in which humans are ultimately free or restricted? I wanted to deal with this question more directly at our meeting, but totally forgot to bring it up as I was absorbed in all my fellow readers' observations and interpretations which never ever fail to bring my own scattered and fuzzy ideas into a nicely knitted piece. Thank you all so much for this gift.
So, my take on the above question is that Twain does not allow man to be free from restriction because he allows that evil penetrates even our best attempts at escape. Proof of this is that Huck and Jim cannot successfully escape civilization (the antoginist?) even on the raft. For example, the raft is not exempt from penetration by evil (Duke & King). Also, Huck is away from civilization when he is held captive in Pap's hut, another illustration of the evil that certainly still lurks beyond the corruption of society. Another place beyond civilization that Huck occupies in the novel is Jackson Island with Jim. Huck and Jim have to flee the island to avoid being caught by those who've sniffed them out and hope to "restore order" by re-enslaving the runaway Jim.
Finally, Twian will have his hero, Huck, move out to "Injun Territory" to again attempt an escape from civilization. However, he leaves his readers (at least myself) knowing with certainty that evil would penetrate out there as well because, we are not free and cannot become so, according to Twain. Hence the logical exhaustion we ended up with for this novel's final chapter.
The True Lies of Huckleberry Finn
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Huck's Ride to Freedom
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we read this book. The discussion was very helpful. I liked Diane's thought about how Twain portrayed Jim as humble, loyal, meek, and strong.
Reading Huck has inspired me to think long and hard about what things I am blind to. Louie says we are sinners by "birth, choice, habit and generational influence...I think we could add "cultural influence" too.
Thanks for the blog Lynette!
Huck's War on the Mississippi: Huckleberry Finn, a young adolescent, is kidnapped by his father, a drunkard, and is held captive in a hut (outside of civilization). He escapes by staging his own murder and sets off down the Mississippi River with runaway slave, Jim, on a raft. Huck decides to help Jim to freedom despite his unexplored conviction that such an action is "wrong." Together they endure many formative adventures and Huck and Tom Sawyer finally free the freed Jim according to Tom's romantic plan.
ReplyDeleteAlso, let me add Austin's title since he's in Hawaii and won't be getting to this anytime soon. Austin's title: "Society is for Idiots" or maybe it was "Civilization is for Idiots."
I agree with Austin's emphasis here on "civilization" as the book's main theme. Twain wanted his readers to recognize good and evil apart from what man and his broken system's define them to be. He calls us, rightfully I believe, to consider a higher moral source that would allow those who tapped it to know what is right and wrong in whatever situation they came across. Twain does not name this moral source, nor does he create a character who perfectly aligns with it, which of course, deeply bothers all of us idealist readers, right?
One more thought. Is Twain's world one in which humans are ultimately free or restricted? I wanted to deal with this question more directly at our meeting, but totally forgot to bring it up as I was absorbed in all my fellow readers' observations and interpretations which never ever fail to bring my own scattered and fuzzy ideas into a nicely knitted piece. Thank you all so much for this gift.
So, my take on the above question is that Twain does not allow man to be free from restriction because he allows that evil penetrates even our best attempts at escape. Proof of this is that Huck and Jim cannot successfully escape civilization (the antoginist?) even on the raft. For example, the raft is not exempt from penetration by evil (Duke & King). Also, Huck is away from civilization when he is held captive in Pap's hut, another illustration of the evil that certainly still lurks beyond the corruption of society. Another place beyond civilization that Huck occupies in the novel is Jackson Island with Jim. Huck and Jim have to flee the island to avoid being caught by those who've sniffed them out and hope to "restore order" by re-enslaving the runaway Jim.
Finally, Twian will have his hero, Huck, move out to "Injun Territory" to again attempt an escape from civilization. However, he leaves his readers (at least myself) knowing with certainty that evil would penetrate out there as well because, we are not free and cannot become so, according to Twain. Hence the logical exhaustion we ended up with for this novel's final chapter.