Huck Finn

Blog 1: 

When I first found out that we were reading Huck Finn for this class I was excited. But as I came to find out, I was thinking that it was a different book. In class when people started to talk about the book, I realized that I thought I would be reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Although I did read Huck Finn in middle school, I completely forgot what it was about until someone mentioned their memory of the book which someone said “took place on a raft.” When reading the mandatory books throughout my schooling I do not think that I fully appreciated them as I do now. In class, while going through the lists of what this book could be about we thought of religion, isolation and alienation, racism, and a few others. That’s when it started to come back to me a little. I was excited to read this book because when I saw the books that we will be reading this semester it made me realize that I would someday be teaching these books so I want to gain a greater appreciation for them. What I expect to encounter while reading Huck Finn this time around is a greater understanding of important themes and gain a greater appreciation for this piece of literature. In middle school and part of high school I did not have some of the greatest English teachers until I got to 11th and 12th grade. Many of my younger teachers I felt did not challenge us enough or relate the book to our lives so I was not always interested. That is one thing that I am looking forward to the most while encountering this book, figuring out how to do exactly that.

Blog 2:

“Although this book may seem to be a book about a boy on a raft, it is really about isolation and alienation.”

In the first chapter of the book I got a sense of alienation from Huck. Huck is still getting used to living with Miss. Watson and starting an education and gaining new knowledge and ideas. Huck says, “Miss. Watson kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome (4).” Huck later goes on to say that sometimes he felt so lonesome that he wishes he was dead. Yes, he may now be living in better conditions and have a bed to sleep in but it is not what he is used to. This reminded me of when the Native Americans were “civilized” and told how to live. They were seen as barbarians but before that they got by just fine. With all these new ideas and knowledge that Huck is being told I feel that he does feel alienated and out of place at times. 

Next, when we are introduced to Huck we are immediately informed of his unfortunate family life. Huck has no mother and his father is nothing but a low life alcoholic that is now after Huck for his money. He wants nothing to do with his son as he is only after the money so he can get into a terrible drunken stooper every night. In chapter 3 Huck says, “Pap he hadn’t been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn’t want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me” (14). Huck never really knew what it was like to have a normal family and be loved unconditionally by his family so in a way he is isolated and alone. His friends have people to go home to at night but besides the new presence of Miss. Watson, he is unlike the rest of them.

In chapter 6 in particular is when we see Huck physically being isolated. His father takes him to a cabin in the woods and here he is locked inside and cannot get out. His father once leaves him three days straight and does not come back, letting him fend for himself. “Once he locked me in and was gone three days” (31). His father does not want anything more than to get every cent of Huck’s $6,000 and he is doing everything in his power to make that possible. He does not let Huck leave yet he tries to make an escape to get out, but fails when his father comes home while he is trying to saw his way out. Huck is isolated from society not only emotionally but physically at this time.