Thursday, January 15, 2009

Huck Essay Prompt

Though many people have opinions on Hucks’ ability to make his schemes as visual and intriguing as Tom Sawyer I believe that at times Huck is just as skilled as Tom and at other times he is more realistic in his schemes thus making them less interesting and fascinating.
One way in which Huck is able to outdo Tom is when he fakes his own death. Though Huck uses Tom as a sort of leader in his plot he seems to still outdo Tom in detail and persecution of his scheme. He thinks outside of the “box” that Tom has created such as when he uses the pig as his own blood, or when he hides the saw that he uses to get away quickly and efficiently.
Yes Huck is able to outdo Tom at times but this also works vice versa. When Huck assists Tom’s help in the freeing of Jim Tom is able to make the scheme more interesting thus keeping the reader intrigued in the story. While Huck’s mentor seems to be Tom it seems that Tom’s mentor is adventure books. One thing that differentiates Tom from Huck is his focus on making his schemes difficult to a certain sense.
Both Huck and Tom have times in which they seem to be equal with one another also. An example of this is when Huck pretends to be Tom and when Tom pretends to be Sid. They equally pull of this scheme in order to get the job done due to the necessity to stay under cover.
Though Hucks’ ability to portray schemes as well as Tom is controversial I believe that Huck is equal to, beneath him, and greater than him at times.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Life

“Life is the same way for everyone. If you do good things it does not matter and if you do bad things it doesn’t matter. Your conscience does not matter” This is a quote that Huck Finn uses in his book that I do not necessarily agree with because of the fact that it is plain out wrong. This quote in my opinion can not be justified to be moral in any way.
Some ways in which Huck’s conscience influences his behavior is the whole slavery issue that the book is based on, stealing small items, and lying. Huck sees that Jim is a slave but decides to help him escape for freedom because he sees that it is wrong. Also Huck steals watermelons and other items a lot and calls it borrowing because of his naivety. He later sees that it is wrong and stops. Lastly Huck used to tell a lie all, the time that was until it was brought to his attention that that was wrong and now he only lies when necessary.
One time in which my conscience has gotten he best of me was when there was a fight between two people one of which was my friends. I knew that it would be wrong to jump in and help but I wanted to help a friend. I automatically got involved but due to the constant nagging of my conscience I decided not to get involved it was better for me because of the fact that I avoided a suspension and other problems.