Huckleberry Finn Chapters 31-The End

Chapter 31
"...he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he's got now..."Page 246.

Comments and Questions
Through out the book, the author has Huck going back between what is right and what is wrong. When Jim is captured and Huck believes he should send a letter to Miss Watson, he is relieved to be washed of his sins. But he soon comes to realize that he is Jim's only friend right now and that he shouldn't send the letter and help Jim escape slavery, even if it means burning in Hell.


Chapter 33
"Human beings can be awful cruel to one another." Page 265.

Comments and Questions
This statement that Huck is completely true. Human being are cruel to each other, and sometimes it is for sport. Human nature is complicated and barbaric. While humans might have evolved and advanced, we still hold on to our barbaric nature. Tackling, boxing, beating each other for sport are some examples.


Chapter 34
"Here was a boy that was respectable, and well brung up; and had a character to lose; and folks at home that had characters; and he was bright and not leather-headed; and knowing and not ignorant; and not mean, but kind; and yet here he was, without any more pride, or rightness, or feeling than to stop to this business, and make himself a shame, and his family shame, before everybody." Page 268.

Comments and Questions
Huck could not believe that someone with so much to loose would put himself out there to help free a slave. Huck didn't wasn't Tom to risk himself, his family, and his future and help free Jim. But Tom would not hear any of it and kept on helping. That is a true friend, to risk everything to help someone.


Chapter 35
" I called it borrowing, because that was what pap always called it; but Tom said it warn't borrowing , it was stealing...Tom said; its his right; and so, as long as we was representing prisoners; and prisoners don't care how they get a thing so they get it, and nobody don't blame them for it, either...Tom said that what he meant was, we could steal anything we needed." Page 277-78.

Comments and Questions
The question on whether or not it is okay to steal came back up with Huck. He had come to the conclusion that steal was just borrowing, even when there was no intent to return the item, but Tom had a different idea. It is only okay to steal when the person stealing is a criminal or representing a criminal. Also, only take items that are needed for escape or survival. This is from a boy who loves to go on adventures that include 'raiding' wagons and 'pillaging' with his friends. Boys are into being bandits and pirates, finding justification for the crimes they commit.


Chapter 38
" ...on top of all the other work he had to do on pens, and inscriptions, and journals, and things, which made it more trouble and worry and responsibility to be a prisoner than anything he ever undertook..." Page 302.

Comments and Questions
Tom has set guidelines on Jim on how to be a prisoner. In the books Tom has read, prisoners write in journals and on the walls and become friends with animals stuck with them. Jim is having a hard time with these concepts because he can't write, only a small number of black were educated during this time, and he does not want to befriend rats or rattlesnakes. Huck and Jim, not knowing what happens in these kinds of situations, go along with Tom and try o meet all of the steps to being a prisoner.


Chapter 40
"I did wish Aunt Sally would come, and get done with me, and lick me, if she wanted to, and let me get away and tell Tom how we'd overdone this thing, and what a thundering hornet's nest we'd got ourselves into, so we could stop fooling around straight off, and clear out with Jim before these rips got out of patience and come for us." Page 311.

Comments and Questions
Huck had realize that after sending the two letter to the family, the plan is closing down on them. Men from surrounding farms have come to help with the bandits that are coming to get Jim. Huck is scared that the men will get impatient and go out to check on Jim. The author uses the image of a hornets nest to represent the situation that they are in, because it is very bad.


Chapter 43
" But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before." Page 334.

Comments and Questions
In his last words, Huck knows that there is nothing left for him in the place he once called home. With his father and Miss Watson dead, Huck knows that there is adventure waiting out there somewhere else. Even if Aunt Sally wants to adopt him, he knows that no matter how hard she tries, he will always be the same uncivilized boy he is.  

They Say, I Say #2

Exercise #2
1. In David Zinczenko's  "Don't Blame the Eater", Zinczenko claims that there are no inexpensive and convenient alternative to fast-food restaurants, which is untrue. A simple inexpensive way that has people staying at home are home cooked meals. Chosen by the people themselves, ingredients that are healthy are whipped up into a meals that don't have them wasting gas driving to a place where they are able to purchase Diabetes in a bag. The wait sometimes for a meal might be shorter at a fast-food restaurant, but the knowledge the mystery of what ingredients are put the food are a turn off. The satisfaction of creating a healthy dish at home should turn people away form the selling of cheap Mystery Meat. There are many alternatives to the cheap world of fast-food that had come up over the years to awareness of the unhealthiness of the fast-food enterprise.
2. Awareness has finally come to the problem of obesity, not only in the US,  but in other countries too and the question is, is it a medical problem, or a cultural stereotype? While both could be argued, the main concern for most is the medical problem. Families with low income have gotten into the habit of feeding their children McDonalds or Burger King because they had no other choice, but this choice has led the children down a scary medical path. Type 2 Diabetes skyrocketed between 1994 and 2002 and has gone up. Billions of dollars are going toward these individuals who require medical treatment that paid a dollar for a meal with questionable ingredients. We as a nations must become more self aware of the medical repercussions of the fast-food enterprise.  
 

They Say, I Say #1

Exercise #1
When people here the term "village" they think of a place that is not high-tech. They see a place where people leave the big cities to get 'closer' to mother nature and away from technology that they believe has taken over society. However, few villages now do not rely on different modern technological advances. On the contrary, many villages do have internet, cellphone signals, and satellite TV, but just use them in such small quantities it doesn't compare to other regions. For the truth is that these modern advances in technology do have a practical necessity in life. These advances have made it possible for people to communicate and stay in touch with everyone and also help with working on the land. In this essay, then, see how even small areas of a couple hundred interact with the modern advances and the nature around them.

Exercise #2
In the Introduction to "They Say/ I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to help and develop different writing styles for writing essays that show critical thinking. Specifically, Graff and Birkenstein argue that the types of writing templates they offer do not hinder creativity or originality, but help it and boost critical thinking. As the authors put it, "even the most creative forms of expression depend on established patterns and structures". Although some believe that templates stifle creativity of the essay, Graff and Birkenstein insist that it does not. In sum, then, their view is that with the templates that they have created it allows student to become more critical thinkers while not taking away their originality and creativity.
I mixed feelings about the templates which Graff and Birkenstein have provided. In my view, I believe that using a template at the beginning for reference. For instance, using a template for an argument for the first couple essays would be okay. In addition, if the template fit perfectly for the essay. Yet I would argue that using a template over and over causes the reader to become bored and therefore unable to appreciate the information given. Overall then, I believe that templates should only be uses to get the feel of writing types of essays and not uses constantly throughout the writing career.

Huckleberry Finn Chapters 16-30

Chapter 16:
"Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he was almost free--and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way It got troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place." Page 106.

Comments and Questions
Huck is scared and nervous about Jim becoming a free man. Huck knows that he aiding Jim and that was a very serious crime back then. Slaves were either freed by their owners or bought into freedom. Escaping while still a slave was illegal and they were hunted down and brought back. Aiding a runaway slave was a serious crime.


Chapter 18
"It made me so sick I most fell out of the tree. I ain't a-going to tell all that happened--it would make me sick again if I was to do that. I wish I hadn't ever come ashore that night to see such things. I ain't ever going to get shut of them--lots of times I dream about them." Page 136.

Comments and Questions
It makes Huck sick to think about all of the killing that is going on between the two families. He doesn't like the deaths that are becoming a result of the feud that is taking place. The shooting between the families after and because of Miss Sophia running away with Harney Shepherdson scars Huck and prompts him to never going back to the house. He quickly decides to go get Jim and leave the bloodshed.


Chapter  20
" So the king went all through the crowd with his hat swabbing his eyes, and blessing the people and praising them and thanking them for being so good to the poor pirates away off there; and every little while the prettiest kind of girls, with the tears running down their cheeks, would up and ask him would he let them kiss him, for to remember him by; and he always done it; and some of them he hugged and kissed as many as five or six times..." Page 155.

Comments and Questions
the king is very charismatic and able to find sympathy from a crowd or person. Paired with lying, it was very effective in getting 'donations' for his cause. The people felt bad and sympathized with him and wanted to help out not knowing that the whole thing was a scam for the money.


Chapter 22
" The average man's a coward. In the North he lets anybody walkover him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it...Your newspapers call you a brave people so much that you think you are braver than other people-- whereas you're just as brave, and no braver." Page 170.

Comments and Questions
People believe they are braver when the newspapers or anyone tells them they are brave because they are filled up with a sense of pride being called that. It gets to their head inflating their ego, causing them to believe that they more and above other people when they are all equals. Everyone have the same bravery and courage, the only difference is that some act on their bravery and others do not, setting them apart form each other.


Chapter 23
" 'But we don't want to be the laughing stock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as long as we live. No. What we want is to go out of here quiet, an talk this show up, and sell the rest of the town! Then we'll all be in the same boat. Ain't that sensible?' " Page 176,

Comments and Questions
Instead of warning friends of the scam, the men who attended the show let their friends and neighbors get scammed too. While some might warn others so they wouldn't get scammed, these men helped the scammers with their scheme staying quiet. It was because of their wounded pride that they didn't want to help others out so they were not mocked.


Chapter 24
" Well, the men gathered around, and sympathized with them, and said all sorts of kind things to them, and carried their carpet-bags up the hill for them, and let them lean on them and cry, and told the king all about his brother's last moments, and the king told it all over again on his hands to the duke, and both of them took on about that dead tanner like they'd lost the twelve disciples...It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." Page 188.

Comments and Questions
The king and duke are at it again. They put morals behind them and trick and lie to people for their greed. All they care about is getting money from people. They impersonate a dead man's brothers to get to his fortune. Greed and malice is part of the dark side of human nature. Its the choice to act or not to act on these impulses.


Chapter 26
" I says to myself, this is another one that I'm letting him rob her of her money. And when she got through, they all jest laid theirselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends. I felt so ornery and low down and mean, that I says to myself, my mind's made up, I'll hive that money for them or bust." Page 203.

Comments and Questions
Huck felt guilty that he was letting the king and duke steal the money away from the three daughter. He felt even more guilty when the daughters were being so kind to him and making him feel at home. Huck decided that he wanted to get their money that they didn't know was stolen back to them.

Huckleberry Finn Chapters 1-15

Chapter 1:
 "The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off , who-whooing about somebody that was dead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about someone that was going to die; and the wind was trying to whisper something to me, and I couldn't make out what it was, and so it made the cold shivers run over me." Page 11

Comments and Questions
The author, Mark Twain, uses different nature figures to show how lonesome Huck is and the unnaturalness of the night. Huck interprets the leaves rustling as mournful relating things around him to how he is feeling. He sees the night as having a sad and sorrowful plague around it. This is how night usually is perceived. Night is the opposite of day, being dark and mysterious where there is no good to be found and only gloom.


Chapter 4:
" I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure, and doing very satisfactory. She said she warn't ashamed of me." Page 25

Comments and Questions
This quote describes the change that Huck is facing with the widow. Change is not easy for everyone and no one really likes it. It takes people out of their comfort zone, but sometimes is necessary. Huck starts to adapt and realize even though he liked the way things were before, things now are not that bad. He had someone who watched his progress and was not ashamed of him, but someone who cared for him.


Chapter 5:
" '...Your mother couldn't read, and she couldn't write, nuther, before she died. None of the family couldn't before they died. I can't; and here you're a-swelling yourself up like this...' "Page 30.

Comments and Questions
Back in the 1800's not all of the kids or adults got an education, in the south especially. Kids on farms were obligated to help out the family in the fields leave almost no time or money for education. There wasn't even a need for children on farms to get an education when all they were doing was working in the fields,. This made it so that several generations in a family didn't get and education. People that did go to school that ought they were 'better' than those who didn't.


Chapter 6:
" 'There was a free n----- there, from Ohio; a malatter,  most white as a white man...They said he could vote when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to?' " Page 38.

Comments and Questions
In the 1800's, while slave trading was still going on, especially in the South with the plantations, up North were some free slaves. The Fifteenth Amendment ratified on 1870 signified a great accomplishment for the African Americans. Though it allowed African Americans and Whites to be legally equals, socially it did not change for most. Many Whites were outraged that African Americans could vote.


Chapter 8:
"Jim knowed all kinds of signs. He said he knowed most everything. I said it looked to me like all the signs was about bad luck, and so I asked him if there warn't any good-luck signs." Page 59.

Comments and Questions
Back in the more heavily religious day, signs or omens were very popular. Even in the ancient civilizations, people looked out for different sign that their gods sent them. People were, and still, are superstitious such as the breaking of mirrors, walking under ladders, and opening umbrellas inside.


Chapter 12
"Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back, sometime; but the widow said it warn't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it. Jim said he reckoned the widow was partly right and pap was partly right..." Page 81

Comments and Questions
Situations are sometimes not as black and white, or right and wrong, as we want them. On a normal daily basis, stealing is a crime and calling it borrowing is just a name to feel less guilty about it. To call it borrowing is to make up a excuse to appease the conscience. But when on the run and supplies run low, even when against the law, stealing is the only option for survival, but it still is not okay.

Chapter 14
"...and if he did get saved, whoever saved him would send him back home so as to get the reward, and then Miss Watson would sell him South, sure." Page 93.

Comments and Questions
Though in the late 1800's Blacks gained the right to vote, they were still sold to plantation owners in the South. In the South, plantation owners would work Black slaves on the land, where they were treated harshly with no rights. If they could escape, bounties were put on their heads and dragged back to the South. Many tried and some succeeded escaping into the North were slavery was abolished.

All About Me

Me

My name is Rajaneekara, but I like to go by Raj. I don not appreciate it when people call me Jar or Jar-Jar Binks. I am a Star Wars fan and have fought with my brother on many occasions to be him in Lego Star War the videogame, but I am not him. I have been at U-Prep since I was in sixth grade.

Hobbies:

I LOVE to read. I spend most of my time reading unpublished works online by teenagers just like me who love to write. I write stories, but have never had the courage to post them online. I am trying to get over my fear. I have posted one chapter, but that is it. I feel like my essay's are not that good, I am better at free writing and narratives. But recently, I have become President, or Supreme Dictator as we call it, of Creative Writing Club.

When I am not reading, I'm playing soccer, watching Big Bang Theory, or playing Dragon Age on the Ps3. I currently play on an U-19 (Under-19) coed recreational soccer team for the city. I have been playing in this league since I was 14. This has lead me to greatly improve. After I come home from soccer I watch the Big Bang Theory. It is one of my favorite TV shows.
I play Dragon Age on the Ps3 and that is the only game, except for Lego versions of other games, I will play. I am really obsessed with my character. I am really attached and I am not looking forward to having to start all over on my character because the new part of the saga will not let you import your character.

 School:

My favorite subject is History and second favorite is Latin. I love learning about history, especially US history. I went on the 8th grade D.C trip. I had so much fun visiting Gettysburg. I like Latin because it helps me with my English and I very interested in the cultures of Italy and Greece. I Have been at U-Prep since 6th grade. I can still remember hating Cornell Notes, maybe because I still hate them. I still do them, because they are sort of effective, but its how long they take that I do not like.

Extra Stuff:

I am REALLY into zombies. I think they are amazing. I tried watching Walking Dead, but there was too much human drama going on and I stopped. Any supernatural beings, I am a fan of but mostly zombies. I am also really quiet when I first start a new class, but I eventually get really talkative.