Huck Finn, the final chapters

So honestly–I gotta ask right off: how ticked off were you when you realize that Jim was free that whole time, and that Tom didn’t think anything of NOT telling them, but coming up with the ridiculous plan to “steal him”? I’m not a violent person, but man–I want to beat Tom to a pulp!

Why such a drawn-out frustrating ending? I think Twain is trying to show how people were still ignoring that innocent people were suffering, while the south was still not treating them properly. (Remember he wrote this about 20 years AFTER the slaves were freed, but the south was still not giving them freedom.) The African-Americans in the south were still suffering a long, drawn-out situation, and the whites over them really didn’t see it, or comprehend what was going on with and to them.

I must admit that a nasty part of me is glad that Tom got shot.
The nastier part of me wishes he wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much.

Look at Jim in all of this: he could have run free after Tom was shot, but he’s more concerned about others’ misery and needs than he is about his own. Twain has Huck saying, “I knowed he was white inside,” which may grate on our ears now, but back in the 1800s would have been shocking and disturbing to readers. The slave? Equal to whites? Yep. What Twain was really saying is that of everyone, only Jim seems to be the one with any strong moral compass. Someone’s been injured–stop and help them, no matter the cost to you. Jim risks being caught and dragged back into slavery, but the right thing to do is help someone else.

When they do catch Jim, they cuss him up something awful, but he never says a word in defense. They chain him up, plan to barely feed him, but then the doctor arrives. Fortunately he points out how Jim helped him save Tom/Sid and is deserving of kind treatment. That was a brave thing for a white doctor to do–compliment a slave as he did.

Finally Tom rouses out of his fever, all excited to brag about how they freed Jim, and only after his lengthy speech does he hear that Jim is captured again and then–THEN! the kid FINALLY tells everyone Jim has been freed all this while. Tom did all for the “adventure of it.”

And, of course, Tom’s been hiding letters that his mother has been sending to her sister. Can’t they arrest Tom on mail fraud or something yet? Tom did claim that he was going to ship Jim back home in style–after they had a few adventures, of course. At last Tom pays Jim $40 (about $1200) for his pains.

Tom also reveals that Huck’s $6,000 is still safe–Judge Thatcher just left it alone–and then the best reveal of all: Pap Finn is no longer going to bother Huck. Remember when they boarded that floating house, and there was a dead body in it that Jim saw but wouldn’t let Huck see? That was Pap, shot dead. (Some of you already called it, and others were really hoping!)

So now this 13-year-old has a lot of money, no father, but people willing to adopt and “sivilize” him, and what does he say? No, thank you. He can’t stand it. He’s been there before. He’s going west where there is no sivilization (also what Mark Twain did).

Here’s a great evaluation of the whole book called “Thug Notes.” Pretty funny and accurate take.

ESSAY EXAM: Last week I had planned to let you choose from a variety of prompts to finish up this book with an essay, but since we learned on Friday that the AP Exam will be only a prose essay, I looked up a lot of the past exams to get a feel for the kind of questions they ask, then created a similar prompt for this book. That’s what we’re going to discuss in our Zoom meeting on Tuesday–how to write this kind of exam.

PROMPT: The prompt and the passage are HERE. One frequent prose analysis question is how an author creates a character. I chose an easy character–Pap. In our Zoom chat we’ll discuss how to write this essay. After our class chat, WRITE THIS ESSAY, and try to limit yourself to 45 minutes writing it. This will be due Wednesday before midnight (tomorrow). That gives you today and tomorrow to work on it.