[F] Aaron: Chapters 07-10

Chapters seven through ten answer some questions raised in past journal entries and discussions while also creating many new ones. First, the chapters answered Laura and Cara’s questions about Huck’s intelligence. Laura had asked if Huck was “bright but simply ignorant.” Based on Huck’s elaborate plan to fake his own death and his very successful execution of the plan we learn that Huck is unquestionably bright. Huck had tricked Pap, Judge Thatcher, Becky Thatcher, Jo Harper, Aunt Polly, his entire community and even Tom Sawyer in believing he was dead. A “stupid” person would not have been able to fake his or her death so well. The definition of ignorance is having little knowledge, education, or experience. While Huck may be considered ignorant when it comes to worldly knowledge such as A-rabs trading elephants on the Mississippi, Huck is certainly not ignorant when it comes to knowledge of survival and of the area. As seen in chapter eight, Huck new everything that his town would do to search for his body. Huck knew to search for the bread filled with quicksilver as well as how to tell when the river was rising and how much logs sold for. Therefore, Huck was very bright and not ignorant when it came to his surroundings.

A question the chapter raises is Huck’s view toward lying. In discussing previous chapters the class came to the conclusion that Huck did not lie. This conclusion was biased on Huck’s conversation with Judge Thatcher on page thirteen and even the first few lines of the story on page one. In chapter seven, however, Huck tells two lies. The first was on page 23 when Huck told his father he was holding the gun to shoot someone who was at the door the night before. Huck “told” a second more serious lie by faking his death. On page 41, Huck prepares to be a girl and is therefore lying about his gender. The question Huck’s sudden increase in lying raises is when does Huck find it ok to lie? While some conclusions can be made, it is worth waiting to read more chapters to see if a pattern in Huck’s lying can be observed.

Chapter eight raises a question about Huck’s loneliness. On page three we learn that Huck is very lonesome in Miss Waton’s house. “I felt so lonesome I most whished I was dead,” Huck said, “I got so down hearted and scared, I did wish I had some company.” On page 18, when Huck was locked in Pap’s Cabin for three days, Huck said, “It was dreadful lonesome.” Considering the references to being lonely, it was surprising that Huck would choose to run away and fake his death therefore making him as lonely as he possibly could be without even Tom Sawyer as a friend. The night Huck arrived on Jackson Island he began to feel lonely. “By-and-by it got sort of lonesome and so I went and set on the bank and listened to the currents washing along,” Huck said on page 29. The question Huck’s loneliness creates is, why would Huck run away and fake his death if he knew he would be so lonely? Did his abusive captivity override any feelings of loneliness that would have prevented him from escaping? What does Huck’s willingness to be lonesome demonstrate about the life he had left behind? Did Huck view loneliness like lying, that some kind of loneliness was better than others?

To try and answer a few of those questions, the abuse that Huck experienced with his father and the captivity Huck experienced with Miss Watson was a lot worse than the loneliness that Huck would be facing. Huck also had control over his loneliness when he was by himself. When he was with his father he could not escape the cabin. When he was by himself and became lonely he would have nature to sustain him as page 29 demonstrates.

Pages 32 and 36 are very important in understanding the social hierarchy of the south. On page 32 after Huck swore he would not tell anyone about Jim immediately said, “People would call me a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum- but that don’t make no difference.” On page 36 Jim says, “Yes-en I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s worth eight hund’d dollars.” This exchange demonstrates how slavery has corrupted southern society. Huck was so happy to see Jim yet was shocked that he would become and abolitionist and be despised. Jim was so corrupted by slavery that even though he had run away he still saw himself as eight hundred dollars and as property. Reading that line, Jim sounds ridiculous yet it was slavery that forced such ideas into his head. It will be interesting to see how references to slavery change as they move down the river and are free for longer and longer.