In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain juxtaposes Huck’s adventurous and liberating journey along with Jim on the raft down the river Mississippi with the corrupt life that allows unconscious acceptance to the values of society on the shore. The novel unfolds Huck’s inner mind and records his learning and moral development as he encounters morally corrupt and crooked people on his journey to freedom. The novel contrasts between the constricting life on the shore and the freedom offered by the journey on the river.    Though Huck’s raft follows the river towards its downward journey, he goes against the stream in his life learning on his own the hard realities of life. Huck finds the two wealthy sisters Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who adopt him, as the true representatives of the society that is based on hypocritical religious and ethical values. Though Widow Douglas is more patient and gentle towards Huck, he finds her care and concern quite restrictive. When she puts him in new clothes he could do nothing but feel cramped sweating a lot. He does not find any meaning in prayer before the dinner and in the stories of Moses and the Bulrushers who were dead long time ago. Though the life in the care of Widow Douglas is decent and dignified, cozy and comfortable, Huck does not like it much. He feels his old ways of living are the best. Living in a house and sleeping in a bed pulled on me pretty tight mostly, but before the cold weather I used to slide out and sleep in the woods sometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the old ways Best. (Twain 13) He finds Miss Watson’s attempts to ‘sivilize’ him most annoying. For him, she is the best example of severe and unforgiving laws of Christian life which are against his individual freedom. He feels â€Å"Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome†.   He is so vexed with the ways of living under the care of Miss Watson that he feels one night quite depressed and feels â€Å"I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead.†   (Twain 5) When Miss Watson insists that he should pray he can not find any reason to pray when his prayers are not answered by God. When he asks her to try for him she calls him a fool. Huck tries several times in his own way asking God for the things he wanted, but he could not find any response from God. He finds it quite impractical. He does not find any advantage for him in praying for others as told by Widow. He finds a lot of difference between Widow and Miss Watson who both pray and teach the same things to him about Providence. The following lines best illustrate his understanding of his two guardians who differ a lot in their attitude. I judged I could see that there was two Providences, and a poor chap would stand considerable show with the widow’s Providence, but if Miss Watson’s got him there warn’t no help for him any more. (Twain 11) Huck’s father, Pap, an incorrigible wreck with his disgusting and ghostlike appearance in tattered clothes, represents the generally debased white society and the failed family. Pap, who is always after the money earned by Huck, feels jealous of his son’s education when his son is living with Widow Douglas and going to school. He not only kidnaps his son but also virtually imprisons him in a cabin in the woods and beats him completely drunk. In fact, he proves dangerous and provides the immediate and most potent cause for Huck’s escape from the society on the shore. On the contrary, he finds a trusting and caring surrogate father in Jim who accompanies him in his escape from the shore. Jim, a runaway slave from the house of Miss Watson, stands for strong family relationship, nobility and loyalty. He takes the extreme step of running away from Miss Watson’s house as he suspects he would be sold for another master which will eventually separate him from his family. Though he seems superstitious and ignorant, he is an intelligent man with a deep understanding of human life. Jim he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head for a nigger. (Twain 55). There is a strong bond of friendship and understanding between Huck and Jim on the raft. Both are desperately in need of protecting themselves from the selfish people in the society. The raft on the river Mississippi provides them an opportunity to save their lives. It offers them the much needed freedom. The following passage aptly conveys their dire need to run away from society. I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. (Twain 83) The life on the raft is different in many ways from the life that is found on the shore. The raft provides them not only as escape from the corrupt and selfish people, but also an opportunity to be what they are and to do what they like. It gives them a unique opportunity to explore their true identity and their stand in relation to many things in life. They are closest to their true nature on the raft in the lovely and mighty presence of the river and the woods. It offers them unrestricted and uninhibited freedom. Huck feels happy and liberated on the raft and expresses the same in the following words: It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. (Twain 84) Twain has brilliantly contrasted the plight of a white boy with that of a slave Jim. The story of the novel revolves around these two characters that are almost in the same boat with similar problems. As luck would have it, they share the same raft in their escape for freedom. Huck finds Jim’s presence on the raft comforting and supportive as Jim is practical, intelligent and trustworthy though, at times, he seems sentimental. Jim not only cooks food for Huck but also protects him from dangers. Jim’s acts of selflessness and his longing to meet his family have left an indelible impression on Huck. Huck is very determined till the end to save Jim and to get him free. However, the life on the raft is not without its share of dangers and threats. Huck and Jim get separated when their raft is hit by a steamer in the river. Huck’s encounter with the family of Grangerfords exposes him to pretentious importance that people attach to their family’s honor or prestige. Huck suspects behind the kindhearted and gentle people in the family, there is an unreasonable feud between them and the Shepherdsons. It makes no sense to Huck. Many of the people belonging to these families die in a bitter gun fight from which Huck luckily escapes. After facing many challenging situations Huck and Jim once again continue their journey on the raft further towards the south. The two con artists who ask for help and seek refuge on the raft prove dangerous to Huck in the end. The two con artists involve in various crimes at times claiming to be the descendants of royal family and sometimes, pretending to be great actors and evangelists. They once again remind the crookedness of the people in the society on the shore. The raft has proved an excellent place to enjoy the perfect freedom and bliss without any interference. Though Jim is there with him all the time, he is silent and provided a good company with his accommodating nature. Huck enjoys Jim’s company and the journey most. He expresses his happiness saying, It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn’t ever feel like talking loud, and it warn’t often that we laughed — only a little kind of a low chuckle. (Twain 47) The long journey on the raft has provided Huck with many opportunities to learn new things and develop his own logic. Every challenge he faces presents him with an opportunity to think about it deeply and to come to a conclusion which he feels right. His association with Jim on the raft has given him opportunity to think clearly and form his own opinion without any interference. He prefers to follow his own instinct and logic than to accept the unquestioned conventions of the society.   Huck’s determination to save Jim when he is caught demonstrates his maturity and broadness of understanding. Huck has to undergo an internal struggle to overcome some of the notions that have been ingrained in him by the society. Every time Huck faces a problem he applies his mind and comes out with a decision what he feels right, though it might look wrong and offending to the white community. He takes help from Tom Sawyer in rescuing Jim finally. Huck loses his faith in the society that has failed to protect him. Though the Widow tried her best to give him what he has missed, it has proved imperfect to mould him. His growing distance from the society makes him skeptical about it. His natural intelligence and his ability to think through a situation have enabled him to form his own right conclusions. Thus, he creates his own rules and develops his character throughout the journey. Twain depicts the society around Huck with people who are degraded in their values. The actions of these people defy logic and commonsense. For example, when the judge allows Pap, the wreck and disgusting drunkard, to keep custody of Huck, he gives more importance to the right of ownership than to the welfare of the innocent boy. It clearly depicts the social system that has fallen in its moral standing. It highlights the white man’s rights over his property whether it is a slave or a son. The Mississippi River plays the most important role in the novel providing freedom and refreshing experience to Huck and Jim who are in their quest for freedom. They travel from their home town St. Petersburg, Missouri, north of St. Louis, hundreds of miles into the Deep South.   The odyssey down the river lends the story a mystic element offering contentment to the people who come in search of freedom. The river with its power and grandeur sets a meaningful background to the story that contrasts life on the river with the life on the shore. The river plays the role of liberating influence on the two characters Huck and Jim. It is the only place where they can feel at home though they are on a raft. Huck arrives at the conclusion that the idyllic life, peace and brotherhood of himself and Jim have given him more satisfaction and a sense of freedom and understanding as opposed to the inhumanity, the feud and the degenerated values of society. Thus, it is a journey in search of understanding and freedom leaving behind the so called ‘sivilization’ that destroys innocence and enslaves human beings. In short, Huck’s journey is from unthinking acceptance of received values and knowledge to an independently achieved understanding of what is right. It is journey from boyhood to manhood, from servitude to freedom. T. S. Eliot, the great English poet and critic of the twentieth century who also grew up on the banks of the same river says, â€Å"the river makes the book a great book† It has fired the imagination of the boy Huck and became the only real home for him. Reference Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/twain/huckfinn.pdf

Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Nathan

Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The use of dark imagery throughout the story gives you a sense of fear of the unknown that lies ahead of Goodman Brown on his journey. The beginning sentence of the story illustrates an image of a sunset and the approaching of night as Goodman Brown sets off on his mission. ?Young Goodman Brown came forth, at sunset, into the street of Salem village, but put his head back, after crossing the threshold.? (196) Here, the light of the sun represents the knowledge that Goodman Brown already has. The imagery of darkness setting in is the unknown knowledge Goodman Brown is out to discover. Goodman Brown must first travel through the darkness of the unknown before he reaches the light of enlightenment and truth that is why he is embarking on his journey throughout the night hours. ?My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ?twist now and sunrise.? (197)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next use of symbolism is the setting of the journey and meeting in the woods. Early Americans looked at the woods as a test of strength, bravery and endurance. It took a lot of courage for someone to enter the forest because it was unknown territory and they would not emerge the same. ?He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all gloomiest trees of the forest?that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks?he may be passing through an unseen multitude.? (197) Goodman Brown does not face the dangers of Indians but faces the danger of reality and truth. Goodman Brown does not emerge from the forest tougher or braver but hateful and spiteful because he becomes enlightened to the ways of world. He comes to terms with the reality tha... ...er swell of those familiar tones, heard daily in the sunshine, at Salem village, but never, until now from a cloud of night.? (202) The use of light and dark imagery in this particular sentence helps you understand Goodman Brown?s despair. He has realized the truth that the people he sees in the daylight hours pretending to be pure and good are the total opposite in the dark.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolic imagery throughout his story Young Goodman Brown to impact the theme of good people sometimes do bad things. Hawthorne takes us on a journey of truth and realization. Goodman Brown was not open to the truth or the reality that the world is filled with evil and people are imperfect. His perception of the world was it was a fun loving happy place and when he was exposed to reality he turned away from people and lost faith in them. His faith should have been in God because God will never let you down but his faith was in people and people are imperfect and subject to disappoint you. Works Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129-38.

Bloody bawdy villain! Essay

Is there anything more to say about Claudius’s role and characterization in the play? Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan era. It is widely believed to be one of his greatest plays, although not everybody agrees, T. S. Eliot calls it an ‘artistic failure’ and contrasts the play to that of Mona Lisa, claiming that Hamlet is the â€Å"Mona Lisa of literature. † Nevertheless, Hamlet has been debated over the centuries by the greatest scholars of the generations. The play revolves much around the corruption of the State and Crown of Denmark; Hamlet calls Denmark â€Å"an unweeded garden†. Claudius is the central antagonist in the play, and is the focus of revenge throughout the play. Not only did Claudius commit regicide and patricide, but he also effectively stolen Hamlet’s God given right to rule and married his mother hastily after the death of his father. Millions of words on thousands of books and articles have been written on Hamlet. They stand in ironic contrast to Hamlet’s final words â€Å"The rest is silence|. The ghost of King Hamlet appears early on in the play and claims that his brother Claudius is responsible for his death, referring to Claudius as a ‘serpent’ which has connotations of poison and evil. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the twelve apostles to be â€Å"wise as serpents, and harmless as doves†. The Book of Revelations, however, implied a connection between the serpent of the Garden of Eden and Satan, and as a result the snake for Christians lost their earlier associations with wisdom and healing and became symbolic of evil. Once the truth is revealed to Hamlet by the ghost, Hamlet swears an oath to avenge his father’s murder and becomes increasingly obsessed with exposing Claudius as a ‘bloody bawdy villain’ which results in the production of the ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ which clearly reflects the murder of his own father. Although Claudius attempts to repent his sins and prays to God for forgiveness, he only does so after he becomes suspicious of Hamlet, â€Å"madness in great ones must not unwatched go†. Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius at the chapel for while he is in a state of grace, he may be entered into heaven, which clearly would not be just revenge. Although, Claudius cannot pray for he is still in possession of the rewards of his murder, the Crown and the Queen, â€Å"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go†. Therefore in order to repent and to be admitted into heaven, Claudius must give up his thorn and his wife, since Claudius is unwilling to do either the audience must assume that he is not truly remorseful of his crime. To add insult to injury, Claudius is married to Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet therefore doubts whether or not his mother had any involvement within the murder of his father considering their hasty marriage hereafter. Not only has Claudius murdered his brother and the former king, he also attempts to kill his nephew and the rightful king of Denmark. Claudius becomes worried that Hamlet has discovered his secret and sends Hamlet to England for his death. However, when this fails Claudius cowardly attempts to persuade the melancholy Laertes to kill Hamlet in a duel with a poisoned sword. Claudius has committed a multitude of sins, his character is deceitful and cowardly. His greed caused the death of many and he was deceitful throughout the play all the characters. What agitates me the most is the friendly attitude Claudius seems to display towards Hamlet â€Å"But now my cousin Hamlet, and my son† this to me seems extremely insensitive. At the end of the play, Hamlet achieves his revenge upon Claudius, but many innocent lives were lost in the process; Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes and Gertrude. Claudius says in Act 5, Scene 2 â€Å"Our son shall win†. Claudius is cowardly character is evoked until the play of the play, Claudius could have saved his wife from death, although he says â€Å"Gertrude, do not drink! † He could have spared her life by declaring the cup was poisoned or by forcibly taking the drink from her, instead Claudius watches as his wife drinks from the poisoned cup which he had prepared, she died by his hand. It is not until Laertes proclaims â€Å"Thy mother’s poisoned- I can no more- the king, the king’s to blame† that Hamlet gains his just revenge. There are no positive qualities of Claudius evoked throughout the play. He is indeed a ‘bloody bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain. † Claudius deserved his fate, he was a tyrannical dictator who achieved his throne through bloodshed and dishonor. Hamlet remains one of Shakespeare greatest works due to the realism and diversity of the play. Shakespeare uses the image of rottenness in the play to suggest to the audience that a rotten king makes a rotten country and the greed and ego of one man can bring the country to its knees. Shakespeare achieves this by using metaphors; â€Å"unweeded garden† â€Å"serpent† and â€Å"maggots†, Shakespeare uses the theme of corruption to evoke to the audience that â€Å"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely†.

Communication Styles Between Men And Men - 966 Words

Yesterday when I drive my friend to his house, he told me that their teacher cancel the class without sending them the email. My friend told me what happened to his friends he always use pronouns instead of their names. So when the story has more than one person involved. I always misunderstood what person he’s talking about. This kind of miscommunication are common between the opposite genders. Men and women see the world through different perspective. Their communicate styles are very different. One way to understand how men and women are different is to understand the way they communicate. Deborah Tannen, the university professor and Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, explains the different communication styles between men and women in her book You just don t understand: women and men in conversation. The book gather the research done by Tannen and other experts in 1999. She uses her experience and her observations to explain her theories. Wondering if Tanne n’s theories are still accurate in today’s society, I did some research and observation in the San Francisco Bay Area. And I found that most of Tannen s theories are still accurate today, but some are not. In the section â€Å"Fighting for Friendship† the author Deborah Tannen reports that American boys build up their friendship through aggressive activates. Men see the conflict an important way to make connections with the others. She gives an example of the male students in the University of Michigan andShow MoreRelatedCommunication Styles Between Men And Women1522 Words   |  7 Pageshealthy and happy marriage is critical. Unsuccessful communication plays a vital role in the failure of many marriages and relationships. Communication is key in all relationships and can lead to the success or failure of a marriage, depending on how the couple interacts. This effectiveness of communication is connected to the overall satisfaction of married couples. 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