Lee 1

Name: Harrison Lee Date: 10/21/12 Period: 9-10 for Double-Entry Reading Journal The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chap/Pg# XI/55

The book says: Come in, says the woman, and I did. She says: Take a cheer. I done it. She looked me all over with her little shiny eyes

I say: Based on the excerpt, I can tell that Huck, despite his usually practical beliefs and ideas, still has a romanticist side. As a fourteen-year-old, Huck still doesnt completely understand the fact that genders arent differentiated just from appearance. If a person were to pretend to be another gender simply by dressing in clothes exclusive to that gender in the present world, their actions and their tone of speech would still easily give themselves away. To add on, I also think Twain is satirizing the intelligence of African Americans, for it was Jim who came up with the idea for Huck to dress up like a girl. The passage reminds me of my own childhood, when I tried making a story up to go along with the flow in order to not get caught doing something. Since this scene reminds me of my past, I can tell that Huck still has his child- like character, despite being fourteen. At his age, he is beginning to question certain things. For example, he questioned Miss Watson why he had to pray every day. However, Huck still has his childish side, putting himself in situations like these. I am surprised how Huck, although scared of his father, still has a sense of attachment for him, because he always refers back to Pap. In this case, Huck reminded himself of the advice Pap gave to him, and actually followed it. Also based on this quote, I can tell that Huck understand that Pap cares for him and would really wish him for the best. Albeit abusive, Pap doesnt really mean to genuinely hurt his child. In fact, when hes more sober, Pap apparently teaches Huck some life lessons, which he later is seen referring back to.

XI/59

Honey, I thought you said it was Sarah when you first come in? Oh yesm, I did. Sarah Mary Williams. Sarahs my first name. Some calls me Sarah, some calls me Mary. Oh, thats the way of it? Yesm.

XII/65

and sometimes I lifted a chicken that warnt roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you dont want him yourself you can easy find somebody that does

XII/65

Mornings before daylight I slipped into corn-fields and borrowed a watermelon, or a mushmelon, or a punkin, or some new corn, or things of that kind. Pap always said it warnt no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back some time; but the widow said it warnt anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it.

Based on this quote, I can tell that Huck struggles between Paps philosophies and the widows. There is definitely some struggle because although Huck does borrow watermelon or corn or pumpkins, he still thinks of what Miss Watson would say if she happened to see him do all of this. Although Huck doesnt want to be with neither the widow nor Pap, he nonetheless is affected by their teachings.

Lee 2

XIV/80

I see it warnt no use wasting wordsyou cant learn a nigger to argue. So I quit.

This quote interests me, because Mark Twain seems to be satirizing the intelligence level of blacks here. After a long and frustrating argument between Huck and Jim on the French. Jim refused to believe that French people did not speak English, and it was extremely difficult for Huck to turn Jims mind aroundJim seemed to be very stubborn at the moment. The part of the quote you cant learn a nigger to argue basically is saying that blacks have no capability of arguing or understanding someones point. As a result, Twain appears to be derogatory toward blacks.