Paul Jones

Mrs. Yard

AP English

20 March 2010

Huckleberry Finn Journal Entries

1 Southern Hospitality

“Why, there’s somebody come! I wonder who ’tis? Why, I do believe it’s a stranger. Jimmy”

(that’s one of the children) “run and tell Lize to put on another plate for dinner.”

“Mr. Archibald Nichols, I presume?”

“No, my boy,” says the old gentleman, “I’m sorry to say ’t your driver has deceived you;

Nichols’s place is down a matter of three mile more. Come in, come in.”

Tom he took a look back over his shoulder, and says, “Too late—he’s out of sight.”

“Yes, he’s gone, my son, and you must come in and eat your dinner with us; and then we’ll

hitch up and take you down to Nichols’s.”

“Oh, I CAN’T make you so much trouble; I couldn’t think of it. I’ll walk—I don’t mind the

distance.”

“Oh, I COULDN’T trouble you like that—I wouldn’t dream of it. I’ll walk—it’s not too far,

and I don’t mind.” “But we won’t LET you walk—it wouldn’t be Southern hospitality to do it.

Come right in.” (221)

This quote is significant to the theme of “southern hospitality” because the Phelps' clearly see a

stranger is coming by, and yet their very first reaction is preparing a plate for the stranger. The irony is

that their “stranger” is actually who they've been waiting for, and Huckleberry is in fact the “stranger.”
Their hospitality is so powerful that even though it would be no trouble for Tom to walk a few more

miles and Tom had politely refused more than once, but still they would not let him leave. So although

Twain shows plenty of the bad in southern society, like there aristocracy and organized religion, Twain

shows the reader how there is also good in southern society: their hospitality.

2 Huck's Search for Identity

“All right; but wait a minute. There’s one more thing—a thing that NOBODY don’t know but

me. And that is, there’s a nigger here that I’m a-trying to steal out of slavery, and his name is

JIM—old Miss Watson’s Jim.”

He says:

“What! Why, Jim is—”

He stopped and went to studying. I says:

“I know what you’ll say. You’ll say it’s dirty, low-down business; but what if it is? I’m low

down; and I’m a-going to steal him, and I want you keep mum and not let on. Will you?”

His eye lit up, and he says:

“I’ll HELP you steal him!”

Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing speech I ever heard—

and I’m bound to say Tom Sawyer fell considerable in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe

it. Tom Sawyer a NIGGER-STEALER! (220)

At this point in the novel, Huckleberry has been reunited with Tom, and Huckleberry is

explaining his situation to Tom. After going through the relatively minor issue of being confused with

Tom, Huckleberry explains that he is helping Jim escape. After Tom accepts, Huckleberry is rather

taken back. This quote is significant to Huckleberry's “search for identity” because Huckleberry

accepts that he is “dirty” and “low down.” Huckleberry comes to accept that “stealing” Jim and

bringing him to freedom is the right thing to do. This particular situation is especially relevant because
it's the first time “new” Huckleberry has to face “old” Huckleberry: none of his past “life” had ever

come back to judge him. Tom, a relic of Huckleberry's past, had arrived, and Huckleberry laid out his

new identity, and Huckleberry was relived to find out that his new self, having been “reborn” many

time, was accepted by his old surroundings.

3 Huck as an Unreliable Narrator

WE stopped talking, and got to thinking. By and by Tom says:

“Looky here, Huck, what fools we are to not think of it before! I bet I know where Jim is.”

“No! Where?”

“In that hut down by the ash-hopper. Why, looky here. When we was at dinner, didn’t you see a

nigger man go in there with some vittles?”

“Yes.”

“What did you think the vittles was for?”

“For a dog.”

“So ’d I. Well, it wasn’t for a dog.”

“Why?”

“Because part of it was watermelon.”

“So it was—I noticed it. Well, it does beat all that I never thought about a dog not eating

watermelon. It shows how a body can see and don’t see at the same time.” (226)

This excerpt is evidence of Huckleberry's unreliability because it is evidence that he cannot

distinguish between significant and insignificant information. Reinforced by the fact that this excerpt

clearly shows he saw that the man had watermelon, and: 1. did not care to share this with the reader and

2. did not realize the importance of said watermelon. This warrants the inclusion of Tom Sawyer, as

Jim might not have been rediscovered if it were not for Tom, even if Tom makes his escape all the

more difficult.
4 Jim's Heroism: Ordeal and Triumph
“Well, den, dis is de way it look to me, Huck. Ef it wuz HIM dat ’uz bein’ sot free, en one er de

boys wuz to git shot, would he say, ’Go on en save me, nemmine ’bout a doctor f’r to save dis

one?’ Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer? Would he say dat? You BET he wouldn’t! WELL, den, is

JIM gywne to say it? No, sah—I doan’ budge a step out’n dis place ’dout a DOCTOR, not if it’s

forty year!” (267)

This is an excellent example of Jim's heroism, both ordeal and triumph, because all of the above

is shown in this excerpt. This is significant to Jim's “ordeal” because Jim mentions he's now free; Jim

had to work through a lot to be set free. This excerpt is significant to Jim's “heroism” because although

Jim is now a free man, he has made his personal goal, he refuses to leave Tom behind without a doctor.

Finally, it attests to Jim's “triumph” because not only is Jim free now, after his “ordeal” through

slavery, but Jim will succeed in helping Tom.