Huck Finn Entry 3

Jeremy Keeshin Reading Discussion Entry #3 12/10/06 Chapter XXIX – End Today, John and I had our final reading discussion about the last third of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We summarized the final events of the plot and talked about our primary reactions to the characters and the events. First we talked about how the reappearance of Tom Sawyer affected Huck, and how Tom had a large sway over him. We talked about Twain’s comedic efforts when he detailed how Tom and Huck created obstacles for themselves when trying to free Jim from slavery. We thought that it was ironic that they had all these extra difficulties, but this idea went well with the idea that Tom held of making everything into an adventure. We noted Tom and Huck’s adventurous personality, and how it was natural for them to try to make the events exciting. It was apparent that Huck was more conservative than Tom, but Tom’s influence over Huck caused him to follow his orders. We talked about how Jim’s character was treated in the book and how slavery was treated in the book. We noted that it was taken lightly by Twain, but realized that slavery was not the central issue of the novel; the central issue was the adventures of young children. We did not think Twain held the same ideas about slavery that his character Tom Sawyer did. Tom Sawyer, who knew that Jim was free, still made his freedom a plaything, and this revealed his rebellious, adventurous nature. We also talked about Huck’s identity and how throughout the events in the book he tries to fit in with different crowds, but struggles to find his place. This was a very fruitful discussion.