First thing's first: shout-out to Miss Watkins for assigning us a book that I don't hate already. Guess good ol' Sam Clemens should get some recognition as well while we're on the topic. Anyway, onto the actual point of this. The themes I'm supposed to be taking pointed notice of while reading the novel are those of friendship and betrayal. Even though we've only read through the first five chapters, I think that it's pretty obvious that this book is going to a veritable gold mine of both.
As is true in most situations, friendship seems like a reasonable place to start here. So, I'm pretty sure we've all read the prequel to Huckleberry Finn, otherwise known as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Throughout that novel, Tom and Huck's friendship developed in a very noticeable fashion. The two boys go from being acquaintances who enjoy one another's company because they're misunderstood little twelve-year-olds who don't have middle school experiences and My Chemical Romance to counteract their whining and angsting. This relationship seems to have carried over into Huckleberry Finn. We see almost from the very beginning of the novel that Tom and Huck are still friends - best friends, even. Daydreaming together, meeting in the woods with the other boys and planning to lead a pack of robbers are but a mere handful of the shenanigans these boys pull off before the real plot even begins.
Additionally, I think friendship shows its face in the form of that whole little anecdote about the rise and fall of "Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take and oath and write his name in blood." (Twain, 7). I just think that entire situation - boys playing together in the woods, wanting to cause trouble and generally having a great time - has legitimate undertones of friendship even if said undertones may not be the strongest.
None of the other characters have really exhibited friendly feelings towards another yet save for the widow caring for Huck, but I consider that more maternal instinct or familial love than anything else.
Now, onto the main event.
Well, that may be exaggerating a little. Still, there must be a reason that Taylor Swift writes more songs about being stabbed in the back than hugged by a friend, right? Betrayal is interesting.
However, it has yet to make a huge appearance in the novel. You could probably make an argument for little betrayals here and there, such as Huck's blatant and repeated disrespect for the widow's rules as well as her beliefs (though he doesn't intentionally disrespect her faith).
That's about all I got for now. I know Miss Watkins told us that friendship/betrayal will be a major theme when Huck finally runs away with Jim the slave and has all that quality internal conflict. Not going to lie, I'm looking forward to things getting a little more interesting. Also, my prediction is that Huck's dad is going to bring on the betrayal in a big way at some point, possibly soon but there are literally hundreds of pages of possibility so who really knows?
Samantha, I love that you are successful in conveying your humor through your writing! When thinking about friendship and betrayal, think about what kinds of relationships the characters develop with each other. For instance, Huck seems to have a relationship with Jim in these chapters that isn't quite friendship - so how would you define it?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog post. I wonder why Huck isn't fond of the widow. Maybe because he doesn't know what love from a mother feels like? Friendship is definitely displayed in these 5 chapters. I feel as though Huck sees Tom more as a brother than a friend. I can't say the same for Tom. He may look out for him, but I don't think he's a good friend to Huck. It's a little too early to say that Tom is an awful friend, but I definitely believe he is.
ReplyDelete