This is a blog for Mrs. B.G.'s English class.
English Blog
The craziness continues with Pap.. This man is just off his nut. I'd like to know why he's lashing out like he is. Is there a reason? Maybe Pap's dad was a psychopath, too, and that's where he gets it from. Hmm.. We already read that he is an abusive alcoholic, but now he has decided to demand money from his child, who is about eight years old? Ten? Pap needs a serious reality check, in my opinion. Oh, also, he kidnapped Huck, and locked the innocent little kid up in a riverside shack in the middle of the woods - why he thinks that is going to help his situation, I have no idea. With that big of an impact on Huck, I was surprised to find out that Pap died so early in the story.
There's a common theme with the angels and demons, when Pap is dreaming of being chased by the angel of death.. I wonder where that came from; and it's the same with the superstitions. Jim talks about superstitions of his people. For example, the birds and their hopping and how it supposedly means that it is going to rain. I have to give quite a bit of credit to Huck. He's very smart for his age (which is a bit strange since he doesn't really want to go to school or learn); the entire scene where he fakes his death so he can run away is genius. He did a lot of problem solving and decision making, and he did a very well job with it (it kind of makes me think of NCIS and CSI - my parents like those shows, so I guess you could say I'm an expert). I'm glad he escaped and found that island, and it's probably a good thing that Jim's there, too. I bet they're going to become the best of friends, and it's nice that they can keep each other company. Also - something random - I thought it was funny that Huck's disguise for going into town was dressing up as a girl (mostly due to playing dress up with my best childhood friend - who is a male). I also wonder about that, though. Why get dressed up as a girl? It can't be that hard to look different enough that people won't recognize you, Huck. I guess this was a different time period, though, so maybe it wasn't as easy to do back then.
0 Comments
In chapters one through five, we are introduced to a couple characters, including Huckleberry's father, who - the way I see it - is a bit "off his nut." Huckleberry Finn's father is an alcoholic, abusive, grumpy, hairy (and sort of scary-looking, if you ask me) man, who seems to not care all-too-deeply about the well-being of his son. This is almost definitely a huge contribution to the reasons why Huck decides to run away. I mean, the poor kid doesn't know what to do. He's got The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson trying to push him towards getting an education and being religious, while his father is pulling him away from that and seems to only be interested in money and alcohol.
My question is: what in the Sam heck went wrong in this man's head that made him the way he is (because he's definitely not mentally stable)? Also, I think it's pretty safe to say that I (nor poor Huck) is very fond of Huck's father.. but even if he is a terrible parent, he is clearly an important character in the story because he is contributing to most of the problems that Huck is currently encountering. A take away I had from this section of the novel is some odd little things that spark my interest. I may be alone in thinking this, but Huck seems to be a bit superstitious, and he might even get that from his dad. I noticed that huckleberry was worried when he knocked over the salt shaker, so he immediately jumped to go throw some over his shoulder to ward off bad luck. Similarly, his father's boots have nails hammered into them in a specified shape to keep demons away. Supernatural things seem to catch my attention, so their little rituals seemed to stick in my head (although I didn't understand who was warding off what or why they thought they needed to at first). |