Weekly Reading Response #3

Name: Alex Barnes
Date: 2-18-10
Book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Pages: 97-143
Total Pages This Week: 46

What in the book upsets you or bothers you? Why?

Something that bothered me in what I read was the attempted lynching of a town's deputy. The officer had shot a drunk man who had been threatining him. The town then formed a mob and decided to lynch the deputy. They go to his house where the deputy is waiting for them standing on his roof with a gun. He basically calls them all cowards and de mans them all. I just thought the idea that they were going to kill him without any justice was frightening. It gave me a negative impression of Southern justice and me think living there would be scary. I was also surprised by the deputy's courage in the face of the mob.

What has surprised you in the book? Why?

I've already used this question in a previous blog response but there are so many things that I've found unusual in my reading that I've decided to use it again.

Something that surprised me in my book is the family feud that goes on between the Grangerfords, a family Huck stays with and the Grangerford's rival, the Shepherdsons. At one point Huck is out with one of the Grangerford's boys named Buck. They see a Shepherdson boy riding through the woods. Buck deliberately shoots off the boy's hat then they run away as the other boy shoots at Huck and Buck. I thought it was strange how everyday things could turn to violence so easily and commonly. What was even more strange was when Huck asked Buck why they and the Shepherdsons were feuding and Buck didn't know. The feud intensifies when Miss Sophia, Buck's sister runs away with a boy from the other family which seemed like Romeo and Juliet. The Grangerfords go to kill the Shepherdson boy and get into a big shootout with the Shepherdsons. There every one of the Grangerfords are killed. I thought it was sad but even more an indicator that there was very little law and order in the South.

Weekly Reading Response #2

Name: Alex Barnes
Date: 2-11-10
Book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Pages: 44-97
Total Pages This Week: 53

How did what you read make you feel? Why?

A lot of what I read was about Huck and Jim's adventure up the Mississippi. It made me feel excited imagining being in their positions of nearly being killed by the weather and caught by the slave catchers. In what I read Huck is questioning the morality of helping Jim escape. Huck explains to himself helping Jim as being wrong because Jim is someone's property and therefore he is helping steal. It just seems so strange that someone would even think of someone as property today. We forget what it was like back then. I wanted to feel angry at Huck but I couldn't because I realized he wasn't thinking like that on purpose. It was just how some people thought back then. In comparison to others of the time Huck is actually very accepting.

Explain how the author creates suspense in the book.

Mark Twain creates suspense by having close calls for both Huck and Jim. At one point Huck goes into town to find out what's going on. He is supposed to be dead so he disguises himself as a girl when he goes into town. Then the lady he's talking to realizes he isn't a girl. Mark Twain builds all kinds of suspense by making you wonder what she's going to do to Huck. Also Huck and Jim go onto a crashed river boat during a storm. They walk through the cabins and hear two men talking about murdering another man who is tied up on board. A lot of suspense is built wondering if they'll find Huck and if they do what they'll do to him. Not to mention when Huck and Jim try to leave they find their boat has been torn loose from the river boat. Instead they steal the contemplating murders' boat and go off upriver.

Weekly Reading Response

Name: Alex Barnes
Date: 1-4-10
Book: The Adventures of Hucklberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Pages: 0-44
Total Pages This Week: 44

1. What is confusing in this book? Why? ( Be Specific )

Something I found confusing about the book is the language the characters use. Reading the parts of the run away slave Jim is probably the hardest. Here's an example of Jim telling Huckleberry how he escaped on page 41. " I tuck out en shin down de hill en 'spec to steal a skift 'long de sho' som'ers 'bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirrin' yit , so I id in de ole tumble-down cooper shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go 'way. I also thought this book was a little bit confusing because I'd never read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which is the prequel to Huck Finn somewhat. It isn't necessary but it would have been nice having that background information on Huck and Tom.

2. What has surprised you in the book? Why?

Something that surprised me in the book so far is the use of the n word to describe the slaves. I also thought it was strange that even the escaped slave Jim uses it. It just seems strange seeing a completely taboo word in a book. I was also surprised by the way Hucklberry's father treats him. His father beat him, took his money, and even tried to stab him. I was wondering if that was close to the norm back then. I also think it's weird how everyone just roams around in the book. Huckleberry's father went off for a whole year and Huckleberry does whatever he wants to.