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Satirist, a Tongue-wagging, Pen-wielding Warrior 

2/2/2017

31 Comments

 
Chapter 16 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn depicts the hypocrisy of the slave-hunters, which provides a hilarious solution to Huck's dilemma: whether to honor the social norm of slavery or to follow his own mischievous, yet kindly heart. 

In what ways does Mark Twain mock the slave-hunters?
Do you think Huck made the right decision by lying to the authority figures? 

 

I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead. I fidgeted up and down the raft, abusing myself to myself, and Jim was fidgeting up and down past me. We neither of us could keep still. Every time he danced around and says, "Dah's Cairo!" it went through me like a shot, and I thought if it WAS Cairo I reckoned I would die of miserableness.

Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself. He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free State he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them.

It most froze me to hear such talk. He wouldn't ever dared to talk such talk in his life before. Just see what a difference it made in him the minute he judged he was about free. It was according to the old saying, "Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an ell." Thinks I, this is what comes of my not thinking. Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm.

I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him. My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, "Let up on me -- it ain't too late yet -- I'll paddle ashore at the first light and tell." I felt easy and happy and light as a feather right off. All my troubles was gone. I went to looking out sharp for a light, and sort of singing to myself. By and by one showed. Jim sings out:

"We's safe, Huck, we's safe! Jump up and crack yo' heels! Dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it!"

I says:
"I'll take the canoe and go and see, Jim. It mightn't be, you know."

He jumped and got the canoe ready, and put his old coat in the bottom for me to set on, and give me the paddle; and as I shoved off, he says:

"Pooty soon I'll be a-shout'n' for joy, en I'll say, it's all on accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck; you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de ONLY fren' ole Jim's got now."

I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me. I went along slow then, and I warn't right down certain whether I was glad I started or whether I warn't. When I was fifty yards off, Jim says:

"Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim."

Well, I just felt sick. But I says, I GOT to do it -- I can't get OUT of it. Right then along comes a skiff with two men in it with guns, and they stopped and I stopped. One of them says:

"What's that yonder?"

"A piece of a raft," I says.

"Do you belong on it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Any men on it?"

"Only one, sir."

"Well, there's five niggers run off to-night up yonder, above the head of the bend. Is your man white or black?"

I didn't answer up prompt. I tried to, but the words wouldn't come. I tried for a second or two to brace up and out with it, but I warn't man enough -- hadn't the spunk of a rabbit. I see I was weakening; so I just give up trying, and up and says:

"He's white."

"I reckon we'll go and see for ourselves."

"I wish you would," says I, "because it's pap that's there, and maybe you'd help me tow the raft ashore where the light is. He's sick -- and so is mam and Mary Ann."

"Oh, the devil! we're in a hurry, boy. But I s'pose we've got to. Come, buckle to your paddle, and let's get along."

I buckled to my paddle and they laid to their oars. When we had made a stroke or two, I says:

"Pap'll be mighty much obleeged to you, I can tell you. Everybody goes away when I want them to help me tow the raft ashore, and I can't do it by myself."

"Well, that's infernal mean. Odd, too. Say, boy, what's the matter with your father?"

"It's the -- a -- the -- well, it ain't anything much."

They stopped pulling. It warn't but a mighty little ways to the raft now. One says:

"Boy, that's a lie. What IS the matter with your pap? Answer up square now, and it'll be the better for you."

"I will, sir, I will, honest -- but don't leave us, please. It's the -- the -- Gentlemen, if you'll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the headline, you won't have to come a-near the raft -- please do."

"Set her back, John, set her back!" says one. They backed water. "Keep away, boy -- keep to looard. Confound it, I just expect the wind has blowed it to us. Your pap's got the small-pox, and you know it precious well. Why didn't you come out and say so? Do you want to spread it all over?"

"Well," says I, a-blubbering, "I've told everybody before, and they just went away and left us."

"Poor devil, there's something in that. We are right down sorry for you, but we -- well, hang it, we don't want the small-pox, you see. Look here, I'll tell you what to do. Don't you try to land by yourself, or you'll smash everything to pieces. You float along down about twenty miles, and you'll come to a town on the left-hand side of the river. It will be long after sun-up then, and when you ask for help you tell them your folks are all down with chills and fever. Don't be a fool again, and let people guess what is the matter. Now we're trying to do you a kindness; so you just put twenty miles between us, that's a good boy. It wouldn't do any good to land yonder where the light is -- it's only a wood-yard. Say, I reckon your father's poor, and I'm bound to say he's in pretty hard luck. Here, I'll put a twentydollar gold piece on this board, and you get it when it floats by. I feel mighty mean to leave you; but my kingdom! it won't do to fool with small-pox, don't you see?"

"Hold on, Parker," says the other man, "here's a twenty to put on the board for me. Good-bye, boy; you do as Mr. Parker told you, and you'll be all right."

"That's so, my boy -- good-bye, good-bye. If you see any runaway niggers you get help and nab them, and you can make some money by it."

"Good-bye, sir," says I; "I won't let no runaway niggers get by me if I can help it."

They went off and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn't no use for me to try to learn to do right; a body that don't get STARTED right when he's little ain't got no show -- when the pinch comes there ain't nothing to back him up and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat. Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on; s'pose you'd a done right and give Jim up, would you felt better than what you do now? No, says I, I'd feel bad -- I'd feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck. I couldn't answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn't bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time.

I went into the wigwam; Jim warn't there. I looked all around; he warn't anywhere. I says:
"Jim!"

"Here I is, Huck. Is dey out o' sight yit? Don't talk loud."
He was in the river under the stern oar, with just his nose out. I told him they were out of sight, so he come aboard. He says:

"I was a-listenin' to all de talk, en I slips into de river en was gwyne to shove for sho' if dey come aboard. Den I was gwyne to swim to de raf' agin when dey was gone. But lawsy, how you did fool 'em, Huck! Dat WUZ de smartes' dodge! I tell you, chile, I'spec it save' ole Jim -- ole Jim ain't going to forgit you for dat, honey."

Then we talked about the money. It was a pretty good raise -- twenty dollars apiece. Jim said we could take deck passage on a steamboat now, and the money would last us as far as we wanted to go in the free States. He said twenty mile more warn't far for the raft to go, but he wished we was already there.



31 Comments
Andrea Gaytan
2/7/2017 01:04:35

I think Huck made the right decision on not telling the slave-hunters about Jim. In the video and throughout the book, Huck and Jim grow some type of "friendship". Huck is caught in a moral dilemma, because he knows by hiding Jim he is wrong, but figures he will feel worse if he turns him in. It is a matter of moral and guilt. Huck first thinks by turning him in that he is doing the right thing because of the society they live in. The society the book takes place is responsible for how people think, they think slavery is okay. Thanks to this you have the slave-hunters, which can be regular nice fellows that turn to hypocrites in search of slave owners. As Huck is paddling away to the slave-hunters, he listens to Jim talk about the things he is going to do when he is free. This starts to mess with his conscience and at the last second... Huck decided to not turn in Jim and lie about his parents. To me that is the right thing, because I am against slavery and it shows that Huck can keep his word like he said.

Reply
Denise J Ruiz
2/15/2017 10:00:04

I agree with you Andre, Huck is undecided at first on what to do. But, later he though of the right thing to do based on how close he got to Jim.

Reply
Luis Villanueva 1-2A
2/16/2017 17:39:07

The use of satire in this novel has reminded me of Johnathan Swift in A Modest Proposal which he criticizes the government. This is satire throughout because the author is trying to show the readers that the government is wrong by having slaves and hunters. Andrea you make a great point and I believe he made the right decision to let Jin go because he had done nothing wrong yet he had to suffer being a slave.

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Samantha Garza
2/16/2017 18:59:08

I agree with you Andrea, Huck did think turning him was the right thing to do but it really wasn't. The right thing was to not turn him in just like you said.

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Raquel B.
2/17/2017 19:57:56

I agree that the slave-hunters turned to be hypocrites, they are out looking for slaves because it's not okay for them to be free yet they abandoned a small child who asked for their help.

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April Campos
2/27/2017 14:47:10

This whole "friendship" situation is actually relatable to the real world. It is a matter of moral as you claim Andrea. It shows the problems that are created by not knowing what to do or whether or not the decision-making is righteous.

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Denise J Ruiz
2/15/2017 10:04:22

I love this video clip, and most of all the meaning that it brought me to think about. However, based on your question I believe that Huck at first was undecided he got in the state of confusion because in that time slavery was "though" to be right. I in my part, I am against slavery. Slavery is something that shouldn't have happen to any type of race. Thus, as Huck got closer to Jim he came to realized that he wouldn't say anything to those slave-hunters and more because he would of being in trouble.

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Denise J Ruiz
2/15/2017 10:06:29

Ohhh . . .Based on the question, Huck follow his heart instead of the norms that white individuals had back then. He is a good kid who came to the realization of what was right and wrong.

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Andrea Gaytan
3/20/2017 09:18:34

I also love this clip! I actually read the book and thought it was a pretty good story. I agree on how you said Huck ended up following his heart instead of doing what he was supposed to do. I think what helped is their friendship and the way they got along.

Adaylin Alvarez
2/16/2017 02:08:19

Mark Twain, much like Jonathan Swift, used satire to criticize the government. Twain uses satire to criticize the US government and their slave owners/hunters. We see Huck lie to the authority in order to save Jim by saying that his family has small pox. Even though Huck is white, he is still abandoned and ostracized by the slave hunters because he might be disease ridden. We see that these slave hunters, who claim to help the whites, abandon a young white boy who needs help; a paradox. Twain shows that people are too cowardly to help other people who are sick and need help; people claimed to feel bad for the slaves, but never did anything about it because they were too scared and the US claimed to feel for the people being oppressed during the Holocaust, but their fear caused us to do the same to the Japanese people as Germany was doing to the Jewish people.

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Adaylin Alvareza
2/16/2017 02:14:15

Not only do we see the paradox of people who claim to help others by capturing slaves not helping people who are sick, but we also see the irony of the situation. We see that the two slave hunters offer to buy off Huck and his family by giving him $20 from a distance and telling him not to go to the city and get other people infected. This is much like the concept of buying off slaves and sending them elsewhere where other people can deal with them. The irony of the situation is not only that, but it is also the fact that the US Government is too busy focusing on keeping slavery running smoothly and not focusing enough on the people who need help. This reminds me of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal in which the Irish Government was to busy with focusing on the rich people and making their life better rather than focusing on the citizens who actually needed the government's help.

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Adaylin Alvarez
2/16/2017 03:20:13

I just realized that I spelled my name wrong, sorry!

Melissa Menchaca 1/2A
2/16/2017 20:31:56

Huck shows his feelings and cares for Jim but because he and Jim were always together after awhile, though the slave hunters leave Huck alone and kill Jim because they do not care of a white boy only of the black slave that has runaway. This shows slavery at its finest point in time because it shows how the whites acted to runaway slaves that tried to be free and live in peace though they do not allow it for their race.

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Monica Orduna
2/16/2017 20:47:55

The character of this story tries to fool the slave-hunter by telling them that the man he have as a parthner is white. It also fool them by pretending his "Pap" has small-pox creating a pretty dangerous scene to the bad guys. This information alert the slave-hunters by getting them get away because of the fear that maybe they will get the illness and spread it along the land.

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Melissa Menchaca 1/2A
2/16/2017 21:58:39

I find it interesting that you focused on one thing and that is how they say the partner he is with has small-pox which back then was a very bad illness to be around.

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Jackeline A Martinez
2/18/2017 20:19:41

Your example is a demonstration of little lie for a good reason :)

Denise J Ruiz
2/25/2017 18:46:41

Yeah, Monica that lie was just said for a good purpose which was to protect Jim from the white people.

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Andrea Gaytan
3/20/2017 09:36:01

In a way I agree with you guys on how the lie was for a good cause, but then if you think about it a little more I don't. I wouldn't want somebody to lie to me about something. I get that this is about slavery which makes it good because they had a good friendship and slavery is wrong, but if you were to turn things into something else I probably wouldn't agree.

Andrea Gaytan
3/20/2017 09:33:52

I personally thought this was a very cleaver idea. I liked how he came up with a plan after alsmost selling Jim out. He covered up for him very well. At first I was thinking it wasn't going to work, but the video clip surprised me. It surprised me by how things turned out.

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Raquel B.
2/17/2017 19:47:23

I agree with Huck's decision because even though he is at such a young age and is confused at first he comes to understand that slavery is wrong and decides not to tell the slave-hunters about Jim. Huck has an understanding of what is right and wrong in society yet he morally knows that he should lie to the slave-hunters and help Jim escape.

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Abigail Garza
2/24/2017 08:35:50

I agree Huck does know right from wrong and i feel his choices of what is best outweigh in this situation.

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April Campos
2/27/2017 14:41:25

I agree on saying that Huck knows his right from wrong. This shows that Huck is aware of what is actually happening in the real life and is trying to follow his ideas of trying to protect those who are in need of help.

Jackeline A Martinez
2/18/2017 19:13:13

No matter what is the situation, the innocence of a children is the best solution. Back then there were a lot of discrimination agains "black" people and the love make a big difference

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Denise J Ruiz
2/25/2017 18:48:21

Jackeline, I love the way you actually re word everyone's conclusion based on what Huck did.

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Aaron Garcilazo
2/25/2017 21:18:47

At first, Huck didn’t know what to do so he got “close to him (Jim)” before he can decide on anything. He then later does the right thing and does not tell the hunters about Jim. He felt he was doing good because in the type of society they lived in and there, turning in a slave was the “right” thing to do. But he ends up not betraying him and selling him out to the slave hunters.

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Andrea Gaytan
3/20/2017 09:24:01

That was exactly what happened, Huck didn't know what to do at first but as he thought about it more he realized he had a friendship with Jim and decided no to sell him out. If it wouldn't have been for them growing a friendship I think things would of turned out different.

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Anthony Arredondo
2/27/2017 17:37:16

I feel that first Huckleberry Finn was confuse on whether or not that Jim had the right idea about stealing and/or buying his family free of slavery. This short clip remind me of the the 2016 Roots just because of how Jim was talking about his freedom and thus that his whole family should be free

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Karla Olivares
3/12/2017 15:18:45

In my opinion, I believe Huck’s decision about not telling the slave hunters about his friend Jim was extremely brave because, despite, of his young age he believed his decision wasn't morally correct but wouldn't been to live with the guilt of turning Jim. It was a first instinct decision. Even though, he did not fully understand the cruel reality of society at the time, he was able to differentiate wrong from right. But sometimes young children are often tarnished by society’s perspectives that their natural instincts begin to fade away as they grow older.

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Roxanne Flores
4/3/2017 21:30:40

Mark Twain mocks the slave hunters by making them seem weak. When Finn starts talking about his family the slave hunters assume that it is a sickness. The slave hunters try to avoid Finn by shooing Finn away. What is dense is how the slave hunters don't seem to forget to remind the boy about turning in run away slaves instead of helping the boys family. Mark Twain depicts the slave hunters as a corrupt "authority".

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Roxanne Flores
4/3/2017 21:36:13

I think that what the boy did was maybe disrespecting authority but was a just purpose. Due to the situation of Finn changing his mind about turning in his friend Jim. Finn new what was socially right but felt otherwise. His decision of not turning in Jim was the morally correct thing to do.

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chris bautista
4/6/2017 23:13:53

I think that it is just amazing that finn has the courage to betray the higher authority by not turning in his friend jim. I believe that he did what he had to do and that was the moral thing to do. especially because of the society they lived in at the time, Jim had a difficult time figuring if he should turn JIm in but at the end he felt that it was the best thing to do by not snitching.

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