Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Emily Thorn's Discussion Question
In Chapter 31, Huck decides to risk his soul being "sent to hell" by helping Jim escape to freedom. Why do you think he chose to help Jim? What specific events along their jounrey led Huck to this decision? Are there any spots in the story where Huck's decision is foreshadowed?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Jennifer Kraemer
I think that Huck chose to help Jim because Jim has become his friend. Jim had always stayed with Huck. Huck spent some of his best times with Jim. Jim was always happy to see Huck after he thought Huck was gone. He said things like "Huck was his only friend" and that he was grateful for Huck. Huck had never had anyone care for him the way Jim did. Earlier in the story we saw Huck struggle with the idea of turning in Jim. He had a perfect opportunity but instead he made up some lies to save Jim.
I think that, by the time that Huck had decided to risk his soul being “sent to hell” by helping Jim escape, he and Jim had already gone through a lot together. They had traveled far away from their homes, had encountered dangers and evil swindlers, and worked together to survive and succeed. There were several times in the book when Jim helped Huck, getting food for them, sparing him the grief of seeing his dead father, etc. I remember one specific point when Jim told Huck that he was his best friend because Huck had been one of the very few people who treated him nicely. To me, this conversation between Huck and Jim planted the seed of Huck wanting to set Jim free, foreshadowing later events. All of these aspects gnawed at Huck while he was deciding whether to turn Jim in or not, but in the end decided that their friendship and Jim’s ultimate freedom was worth more than his soul being sent to hell.
-Katrina Hauser
I think that Huck decides to risk being "sent to hell" by helping Jim escape becuase he had become friends with Jim. Jim had done so much for Huck; he usually ended up doing most of the chores or taking the entire watch for Huck. Jim even tells Huck that Huck is his best friend. They had to learn to depend on each other as they traveled down the river, and with that dependence came trust, leading to a deep friendship. I think that every time Huck doubts helping Jim foreshadows the major decision he will make, as well as the instance where he saved Jim's life with some quick thinking while on the river by saying Jim was diseased.
-Carlye Chaney
Post a Comment