Huck does stuff. Well, so do I.

chapters 21-23/ last three questions:

1. In chapter 26 Huck steals the money to give it to the girls, in chapter 31 he decides to help Jim to escape. In the first choice, Huck blames someone else for the "crime" he committed: he says that the slaves might have stolen the money, so that he wouldn't have trouble while in the second part Huck decides to take on all the consequences of his action. Huck's struggles are quite ironic
because althouh he knows that what he does goes against the principles of the society, he does it anyway.

2-3. Huck writes the letter because he does know that free the slave will cause problems and breaks the society's rules. But writing it down makes Huck understand everything that would happen if he did NOT let Jim escape and realize that the consequences would be more weighty. 


OTHER QUESTIONS

1. Chapter 31 is the climax of the story because until this moment Huck has been unsure about what he wanted to do, and he had not been involved in anything that involved criminal actions besides rafting with him while now he DECIDES to take control of the situation and do actually something to rescue Jim and free him

2. The irony in Huck's statement is that the words are his truth believes. He does think that he is damned and that his afterlife will be in the hell.

3. The description of the house at the beginning of chapter 32 reminds of a very western one. "makes it seem so lonesome and like everybody's dead and gone"this can be linked to the theme of rebirth, this means that that kind of lifestyle (his previous) is not anymore his.

4. Huck sees Providence as faith, almost as a kind of religion because of his dependence from it. He does trust Providence as a god, he feels like it gives suggestions to him. Of course Ms Watson would approve this feeling because it is a religious one.

5. The irony is used as satire: "No. Killed a nigger." "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.” this shows us that she does not even consider slaves as real people

6. The theme here is romanticism versus realism since the Tom is actually the symbol of romanticism that contrast with Huck, the very symbol of realism and practicalness and here the roles are inverted.

7. Tom and Huck's reasons are different because the first one wants to have an adventure, and he wants things to be over-done and done in a romantic way while Huck just wants his friend to be free.

8. This sentence shows the good feelings of Huck and he does criticizes the negative aspects of the human soul, the being rascals and cruel. This is compared and contrasted with his pure soul, and his reflection is on the free will given to the men: they can be cruel, but don't have to.

9. Tom's reaction is quite a paradox. He allows Huck to steal, but after Huck steals the watermelon Tom blames H. because stealing is only allowed to get things that they need for escaping. It's ironic because he allows stealing... only in part.

10.  Huck admires Tom very much, that's why he lets him take control. He underestimates himself and is confident about Tom's actions.

ASSIGNMENT

One of Mark Twain’s main themes in this novel is the contrast between realism and romaticism. Twain uses his main character, Huck, to underline the fact that the Romantic ideas were not the right type of literature, since they were too far from the reality. Through the whole book the reader can find many examples in which the dispise towards the previous literature is evident.

In chapter 34 Huck tells to Tom his plan to rescue the slave, a plan easy and efficient, but his friend replies: “[...] it's too blame' simple; there ain't nothing TO it. What's the good of a plan that ain't no more trouble than that? [...]" Tom doesn’t want to free Jim because animated from good feelings, but just for the ideals provoked by his books. He would risk the success of the “mission” to accomplish his fantasies. With this, Twain might say that the ideas created by Romantic literature might negatively influence the reality.

In chapter 35 Tom says to Huck to borrow a shirt so that Jim could write his journal on, but Huck replies:  "Journal your granny -- JIM can't write." and answering to this response, Tom says that it does not matter. So, once again, Twain says that the ideas that romanticism inculcate are bad for the readers. It seems moreover that to Mark Twain, the idealization of the Romantic literature deforms the perception of reality.

So Twain is not just saying that Romanticism is a kind literature that does not reflect reality, but also that it changes the perception of this and might even be detrimental to the reality.