Monday, April 5, 2010

Self Reliance Emerson

Self Reliance is an essay that urges readers to trust their own intuition and common sense rather than automatically following popular opinion and doing what the majority do.

Huck Finn 32 to end

As in the early chapters of this book Tom Sawyer again serves as a teacher to Huck in these chapters. Tom creates a wild plan to free Jim. Huck recognizes the foolishness and potential danger of Tom’s plan and says it could get the three of them killed. It is not surprising that Tom’s willingness to help free Jim confuses Huck, Tom has always concerned himself with conforming to social expectations and preserving his own reputation. Freeing Jim would seem to be bad on both counts. Huck willing to trade his life and reputation for Jim, thinks of himself as a poor, worthless member of white society. Huck sees Tom’s life as worth something more than that and believes that Tom has something to lose by helping to free Jim. In the end, though, we sense that Tom has no concept of the life and death importance of Jim’s freedom but instead just views the effort simply as one big opportunity for fun and adventure.Twain makes a comment on the harsh racism of the South in the exchange between Sally and Huck about the explosion on the steamboat. When Sally asks if anyone was hurt in the explosion. It is unclear whether Huck is simply role playing or mimicking the attitudes of an average white Southern boy in pretending to be Tom. Sally, is racist in her response, saying that it’s fortunate no one was hurt when she has just learned that a black man lost his life. In these chapters, Tom, Huck and Jim in many ways act like the roles they played at the beginning of the novel. Tom once again gets caught up in his romantic ideas of valiantly rescuing Jim, which are frustrating when we see how long they delay Jim’s escape. Tom gets so caught up in his imagination that he and Huck almost forget why they are going to so much trouble. Huck, for his part, refers to the same follower status in relation to Tom that he held at the beginning of the novel. Both Tom and Huck get so enthralled in their game that they seem to forget that Jim is a human being. To the boys, he becomes almost an object , to the extent that they even ask him in all seriousness to share his quarters with snakes and rats. Imprisoned in the shed, Jim is just as captive and powerless as he was before he originally escaped. The ending of the book shows Tom to be even more manipulative than we realized. The bullet in Tom’s leg seems rather deserved when Tom reveals that he has known all along that Miss Watson has been dead for two months and that she freed Jim in her will. Tom’s confession reveals a new depth of cruelty, he treats blacks only a little better than slaveholders do, using Jim as a plaything to indulge in a great adventure. Tom’s claim that he meant to pay Jim for his troubles is surely of little to anyone with money is deeply insulting. No one ever chastises Tom for his behavior. Instead he turns the bullet , the symbol of the fine line between fun and foolishness and he proposes to Huck that they go look for more adventures among the Injuns another people oppressed by whites.

Huck finn chapters 21-32

In these chapters Jim’s smarts become stronger when we recall that he has been willing to forgive others throughout the novel, even though he is unable to forgive himself for one honest mistake. As we see in these chapters, Jim’s honesty and emotional openness have an effect on Huck. Having been brought up among racist white mindset, Huck is surprised to see that ties of familial love can be as strong among blacks as among whites. Although Huck’s development is still incomplete, he still qualifies his observations a bit, noting that it doesn’t seem natural for Jim to be so attached to his family, his mind is open and he clearly views Jim more as a human and less as a slave. These chapters mark several milestones in Huck’s development, as he acts on his conscience for the first time and takes concrete steps to the schemes of the duke and the dauphin. Although Huck has shown an increasing maturity as the novel has progressed, he has been tempted in taking sides or action that shows the ending result not being good. He has chosen not to challenge or expose the duke and the dauphin even though he has been aware from the start that they are frauds. Huck tells him that the sight makes him ashamed to be part of the human race. Though this strong statement is a step for Huck, he doesn't act on it until now. The first action Huck takes is his retrieval of the $6,000 in gold, which he places in Wilks’s coffin. Besides these signs of maturity Huck still has several lessons to learn and still struggles with the conflicting messages he receives from society and from his personal experiences. Even though Huck rightly takes the money from the con men, he does not give it to the Wilks sisters directly, and he still cannot bring himself to expose the con men to the Wilkses. Also, Huck seems not bothered when he hears that the dauphin’s plan to liquidate the Wilks’s property will require the separation of a slave woman from her children. Huck confesses to Mary Jane not because he is upset about the splitting of the slave family but because he feels bad that she is upset about it. Through Huck’s struggle with the issue, that the attitudes and assumptions that enable racism and slavery in the South are difficult to overcome. Although Huck has made great strides, he still struggles to make sense of the confusing world around him.

Huck Finn chapters 11-21

Mrs. Loftus is one of the more sincere people Huck runs into throughout the course of the book, but her attitude toward Jim makes her goodness somewhat disappear for Huck. Mrs. Loftus is clearly a clever woman, as we see in the things that she tests Huck with. Mrs. Loftus and her husband are only too happy to profit from capturing Jim, and her husband plans to bring a gun to hunt Jim like an animal. Mrs. Loftus makes a clear distinction between Huck, who tells her he has run away from a mean farmer, and Jim who has done essentially the same thing by running away from an owner who is considering selling him. Mrs. Loftus and the rest of white society can see the difference between an abused runaway slave and an abused runaway boy, Huck does not. Huck and Jim’s raft becomes a sort of peaceful place of brotherhood , they are treated better now . The two even talk about stealing, though their resolution to give up stealing a few items to render their other stealing represents an attempt to practical and moral concerns. The pattern of Huck’s childishness getting both himself and Jim into trouble continues in these chapters, as Huck follows his Toms ways. Jim and Huck are lucky to escape, and the incident proves to be another reminder that even on the river they are not safe from the problems that plagued them at home, violence and cruelty at the hands of any white adult. Huck’s attempts to reconcile the situation show that he is learning, despite his immaturity. When Huck acts like Tom Sawyer trouble follows but when he acts like himself things generally turn out fine.The fact that Jim sees the foolishness of many of Huck’s choices but never stops Huck, reminds us of Jim’s extremely hard position as an escaped slave. In a number of instances in the novel, Jim tried to stop Huck from a foolish plan, but eventually gives in to the boy. Twain never explains Jim’s reasoning, but the reason is always there that Jim’s caution stems from his constant fear of being caught and returned to his former owner. After all, Huck is a free white child who could turn in Jim at any time and collect a large reward for doing so. Although this idea seems never to cross Huck’s mind, its always on Jim's mind.

Monday, March 8, 2010

huck finn chapters 1-10

The book is called The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and it is written by Mark Twain. Finn is writing this story from his point of view , he is the narrotator. Huck lives in the Midwest in Missouri near the Mississippi valley with the widow Douglas. Widow Douglas is an older women and tries to civilize Huck Finn. Miss Watson is a slave owner, there slave is Jim. Jim is Miss Watson's black servant, he is a very important character it seems, he made up a story about some made up thing and he became famous, people from miles came to hear his story. Huck is not with his dad because he used to beat him as a kid, people said that he was found dead in a river but Huck says hes not dead. As a child Huck and his father lives in a cabin but his father neglected him and abused him, he always left him alone in a room not able to escape, but one day the widow found out and sent a an over but the father sent the man out with his gun which he had stolen. Huck never got a chance to leave because he put the key under his head. He tries many ways to escape but they fail. When Hucks father comes home thats when Huck escapes. Hucks father asks him to go search for fish and thats when he finally runs away. Hucks best friend is Tom Sawyer, in there first adventure they found the treasure together. They have many adventures ahead in this book, i cant wait to read more. Tom sawyer is known as the trouble maker. He is tricky funny and charming. there first adventure there on an island. On the island, Huck meets Jim. Huck is very happy to see Jim because he wont be lonely anymore. The main reason that there better off together is for survival. They each have specific knowledge about things to help them survive. In the chapter where the boys play the robbers they think there in a gang which Tom is leading. They pretend to kill and rob people, they all sign a oath which stated that they can not tell the secret and if they do their family will get killed.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Twilight By Stephenie Meyer

This blog is about the first section of the book I read. The book starts off with introducing the main character Isabella Swan, who prefers everyone to call her Bella. Bella is a 17 year old high school student who moves from Arizona to Forks to live with her father, Charlie. Bella is almost certain she is going to hate it at Forks, living with her father who is nothing like her mother, going to a new school, and making new friends. She soon realizes that it isnt so bad afterall. Bella quickly makes friends, and notices her high school isnt that bad. At lunch in the cafeteria she notices a group of boys and girls who are sitting at there own table, she seems fasinated by these people because of there beauty, she asks her group of friends at her table who they are, and they explain to her that they are the Cullens, and that they are foster children, who are each in a relatonship with one another besides Edward Cullen. She has a class with Edward and actually has to sit next to him, he doesnt give off good vibes, and Bella wants to know what was wrong, did she smell bad, was it cause she looked bad. The next few days he was missing from school, she thought it was her fault. When he returned to school he was talking to her, and they became friends, but she still wondered what it was about her that made him act like that. The first life death situation was when Bella almost got slammed from a car and crushed, but Edward saved her life. But she questioned that, he appeared there just in time, but he was over the other side of the parking lot, and all of a sudden appeared to stop the car from squashing her. She asked him how he couldve done that, but he made smart remarks like, i was there the whole time didnt you see me. Bella knew something was up with Edward, something was different about him. She started dreaming about him everynight. Three boys had asked Bella to the dance but she made up a simple excuse and said she was going to Seattle for that day. Edward had ignored her for several weeks after the accident, but one day he slowly started talking to her again. He said to her, "You really should stay away from me", Bella didnt understand what he meant, she was still trying to figure him out, but one thing she new for sure is that she was falling for him.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Navajo Origin Legend

I think that this short story was very dull. The Navajo Origin Legend describes a ritual preformed by the gods and then Mirage people. The rituals they did were to create life. The white ear of corn was changed into a man and the yellow ear of corn was changed into a women. The wind gave them life, this means that the oxegen we breathe made them live. It explains when the wind ceases to blow, we die, this is true because without air we cannot survive. The gods created the man and the women and told them they must be husband and wife, and live together, and that is how this story of how the world was created started. This story was kind of confusing at first, it was short but alot of stuff at once. I didnt enjoy reading it.