(Intro)
After I read the book Night, I told my mom about it, and she recommended a different book to me about WWII, but this time the situation was a little different. She told me the book was called Unbroken, and gave me a quick summary of the story. My mom said it was about Louis Zamperini, who was an American Olympic track runner, who was drafted into the army. Then she went on the describe that one day Louis's team went out on a mission and never returned, and she finished there, not wanting to give to much information away. Immediately I began to read the book because I was hooked from what I had just heard. The book was so similar to Night that I had to read it because Night was such a great story. I hope the book really lives up to my expectations.
(Middle)
So far, so good. Unbroken is a great book, full of so much tension and action, it's a perfect combination. However, the book does its job in getting the point across about the brutality of the Japanese Army. To fill you guys in on what has happened, Louie has joined the army, and when on a mission, their plane crashes in the ocean. Louie and three others survive, and are stranded out at sea for 47 days! He and the others learned how to survive on such little supplies for a long period of time. Eventually, Louie and his friend floated to an island, an island that was under the control of the Japanese. They were discovered by a Japanese ship and brought to shore. There they were thrown into a Prisoner of War camp, with at least 100 other Americans. It was there where Louie met his demise, "The Bird". The Bird was the Japanese general who led the camp, and right from the start, Louie was on The Bird's bad side.
"We’d line up while each noncom was forced to walk down the line striking
an officer with his fist. After each punch, the Bird shouted, “Next!”
It became a maniacal chant: “Next-next-next...” When our men hit easy
he’d club them on the head. We’d whisper, “Look, hit us once. Hard.”
Then we’d go down and the Bird was satisfied. So were we, preferring to
be hit by our own men than by anyone Japanese" (Hillenbrand 139). This is just the beginning of the cruel actions that the Bird did on the American troops. Sometimes, Louie would get beaten for over 10 minutes. This really shows how there really is no limit on what we believe is morally correct. To the Bird, he was doing the right thing and teaching Louie a lesson. However, Louie wouldn't be taught. No matter how hard he was beaten, he wouldn't go down until he would black out. That;s how brutal the Bird was in the POW camp. I can't wait to keep reading.
(End)
What a great story! No doubt that Unbroken is one of my favorite books, and Louis Zamperini is one of my favorite people. So many time in the story Louie could've given up. He could've given up on track when he wasn't good enough. He could've given up on the raft and realized he wasn't going to make it. He could've given up when the Bird would beat him time and time again. He could've given up when he would wake up screaming after the war, dreaming of the Bird still beating him. However, that wasn't the type of person Louie really was. He was determined and resilient. I think that resilience is one of the most evident and strongest themes in the book. Louie showed unbelievable strength in every aspect he could.
In my opinion, the part of the book where he is the most resilient is in the end of the story, after he is liberated from the POW camp. Back home, he deals with a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short. He became depressed, and each day sank deeper and deeper into a whole that already was extremely deep. Many times he though about killing himself, but he never got around to it because of how resilient he was. Instead, he took up prayer, and going to church, and preaching to the Lord. This was probably the best thing he could've done because later, the dreams of the Bird went away, and he began to patch up the whole of depression that he once had. In the end, Unbroken is a phenomenal book for anyone in the class because of the lessons it teaches about history and resilience.
Below is a video of Louis Zamperini discussing his story. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Night
(Intro)
For my first free choice book, I began to read Night by Elie Wiesel. I did a report on Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize Speech, and this book came up when we were researching facts about Elie. That's when I felt the urge to read this book. I have never read a book about WWII, and I only had true knowledge on some aspects of the Holocaust. However, I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn what it was like in the concentration camps, and even the death camps that were set up all over Europe. I believe I chose the right book with Night. I am very interested to go inside the Holocaust to see what a life was like in the camps and throughout the entire war.
(Middle)
Wow. That is all I can say after reading a good majority of the book. I can't explain the emotions that I have towards this book and towards the Jews who had to go through what Elie and others had to. So far, I have read about the Jews getting rounded up by the Germans, put on a train, and transported to the concentration camps. The concentration camp that Elie went to wasn't a terrible camp. The were treated very fairly, given a good portion of food, and didn't have to work as much as some of the other concentration camps. At that point in the book, I thought Elie was one of the lucky ones who had been taken to a decent camp, when others were forced to struggle. Then, selections came, and Elie and his family, along with many others, were transferred to Auschwitz. Right when they got their, the description of the Holocaust that I more commonly heard came about.
When they got off of the train, the immediately passed the crematory, where they burned bodies to ashes. Then, Elie sees a child get thrown in, who seemed to be still living. The next day, a little boy was hanged, and something terrible happened to that boy. "Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. ..For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . . .” (Wiesel 87). The death of the children symbolizes the death of Elie’s own childhood and innocence. The suffering Elie sees and experiences during the Holocaust transforms his view of the world. Before the war, he cannot imagine questioning his God. Before being taken to this camp and seeing the brutal harm done to children, men, and women, he would never question his core beliefs and values. However after, his innocence has been ripped away, and he has completely changed.
(End)
I am not going to lie, I rooted for Elie and his father the entire time to make it out of the camp alive. The brutal occurrences that took place in Auschwitz made you connect with Elie and all of the others because of the emotional effects that overwhelmed their fading spirits. They had to endure beatings, starvation, freezing cold nights, long, hard, laborious work, and all while watching people die everyday. The pain in unheard of, and no one was ever the same after seeing all of the torture that when on in these death camps. Elie was one of them.
One day, the day after he lost one of his family members, he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since being taken to the ghettos in his hometown. "One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me" (Wiesel 143). This is a very clear statement in itself, and quite obvious to analyze what Elie was trying to say. Even though the physical war is over, his body is in essence, dead. His soul was killed while experiencing the brutality of the Nazi's. Even though this quote has a very negative tone to it, it symbolizes a metaphoric liberation for Elie. It symbolizes him separating himself from his empty shell that he had gained throughout WWII. Although the image of the corpse will always stay with him, but he has found a sense of identity that will endure beyond the Holocaust.Great book, i recommend it to everyone if you want to learn a little something more about the Holocaust that gives you a first hand account.
For my first free choice book, I began to read Night by Elie Wiesel. I did a report on Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize Speech, and this book came up when we were researching facts about Elie. That's when I felt the urge to read this book. I have never read a book about WWII, and I only had true knowledge on some aspects of the Holocaust. However, I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn what it was like in the concentration camps, and even the death camps that were set up all over Europe. I believe I chose the right book with Night. I am very interested to go inside the Holocaust to see what a life was like in the camps and throughout the entire war.
(Middle)
Wow. That is all I can say after reading a good majority of the book. I can't explain the emotions that I have towards this book and towards the Jews who had to go through what Elie and others had to. So far, I have read about the Jews getting rounded up by the Germans, put on a train, and transported to the concentration camps. The concentration camp that Elie went to wasn't a terrible camp. The were treated very fairly, given a good portion of food, and didn't have to work as much as some of the other concentration camps. At that point in the book, I thought Elie was one of the lucky ones who had been taken to a decent camp, when others were forced to struggle. Then, selections came, and Elie and his family, along with many others, were transferred to Auschwitz. Right when they got their, the description of the Holocaust that I more commonly heard came about.
When they got off of the train, the immediately passed the crematory, where they burned bodies to ashes. Then, Elie sees a child get thrown in, who seemed to be still living. The next day, a little boy was hanged, and something terrible happened to that boy. "Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. ..For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . . .” (Wiesel 87). The death of the children symbolizes the death of Elie’s own childhood and innocence. The suffering Elie sees and experiences during the Holocaust transforms his view of the world. Before the war, he cannot imagine questioning his God. Before being taken to this camp and seeing the brutal harm done to children, men, and women, he would never question his core beliefs and values. However after, his innocence has been ripped away, and he has completely changed.
 |
| Auschwitz: Extermination Camp for the Jews |
(End)
I am not going to lie, I rooted for Elie and his father the entire time to make it out of the camp alive. The brutal occurrences that took place in Auschwitz made you connect with Elie and all of the others because of the emotional effects that overwhelmed their fading spirits. They had to endure beatings, starvation, freezing cold nights, long, hard, laborious work, and all while watching people die everyday. The pain in unheard of, and no one was ever the same after seeing all of the torture that when on in these death camps. Elie was one of them.
One day, the day after he lost one of his family members, he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since being taken to the ghettos in his hometown. "One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me" (Wiesel 143). This is a very clear statement in itself, and quite obvious to analyze what Elie was trying to say. Even though the physical war is over, his body is in essence, dead. His soul was killed while experiencing the brutality of the Nazi's. Even though this quote has a very negative tone to it, it symbolizes a metaphoric liberation for Elie. It symbolizes him separating himself from his empty shell that he had gained throughout WWII. Although the image of the corpse will always stay with him, but he has found a sense of identity that will endure beyond the Holocaust.Great book, i recommend it to everyone if you want to learn a little something more about the Holocaust that gives you a first hand account.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Into the Wild
(Intro)
For my non-fiction book, I was drawn towards the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I decided to go with the story of Chris McCandless because over the years, I have been enthralled by books dealing with surviving in the wild, and just adventures in general. Prior to reading this book, I read Into Thin Air by the same author. From Into Thin Air, I knew that Into the Wild would follow the same path of being a great non-fiction book that takes a biography to a whole new level. From reading the summary, I got a good general idea of Chris's adventure. What I learned was that he decided one day that he was going to give up all of his possessions and basically go from city to city, and one day, go into the wild in the forest of Alaska. However, what I didn't get from the summary were all of the details of his trip. This is why I am excited to read this book. I can't wait for Krakauer to reveal McCandless' expedition.
(Middle)
I am currently halfway through the story, and so far I am not nearly as hooked as I thought I would be. When I started to read the book, I thought that I would be reading about the adventure of Chris surviving in the wilderness, but instead the author provided the reader with his odyssey through the USA, and even in Mexico. At some point, the author would go completely off of topic and began to discuss other men who have gone on journeys, such as Chris, and then related the two people in the next couple of pages. Personally, I wasn't expecting nor did I enjoy those parts of the book.
However, the author did have some great parts in the story, and I definitely he included a few very essential things that all of us can learn by reading this book. One of the themes that I came across in the story was that some things in life aren't necessary to live a happy one. After reading Huck Finn for my first book, I couldn't help but notice how similar the themes are in both of the books. In Huck Finn, he gives up all that he had, which was an education, a house, and a good group of friends. Huck made a choice to give all that up, and sail south with Jim, a runaway slave. It he spent months on the raft, and he was happy. Nothing in the world could beat being on that raft. The same was with Chris McCandless. He leaves his parents and the upper middle-class suburban setting in which they raised him, and donates all his savings to charity. Then he eventually abandons his car in the desert, and actually burns his money on the desert floor.
Throughout the story, Chris writes multiple letters to his family and friends that he met on his odyssey. One of the people he meets in named Ron, who he develops a sincere relationship with. In one of his letters Chris states, "The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun... If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty" (Krakauer 187). This quote is essence summarizes the entire story and the life of Chris McCandless. It reveals many things about Chris's character and really is the main theme of the story. All of the material possession like a car, phone, T.V., computer, tablet, they all mean nothing. In order to live a happy life, you need to explore, and take advantage of the beautiful things out in the unknown. It's a great theme for everyone to take into account and apply to their lives because most people don't understand the wonders of taking adventures.
(End)
After learning all about the life of Chris McCandless in the biography Into the Wild, I have now realized that Chris, even though he died from starvation, died in a happy place. He might've been suffering from food poisoning, starvation, thirst, or getting mauled by a bear, and McCandless would've died happily. He had such a passion for the adventures and the thrills that he experienced in the wild and just touring around the country. However one thing that did bother me about the story was the arrogance and ignorance that Chris had about going on this odyssey. Throughout the book, it's revealed that Chris believes that he can do whatever he wants, and he won't get hurt. The most significant is when he actually journeys into the Alaskan woods without any way of getting help.
Eventually, as the book progresses, his ignorance begins to fade as he begins his trip in the forests. In a letter he wrote to a friend he made named Wayne Westerberg. Chris wrote, "Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild" (Krakauer 69). This are exact words from Chris right as he is about to take his first step into the wilderness. The fact that he acknowledges the idea of dying, proves me and most other readers wrong when we say that Chris is ignorant and arrogant. It shows that Chris knows very well that he is about to embark on an adventure that could prove fatal.
After some thought about his ignorance, I compared it to Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, Chris uses his ignorance as a self defense system. If he knew that he was more likely to die than survive, he might've second guessed whether or not to give up everything. That was something he didn't want to do because he wanted this so badly, and he wanted to go and explore what was out their. Holden on the other hand uses his ignorance to protect himself, but in a different way. He doesn't want to grow up into the adult world, so what he does is just ignore the fact that he will one day grow up. Overall, I came around to the book. I'd give it a 3.75 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to people who love books about adventure.
For my non-fiction book, I was drawn towards the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I decided to go with the story of Chris McCandless because over the years, I have been enthralled by books dealing with surviving in the wild, and just adventures in general. Prior to reading this book, I read Into Thin Air by the same author. From Into Thin Air, I knew that Into the Wild would follow the same path of being a great non-fiction book that takes a biography to a whole new level. From reading the summary, I got a good general idea of Chris's adventure. What I learned was that he decided one day that he was going to give up all of his possessions and basically go from city to city, and one day, go into the wild in the forest of Alaska. However, what I didn't get from the summary were all of the details of his trip. This is why I am excited to read this book. I can't wait for Krakauer to reveal McCandless' expedition.
(Middle)
I am currently halfway through the story, and so far I am not nearly as hooked as I thought I would be. When I started to read the book, I thought that I would be reading about the adventure of Chris surviving in the wilderness, but instead the author provided the reader with his odyssey through the USA, and even in Mexico. At some point, the author would go completely off of topic and began to discuss other men who have gone on journeys, such as Chris, and then related the two people in the next couple of pages. Personally, I wasn't expecting nor did I enjoy those parts of the book.
However, the author did have some great parts in the story, and I definitely he included a few very essential things that all of us can learn by reading this book. One of the themes that I came across in the story was that some things in life aren't necessary to live a happy one. After reading Huck Finn for my first book, I couldn't help but notice how similar the themes are in both of the books. In Huck Finn, he gives up all that he had, which was an education, a house, and a good group of friends. Huck made a choice to give all that up, and sail south with Jim, a runaway slave. It he spent months on the raft, and he was happy. Nothing in the world could beat being on that raft. The same was with Chris McCandless. He leaves his parents and the upper middle-class suburban setting in which they raised him, and donates all his savings to charity. Then he eventually abandons his car in the desert, and actually burns his money on the desert floor.
Throughout the story, Chris writes multiple letters to his family and friends that he met on his odyssey. One of the people he meets in named Ron, who he develops a sincere relationship with. In one of his letters Chris states, "The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun... If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty" (Krakauer 187). This quote is essence summarizes the entire story and the life of Chris McCandless. It reveals many things about Chris's character and really is the main theme of the story. All of the material possession like a car, phone, T.V., computer, tablet, they all mean nothing. In order to live a happy life, you need to explore, and take advantage of the beautiful things out in the unknown. It's a great theme for everyone to take into account and apply to their lives because most people don't understand the wonders of taking adventures.
(End)
After learning all about the life of Chris McCandless in the biography Into the Wild, I have now realized that Chris, even though he died from starvation, died in a happy place. He might've been suffering from food poisoning, starvation, thirst, or getting mauled by a bear, and McCandless would've died happily. He had such a passion for the adventures and the thrills that he experienced in the wild and just touring around the country. However one thing that did bother me about the story was the arrogance and ignorance that Chris had about going on this odyssey. Throughout the book, it's revealed that Chris believes that he can do whatever he wants, and he won't get hurt. The most significant is when he actually journeys into the Alaskan woods without any way of getting help.
Eventually, as the book progresses, his ignorance begins to fade as he begins his trip in the forests. In a letter he wrote to a friend he made named Wayne Westerberg. Chris wrote, "Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild" (Krakauer 69). This are exact words from Chris right as he is about to take his first step into the wilderness. The fact that he acknowledges the idea of dying, proves me and most other readers wrong when we say that Chris is ignorant and arrogant. It shows that Chris knows very well that he is about to embark on an adventure that could prove fatal.
After some thought about his ignorance, I compared it to Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, Chris uses his ignorance as a self defense system. If he knew that he was more likely to die than survive, he might've second guessed whether or not to give up everything. That was something he didn't want to do because he wanted this so badly, and he wanted to go and explore what was out their. Holden on the other hand uses his ignorance to protect himself, but in a different way. He doesn't want to grow up into the adult world, so what he does is just ignore the fact that he will one day grow up. Overall, I came around to the book. I'd give it a 3.75 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to people who love books about adventure.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(Intro)
To start off my reading workshop, I decided to switch things up and read a classic non-fiction book that goes by the name The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn. I decided on this book because I've had a couple of friends talk to me about what a great read it is, and how the content of the story is great as well. Judging from what those friends told me about the book, I can assume that the book takes place in the South, during the time of slavery. Also, that it's about a kid named Huck Finn, who decides to run away from his home to go on the adventure of his life, with a former slave named Jim. For the more specific predictions, I believe that Huck Finn will travel to the north, because of the runaway slave who he travels with, Jim. I also predict that in the end of the story, Huck will return to his home, to go and live with his "sitter" because his dad will have gotten into some serious trouble with the law. From the stories that I've heard, I have high hopes for how good or a read Huck Finn will be.
(Middle)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn definitely exceeded my expectations about how well the book was written. The story opens with Huck introducing the situation he was in. Huck lives in St. Petersburg Missouri during the time of slavery. His father is a drunk, and he lives with Widow Douglas who adopted him. It becomes apparent very quickly that Huck wants to run wild and wants nothing to deal with becoming a well-educated young man. Then he's life gets shaken up when his Pap, the drunk, comes back for him and take Huck under his wing. This is where the conflict begins between Huck and his dad, and leaves Huck no choice but to fake his death and run away to where no one would ever find him. This marks the beginning of Huckleberry Finn's adventures.
All though the book had a great plot, and the adventures that Huck Finn went on were quite intriguing, I would be besides myself to not mention the difficulty of reading this book is. The dialect between and undereducated slave, and a young boy with a heavy southern accent can be very confusing to follow. However, in some cases, I think it adds to the book to really emphasize the difference in dialect from the 1800 to now.
One thing that I did really enjoy from the book is the author's theme that simplicity is key. Throughout the story, Huck Finn mentions how there isn't anything better than being on the raft with Jim. "I hadn’t had a bite to eat since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and greens—there ain’t nothing in the world so good when it’s cooked right—and whilst I eat my supper we talked and had a good time. . . .We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft (Twain 138). This shows how Huck enjoys the simplest of things. He doesn't like school, or church, or anything fancy. All he needs is a raft, and a close friend to be happy, which can be a very good lesson for people in society today who think money can buy happiness. In reality, Huck seems to have it all figured out, and that's why I appreciate the book.
(End)
After finishing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I was actually very satisfied by how the book ended. Before reading the ending, I predicted that Huck and Tom Sawyer would free Jim and go sailing of into the world to never return, but instead there was a sort of plot twist. I won't tell you how it ends, because I would really recommend the book to the class, if you're up for a tough read, which was something I came to expect from the beginning of the book, all the way to the last page. I won't say that it disappointed me because it gave me a great look at how our language, and southern dialect have developed throughout the past 100 years. It provided the book with a bit of diversity.
I also appreciated the character development throughout the book. Like I said in my previous post, throughout Huck's adventures, he begins to realize how simple life needs to be in order to be happy. The scene where Huck and Jim are trying to steal Jim away from the shack at Tom's Aunt's house, it really shows the difference between how two main characters think. Huck suggests, "Tom, can't we just lift up the bed and pull the chain out from under the leg?" (Twain 322). To this, Tom replies, "No, that's just two easy Huck. We need to build our own obstacles since there aren't any! (Twain 322) This really shows how to friends can really contradict each other, and how their ideas to free Jim relate to their own outlooks on life. This is a very interesting point in the book because in the beginning, Huck and Tom would both agree to make it as hard as possible to make it thrilling. However, throughout Huck's adventures on the raft has changed how he thinks. He realizes that the simple ways in life are the better way to go because it's relaxing and there isn't as much danger involved. This page is a great scene where Twain show character development. I would no doubt recommend this book to anyone who likes a good classic.
This scene in the movie Huck Finn shows character development, as well as a character vs. self conflict. Huck has always wanted to set Jim free, but after hearing Jim talking about all people being equal, he decided to turn Jim in. However, just as he's about to tell three white folk about Jim, he makes up a lie about who was on the raft to save Jim because Huck realizes that Jim is his only friend right now. Take a look!
To start off my reading workshop, I decided to switch things up and read a classic non-fiction book that goes by the name The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn. I decided on this book because I've had a couple of friends talk to me about what a great read it is, and how the content of the story is great as well. Judging from what those friends told me about the book, I can assume that the book takes place in the South, during the time of slavery. Also, that it's about a kid named Huck Finn, who decides to run away from his home to go on the adventure of his life, with a former slave named Jim. For the more specific predictions, I believe that Huck Finn will travel to the north, because of the runaway slave who he travels with, Jim. I also predict that in the end of the story, Huck will return to his home, to go and live with his "sitter" because his dad will have gotten into some serious trouble with the law. From the stories that I've heard, I have high hopes for how good or a read Huck Finn will be.
(Middle)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn definitely exceeded my expectations about how well the book was written. The story opens with Huck introducing the situation he was in. Huck lives in St. Petersburg Missouri during the time of slavery. His father is a drunk, and he lives with Widow Douglas who adopted him. It becomes apparent very quickly that Huck wants to run wild and wants nothing to deal with becoming a well-educated young man. Then he's life gets shaken up when his Pap, the drunk, comes back for him and take Huck under his wing. This is where the conflict begins between Huck and his dad, and leaves Huck no choice but to fake his death and run away to where no one would ever find him. This marks the beginning of Huckleberry Finn's adventures.
All though the book had a great plot, and the adventures that Huck Finn went on were quite intriguing, I would be besides myself to not mention the difficulty of reading this book is. The dialect between and undereducated slave, and a young boy with a heavy southern accent can be very confusing to follow. However, in some cases, I think it adds to the book to really emphasize the difference in dialect from the 1800 to now.
One thing that I did really enjoy from the book is the author's theme that simplicity is key. Throughout the story, Huck Finn mentions how there isn't anything better than being on the raft with Jim. "I hadn’t had a bite to eat since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and greens—there ain’t nothing in the world so good when it’s cooked right—and whilst I eat my supper we talked and had a good time. . . .We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft (Twain 138). This shows how Huck enjoys the simplest of things. He doesn't like school, or church, or anything fancy. All he needs is a raft, and a close friend to be happy, which can be a very good lesson for people in society today who think money can buy happiness. In reality, Huck seems to have it all figured out, and that's why I appreciate the book.
(End)
After finishing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I was actually very satisfied by how the book ended. Before reading the ending, I predicted that Huck and Tom Sawyer would free Jim and go sailing of into the world to never return, but instead there was a sort of plot twist. I won't tell you how it ends, because I would really recommend the book to the class, if you're up for a tough read, which was something I came to expect from the beginning of the book, all the way to the last page. I won't say that it disappointed me because it gave me a great look at how our language, and southern dialect have developed throughout the past 100 years. It provided the book with a bit of diversity.
I also appreciated the character development throughout the book. Like I said in my previous post, throughout Huck's adventures, he begins to realize how simple life needs to be in order to be happy. The scene where Huck and Jim are trying to steal Jim away from the shack at Tom's Aunt's house, it really shows the difference between how two main characters think. Huck suggests, "Tom, can't we just lift up the bed and pull the chain out from under the leg?" (Twain 322). To this, Tom replies, "No, that's just two easy Huck. We need to build our own obstacles since there aren't any! (Twain 322) This really shows how to friends can really contradict each other, and how their ideas to free Jim relate to their own outlooks on life. This is a very interesting point in the book because in the beginning, Huck and Tom would both agree to make it as hard as possible to make it thrilling. However, throughout Huck's adventures on the raft has changed how he thinks. He realizes that the simple ways in life are the better way to go because it's relaxing and there isn't as much danger involved. This page is a great scene where Twain show character development. I would no doubt recommend this book to anyone who likes a good classic.
This scene in the movie Huck Finn shows character development, as well as a character vs. self conflict. Huck has always wanted to set Jim free, but after hearing Jim talking about all people being equal, he decided to turn Jim in. However, just as he's about to tell three white folk about Jim, he makes up a lie about who was on the raft to save Jim because Huck realizes that Jim is his only friend right now. Take a look!
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