Summary Of Dialectical Journal For Huckleberry Finn

Anna Edgren
Sophomore English Period 3
Mrs Burdette
28 April, 2017

Quote Journal #1 Revision Project

Throughout the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the readers are able to see the protagonist Huck change his views on society and being able to distinguish right and wrong. The end of chapter fifteen reveals a great deal about Huck and Jim’s relationship. In the chapter, Huck and Jim are on the river on a raft trying to get to Cairo. During this journey, Huck and Jim get separated by the fog when Huck goes ahead to pull the raft. When he finds Jim again, he lies and tricks Jim saying that Jim was drinking and fell asleep and it was all a dream. However, when Jim sees the trash in the river, he knows Huck was lying to him.

In this society, African Americans are looked down upon because they are seen as inferior. People see them as the help and not actual human beings. Also, society does not seem to care about them, so playing tricks and embarrassing them is okay. So when Huck plays a trick on Jim, he does not know the effect of how it makes Jim feel. As soon as Jim figures out what really happened he is hurt. This quote reveals how after Huck sees how what he said affected Jim, he feels terrible and can not bring himself to face him. If Huck knew that Jim would react like this, he wouldn’t have done it. It took him minutes to go apologize to him because he was so petrified about what he said. Huck considers Jim to be his friend and doesn’t want to upset him, so when he does he feels

In chapter thirty-one Huck is feeling pressing guilt for the harboring of Jim. Huck felt the need to write to Miss Watson about the whereabouts of Jim. He writes to her saying “Miss Watson, your runaway nigger Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr. Phelps has got him and will give him up for the reward if you send” (213). After writing the letter, Huck feels pure and that his sin of helping Jim escape is gone, and that he can pray now. Huck thinks that this is the right thing to do and that this decision will bring him clarity. However before Huck does anything with the letter, he starts to think about it and realises something important. He starts to think back to all his adventures with Jim when they escaped people and bonded on the river and registers that he will feel more guilty for turning Jim in that “stealing” Miss Watson’s slave. He states, “‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’-and tore it up” (214). This is just one example of how Huck has