Final Post

All in all I found this class to be extremely helpful. Your methods seem spot on and I believe I got a good score on mine because of this class. You were an excellent teacher and your efforts to expand our diction to a higher level were phenomenal. I'm going to miss having you as a teacher and you taught me a lot.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

Huck wonders about the dead man, but Jim warns that it’s bad luck to think about such things. Huck has already incurred bad luck, according to Jim, by finding and handling a snake’s shed skin. Sure enough, bad luck comes: as a joke, Huck puts a dead rattlesnake near Jim’s sleeping place, and its mate comes and bites Jim. Jim’s leg swells but gets better after several days. A while later, Huck decides to go ashore to get information. Jim agrees, but has Huck disguise himself as a girl, using one of the dresses they took from the houseboat. Huck practices his girl impersonation and then sets out for the Illinois shore. In a formerly abandoned shack, he finds a woman who looks about forty years old and appears to be a newcomer to the town. Huck is relieved because, as a newcomer, the woman will not be able to recognize him. Still, he resolves to remember that he is pretending to be a girl.
Huck has not made the very best first impressions and according to Jim he's all bad luck. Huck is quite foolish to bring up the topic of the dead man with Jim he clearly is disturbed by it. All that aside the chapter has quite the weird ending with Huck trying to dress up like a girl. I thought his plan was pretty foolish none the less.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

In order to make a hiding place should visitors arrive on the island, Jim and Huck take the canoe and provisions into a large cave in the middle of the island. Jim predicts that it will rain, and soon a storm blows in. The two safely wait it out inside the cave. The river floods, and a washed-out house floats down the river past the island. Inside, Jim and Huck find the body of a man who has been shot in the back. Jim prevents Huck from looking at the “ghastly” face. Jim and Huck make off with some odds and ends from the houseboat. Huck has Jim hide in the bottom of the canoe so that he won’t be seen, and they make it back to the island safely.
I like the fact that they are trying to hide from everyone and everything on this island. I thought their little stow away attempt was pretty cool and made me chuckle a little.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

The next morning, a ferryboat passes Jackson Island, carrying Pap, Judge Thatcher and his daughter Bessie (known as Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer), Tom Sawyer, Tom’s aunt Polly, some of Huck’s young friends, and “plenty more” on board, all discussing Huck’s apparent murder. They shoot cannonballs over the water and float loaves of bread with mercury inside, in hopes of finding Huck’s corpse. Huck, still hiding carefully, catches one of the loaves and eats it. He is pleased that they are using such high-quality bread to search for him, but he feels guilty that his disappearance has upset the Widow Douglas and the others who care about him. Huck spends three peaceful, lonely days on the island, living on plentiful berries and fish and able to smoke whenever he wishes. He spends his nights counting ferryboats and stars on the tranquil river. On the fourth day, while exploring the island, Huck is delighted to find Jim, who at first thinks Huck is a ghost. Huck is pleased that he will not be alone on the island but shocked when Jim explains that he has run away. Jim says that he overheard Miss Watson discussing selling him for $800 to a slave trader who would take him to New Orleans, separating him from his family. Jim left before Miss Watson had a chance to decide whether or not to sell him. Jim and Huck discuss superstitions—in which Jim is well-versed—and Jim’s failed investments, most of which have been scams. Jim is not too disappointed by his failures, since he still has his hairy arms and chest, which, according to his superstitions, are a sign of future wealth
Huck makes me laugh a lot in this segment it feels as though he is trapped on the island even though clearly he isn't. He discovers almost the whole island and it seemed pretty cool. Jim seems like hes gonna be one of my all time favorite characters.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

Unaware of his earlier drunken rage, Pap wakes up and sends Huck out to check to see if any fish have been caught on the lines out in the river. Huck finds a canoe drifting in the river and hides it in the woods. When Pap leaves for the day, Huck finishes sawing his way out of the cabin. He puts food, cookware, and everything else of value from the cabin into the canoe. He then covers up the hole he cut in the wall and shoots a wild pig outside. Huck smashes the cabin door with an ax, cuts the pig’s throat so it bleeds onto the cabin’s dirt floor, and makes other preparations to make it seem as if robbers have broken into the cabin and killed him. Huck goes to the canoe and waits for the moon to rise, planning to paddle to Jackson’s Island out in the river. Huck falls asleep and wakes to see Pap rowing by. Once Pap has passed, Huck quietly sets out downriver. He pulls into Jackson’s Island, careful not to be seen.
This really heated up. I really liked how the whole heist felt like a prison breakout. Even though cool, i can't believe that Huck showed no remorse for even thinking about killing his father. Either Mark Twain is just lazy or he really has one messed up mind.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

Pap sues Judge Thatcher for Huck’s fortune and continues to threaten Huck about attending school. Huck continues to attend, partly to spite his father. Pap goes on one drunken binge after another. One day, he kidnaps Huck, takes him deep into the woods to a secluded cabin on the Illinois shore, and locks Huck inside all day while he rambles outside. Eventually, Huck finds an old saw, makes a hole in the wall, and resolves to escape from both Pap and the Widow Douglas, but Pap returns as Huck is about to break free. Pap complains that Judge Thatcher has delayed the trial to prevent him from getting Huck’s wealth. He has heard that his chances of getting the money are good but that he will probably lose the fight for custody of Huck. Pap continues to rant about a mixed-race man in town; Pap is disgusted that the man is allowed to vote in his home state of Ohio, and that legally he cannot be sold into slavery until he has been in Missouri six months. Later, Pap wakes from a drunken sleep and chases after Huck with a knife, calling him the “Angel of Death” but stopping when he passes out. Huck holds a rifle pointed at his sleeping father and waits.
The feelings that must be going on in Huck's head must be astronomical. I can't imagine what might be going on in huck's head i think that we might soon find him running away and that is the turning point of this novel. Can't wait to see what happens next!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reading Blog

Pap is a frightening sight. The nearly fifty-year-old man’s skin is a ghastly, disgusting white. Noticing Huck’s “starchy” clothes, Pap wonders out loud if Huck thinks himself better than his father and promises to take Huck “down a peg.” Pap promises to teach Widow Douglas not to “meddle” and is outraged that Huck has become the first person in his family to learn to read. Pap asks if Huck is really as rich as he has heard and calls his son a liar when Huck replies that he has no more money. Pap then takes the dollar that Huck got from Judge Thatcher and leaves to buy whiskey. The next day, Pap shows up drunk and demands Huck’s money from Judge Thatcher. The Judge and Widow Douglas try to get custody of Huck but give up after the new judge in town refuses to separate a father and son. Pap eventually lands in jail after a drunken spree. The new judge takes Pap into his home and tries to reform him, but the judge and his wife prove to be very weepy and moralizing. Pap tearfully repents his ways but soon gets drunk again, and the new judge decides that the only way to reform Pap is with a shotgun.
Huck has quite a problem with his father...he seems that he is an angry man that something within him is seriously wrong. We might not ever find out why but he is an alcoholic. Huck is terrified of his father and wants to get away from him at any cost. I can see why he would with a father coming home drunk and taking your son's money. Poor Huck.

Anthology

Theme: Disappointment & Death
Six Poems: The Funeral Sermon
BY ANDREW HUDGINS
Home Again, Home Again
BY MARILYN TAYLOR
Either
BY GLYN MAXWELL
At Sunset
BY JASON SHINDER
Easter
BY JILL ALEXANDER ESSBAUM
Some Sort of Truth
BY DOROTHEA LASKY


Video Poem: Easter

Osama Bin Laden

It's kinda funny how after years of searching for one of the most deadly men on the planet was caught through old techniques. For years we had searched for the man by the name Osama Bin Laden. We finally found him and killed him. The amount of relief for NATO must have been tremendous. The fact that we caught the deadliest man and biggest threat to America is almost unheard of. We spent astronomical amounts of money looking for one man responsible for the deaths of thousands on September 11, 2001.