Huck’s Experience with the Grangerfords and the Shepardons Throughout the story of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, Huck learns many important lessons which help him become the mature boy at the end of the novel. Huck fakes his death and runs away to an island where he meets Jim, a slave of the lady whom he used to live with. Jim and Huck travel down the Mississippi River towards the free states where they can make new lives. Along the way, the couple encounters many people and events, and undergo many changes personally. When Huck and Jim are thrown from their raft, they are separated. Huck finds a home near where he was washed up and seeks shelter there. This home- the Grangerfords- happens to be at war with
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This rivalry had gone on so long no one even remembers how it began. One day, the Shepardsons ambush the Grangerfords and a full on bloodbath ensues. Buck and another boy run for the woods, as does Huck. Huck is able to climb a tree and hide before “the men had slipped around through the woods and come from behind… the boys jumped for the river- both of them hurt… It made me so sick I almost fell out of the tree.” When Huck “got down out of the tree…and found two bodies laying in the edge of the water.” Huck pulled them ashore and covered their faces, and shed a few tears as he covered Buck’s because, “he was mighty good to me,” (p.114-115) Huck was saddened by the cruel and meaningless death of his beloved friend, and it would change his views forever. This experience forced him to realize that death is a very significant thing, and murder (for sane people) requires intense …show more content…
He also learns that there is no direct correlation between wealth and intelligence, sincerity, or worth. Prior to his interactions with the family, Huck needed to understand that all people with money were not smart, and all smart people did not have money. When Huck and Jim were living in the cave on the island, Jim was still an open book unread to Huck. All Huck knew was that this nigger had run away and had outlandish superstitions. Jim had told Huck before that he thought snakeskins were very bad luck, and one day Huck found a rattlesnake in the cave, killed it, and “curled him up on the foot of Jim’s blanket… thinking there’d be some fun when Jim found him there,” (p.52). Later, when Jim curled up in his blanket, the mate of the dead rattlesnake- who had found and laid with his dead partner- bit Jim in the heel. This was only the beginning of their bad luck, according to Jim, and he was not wrong. Had Huck been staying in the cave with someone like Judge Thatcher who had money and power, it is unlikely that the proposition of putting a dead rattlesnake at the foot of his blanket would have even crossed his mind. But, because he was with a poor, uneducated black like Jim, he didn’t feel the need to give him simple respect or honor his
This rivalry had gone on so long no one even remembers how it began. One day, the Shepardsons ambush the Grangerfords and a full on bloodbath ensues. Buck and another boy run for the woods, as does Huck. Huck is able to climb a tree and hide before “the men had slipped around through the woods and come from behind… the boys jumped for the river- both of them hurt… It made me so sick I almost fell out of the tree.” When Huck “got down out of the tree…and found two bodies laying in the edge of the water.” Huck pulled them ashore and covered their faces, and shed a few tears as he covered Buck’s because, “he was mighty good to me,” (p.114-115) Huck was saddened by the cruel and meaningless death of his beloved friend, and it would change his views forever. This experience forced him to realize that death is a very significant thing, and murder (for sane people) requires intense …show more content…
He also learns that there is no direct correlation between wealth and intelligence, sincerity, or worth. Prior to his interactions with the family, Huck needed to understand that all people with money were not smart, and all smart people did not have money. When Huck and Jim were living in the cave on the island, Jim was still an open book unread to Huck. All Huck knew was that this nigger had run away and had outlandish superstitions. Jim had told Huck before that he thought snakeskins were very bad luck, and one day Huck found a rattlesnake in the cave, killed it, and “curled him up on the foot of Jim’s blanket… thinking there’d be some fun when Jim found him there,” (p.52). Later, when Jim curled up in his blanket, the mate of the dead rattlesnake- who had found and laid with his dead partner- bit Jim in the heel. This was only the beginning of their bad luck, according to Jim, and he was not wrong. Had Huck been staying in the cave with someone like Judge Thatcher who had money and power, it is unlikely that the proposition of putting a dead rattlesnake at the foot of his blanket would have even crossed his mind. But, because he was with a poor, uneducated black like Jim, he didn’t feel the need to give him simple respect or honor his