HUCK FINN - SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CHAPTERS 14-22)

~Map of Huckleberry Finn's Adventures~

***So it's safe to say I most definitely needed a map to help me read Huck Finn. Huck seems to be absolutely fearless of the Missouri/Ohio/ Mississippi River so it tends to get hard to keep track of all his adventures.***

****Social Responsibility****

In Chapters 14-22 soooo much social responsibility is presented. For starters we see that Huck and Jim rob from robbers. Was that even correct to do? Would that be morally right since they were robbers anyways? Probably not. In a way it makes Huck and Jim just as bad as them doesn't it?  In Chapter 15, when Huck apologizes to Jim it shows he is still influenced by society. Society has told him that "niggers" are beneath him and to humble himself to one would be unheard of. Yet, he went against society once again by apologizing to one seen as beneath himself. 

When they are approaching Cairo and Huck has second thoughts, he again shows how much society has influence over him still. Their ideas are so deeply ingrained into him that he believes for Jim to want to get his own children back and out of slavery would be a crime. Huck cannot fathom a slave having a family he wants with him and his wife. He cannot see that the slave owner is the one that's wrong.

In the next chapter, when Huck goes to the Grangerford estate and he meets the family he finds extremely pleasant, he sees nothing wrong with them owning so many slaves. Even after spending days and nights with a slave as his sole companion it seems he has learned nothing. For a smart boy, Huck seems to not be able to put two and two together that slaves are just like everybody else.

In the next few chapters we meet the "duke" and the "dauphin" who are really con-artists. Huck and Jim seem to cater and wait on them almost like servants. These two, especially Jim who has been on a quest to freedom, are stuck being slaves to two men who are lower than either one of them. Oh, the irony.

In the very last chapter (22) we read an extremely moving speech given by a murderer, Sherburn. The murder talks about the cowardice and deplorable nature of humans and how they only find their courage in a mass of people (society). Although all said could be true, we again must see the irony that the speech so strongly voiced was said by a man who has just shot a defenseless drunk. Is this not enough to show how corrupt this story's society truly is? 

NOTE: Here is the end of the social responsibility section. The next section is just a summary of each chapter and doesn't necessarily need to be read, but it does touch on the main points and quotes of the chapters. 

In a "quick" summary of chapters 14-22 here's what happens: 

CHAPTER 14: Jim & Huck find a wreck with robbers on it and end up robbing the robbers of their skiff when they lose their raft. They talk about kings - mention of King Solomon from the Bible - and Jim seems adamant that he knows what he's talking about. Huck gives up trying to make him see any other way but his own.

CHAPTER 15: Their goal is to get to the Ohio River to the Free States. Huck gets separated from Jim on a foggy night but finds him the next day. He plays a prank on him telling him he was never lost to begin with. Jim finds out and gets extremely upset. Huck apologizes in the end. 

" It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself to go and humble myself to a nigger - but I done it, and warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither," (Twain, 94).

CHAPTER 16: As they approach Cairo, Huck begins to have second thoughts about helping Jim because he is a slave that belonged to Miss Watson and she was nothing but good to him. Jim talks about his plan once he is free. Huck plans on giving him up, but later changes his mind when Jim tells him he is his only friend. Men come looking for escaped slaves but Huck makes up a story about a family with smallpox that scares them off. The raft gets broken apart by a steamboat and the two are separated. 

"Here was a nigger which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children - children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm," (Twain, 110). 

CHAPTER 17: Huck arrives on shore and is surrounded by dogs but they are called off by a man, Buck Grangerford. He ushers him into his home where they give him clothes and offer him a place to stay as long as he wants. 

CHAPTER 18: There is a feud between the Grangerfords' and Shepherdsons'. They are constantly trying to kill one another. The Grangerfords own many slaves on their estate. A slave from the house takes him to the river and he finds Jim. Jim followed Huck ashore the night they were wrecked. Huck witnesses a gun fight in the woods between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords are killed. Disturbed, Huck leaves and finds Jim; they leave on the raft. 

CHAPTER 19: Huck and Jim continue down the river and Huck comes across two con-artists running from trouble. The two con Huck into thinking they are royalty and Huck and Jim begin to wait on them (almost like slaves?). Huck figures out they are liars but doesn't let them know. 

CHAPTER 20: The "duke" and the "dauphin" ask Jim if he is a runaway slave and Huck makes up a story. They reach a town that is away on a religious revival meeting and the dauphin makes up a story of his own and cons the townspeople who give him money as he claims to be a pirate turned missionary. The duke takes over a print office and makes his own money selling advertisement, subscriptions, etc. He puts out a handbill offering a reward for Jim so they can travel freely during the day. Jim tries to get the dauphin to speak French but he says he has forgotten the language

CHAPTER 21: The duke and dauphin practice scenes from plays. They come along to a town in Arkansas where the duke posts handbills for their performance and Huck witnesses the killing of a man by another named Sherburn. The crowd goes to see the dying man and then go off to lynch Sherburn.

CHAPTER 22: The lynch mob goes to Sherburn's house and greets them with a rifle. He delivers a speech about human nature and the mob leaves. Huck goes to the circus.