Brad`s Blog

Huck; El Fin.

2012-01-05T17:52:00.001-08:00

Now thats a classic! I found that the story was very satisfying at the end. Everyone was put in their place, even Ms. Watson. Since Ms. Watson free'd Jim it showed that she was able to change. She spent so much time persuading Huck to go her way, and live like her. There are many times when Huck's decisions reflect upon Ms. Watson's upbringing of him, such as Huck helping save the bandits from the shipwreck, is shown in the story. This is evident throughout the book as Huck is trying to figure himself out and is battling his conscience. But then there's a twist. Huck's morals came out in Ms. Watson's decision. And the tables turned, for the better of humanity.

Great for Jim! Finally free. There was no way this story would end without Jim getting his freedom! Huck's journey quickly turned into the adventure to Jim's freedom. All their struggles and experiences made them grow as friends and people. The obstacles they had to overcome sewed the fabric of their relationship together. It was indeed wrong of Tom to prolong the escape of Jim for his own personal gain, but I think it made the final escape even better. Jim and Huck were always against Tom's ideas, such as Tom telling Jim to inscribe something on the wall with a nail. Jim said it would take him years to do this, and he just wanted to get out. But Tom insisted and insisted. I find that Jim was very lenient to the boys, because they were the ones that would eventually save him, even though he was upset they did not just get him out. All in all, I'm glad Jim got what he deserves! Freedom!

Tom has many wonderful ideas. Any adventure he takes will certainly be a long one. I feel that his desire for adventure in the indian territory will only lead to a catastrophe. As seen through his actions and plans in Jim's escape, Tom has come up with some crazy stuff. Stuff that might even leave you with a bullet in the leg, literally. So any adventure or journey he has will bring more than needed, in a bad way. The prolonging of Jim's escape was his fun. Something that could have been so easy was made ten times more complicated because of Tom's desire for adventure and action. This is not a good thing for Tom. I hope he gathers up a good group of idiots for his next adventure, and not anyone like Huck or Jim.

Huck's choice to resist being "sivilized" is very understandable and respectable. Huck sees how Tom is, and doesn't want to be like that! Someone who's supposed to be smart and educated came up with that plan for Jim? Wow. It just goes to show that even the most educated and so called "smart" people, can be the least wise. People in that time period believe in slavery. The educated and religious, believe in something that strips all rights from a human being. So I don't blame Huck for his choice. Huck also knows that going against what is trying to be pushed/forced upon him, has taken him very far in life. And he has done much good for himself and Jim. So learning something that isn't who or what he wants to be, should seem wrong to Huck. I support his decision and believe it is valid.

Satire In Huck Finn

2011-12-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

The passage where I found satire is on page 26. It talks about Ms. Watson and refers to Jim as her n*gger. I found Ms. Watson's whole personality to be very ironic and satirical. She's such a caring person, and so kind and loveable. She comes across that she would never hurt a fly. But then you have her whole view and aspect of slavery. It's hard to imagine that someone so caring would be so mean to another person. Slavery of human beings is a million percent wrong. How can we enslave a human being? One of our own kind ! And its very satirical because Ms. Watson is such a nice person. She takes care of Huck and tries to raise him well. Taking Huck under her wing, and taking Huck under her roof are great acts of kindness. It's hard to believe someone of that nature would be so mean to another person. Everyone else in the story is pretty much for slavery and cold hearted. Aside from Huck, Slaves, and any other Abolitionists, no one really cares about how the slaves feel. And you'd think with all Ms. Watson's shown us she would care about how Jim feels. Her good christian religion morals were branded onto Huck, but there is nothing addressing slavery. Except for the fact that it is a given in life. And we accept what we have, we don't question this. It is good. We must live by it. I find it highly Ironic and satirical that Ms. Watson would treat Jim horrible, given her personality and nature. Although, in that time period it was very unlikely she would be an abolitionist.
I'm not sure if we're supposed to address the Robot- Huck Finn story but I find that a great tale!
It shows that what Huck is doing is wrong. Taking someone else's property is breaking the law. With a real live person, Jim, you'd think otherwise, that Huck should be helping free him. But with a robot, it's metal. The average person probably wouldn't feel attached to a slave. This story also proves to show the discrimination in the time period. Just because people can't connect to discrimination of robots, they can connect to discrimination in general. And of others thinking they are superior. The new story gets rid of the racial conflict and keeps the same discrimination aspect. Just because we take away the level 1 and 2 ( Jim/Slaves) Doesn't mean the level three is gone ( Discrimination of others ).

A Modest Proposal: Refection

2011-12-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

What an interesting article this is. The author is very smart in writing this article in a satirical way. The author shows how there is a mass number of poor people in the town. Getting rid of them is very hard to do, and they need to find a way to accomplish this goal. Poor people aren't good for the wellbeing of the country, and those people are embarressing to the rich folk. Poor people are thieves, and those thieves will grow up to be thieves, and the children of them will be thieves. And their children's children, will indeed grow up to be thieves. So the author makes a valid statement saying something needs to be done about this. Making Jokes about this situation is very smart because it makes people want to read it. Indirectly, someone who wouldn't want to hear about this topic, would intact want to hear it if the topic was made into a satire. Poking fun about this situation brings more attention to it. And the more jokes and laughter that derive from what the author says, creates more remembrance of the article. Therefore the article is taking on a serious topic and presenting it in a more pleasurable outlook. Thus, opening the audience to a wider range of people. The purpose of the satire in the article is to keep the viewer reading, and enjoying the topic. While at the same time becoming aware of the actual problems and arguments the author is laying out. Making this article unique with satire gives readers from a broader audience appeal to this topic, which is very smart in sharing the ideals of this article. My reaction to this article is that I thought it was hilarious ! And I absolutely love how the author wrote it using satire. Especially since it's from so long ago ! I didn't know they had satire back then; they didn't even comedy central ! Haha. But it definitely got the main arguments across to me in a way that I was able to remember and learn.

The N-Word

2011-12-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

I Find that there should be an option whether or not to read the story with the original writing. The story at hand is a classic ! A huge part of our history as Americans and one of the first classics that was even ever written in our country. The story should be read by mature audiences in the original writing given that the audience is at the appropriate age level. ( My take on that would be probobly be 9th grade + ) And with younger, less mature audiences they should be given the opportunity to enjoy the classic tale with censored text. There is no reason we shouldn't make it available for people to read and enjoy the tale without censorship of offensive dialogue. Even though it does alter the original story, it allows younger children to be introduced to our culture's great stories.
However if an older, more mature audience is reading the censored version of the story I believe it should be frowned upon in society. The original story should be able to be read and understood without alteration to the text; by that group of readers. It is definitely a valid point to say the N word is offensive. It is also a valid point to say that the use of the N word is offensive. But is it a valid point to say that the use of the N word in Mark Twain's novel is offensive?
Yes, and no. Yes it is offensive to use offensive language. We can all agree on that. And Mark Twain's novel has quite a load of offensive language. But in order to prove a point, and tell a tale is it offensive to use the word? In order to understand American culture at the time period the book was written in, shouldn't the book contain a good use of the word? If not, is it even a good representation of american culture during that time period?
So you see, this battle cannot be won. In order to retain the pieces of our history we must publish the book in its original writing. But in order to end the controversy dealing with offense to african americans, and make this classic tale available to younger age groups we must publish a censored version.
Now indeed, there is no question the text is offensive. But if the word is distracting to readers, and takes away from the actual context of the story, shouldn't we just print a censored version so people can just read it?
Or is that the point? The point that Twain wanted us to be affected by the use of this word, so much that we simply cannot even read the words aloud. Sadly we cannot ask the author himself what his views are on this topic. But we can see that the use of the word affects us. More than the use of any other words in the text. Reading, and coming across the word "the" we are fine. But when it's the N-word its a totally different story. We can agree that this novel proves to show a lot of controversy, thus even making it a stronger argument for being an american classic.
But in the end, I believe people should have a choice. That is part of life. Wanting it all, or wanting a bit.
Wanting Coke, or wanting Diet coke. Same taste? Same product? Yet altered to be different, and proven to be the same thing. Is this not the same controversy?
We should print both copies of the novel, censored and uncensored. Leaving those who are younger with a less complex and easier to understand story, and those who are more mature with a more complex story which they can comprehend. But leaving all with an american classic.

"Terror Sex": Love (or at least lust) in the ruins

2011-09-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

The article I read was called "Terror Sex". It describes the increase in sexual relations during the time of 9/11. People started to shift into a lovemaking state as soon as they believed it would be their last time to do anything of that sort. I thought this article was actually pretty funny to read because it is an interesting topic, especially nothing anyone would thing of during the time of 9/11. Most people would commemorate the lives lost, or think about the organization that had actually planned and commited the attacks on 9/11. But who would really think about something like this? Terror Sex? Who would even coin the term? It was just interesting to me that when in fear people would start to procreate because the world seemed to be ending for them. America was'nt neccesarily affected as a nation by this but new yorkers had defintly seen a change. New York hospitals had seen a 20% increase in births 9 months after 9/11 had occured. Even sex toy shops had seen a 33% increase in sales that fall. Even though 9/11 was such a horrible catastrophy it had actually boosted the economy in some places. In the sex related area I was suprised that things had shot up. Also this affected other areas of the economy too. Security had increased alot which created more jobs for people and more things for people to do. There may be some positive aspects of 9/11, but they will never outweigh the negative experience of 9/11. It is defintly very interesting to see what 9/11 had caused, especially an increase in sexual relations among the people of New York.