week 3

Reading through the first chapters, we learned that story of Huck’s adventures is told by the boy himself. His narrative is casual and crude, it belongs to the boy who came from the lowest level of white society. He was homeless, got away from his abusive father, and is now under the foster care of Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. Huck has a funny way of speaking like a boy who is very uncomfortable in his new surroundings. He is bored with the way wealthy people live and always got in trouble with the Widow Douglas who is constantly wanted to ‘civilize’ him. Huck never put anything on faith, instead, whatever adults tell him he put under his life experience scrutiny. Right away he noticed a folly in Widow’s so ‘civil’ behavior when she did not let him smoke citing it as a bad habit but snuffed tobacco herself. Right away we see how the author compared white middle-class educated and ‘civil’ Tom who is so hung up on unrealistic and sentimental stories from the books, and down to earth ‘uncivil’ Huck, who is trying to find his way in life questioning everything and everybody’s behavior. Being ‘street’ smart allowed him to keep the money out of his abusive father’s reach. Pap is really something – when he tries to take the money, nothing really can stand in his way, and harming his own child in a way of getting it is no big deal to him. He is despicable and his talks are repulsive as well. Through him we first hear how the white population is considered a different race. In those first chapters, we learn about slavery in southern society. Pap continues to rant about a mixed-race man in town and 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 for six months. Even Huck’s attitude toward slaves is very condescending. He considered them not smart, loaded with a bunch of superstitions, and only good to be home servants.