In this novel the friendship between Huck and Tom is kind of strange. I feel as though Huck is more of a friend to Tom then Tom is to Huck. When creating the Gang, they almost made poor Huck cry because he doesn't have a family. Which is messed because the pack was to kill a boy's family if they told about the secrets of the Gang.
In chapter 1, I feel like Tom was being friendly to Huck when he bribed him to go back to The Widow Douglas. Tom knows that the widow cares for Huck and Tom just wants Huck to be safe and have family he never got to have since his father is a drunk. "The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb," (Twain p. 2) The widow clearly shows signs that she loves Huck and she just wants the best for him. That's why she doesn't want him talking to Tom Sawyer.
Now going back to what I said before about how Huck cares more than Tom. On page 3 of the novel, Twain writes. "I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me together." This part of the novel is when he was talking with Miss Watson about Heaven and Hell. He wants to go to Hell because that is where his friends were going and he didn't want to be with Miss Watson in the after life. He wanted to be with his "friends".
In chapter 2, the boys become the Gang. This part of the book got under my skin because they were willing to kill their friends' families if any word of their Gang got out. That just made absolutely know since to me. Tom also mentioned killing members of the Gang if there was conflict between two members. Tom isn't what I remember from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I didn't think I would dislike him this much in the beginning of the story. Chapter 3, I didn't see much of my theme. Chapter 4 as well. Huck just recognizes his father's footprints and runs to Judge Thatcher and talks with Jim. Lastly, Chapter 5 is mainly about Huck's dad
I completely agree with you on the idea that Huck cares for Tom more than Tom cares for Huck. I also liked the points you used as evidence to support your reasoning. For the most part, I felt the same way as you when reading through chapters 1-5. The concept of killing each other's family members was absurd but what was more absurd was the fact that all of the boys agreed on it. Huck was even enthusiastic to include the Widow Douglas as a sacrifice. How this agreement ever came to be is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteI love that you guys are commenting on the Huck and Tom dynamic. I really enjoyed Tom in "Tom Sawyer" but he is a completely different character in "Huck Finn". Why do you think that this is because Twain changed our perspective of him?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Tom and Huck's friendship has a definite imbalance. I really don't dislike Tom because I have this "thing" about not disliking characters - long story for another time. As for what Miss Watkins asked about why our perspective of Tom Sawyer seems to have changed from what it was when we read his self-titled book, I think that's because we're not seeing the story from Tom's point of view anymore. Seeing it from Huck's perspective changed ours, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteApril, I feel as though Huck was so enthusiastic about using Widow Douglas as a sacrifice because he doesn't know what he has in front of him. All his life he's been missing the love of a mother. And now that he has it, he's afraid to keep it. He doesn't want to get hurt. His dad's a drunk that beats on him, he never had someone care for him quite like Tom and Widow Douglas do. That's probably why he is so attached to Tom. Maybe Tom is his "father-figure".
ReplyDeleteMiss Watkins, I think our perspective changed because in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, we saw Tom as this mischievous kid that got into some trouble here and there. Now that we see him in another perspective, he's different. We're not seeing everything through Tom's eyes anymore.
Also agreeing with you Sam on the perspective change.