SECOND JOURNAL RESPONSE

Per. 7 10/11/98

Mr.Luizzi

As I flipped through the beginning pages of the novel to reach the first chapter I noticed a two small paragraphs written by "The Author." These paragraphs explained several things. The first dealt with readers attempting to find a motive, plot or moral with the book. It explained that if 'persons' did attempt this, they would either be shot, hanged or banished. This really surprised me because it is not something you would normally find at the beginning of a novel, if anything you would want world renowned scholars to review your work hoping to find some deep inner meaning or symbolism like in The Lord Of The Flies. This to me almost sounds like Twain is challenging the reader to find a motive. This is a possibility because it was said that Twain's previous novel The Adventure Of Tom Sawyer lacked the same deep meaning that "Huck Finn" had.

After completely reading this novel I believe that Twain did intend to include a theme or motive. I believe that the main theme of the novel was similar to that of many other novels including Catcher In The Rye. That theme is that of a young adolescent trying to find themselves in a very large and complex world. The novel encompasses a wide variety of ideas. One is the societies values at that time. The values were vastly different than those of Huck's, yet society had such an effect on Huck that he felt that his morals were wrong. But they weren't, this then contributes to Huck trying to find himself. Being that he has been brought back and forth from a nomadic lifestyle to a civilized lifestyle he is very confused.

It is interesting to compare Huck against the two other main characters, especially Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are like best friends, but even in the very beginning of the novel we see their differences. Tom uses the elaborate and extravagant plans he reads in romance and adventure novels and tries to incorporate them into real life. His plans are ridiculous often causing others to suffer for his own gratification. A good example is when he and Huck are trying to free Jim. He puts Jim through a lot by forcing him to have garter snakes and spiders in his room, and he causes the Phelps family to become extremely bewildered and afraid of the "outlaws." Huck is also forced to suffer by digging the escape hole with case knives. This shows how self-centered Tom really is. Also, Tom represents the society and its values. This is shown when Tom leaves a nickel when "stealing" the candlesticks. That is why it is so surprising when Tom agrees to help Huck free Jim. Tom represents everything that the society stands for so freeing a slave would be against that.