Huck Finn 2: 28-46

“You’re educated, too, they say; can read and write. You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t? I’ll take it out of you” (29).

• Many people would assume Huck’s father as being jealous of his son’s ability to read and write. Jealousy is excessive want. However, does Huck’s father truly want to be literate? We don’t get the impression that Huck’s father wishes to learn how to read and write because if so, he would have made an effort. Therefore pride is the main factor in Huck’s father’s anger, not jealousy. Huck’s father wants to be superior and have a feeling of great importance over his son. If Huck is more of something than his father is, this sense of superiority is lost. Huck’s father then goes through extreme measures like locking him in the cabin simply so his son will be inferior to him, with no chance of bettering himself.

“I didn’t want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn’t like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn’t no objections. It was pretty good times up in the woods there, take it all around” (34).

• It is clear that Huck feels more comfortable in the woods because that is where he was raised. He did not have the luxury of attending school nor having nice clothes. So when these things are offered to him, Huck feels constricted and uncomfortable. At Miss Watson’s house, Huck was forced to act proper with manners and attend school, while with his father, Huck could do and say whatever he pleased without having to walk on eggshells. This could be understood as another problem reflecting Huck’s youth. At his age, Huck is not fully aware of what is best for him. He does not think of the long run and how his life will be in the future. Huck lives for today which is basically how he was raised to live i.e. catching fish for one night’s dinner not being conscientious of what they might eat for the next day.

Vocabulary:

“He had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State” (37).

Nabob: (noun) any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person

“After supper pap took the jug, and said he had enough whiskey there for two drunks and one delirium tremens” (38).

Delirium tremens: (noun) withdrawal syndrome occurring in persons who have developed physiological dependence on alcohol, characterized by tremor, visual hallucinations, and autonomic instability