Huck Finn 6: 185-209

“I felt so ornery and low down and mean, that I says to myself, My mind’s made up; I’ll hive that money for them or bust” (188).

• Huck has been greatly influenced by both Pap and Ms. Watson. This is evident in many cases throughout the novel. However, this passage introduces us to a different Huck who begins to formulate his own decisions. He is no longer speaking of what he has been taught, but draws on his ideas and opinions from his own mind. Despite Huck’s previous way of thinking, “the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way” (137), his empathy for the girls overwhelms him, forcing Huck to intrude on allowing the king and Duke to “have their own way” (137). Huck, as usual, is illustrated as courageous in this quote, being aware of what danger he may be putting himself in.

“Well, I says to myself at last, I’m agoing to chance it; I’ll up and tell the truth this time, though it does seem most like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off just to see where you’ll go to” (200).

• This quote also demonstrates Huck’s thought process in making his own decisions. Yet, it also relates to the theme of Huck’s moral process versus the moral action/outcome. Throughout the novel, Huck struggles with an erroneous moral triangle. His intentions were good, however, the moral process Huck went through was muddled, but always resulted in a good outcome. Huck’s muddled moral process was unclear solely because of the many influences he had in his life. However, through this passage, we see Huck overcome his muddled thought process and decide to go out on a limb and tell the truth for once: “here’s a case where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better, and actuly safer, than a lie” (200). This shows the refinement of his moral process, which will hopefully result in a good outcome.

Vocabulary:

“The lid was shoved along about a foot, showing the dead man’s face down there, with a wet cloth over it, and his shroud on” (192).

Shroud: (noun) a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial

“It jolted her up like everything, of course; but I was over the shoal water now, so I went right along” (200).

Shoal: (noun) a place where a sea, river, or other body of water is shallow