Huck Finn Trial Verdict Essay

            The trial of Mark Twain was exceptional. The fact that he was being tried for racism made both the prosecution’s and the defense’s jobs’ rather difficult, as no one could be completely sure of Mark Twain’s beliefs besides himself. Both sides of the trial had an abundance of evidence and testimonies from witnesses supporting their side of the debate. All of the lawyers asked excellent questions, and spoke fluently and eloquently. The closing statements of both sides were very well written and convincing, and it was difficult to reach a decision on the verdict. The final discussion with my fellow jury members eventually opened my eyes to various parts of the trial, and helped me decide on my final vote of guilty or not guilty. My final conclusion was that Twain was indeed guilty of being a racist.

            The prosecution made a good decision in emphasizing on Twain’s use of diction and word choice throughout his book to display his racism. The evidence they submitted about how Twain designed Huck’s speech around that of a young black boy that Twain came to know fairly well was particularly convincing for me. The prosecution expressed how although Huck’s speech was already quite similar to that of blacks during the book’s setting, Twain still made Jim’s speech distinctly less civilized than Huck’s, even though Jim was a grown man. His intent in doing this was to make absolutely clear how uneducated, uncivilized and unintelligent Jim truly was. Twain also made clear throughout the book how ignorant and naïve Jim’s character was through his thoughts and actions, and how easily the white Huck was able to fool him. Although it was not presented by the prosecution, one thing that came to mind was when towards the end of the book, Huck and Tom could have easily helped their “friend” Jim escape his bond of slavery at many points, but instead chose to make his rescue a source of entertainment and dragged on his confinement for much longer than it needed to last, without taking into mind how much Jim wanted to be free.

            Another thing the prosecution often brought up to strengthen their case was Twain’s constant use of the N word in his story. They argued that even though the defense said Twain’s intent was to use the word satirically, it still offended blacks all around the country and many whites as well. The prosecution pointed out that Twain must have been perfectly aware that this would happen when he wrote his book. One thing that I took note of was a few of the defense’s weaker cases and pieces of evidence, especially their suggestion that if Twain made Huck a murderer, does that make Twain a murderer? The fact that they even bothered to mention something that was so obviously different from a belief in racism showed me the weakness of their case.

            Something important that came up in the jury’s deliberation was the credibility of the defense’s witnesses. It was pointed out that Huck Finn was a young boy, who often used his skill at lying to get through his adventure in his book. Another point made towards Twain’s racism was the fact that although Huck made it clear he never followed what society influenced him to do, he still used the N word many times throughout his story. The defense’s second witness, the Duke, made his very living off of lying and deceiving people. It was true that his word could not be trusted. And the last witness, Mark Twain, would of course have said whatever necessary to be proven not guilty, and had the advantage of no one knowing what he truly believed but himself. The strong arguments made by the prosecution, supported by reliable evidence and witnesses, was what mainly swayed my final vote.

Huck Finn Post 3

A very notable and important part of Huck’s story is his brief stay with the Grangefords. This is the first time in several chapters that Huck is finally able to settle in and live a fairly normal life. Huck becomes close to many of the Grangeford family, and grows to be good friends with a boy his own age named Buck. The Grangefords have a fairly amusing yet sorrowful family history. They have an ongoing feud with an equally large and wealthy family that lives nearby, the Sheperdsons. According to Buck, their quarrel has been going on for over thirty years. Much killing has occurred between the two families. When Huck asks why their hatred for each other is so intense and long lasting, Buck gives him a ridiculous answer. “What was the trouble about, Buck? – land?” “I reckon maybe – I don’t know.” “Well, who done the shooting? Was it a Grangeford or a Sheperdson?” “Laws, how do I know? It was so long ago.” “Don’t anybody know?” “Oh, yes, pa knows, I reckon, and some of the other old people; but they don’t know now what the row was about in the first place” (Twain 110). The two families have been fighting and killing each other for over thirty years, and neither of them can remember why. Even young Buck attempts to shoot a Sheperdson that he and Huck encounter on the road without even attempting a parley. This seemed to be a fairly humorous aspect of Huck’s stay with the Grangefords.

            The Grangefords have a sadder side to their story as well. While living with them, Huck inspects many of the paintings and poems made by a recently deceased daughter named Emmeline. She often wrote sad yet inadvertently humorous ‘tributes’ about people who died on the land surrounding the Grangefords property. She was much loved by the whole family. Towards the end of Huck’s stay, the feud between the two families reaches a crescendo. When a man from the Sheperdson family, Harney Sheperdson, and Sophia Grangeford run off from their families to get married, it draws the two clans into a large gunfight during the pursuit. Many men from both families are killed, tragically including Huck’s good friend Buck. “…then I covered up their faces, and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering up Buck’s face, for he was mighty good to me” (Twain 117). Huck’s newly acquired home and family whom he had grown to love and care for was lost to him in one night. In tears, Huck reunites with Jim and the two continue their journey down the river on their repaired raft.

            The Grangefords and Sheperdsons bear a strong resemblance of two other well known feuding families from a story. In both, the two families were brought to the climax of their feud by one member of each family’s love for each other. Their story closely resembles that of Romeo and Juliet. In both tales, the feuding families are powerful, large and wealthy. The two lovers are also helped in their escape by forces outside their families in both stories. In the case of the Grangefords, it is Huck himself who brings Sophia the note that alerts her as to when she needs to meet up with Harney and make their escape. In Romeo and Juliet, the magical faerie creatures of the forest aid Romeo and Juliet in being together. In the endings of both stories, many members of both families are killed. And, amusingly enough, neither the Grangefords and Sheperdsons nor the Montagues and Capulets are quite sure why their respective families are locked in a mortal struggle.

Huck Finn Post 2

                The relationship between Huck and Jim is partly one of father and son, and also one of brother to brother. They are companions in fleeing their old lives, and have been together for many adventures and trials. Jim occasionally plays the role of father to Huck, because he does seem to have a unique sort of wisdom and knowledge. Whenever Huck gets a bad idea into his head and follows through with it, Jim is always the one to tell him the smart thing to do. Huck often looks to him for guidance. However, this goes both ways. Although Jim does have many things that he can teach Huck because he is older and more knowledgeable about many things, Huck has received an education. There are times when Huck seems to abandon the role of son and teach Jim a few things about the world. For instance, although is playing the role of father to Huck, it still falls to Huck to explain to Jim the simple concept of people speaking languages other than English. “Why, Huck, doan’ de French people talk de same way we does?” “No, Jim; you couldn’t understand a word they said – not a single word.” “Well, now, I be ding – busted! How do dat comes” (Twain 83)? This is where the brotherly aspect of their relationship comes in, as they both seem to have things that they can teach each other.

                Huck and Jims’ bond of friendship is tested in the sixteenth chapter of their story when Huck gives some hard though about how wrong he thinks it is for Jim to flee his master, and plan to free more slaves. Huck got it into his head to turn Jim in, and departed their canoe near a town, saying he was going to check if the town was Cairo. Jim offered him some friendly departing words. “Pooty soon I’ll be a-shout’n’ en I’ll say, it’s all on accounts o’ Huck; I’s a free man, en I couldn’t ever been free if it hadn’t been for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won’t ever forgit you, Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now” (Twain 92). After hearing these words of gratitude, Huck gets a sick feeling of guilt and changes his mind, quickly saving Jim soon after from two white men searching for escaped slaves. This part in the book seemed to show that both Huck and Jim could always trust each other, and that their bond of friendship was now too strong to break. The friends face many more trials throughout the story, and stick by each other whenever possible.

Huck Finn Post 1

            Thus far in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck has proven himself to be a rebellious, trusting, and fairly humble boy. Here in the beginning of his story, Huck seems to be somewhat simple minded, because of his poor upbringing by his drunkard of a father and little exposure to how people who live a more settled life behave. Although he instinctually resents the efforts of the Widow Douglas to civilize him and give him an education, he is still appreciative of her taking him in and giving him a home. Huck does seem to have a good sense of right and wrong, but his role model unfortunately is his friend Tom Sawyer, a liar and want-to-be thief. This fact occasionally gets Huck into trouble. Huck has shown himself to be somewhat too trusting, even gullible, because he often believes every word that comes out of the mouth of a notorious liar, Tom Sawyer; even things that seem preposterous or make no sense. “He said there was hundreds of soldiers there, and elephants and treasure, and so on, but we had enemies which he called magicians, and they had turned the whole thing into an infant Sunday school. I said, all right; then the thing for us to do was go for the magicians” (Twain 22).

            One thing that plays a big part in Huck’s life is his strong belief in anything superstitious. He allows these beliefs to effect his behavior, and they often can cause him great alarm. “I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast every time; and then I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to keep witches away. But I hadn’t no confidence. You do that when you’ve lost a horseshoe that you’ve found, instead of nailing it up over the door, but I hadn’t ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep off bad luck when you’ve killed a spider” (Twain 13). Huck could also be described as somewhat selfish during this period of the story. He always seems to keep his own self interest and enjoyment foremost in his endeavors. Because he has experience at living on his own, Huck is more independent than most boys would be at his age and is quite capable of taking care of himself. This seems to give him some measure of confidence in his thinking, occasionally leading him to believe that he usually has the right of things.

Could a Transcendentalist Society Exist Today?

            It is true that the idea of a transcendentalist society in today’s world seems like a brilliant idea. Many, many people would be open to the idea of living somewhere that places such value on the individual and everyone being treated equally. A place such as Walden Island seems like the perfect escape from the often stressful and complicated lifestyle that the rest of the world has to offer. However, such a place as Walden Island likely could never exist in today’s world. Being a society that encourages and allows people to follow any career of their choice, very few people would choose to occupy many less well paying jobs that are necessary for a country to survive. This is especially true for a country that has strong isolationist policies. Being a small island country, Walden Island would likely not be able to support itself if every citizen chose to be a doctor, teacher or philosopher. Walden Island also seems as if it puts a bit too much value into the opinion of every individual. The policy of nearly every citizen of the island being able to vote on every matter that is put up for debate would result in everything taking an unreasonable amount of time to resolve. Another big flaw in the idea of Walden Island is the strict consequences that exist for things that are merely frowned upon in most societies. Bullying and harshly putting down another’s ideas is against the law, and repeated offences can get one banished from the island. Walden Island could never exist in today’s world.

            Initially, the idea seems wonderful. Walden Island is a place that is specifically designed so that everyone who lives there can be happy, and not have to worry about being judged or having their freedom restricted. Everyone is welcome to have complete control of their future, and no one needs to participate in the upkeep of the community any more than they want to. Each citizen has some say as to what laws and taxes are put into effect or repealed. The educational system encourages students to adopt transcendentalist beliefs, and prepares them for whatever career path that they choose. Any and all religions are tolerated. Indeed, it is illegal to harshly put down the ideas or beliefs of another. This may sound like a paradise to live in, but truly much of its design is totally impractical, and it could likely never flourish in modern day.

            In a nation where people have complete control of what occupation they wish to hold in their future, in order to encourage the transcendentalist idea that everyone should always follow their dreams, there would be few people applying for boring or simple jobs that are essential for a country to run smoothly. If every citizen was free to follow their dream of being a doctor or lawyer, there would not be anyone available to collect peoples’ trash or mow their lawn for them. It truly would be a marvelous thing if everyone in a place such as Walden Island was free to be whatever they wanted to be, but such a place could never exist in an independent nation.

            A big focus of transcendentalism is the value of every individual’s opinion and beliefs.  A transcendentalist society such as Walden Island would have to give every citizen a say in what laws they will be forced to follow. Although this might sound nice, it would unfortunately take ludicrous amounts of time to resolve any matter, no matter how important or trivial. Giving so much power to the people would also likely lead to taxes being so low that the government would barely have enough funds to run the country. With so much power being in the hands of the people, Walden Island’s government would be slow to respond to crises, and be ineffectual in dealing with most matters.

            Because Walden Island is a strongly transcendentalist society, it is obliged to make sure that every individual is respected and allowed to believe whatever they choose to believe without being influenced by their peers. This leads to actions such as bullying, the mocking of one’s beliefs, or harshly putting down one’s ideas being declared illegal. If people were moving to Walden Island from other countries, they would likely be banished from the island before they ever got used to such seemingly trivial things being against the law. Trying too hard to enforce transcendentalism on everyone on the island is completely impractical.

            Despite how simple and blissful a place like Walden Island might sound, sadly such a thing simply could not be made to exist in modern day. The need to make sure every resident can become exactly what they want to be and want for nothing is completely unfeasible. A paradise such as Walden Island could never be created in today’s world.

Dead Poets Society Conformity Post

It is and always has been human nature to seek acceptance from one’s peers and to fear loneliness. The desire to fit in usually overwhelms people’s desire to always be independent and be themselves. This is especially true among teenagers. In a school environment, a student’s worst fear is to be taken as strange or weird, and be shunned by his fellow students. In order to feel socially acceptable, students constantly feel the need to conform and try to behave, think, and look similar to those around them. Dead Poets Society is about a group of students living in this environment at a very esteemed boarding school called Welton Academy. With the teachers and professors of Welton Academy encouraging this behavior, as well as most of the student’s parents, the majority of the students at Welton found little opportunity to stay true to themselves and follow what they believed in. Everyone around them, their parents, their teachers, and unknowingly their friends, constantly influenced them to conform. The method of education that Welton utilized went completely against that idea that every child has a right to express them self however they want, and should choose their own future.

            At the beginning of Dead Poets Society, a new professor is being introduced to the students and staff, Mr. Keating. Mr. Keating is the new poetry teacher for the group of students who make up the movie’s main characters. Mr. Keating uses an extremely unorthodox method of teaching, one that most if not all of his fellow teachers and professors disapprove of. Because of his strange teaching strategy and refusal to conform to the ways of his peers, Mr. Keating quickly earned the dislike of the dean of the school. Indeed, he was blamed for some horrible events that transpired towards the end of the story. Mr. Keating’s lessons about how everyone should choose their own future and not let anyone tell them who they should be gave many of his students the courage to speak out against the school and their parents. Some of them were inspired to be themselves and follow their passions despite severe consequences that occurred later on in the story. Every student who stuck out and attempted to be a non-conformist for a while quickly faced severe punishment from either the school or their parents. One student went against the wishes of his extremely controlling father and followed his passion for acting without his father’s consent. His father became infuriated, so furious that he pulled his son out of Welton and enrolled him in military school. The student soon committed suicide rather than live with a father who wouldn’t let his son do what actually made him happy. Because of the overpowering tradition of conformity and discipline that was enforced at Welton, the school was essentially a place where all the professors, who were practically clones, could mold the students into exactly who their parents wanted them to be. When Mr. Keating arrived and attempted to change some of the student’s way of thinking, the academy quickly rejected his ideas and promised punishment or expulsion for any who would not continue to conform.

Modern Day Transcendentalism Post

A good example of a modern day transcendentalist would be the lead singer of the band Slipknot, Corey Taylor. The nature and genre of this band somewhat defies categorization, because their music is fairly unique, but heavy metal is one thing that many people describe them as. The band was composed of nine members, until the recent death of their bass player, and they often referred to themselves as the nine. Corey and the rest of his band are extremely non conformist, and go to great lengths to display their uniqueness. For every album, they each wear a new grotesquely designed mask that they always wear at performances and on their music videos. Much of their music is about them expressing their hatred for what they believe to be an extremely corrupt society that we currently live in. They are anti government, anti religion, and basically anti anything that they don’t agree with. Although for the most part the whole band agrees with these beliefs, it is Corey that comes up with most of the songs and themes and writes most of their lyrics. 

http://www.songonlyrics.com/slipknot-biography

Slipknot is a pretty popular band, and their fans have taken to calling themselves maggots, after the release of a song Named Pulse of the Maggots. The song is essentially about how he and his band are going to support each other and their fans, and stay the way they are and deny anyone’s attempt to change them. One song that is an even better example of Corey’s transcendentalist beliefs is My Plague. It is about Corey’s utter contempt for anyone who tries to be someone they’re not just to change what people will think of them. The song expresses Corey’s belief that people should be themselves, and how anyone who doesn’t do so he considers to be his “plague”. The song The Heretic Anthem describes how Corey believes in standing your ground and not following or taking orders from anyone. Corey Taylor is an extremely unique human being, and he and his band are at least as independent and strange as Lady Gaga.