COA: The Evolution of Huckleberry Finn

  Huckleberry Finn is arguably one of the most influential books of the last two centuries. Being written in the time during the Reconstruction Era but the setting of the book takes place in the era of slavery in the U.S, it's plot shows the hardships of slavery yet also hints at the struggle for blacks to gain acceptance after the Civil War. Now what makes the setting and issue of this book so fitting for the "Coming of Age" genre is the fact that the protagonist has to learn the struggles of growing up during a very hypocritical and cruel time period. The issue of growing up that is addressed in this book is a young persons deciding whether to rebel or join his societies culture.
                        This theory I have applies to many of the protagonist's (Huckleberry Finn) experiences and struggles throughout the book. In a quick overview, Huck Finn is the abused son of the town drunk but after finding a great amount of money and his father gone missing, he lives with a widow name Mrs.Watson who tries to teaches Huck to be civilized, however Huck having a mean street personality dislikes the civilized life because his superstitous country attitude is not allowed. When is drunk father comes back and he is forced to continue to live with him again, Huck runs away but this time not only from his father but from Mrs.Watson as well.This is the first example of Huck's split between culture, where he is dislikes acting in the proper way of his century. The second example is drastically different, where now Huck is split between a huge cultural part of his era which is of course; slavery. In short, Huck meets runaway slave, Jim (formerly owned by Mrs.Watson) who is afraid that Mrs.Watson will sell him, so he runs away. Huck is left with two options and that is to turn Jim in to the authorities or run away with him which is the equivalent of running away with stolen property. Here is where Huck has to decide whether to go against his societies culture or join it's cruel nature. Huck is someone who is more of a person who just stays out of issues like this since his father was a raving racist lunatic but now he is ironically placed in a situation where he must step in. This situation helps bring light to Huck's eyes on how terrible the issue of slavery is, after all this time of trying to keep a neutral opinion on it.
           Huckleberry Finn also shows the COA experience of the runaway youth character. When everyone is young, there is often that want to run away from home and Huck Finn is a story that talks about how a child would grows as he is on his own. As in every COA book, the main character only "comes to age" during the journey through the conflict he/she is facing. Huck's coming to age is shown with the choices he makes. Mainly his choice to help Jim. Huckleberry Finn had to choose right and wrong. He also made the choice to be honest to the girls and reveal the two men who were frauds. Huck can be independent and take care of himself. But he had to feed himself, etc before the widow took im in. Huckleberry Finn also has a desire for a certain kind of life which is being free and outdoors (but in a way that shows he is still young and a child). After all that is not realistic adult thinking.
             For the final paragraph, all it will be is a review of the book. I have had the book, Huckleberry Finn for a while since it's been collecting dust in my old bedroom. Now that I have finally read the book, I must say that it was an okay book. Maybe it's because our generation is much different from the one it was made for at the time but I did find the book's conflict interesting at times especially involving more insight with Huck and his fathers relationship. But one thing I would like to take away from the book is the fact that Jim's dialogue is one of the hardest to read in the history of literature. It's not that I don't appreciate what he's saying but it's like redneck shakespearean, it's so hard to understand and it kind of turned me off from the book. It definitely led the way for many other COA novels and it is a piece of not only literary history but also U.S history.

Broken Society of Huckleberry Finn

      The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of those books that at times can be a joy to read and a dread to sit through. It has its moments of excitement and interest, but sometimes has its moments of slow pace and sleepy dialogue. But the subject I would like to touch upon is of course the major theme of the book, racism and slavery. Now this book being written in 1882, even with the end of the Civil War, African Americans were targeted by society and a teenager like Huck has to grow up learning the culture that has been brought. However like most kids growing up, Huck learns to question this culture and he does that by going on a long journey with a runaway slave named Jim. Like I said, Mark Twain wrote this book about two decades after slavery was gone however reconstruction failed and blacks were not having the best luck fitting into a whole new world, which (even though the book takes place during a time of slavery) he foreshadows this struggle to accept their rights and freedom in the book through characters. For example, Hucks father is a racist drunk who does a lecture on why blacks should not be able to vote and he rather kill himself then live in a society where blacks have rights similar to that. 
                 Huck and Jims relationship, could represent on the struggle between white people accepting black people as equals because Huck is for the first time gets to see a black man not as a servant, slave or lower class citizen but as an ordinary person and more importantly his friend. Ironically, Huck often knows better than the adults around him, even though he has lacked the guidance that a proper family and community should have offered him. Twain also frequently draws links between Huck’s youth and Jim’s status as a black man: both are vulnerable, yet Huck, because he is white, has power over Jim. Mark Twain showed a need of acceptance between both African Americans and White people before anyone of them could co-exist in a constantly changing society. 
                            The term "nigger" in the story is used very loosely in the book but this was always a topic I wanted to discuss. Nigger is not a bad word it's just used as a derogatory term and that's why when someone who is not black says it, it's like someone just set off a nuke in the room. In Huckleberry Finn, I believe that this term was shared by both black and white characters but it wasn't used as a word to hurt anyone, it was just a term that was used to refer to a black man and honestly I saw no reason why anyone should take offense to it. Even if it was used as a disgusting word to label black people, nigger is a historical term and should not be erased from history books. This word touches upon racism, from the past to present. People who are actual racist only use this word because they believe it will hurt the person. Racism is the belief that a race is superior and words like nigger were used to put people down into a lower class society. In Huckleberry Finn, that's basically how the word is used, in a way to split people into groups within this "civilized" world.
           Even though racism is important in Huck's case of growing up, what this story shares most commonly with other coming of age books is how it deals with childhood. Huck’s youth is crucial to his moral standing and decisions made throughout the book, for a child is open-minded enough to undergo the kind of development over time that all children do. Many example shown include Huck relationship with both Tom Sawyer and Jim (As I talked about in the second paragraph).Focusing on Huck and Tom sawyers interaction, it seems Tom is embodiment of immaturity since he lets his imagination control the world around him. Huck must leave Tom in order to grow up leading to his revelations with his time with Jim. So Tom Sawyer is the person who represents the immaturity that Huck left and Jim represents the maturity that Huck entered into.
                  

The Truth and Nothing But The Truth

13 Year Old Essay causes Controversy

 Many people don't like a conflicting opinion coming from someone they believe to be lower than them. Many block it out or pretend like it is untrue. When 13 year old Jada Williams finds out the backlash given by her own public school for writing an essay about her own opinion on the life of Frederick Douglas compared to modern day society including the school system. Although the essay was harsh, it was written in a formal and factual format on the modern role that black people have on society. Many people always ask for the truth or your opinion, but whether it's known or not, there is only 1 right answer.
                 Even if asked for some people just cannot literally "handle the truth". For example, when Jada Williams wrote her truthful essay, she was harrassed by the administrators at her school who eventually forced her to leave. Jada touched upon the fact that many teachers did not actually teach kids in the school (they're methods of "teaching" were through packets and worksheets) and though there was a high ethnicity at her school, there were mostly only white teachers there. Even though, you are always taught by your parents and TV, to always speak your mind; in the real world, it's all a lie. When we go to school, are opinion on what we do is in fact very limited. We can't speak true opinion and we can't write real sayings. Jada believed that the treatment of other races is not so different from the era of Frederick Douglas, and spoke truthful but a bit harshly on the matter.
                                                                                             Everyones opinion has meaning but not that many of them actually matter. There are many examples in history or present day to go by, but I'm gonna compare Occupy Wall Street and The American Revolution. Both have the common belief that change is needed in this nation, but one is being done through protest and one was done through war. However, The American Revolution was a success in the goal to seperate from the british empire, while Occupy Wall Street seems to be an on going thing. This is not saying that Occupy Wall Street will not succeed its goal, its the belief that the goal won't have as much impact as the goal that was won through war. In a sick way, a revolution honestly can only happen with paying the price of a war. Society has a sick way of only responding effectively through violence instead of a voice , and even though many will claim to be repulsed by it, it's a proven statement. This is not a call for everyone to break out into Civil War, it's just truthful. I do believe society can move on from this and who knows if my belief with Occupy Wall Street will happen. It's just one of those truthful opinions that's hard to hear but it's true.    

Dirty Job Appreciation

People Are Awesome: Join the Campaign to Thank Your Garbage Collectors                 

                       People should thank the ones who the jobs that we rather not do. In the article, a Huffington Post contributor initiated a show of appreciation to the many people who work in the sanitation department after one of the hard workers requested people to "show a little respect". Nothing justifies Letting hard work done for us, such as picking up garbage, and letting it go unnoticed. Workers who do the things that we don't want to do, never get any gesture of appreciation such as a simple "thank you" that they deserve.
                                 It takes a good citizen to do a tough job and deal with annoyance of not getting thanks. For example, in the article a garbage collector named Joe responded to the Huffington Post by saying "You know, we just need a little respect,". It is common for people to believe someone working such a dirty job is lower to them and is not worth the moment of respect, which is one of the difficulties of doing a dirty job. In the text, the reporter says "Sometimes it is the smallest act of kindness that makes the greatest impact on a person," . This is a true piece of information. Everytime a person's garbage man, mailman, or store clerk does not get the recognition, they may not feel the point in doing the best they can in their current career and future careers. A "thank you" can help a person a lot because it gives them motivation and ambition. To work hard every day and not get any appreciation is a hard job itself.
                                    No one realizes the importance of a worker to the lives of many. Looking at the hundreds of tissues, pizza boxes, and rotten food that all stack up, but they don't magically go away. A man or women comes to pick that up and take it away, so you don't have to deal with it. It is common knowledge that when we do a good deed, it's almost essential to get thanks, but imagine somebody doing a good deed as a career and not recieving any thanks. It's just unfair. The campaign to give thanks to garbage collectors was given to elementary school kids who were tasked with leaving nice notes on their garbage canisters for the collectors to read. Each note could make a workers day. To face the fact that someone is doing great deeds for everyone, and be never recognized for it is hard to swallow. These people do the jobs that impact our lives in a simple but important task that affects everyone.

The Day Before Yesterday, After Tommorow

"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost uses the two most conflicting things in the world and turns it into a poem that becomes a literary oxymoron. What is mean't by literary oxymoron is the fact that this poem merges two contradicting things and merges them through writing. It talks about two opposites and how they relate. Fire and Ice are the common representation of enemies and hate. Because each can put out each other. But its almost showing their differences and their likes in this single stanza poem. Talking about how fire and ice both can bring destruction yet both are elements of life and for our survival. So its several contradicting ideas in this poem which is very hard to create especially in a one stanza poem. Robert Frost really expresses the relationship between the universes first rivals.
         Elaborating on the idea of destruction, this poem brings up the question of whether the world will end through fire or ice. In fiction/ culture, the apocalypse is commonly seen through a world being on fire, but however, the modern day interpertation of the apocalypse is seen through the eyes of science which represents the world freezing over. This idea is established in the first two line of the poem: "Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice."After this line, he compares the two outcomes and even favors on how he would prefer the world to parish. Even though I mentioned  this in a last post a while go, I believe that the thought of your demise is as casual as thinking about what you're gonna have for dinner.
                                                                                             Even though it's a simple poem, the rhyme scheme of the poem is not common and the end of the rhyme scheme is rather anti climatic in a way since the final two lines don't rhyme and kind of throw off the ryhthm of the poem; scheme: abaabcbd. Maybe in a sick way this could be how Robert Frost wants to send off the message of how the world will die through this poem by having a beautiful rhythmn and have it just abruptly end like that. As terrible as it seems maybe the real world story never ends like how it does in media and stories; it could end with little expectation and a high amount of disapointment.

Pursuit of Happiness Achieved

  "The Character of a Happy Life" by Sir Henry Wotton, is perhaps one of my favorite poems ever just because not only is its rhythmn amazing but also it's meaning and idea I think is genius. This poem really explains to me what being happy could actually be. The description of a being who has little worries because he has an identity and personallity that blocks them. That's probably not the best idea I can come up with from this poem but I starred it because I think its awesome. This poem has a very simple but mind bending tone that I favor very much and it makes the poem fun to read again. The rhyme scheme used in this is quite generic too; abab, which I think is used very often by poems that rhyme. This poem is motto that should be used for everyones life, to pick up their hopes and dreams and just have fun with them.
              Sir Wotton's poem is basically just a description of someone he views as being the ideal representation of happiness in  a person. Someone who is not fearful, someone who does not let rules control his life, someone who's honesty is his greatest protection. I see this as being this being the achieved perception of happiness, a pursuit that reached its end, I see this as being happy. It's not about him having the perfect life, it's about someone who is in control of their life but doesn't have the desire to change anything about it. This can also be seen as the key to a happy life is first to have will to decide things about yourself, what would make you happy? Truly Happy? However even though I feel that is the true key/representation of happiness, I sense that it is on longer present today. Now the ideal sense of happiness is to have money and sexual attraction and honestly I can believe some people are truly happy with that but even so, I don't think I would want to be that.


    I find this poem truly descriptive and creative. I love the poems rhyme scheme and flow. A very well thought and put together poem with many aspects I like to reflect and try to create into my own poems and ideas. Its as simple as that. It sticks out for its true meaning, and capturing it in a essential and simple wording but deeper meaning in the poem's text. I'm not really into over complicated ideas but I do find it interesting to talk about them, I just don't like reading them because they just look and sound so cheesy. But the text in the poem is quite simple but has a lot of complex backing to it. Maybe I should take the backing in mind when I live out my life.

Hunger Games Review by the Best Movie Critic in the WHOLE WORLD!

 

       

     The Hunger Games movie had a lot of anticipation and interpertation by my classmates but after most of the school saw it, many people had mixed reviews. I personally didn't really care for it. There are many things I would like to  touch about but I'm just gonna overview about it first. The movie is an adaption so of course there are many changes and recreation of scenes from the original book. I think what's hard for this movie to get down is elaborating beyond the narrative of Katniss. In the book, all we hear is Katniss's point of view which is hard to transition in the movie because they basically just improvised all the stuff that happened outside the arena and out of Katniss's view. In order to deal with the violence of the book, the film crew uses shaky camera angles (similar to what the Bourne Ultimatum did) in order to almost blur out the violence that you can just barely process before the scene/moment is over. It's much more gruesome in the book but I still like how the movie was able to adapt to the PG-13 rating. The movie was interesting and entertaining at least and I can honestly see how people might enjoy the movie (I could care less whether you liked it or not) but I kind of had problem with it but not for the reason most people did.
                                       The first thing I would like to talk about is the dialouge and scene delivery in the film. The dialogue in the book was pretty cheesy I must say but in the movie, I hoped Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins would change that in the screenplay and the actors would make it sound a bit more believable. Amazingly I felt the dialogue and acting was more terrible in the movie than I would expect (I didn't expect anything that bad, I just expected to have cheesy moments). My biggest problem was with Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss's lines. Jennifer Lawrence is an Academy Award nominated actress and is pretty decent but wow she was really bad in this role. Her line deliveries were really bad, I mean she had the right body movement and facial expression but the words that came out of her mouth sounded robotic and mechanical, I think she just had a hard time getting into character. Not all the acting was bad, there were decent moments.
              Back to being in character, a lot of characters seem to be out of character compared to the book. For example, Cato in the book is suppose to be a cold calculating killer who believes he is destined to win the Hunger Games, in the movie what seems to be weird is that it seems that he is having fun killing people and when it comes to the end is the weirdest part because he starts having a mental breakdown, talking how the Capitol manipulated him into killing people and that it's all for a show. What? First laughing about killing people and now you're having a mental breakdown about the violence of killing in the movie? I don't really care that the movie contradicts with the book but the movie contradicts itself. A lot of characters were like that with the unrealistic aspect.
                                                                                        The film also felt very rushed and thats understandable since I guess they wanted to make the film seen fast paced and exciting but the film felt very short within the 2 hour and 30 minute time slot but  it's hard to see why it felt short. I felt like a movie like this should have been at least 4 hours long since there is a lot of action that goes on in the arena. But no one can have every aspect they want. However it seems like they are most likely going to split Mockingjay into 2 movies because a statement released by Woody Harelson (Haymitch) revealed he had signed on for 4 movies; maybe they should have split Hunger Games into 2 movies. Not taking anything away from the film, it's still pretty entertaining and I feel it does the book enough justice to create a whole movie series out of. With critics the movie is suppose to be amazing, but with my classmates and many viewer perception videos on the internet, the movie had mixed reviews with fans of the book and people who never heard or read them. In my best opinion, just see the movie and judge for yourself. I can see why people dislike it and I can see why people enjoy it.