Week One, Creative Post

The Poem I Wrote Up - By Huck Finn (*but I only dictatored it - somebody else put it on the paper, if you'd wanted to know)

"I ain't got learnin' like ol' Tom
Nor want it neither any how;
Them books and all that 'rithmatic -
I'll leave 'em by the side for now
Since much a-doin' there I'll find
Upon the river strong and wide
Where 'ventures better - real too -
Are waitin' patient to be tried.
I knows they're not of make believe -
I thought it over real good;
I'd bet my life and all my things -
The river'd take me where it should."

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~Huckleberry's Friend

Week One, Post 2

Huck Finn's honest perceptions of religion serve as a sad warning to those who claim to be Christians, because the characters trying to teach him about religion are presenting a Christ-less Christianity. I wonder what Twain (or Clemens, whichever you prefer) really thought about Jesus. What we can know for sure from the text, though, is that Huck sees through the falseness and inconsistency and discerns hypocrisy. Also, he expresses how he would rather be with Tom in Hell (where Miss Watson said he would go), than be in Heaven with her, which show us that he doesn't really understand the seriousness of these issues. He hasn't been taught very well. But additionally, she tells him to do good things for other people and he concludes after some thinking that he'd rather just look out for himself. It's sort of cute and funny, since it's coming from a little boy and all, but at the same time it's pretty sad and sobering. First, he's being presented merely morality - not Christianity; it's not by our kindness to others that we'll reach Heaven. Second, he doesn't realize how important these religious topics really are for his soul - one way or the other, he doesn't seem to care much. Twain is cynical, but honest. I'm still wondering what he really thought....

~Huckleberry's Friend

Week One: Post 1

So, Huckleberry Finn. It's certainly an interesting, unique name. Huck's character is less creative than his name, though, because he seems to represent "the Realists" of his day. Tom Sawyer, on the other hand, is quite the imaginitive one. :) In fact, Tom Sawyer reminds me of Peter Pan! - the boy who never grew up, living his life in adventurous, care-free childhood.
Huck seems older even if he's not - more sober, pondersome. He really thinks about things. In the first couple chapters, Huck mentions a few instances when he took the time to go think about something. He's like the kid at school who's not necessarily academic, but you know he's always thinking about something and not floating through the classrooms like others. Tom Sawyer has book-learning, but he doesn't think like Huck does - not in the same way, at least. Tom thinks about things as they could be, while Huck thinks about things as they are.
Maybe if I was to categorize them as "optimists," "pessimists," or "realists," I'd say that (so far, anyway) Tom seems to be an optimist, and Huck seems to be (like I said before) a realist. But let me just plug this in here at the end: I think it's funny how so many people consider themselves realists. :) It is my belief that a lot more people are pessimists than would like to admit it. Duhh, you know you're not an optimist - but that doesn't mean you're a realist. I'll confess that I finally came to terms with my pessimism :) - to the best of my reckoning, I'm a pessimist with moments of optimism who would rather be a realist. A pessimist doesn't necessarily equal Eeyore or the cranky old neighbor stereotype. I believe it's just where really thinking about things can take you... sadly.

~Huckleberry's
Friend

P.S. You probably don't know where I'm really coming from with "Huckleberry's Friend." I'll just say, it has nothing to do with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn... :)