Brian Doozan
2nd Hour
:) April Fool's Day :)/2003
Chapter I
And so it begins, the great adventure, piecing itself together. The dough is being rolled, spinning to form a smooth, uniform plot. Of course, looking for a plot in this story is like eating a scolding hot piece of pizza: you just don't do it. Mark Twain would be spinning in his grave if he knew I was analyzing this. Tom and Huck just don't know what to do with the riches they've recently acquired. They have enough to buy almost a thousand pizzas with sausage, pepperoni and garlic flavored crust from Hungry Howies on a Sunday night special. What will they do with the money? If they bought pizzas, they would be hot- not just because it came from an oven- but because robbers stole the money and put it in the cave. I predict that they will let the money go to their heads because it's "more than a body could do with" (pg. 1).
Chapter II
Oh, they were stealthily seeking somethin in a garden, why? Well, it's obvious that they were looking for some food, since they were passing the kitchen, like pizza. Huck went and did it by making noise, so "Miss Watson's big nigger" (pg. 6) is looking for them. It's almost like a Tom and Jerry episode where Jerry is hiding from Tom, and Tom comes around the corner and it's all suspenseful, then wham! Jerry hits him with a pan. Jim, the "big nigger" (pg. 6), does just what Tom would do, he sits and waits. Tom falls asleep, so of course Jerry, like Huck Finn, is going to pull a prank on him. And what a trick they play, they took off his hat and hung it on a limb… Jerry would be disgraced to have been compared to something so lame. He would have been so disappointed that not even a pizza would cheer him up. But he would eat it anyway.
Chapter III
Clothes are like the toppings of a pizza, so why does Miss Watson care what toppings Huck wants to have? They talk about how greasy it is. What is she going to do with greasy toppings? Will she pick them off? No, she dabs the grease away, off of Huck's clothing and sends him on his way. She is still concerned with the health of the issue. Is it okay to let him eat whatever he chooses? She thinks not, but reluctantly is not able to do much about it because of Huck's attitude towards the whole situation.
Now for a little playtime, that's right, robbers! Raise your hand if you're played this one, it's a classic. "All the boys [play it]", quoted right from Huck on page 13, with a clarification by yours truly. Hey, look who came to play, it's none other than Tom Sawyer, the man who called hogs "ingots", turnips "julery" and pizza "just darn good." Alright, maybe he didn't call pizza that in the book, but I know that's what really happened (pg. 13).
With all games aside, a body is found and Huck is wondering if it's the deliveryman, yes, his father. Could this be the man that made it all happen, contributing half his genes, including the same Y chromosome that he and I have identical copies of? In fact, it is not, as Huck puts it best on page 13, " I knowed, then, that this warn't pap".
"Genies" is the next hot topic of discussion here in the Huck corner. I'm guessing they're talking about genies because Huck is a "numskull" (pg. 14) according to Tom. He is being a kid when he talks of genies. It's just a childish fantasy that little blue men will pop out of old, rusted lamps. I'm guessing that as the book continues on, we will see Huck and Tom mature a little over the course of this book and of course, a nice slice of pizza.
Chapter IV
Oh, I called it. He's maturing a little. Well, not really I guess, he's adapting to his new life. He's becoming a very educated man as well, a sure sign of maturing and character development. He's starting to get the cheese sprinkled on top of the sauce, anticipating the meat of life. Education has its limits though, as multiplication can be very difficult if you're a "numskull"(pg. 14), as Huck demonstrates beautifully by saying "I don't reckon I could ever get any further than [six times seven] if I was to live forever".
Ding! Ding! Breakfast, a nice hardy breakfast for a schoolboy, compliments of Miss Watson. As Watson observes the fingerprints left behind from Huck, she concludes that his hands have been dirty and should be washed. Eureka! She's figured it out; Huck is a boy who was raised in an environment very different than what he is in now. Again, he must mature to the situation, we'll keep a close eye on his character development to see how well he does this. I don't think Pizza was the breakfast here, which may be a factor as to why Huck is down on his luck. While he was down, he sees footprints, and recognizes them as the delivery man… He thinks fast, faster than a pizza can be delivered before it becomes free, and runs off to get rid of his fortune to Judge Thatcher. Pap is a quick thinker as well, but the pizza would have been free. I believe this is an important character step in Huck because his education has served him well enough that he knows how to manage his money. My prediction is that he becomes an accountant.
Chapter V
Huck sees his father again, but it is not a happy family reunion. Huck is startled, as he expresses his mood on page 19 as ""I reckoned I was scared now, too; but in a minute I see I was mistaken… but right away I see I warn't scared of him worth bothring about." His father was whiter than Parmesan cheese on pizza. Huck is again a quick thinker, but this time his father outsmarts him. Huck just doesn't have the lying skills he used to have when he said that he doesn't have any more money. All the reform he's gone through must have made him weak. His father needs the money for useful things, like alcohol. A character development of his father can be seen in that there was none- he's still a drunk. He's just a reheated piece of pizza, nothing new, just older and a little nastier.
Chapter VI
Another character development has occurred! Huck Finn is disobedient to his father, which really isn't a development, just reinforcement that he doesn't like his father. In fact, he wishes him dead, as he said back in chapter whatever with the dead body floating in the river. Oh, I just saw a cool word: "cowhiding"(pg. 23). Huck is pretty pleased that the trial his dad is putting on is going slowly, and he's getting money from the judge to appease his father it seems. Oh yeah, another characteristic revealed to us by Huck about his father: "Pap warn't in a good humor - so he was his natural self." That's right, this old man didn't have a good sense of humor. I guess what Twain was really trying to show us is the contrast of Huck, who seems to have a good sense of humor, to his father, who doesn't. It's like a pizza with sausage and then another pizza with pineapple, they're so different, yet they are both characteristics of the pizza. This really tells us that he got the humor gene from his mother's side.
It appears as though Huck isn't as good-humored as I thought. He doesn't find being chased around with a knife threatening his life and being called "Angel of Death" (pg. 29) very funny. Haha, I thought it was funny. Guess he has a little pineapple on his pizza after all. Oh, ol' Pap has "such a screechy laugh" (pg. 29), all the cool things Twain gives his characters. This tells us that… his dad isn't a very manly person? Sounds good to me.
Chapter VII
Huck is starting to get his edge back, his lying is now convincing. This shows us his character development has retrograded. I predict the pattern to continue, until it waxes back to where he had been in a more civilized environment. All he has to do is get rid of his father, but how? How can he get rid of his father? You can't just throw a pizza out, it's wasteful. "He abused me a little for being so slow; but I told him I fell in the river, and that was what made me so long." Yet another prime example of the lying abilities and the abusive father. Beating his son because he's slow, does he love his child? He sure does, love is the only explanation that could possibly explain why he cares so much that he is willing to go out of his way to beat his son in hopes that he will learn to be faster. I agree with his method of improving Huck. Huck likes to give up, an example would be not being able to do anything beyond six times seven. C'mon, abuse is the only answer. This was while they were fishing for breakfast, bet they don't real in a nice, hot pizza though. Unfortunate, but true.
Chapter VIII
Huck Finn faked his death, but not without reason. Mark Twain was trying to reveal how desperate Huck is to rid himself of everything that is going wrong. His conscience hits in eventually, showing yet another character development: Huck Finn is a caring person, sympathetic to those who were searching for him, sad that he is gone. He obviously likes his "baker's bread" (pg. 37), because he speaks fondly of it. "What the quality eat; none of your low-down corn-pone." (pg. 37) It would have been better if they were throwing pizza out there, then I predict that he'd be speaking pretty lowly of that "backers bread". Huck's character is developing again, as he pleases to smoke whenever he feels like it. he always liked to smoke, but had been scorned in his more civilized world. Huck likes living by himself on the island, pretending to be dead, "I knowed I was all right now"(pg. 38) he says after he sees the ferry boat with all his friends and everybody who ever cared for him leaving. At dinner, it did hit him how lonely he was, like a pepperoni with no pizza. He has plenty of time on his hands as he "counted the stars" (pg. 39). There are a lot of stars to count, trust me. At any given time, there are around 3,000 visible to the naked eye under dark skies, which he would be under during this time period and the fact that he's on an island. Division always is taught after multiplication, and Huck apparently didn't get to it yet: "if I trod on a stick and broke it, it made me feel like a person had cut one of my breaths in two and I only go half, and the short half, too."(pg. 39).
Chapter IX
I really need to learn Roman Numerals. Jim and Huck know that they need to make a good place to stay. Jim has some good ideas, almost as good as the person who invented pizza. He decides that they need shelter, because shelter is always a bonus. He also shows his knowledge in his character development by correctly forecasting rain. He's better than millions of dollars of equipment that we use today, because we still can't get it right. Huck approves of a place, "Jim, this is nice. I wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here" (pg. 48). After they find a dead body, you can see the character development in Jim as he takes charge and ventures to the body to take a look, where Huck sits back and basically won't look.
Chapter X
Over the non-pizza breakfast, all that was talked about was the dead body, which shows how Twain was really trying to emphasize how neither of them can let little things go. Their curiosities flourish, it cannot be controlled, like a sausage falling, falling off the elevated slice of pizza, staining the carpet that it lands on. Their curiosities were fulfilled easily, however, when Jim puts a random explanation up for grabs, Huck takes it, because " that sounded pretty reasonable, so I didn't say no more." (pg. 51). We see their characters are still childish in thought, superstition is still believed strongly. They believe bad luck has stricken them because of handling a snakeskin and being around a dead body. My guess is that it was more coincidental than anything else that a venomous snake bit Jim, not because of "bad luck".
Chapter XI
Finn is back to his old trickery. His character has developed to where the cheese is softly melted and the crust is risen. As he cross-dresses, he seeks what everybody thinks of him, in disguise of course. Interestingly, Huck Finn likes to bring Huck Finn into the conversations. If I were in his position, well, I probably wouldn't dress up like he did, but I would want to know what people thought about me, so I would agree with his actions here. "Sarah Williams" (pg. 54), who lives in Hookerville, wants to know "who done it" (pg. 55), in reference to who killed Huck. Conspiracies are out there, the most prominent is that Pap did it. This tells us that Pap was not well liked in the community at the time, always looked upon as the "bad guy", when in reality, he is guilty of nothing of the sort.
Huck is eventually caught and reveals himself because "it wouldn't be no use to try to play it any longer" (pg. 59). A common theme in that there are a lot of drunken people has occurred to me. Basically everybody they talk to is assumed to be drunk. I guess what Twain was trying to emphasize by this is that alcohol was common back then, and generally accepted. He doesn't really tell her who he is though. After finding out he is in the wrong city, he needs to move on, but before he goes, he is quizzed by the woman. This shows the skepticism of the woman, she really doesn't believe that Huck… er, Peter is from the countryside.
Chapter XII
Huck's character is back being wild, and living it up. A hint that he didn't hate his Pap as much as once was believed when he says "Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don't want him yourself, you can easy find somebody that does, and a good deed ain't ever forgot." (pg. 64) He's stealing again, and when he wants to have an adventure, it's obvious that he's living in his past. He loved to hunt for treasures. In his situation, I would agree with the ideology of what he's doing, get the flavored crust if it's available. "Le's land on her, Jim" (pg. 65). It is now Jim that is hesitant, the character developments have changed since the dead body floating near the island. Huck wants to be just like Tom Sawyer, and that is why he will explore the ship. While on the ship, a dilemma is faced before Huck. The other men aboard were going to kill the third, in fear of telling. What would Huck do? "What would Tom do?", is what Huck was probably thinking. I would guess in a situation like this that Huck would lay low, unseen, like the hidden pepperoni under the cheese, until everything cools down. Well, I was half right, they stayed low, but instead of getting out of there, they decided to try to be heroes and cut the boat away from the ship. I would disagree with this, because the risk of getting caught is fairly high. Huck must have his adrenaline higher than his smoking got him.
Chapter XIII
While they plot to save the day, I really think they are doing it because they know some day they will be recognized and they can tell their story of how they spoiled the plans of a gang, and possibly be rewarded for their actions. A pizza party type of reward, most likely. "Great guns!"(pg. 73). I just thought that was a nice quote, so I stuck it in. Twain uses these expressions throughout the book because they're original, and he's an original guy. Twain is drawing more and more character development by using these expressions.
Chapter XIV
Huck isn't a very educated person, and does not know what XIV is. I agree. Anyway, Huck and Jim go back and relax, with their goodies. However, their characters are gradually splitting, like a fork in the road, or possibly a fork in a pizza. Jim says he doesn't like Huck's adventures because they were going to get them killed some day. Jim's character development has matured, as seen in this example. He is no longer a wild, anything-goes type of person. He's thinking about the future, the safety of himself, Huck and what's for dinner. I think Huck is slightly shaken by Jim's views and doesn't know what to really think at first.
Chapter XV
Once again, we see how Huck is slightly immature. After getting separated in thick fog, he tries to get Jim to believe that it was all a dream of his. This again goes go the character development of Huck, he's joking around still, no harm done though. Jim is slightly mad at Huck, and this I think foreshadows future problems they will have. The fact that they are not always happy at one another, and that they are both getting irritated (or at least Jim is at Huck) more often, I think it could destroy their friendship, like throwing dirt on a pizza.
Chapter XVI
While they slept most of the day, I stayed up most the night. Their journey to the free states is almost over, as this paper is almost over. Jim is getting anxious, and "it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom" (pg. 85). When they reach Cairo, Jim basically loses his composure and starts jumping around, yelling "we's safe, Huck, we's safe@ Jupm up and crock yo' heels! Dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it!" (pg. 86). Huck is befuddled on what to do next, because Jim had just told him that he is his "only fren'"(pg. 87). Huck has to make a decision to either give Jim up to go back to his rightful owner or to keep helping Jim get to the free land. Huck can't be a joking, non-caring person anymore, because he has a serious decision to make. I think that Mark Twain did this intentionally, cooking the pizza on a high temperature so it cooks faster.