Huck & Jim and Huck & Pap

After Huck has escaped to Jackson's Island and meets Jim there, the relationship between the two has grown stronger. The relationship between these two guys is more of a father son relation, even though the two are not related in any way. After being with each other for several days and trying to survive Jim has become more of a father towards Huck than Pap is. Jim tells Huck things that Pap wouldn't have told him. There are a lot of people who tell Huck stories, and when Huck goes to seee if they're true, they're not. But in Jim's case, he does tell true stories. One is of the birds that they say and Jim said it would rain. Later on, there was a heavy storm. Also, Jimi was right about touching the snake skin, and that it would bring bad luck. Well after Huck put the dead snake near Jim, it's mate came by and bit Jim on the foot. This is significant because it's the first time where someone actually told Huck something that was true. Also when Huck and Jim go fishing together, it is an activity taht a father & son are always seen doing together.
The relationship between Huck and Pap isn't what a real father son relationship should be. Pap abuses Huck. He treats his son as a slave. Pap doesn't earn any money, and is expecting to get that $6,000 that Huck has from him. Even when Huck does give him a few dollars, Pap just goes and spends it on alcohol and gets drunk. Also when Pap comes back for the first time, and speaks with Huck, he is angry taht his son is educated. He's mad that Huck is the first one in the family to know how to read and write. How can a father do that to his child?Even when Pap takes Huck away, he leaves his son locked up in the house while he is gone into town. Huck is stuck there in the house and can't get out.

Huck Finn

As the title explains, this book is going to be an adventurous one. In chapter 2 of the novel, Huck and Tom get together with 'the gang' in a cave. It is curious to know how old these guys are, because they are thinking about murdering people. But then there is one boy there who fell asleeep, and said he didn't want to be a robber anymore. So Tom had to give him 5 cents in order not to tell anyone. So in one way, i think that they can't be that old. But just the fact that they are actually thinking of stealing & killing people makes me think that they are older. I would guess that they are probably in their early teens. But then again, from the way that Huck eats, i could say that he's probably 10 years old or something. cause he doesn't have any manners. Huck and Tom and good buddies, but they seem different from each other. Tom is more of a leader & boss type person. Where as Huck is sort of easy going and does as he's told by Tom. Tom does a lot of pranks and seems like a bad boy. He's the one who got the idea of the oath from books about pirates and robbers.

Thoreau

After reading "WHere I lived and WHat i Lived for" written by Thoreau, i found some connections between him and CHris McCandless from Into the WIld. Thoreau gave the reason for going into the woods, as he wished "to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if i could no learen what it had to teach." CHris also went into the wild for the same reason. He wanted 'live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.' Both CHris and Thoreau wanted to have a purpose in life. Both of these men also wanted to have a very simplistic life. Chris only bought what he thought was neccessary to survive. He even gave all of his money to some charity before heading out. Thoreau said 'let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand'. I agree with Thoreau; however, in today's society that we live in, it is hard to live like that. I mean it is possible, but it would be very difficult. I kinda relate this to cell phones. Today, almost everyone has a cell phone. And they probably are texting each other a hundred times a day. But what did people do when cell phones weren't owned by everyone and texting wasn't popular? Well they didn't do these kinds of things. I mean with cell phones, our lives have just gotten more away from being simplistic.

Personal Philosophy

WHat is my personal philosophy? Well i don't really know. I guess i could say that it is the phrase, Live, Laugh and love. Because i really like this phrase. I believe that in life, in order to live, one has to laught a lot and love a lot. THis is one thing that you have to do in order to live a happy life in my opinion. I personally belive taht laughter is the best medicine in life. If a person is mentally happy, then phisically they'll be happy as well. It is just like if a person is always in a bad negative mood in thier head, if they continue to be like this for their whole life, then the physical appearance on their face will also be that of unhappy and they;ll start having wrinkles on their face. Just like Emerson speaks of his personal philosophies in both Nature and in Self REliance, my personal philosophy is live, laugth and love.

Poetry

THere are four fireside poets that we read poems from. THey are Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russel Lowell, and John Greenleaf Whittier. They are all considered fireside poets because their poems were read by families by the fireside in the evenings as a social hour. All four of these poets lived and wrote their poems during the 19th century. One theme that is found in common in their poems is the use of Romantic elements. All four of the poems read by these men include some aspect of relation towards nature. In "A Psalm of Life", Longfellow refers to nature by saying "Footprints on the sands..." In THe First Snowfalll, thre is a lot of references made to the nature, especially the snow. In the poem by Holmes, entitled, "the CHambered Nautilus", he makes a comparison to the nautilus, an animal found in nature, to a ship on the sea. In the final poem, "the worship of nature", uses a lot of romanticism in it. In tshis poem, Whittier compares how nature worships itself and that man doesn't have any care for mother nature.

Irving

Irving was a Romantic, yet he was also a satirist. One element in his story that he is satrical is women. He is very satirical and against women. In both The Devil and TOm Walker and in Rip Van Winkle, Irving shows that he is against women. In The Devil and TOm Walker, Irving describes Tom's wife as termagant. SHe is constatntly nagging at Tom. Tom want's to get away from her; and he doesn't even care about her death. Instead, he cares more about the silverware and the money he can get. In Rip Van Winkle, Rip's wife is also termagant. Rip doesn't like being near her. Instead, he is seen more with other children and helping other people. In both the tales, there is a wish fulfillment. Both Tom and Rip are able to have theire wives go away and they are free from them. Tom and Rip are similar in both stories, as they both have termagant wives. And in the end, both their wives end up dying. Irving probably had something against women during his life. That's probably why he made both women in his stories termagant.

Poe

Poe's stories include a lot of gothic stuff in it. So far from what we've read, both the Raven and the fall of the house of usher both include gothic concepts in it. Both these stories include mystery, ghosts, haunted houses, and darkness. Another factor included in gothic are doubles. In the Fall of the House of Usher, one can see the use of doubles. I think that Madeline and Roderick are used as doubles here. Becuase they are twins, is why i think that they can be seen as being doubles. Maybe cause they're twins, Roderick thinks that Madeline is just a ghost and not a real person. That's why when he goes to bury her, he's lost his mind, and he thinks that she's dead. But i know that the fact that they are twins has to be important. Maybe since they're twins, they have telepathic communications. Thus, after Roderick has burried Madeline, he starts feeling different and wired taht following week. Maybe Madeline was communicating to Roderick and getting mad at him for burying him in the tomb while she was really alive.
I also think that Madeline and Roderick represent both Poe and his cousin? that he married. The description of Roderick that is given in the novel, describes Poe in my opinion. And Poe was an ill man as well. I don't know if he had any kids or not, which i don't think he did. It would mean that he was the last person of his family as well becuase he was adopted by another family. So this is also another similarity between him and Roderick.