Free Response 7 AHF

“You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.”

From the very first page of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck grabs the reader’s attention by inviting us to read about his experiences. By using this first person narrative, Twain encourages the reader to relate events from the perspective of Huck, the protagonist of the story, and from the view of the detached observer, who knows how the story is going to end. Huck is able to contribute his own personal thoughts and immediate responses by telling the story in first person, while at the same time, able to foreshadow upcoming events and create suspense which holds the audience enraptured in Huck’s adventures.

Huck drags along his audience through each episode of his adventures. When Huck is “kidnapped” by Pap, when Huck finds Jim, when Huck meets the Grangerfords, and when Huck meets the duke and dauphin, the reader also participates vicariously through Huck. Because it is written in first person, the reader is able to delve into Huck’s thoughts and discover his naïve and child-like logic, providing the reader a source of entertainment and laughter. Thus the reader is able to observe Huck grow and learn through his experiences, watch his thoughts mature, and see changes in his values from shallow to profound.

Huck is also able to create suspense because after all, it is his story. After Huck touches a rattlesnake, he says, “Anybody that don’t believe yet that it’s foolishness to handle a snake-skin…will believe it now if they read on and see what more it done for us,” impelling the reader to continue reading. Huck foreshadows events here and there, but he tries to keep the readers in the dark as if they were also experiencing the adventure along with him. If Huck didn’t know what was going to happen next at the time, there was no way the reader was going to know. This interaction with the reader keeps the reader’s curiosity piqued.

Using first person may also be a technique which Twain purposefully employed: By utilizing Huck, Twain is able to imbue his own views into the story. Satirizing society, religion, racism, and petty conflicts, Twain is able to get all these messages across to the reader through Huck’s voice in a subtle yet clear way. When Huck declares that he would rather go to hell if people like Miss Watson were going to heaven, Twain was criticizing society’s absurd morality and religious rational. When Huck describes the cowardliness in mobs from different towns, Twain is emphasizing the ridiculousness of crowds.

However, though literary critics have deconstructed Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn prying it apart for themes and morals, this classic is essentially about an independent boy who learns through his adventures and people around him. By using first person, Twain is able to develop Huck’s character to make him more than just a character from a novel. Huck is able to communicate to the reader, and his insights and opinions on different people also make the reader prejudiced. Though this is not our story, we are able to empathize with Huck as he narrates his adventures – through his surprises, his successes, and his disappointments – because we have all been there too.

Romeo and Juliet #3 Fate

Fate: The power that predetermines the course of life and is inescapable.

The theme of fate permeates through Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, as the scenes unfold before the audience. From the very beginning, the chorus warns the audience that the lovers are “star-crossed” which will ultimately take their lives. Not only is the audience aware of this, but even the characters seem to sense that there is a transcendent power influencing the timing of the characters’ actions. Nevertheless, though their fates are sealed, this does not create a dull Romeo and Juliet who act mechanically which detracts from their love and passion. Instead, the stars contribute to the impact of Romeo and Juliet as heroes who create a beautiful yet tragic story.

Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens throughout the play. In Act I, Scene III, Romeo speaks before entering the Capulet’s mansion about an unknown consequence “yet hanging in the stars…bitterly [beginning] this fearful date”. Somehow Romeo expects something bad to happen due to what is already written in the stars above. However, though Romeo acknowledges fate’s hands in all the events, Romeo still believes that he can make his own choices and change destiny which contributes to his heroism. Romeo believes that he is acting according to his will. In the play’s climax when Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, “I defy you, stars,” completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to destiny. When Juliet stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger, she is acting out of turmoil of passion and love. This beautiful ending underscores that Romeo and Juliet believe in a love more real and alive than fate can ever prove itself to be.

Because their deaths are destined, it enhances the tragedy of the play; tragedy in turn enhances and enriches the impact of Romeo and Juliet as heroes. They were desperately in love, and this love was violent and ecstatic, superseding all other loyalties and emotions, making it real to the two lovers. They did not see their deaths as an act of fate; rather they saw it as a necessity to preserve and retain this powerful love that they had. Romeo and Juliet’s determination to defy the stars and write their own destiny together by killing themselves makes them heroes who persevere to the very last.