Dialectic Journal 1

Chapter 2
P. 20: "Nothing only robbery and murder."

Comments and questions
I believe the reason that Tom wants to go into robbery and "murder" so bad is because he is bored. He has more money then he can spend and he needs something to do that's exciting so he chooses robbery and murder. Of course Tom isn't actually going to do either of these things but he wants to be doing something similar that will occupy his time. I believe Mark Twain is showing how humans pretty much only thrive when they want something, but when they have the ability to get anything they want with ease it causes people like To, to get bored. This is also one of the themes of Huckleberry Finn how humans always have desire.

Chapter 3
P. 24: "She told me to pray every day and anything I asked for I would get it. But it warn't so."

Comments and questions
This passage also expresses the theme of human desire and how humans always want things. I find it interspersing though that in this time period people of this area see god more as a genie then the creator of everything who they are suppose to give thanks to. They probably behave in this way because they are use to not having much to be thankful for because they are in a relatively poor part of the country. This passage shows how this part of the country lives, and how people even like Huck who have a bunch of money always want something.

Chapter 6
P. 43: "The widow she found out where I was by and by, and she sent a man over to try to get hold of me; but pap drove him off with the gun, and it warn't long after that till I was used to being where I was, and liked it—all but the cowhide part."

Comments and questions
In this passage Mark Twain shows how kids at Huckleberry's age would rather have an unstable irresponsible environment then a stable healthy environment which is also a little ironic because his dad beats him as well yet he'd still choose that life over being with the widow. Mark Twain also uses this scenario to show the roles of parents during this time. How fathers would be drunks that beat eir sons and how mothers are stern and try to get their kids to learn about religion.

Chapter 8
P. 76: “Jim said bees wouldn't sting idiots; but I didn't believe that, because I had tried them lots of times myself, and they wouldn't sting me."

Comments and questions
I found this passage to be hilarious and a great example of Mark Twain using humor in his works to get the attention of the audience. Mark Twain has been known to use humor in his other works like his book on Adam and Eve and "The Adventures of Tom Sawer". The passage is funny because Huckleberry thinks that he isn't an idiot and that Jim is wrong about bees not stinging idiots.

Chapter 10
P. 87: “That all comes of my being such a fool as to not remember that wherever you leave a dead snake its mate always comes there and curls around it.”

Comments and questions
People of this time are beginning to understand the environment they live in more because not that long ago the land wasn't even a part of the U.S. I think in this passage the author is also trying to help the audience know how Huckelberry treats Jim (by putting a snake in his bead which could have gotten him killed even though that wasn't his intention. It also shows what African Americans were treated like during this time period as well. But I do believe Huck's view of Jim and African Americans is changing all together.

Chapter 11
P. 93: “The nigger run off the very night Huck Finn was killed. So there's a reward out for him—three hundred dollars. And there's a reward out for old Finn, too—two hundred dollars.”

Comments and questions
I find it interesting how there is a bigger bounty for Jim then there is for Finn. During these times were whites seen as superior to blacks so I find it interesting how they clearly value the life of a slave then a kid. Perhaps it's not the slave they're putting ahead of the kid neccecarily but work getting done because Jim was a valuable strong man who would be a powerful asset to a wealthy farmer of the south during these times.

Chapter 14
P. 126: “It lays in de way Sollermun was raised. You take a man dat's got on'y one or two chillen; is dat man gwyne to be waseful o' chillen? No, he ain't; he can't 'ford it. He know how to value 'em. But you take a man dat's got 'bout five million chillen runnin' roun' de house, en it's diffunt”

Comments and questions
Here Jim makes a good point on how Solomon was raised and how he thinks it affected his judgment. The reality that Jim refused to acct though was that Solomon was never going to kill the kid he just wanted to see who the mother was. However the world Jim grew up in forced him to be stubborn and overlook the facts and automatically assume Solomon is a bad guy because he has power because that is what he was taught. Of course that's because of the time period he is living him that causes him to think this way. Throughout the story though he might begin to widen his view on life though.