The Raft, the River, and The Weird Ending of Huckleberry Finn: Crash Course Literature 303
video description
Date: 2022-04-04
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 10
SerpentStare
I disagree with you about the ending. If we continue this theme of Huck Finn rejecting the morality of the Widow's way to respect his own conscience even if he doesn't realize he's doing so, and rejecting too his father's violence, then this last may go to show how even so he still struggles to stand up against the mischief of his friend, even while he doesn't agree with that either. He's had adventure in his long trip down the river, real adventure that doesn't have to be pretended up as Tom's games of imagination always have been, and enough of it to appreciate an easy solution when there is one. He never really wants to go along with this plan.
But even so, Tom's way of exerting pressure is friendly and energetic. He takes over everything he gets into, and isn't unbearably stuffy like the widow or dangerous like Pap, so even though he's putting Jim through needless suffering, he's very hard for Huck to turn down while he's there. So he goes along with it.
I don't think that message is a mistake and I don't think it's a bad turn. It shows even more raw honest humanity, of a kind of influence that perpetuates longer and deeper than the reign of the violent and the stuffy. It's hard to stand up in disagreement to our friends, when values that people around us hold dearly cause problems. It's hard to look at that amiable sincerity, that happy folksy confidence, and tell it unflinchingly that it's wrong. The fact that even Jim tolerates Tom's shenanigans although he makes no pretense of valuing it himself continues to tell a very powerful story of how much people will tolerate and even internalize systemic injustice which hurts them personally, when it's so thoroughly a backdrop of life, or when it's endorsed by our friends. and that is so very real, even in modern progressive circles.
reply
I disagree with you about the ending. If we continue this theme of Huck Finn rejecting the morality of the Widow's way to respect his own conscience even if he doesn't realize he's doing so, and rejecting too his father's violence, then this last may go to show how even so he still struggles to stand up against the mischief of his friend, even while he doesn't agree with that either. He's had adventure in his long trip down the river, real adventure that doesn't have to be pretended up as Tom's games of imagination always have been, and enough of it to appreciate an easy solution when there is one. He never really wants to go along with this plan.
But even so, Tom's way of exerting pressure is friendly and energetic. He takes over everything he gets into, and isn't unbearably stuffy like the widow or dangerous like Pap, so even though he's putting Jim through needless suffering, he's very hard for Huck to turn down while he's there. So he goes along with it.
I don't think that message is a mistake and I don't think it's a bad turn. It shows even more raw honest humanity, of a kind of influence that perpetuates longer and deeper than the reign of the violent and the stuffy. It's hard to stand up in disagreement to our friends, when values that people around us hold dearly cause problems. It's hard to look at that amiable sincerity, that happy folksy confidence, and tell it unflinchingly that it's wrong. The fact that even Jim tolerates Tom's shenanigans although he makes no pretense of valuing it himself continues to tell a very powerful story of how much people will tolerate and even internalize systemic injustice which hurts them personally, when it's so thoroughly a backdrop of life, or when it's endorsed by our friends. and that is so very real, even in modern progressive circles.
reply
Marcus
The ending is the Civil War. The Civil War was the -adventure- to free Jim, AKA the slaves.
Remember, Mark Twain fought in the Civil War for two weeks before deserting. Tom knowing that Jim was already free was a basic Northerner knowledge, however Mark Twain decides to satirize the -escape. - The disruption in Aunt Sally's house, the missing sheets and the missing spoons, represents the damage done to the South during the war, and Tom being shot by the mob was representing how brothers, neighbors and friends were turned against each other.
You may think that Mark Twain, the man who criticized his own homeland, wouldn't do the same to the North, but you have to remember that Mark Twain was a satirist and he would have criticized anyone, mostly if he went against his own region.
Another thing worth noting is Huck lighting out for Indian Territory, which would be Oklahoma. He would be going west, which coincides with Mark Twain deserting the Confederate army after serving for two weeks and going west to his brother. It took Twain only two weeks in the war to unveil the hypocrisy of the North and South, and realizing how he didn't want to be -sivilized. -
This is my theory of the ending. I based most of it off of Mark Twain's life himself.
reply
The ending is the Civil War. The Civil War was the -adventure- to free Jim, AKA the slaves.
Remember, Mark Twain fought in the Civil War for two weeks before deserting. Tom knowing that Jim was already free was a basic Northerner knowledge, however Mark Twain decides to satirize the -escape. - The disruption in Aunt Sally's house, the missing sheets and the missing spoons, represents the damage done to the South during the war, and Tom being shot by the mob was representing how brothers, neighbors and friends were turned against each other.
You may think that Mark Twain, the man who criticized his own homeland, wouldn't do the same to the North, but you have to remember that Mark Twain was a satirist and he would have criticized anyone, mostly if he went against his own region.
Another thing worth noting is Huck lighting out for Indian Territory, which would be Oklahoma. He would be going west, which coincides with Mark Twain deserting the Confederate army after serving for two weeks and going west to his brother. It took Twain only two weeks in the war to unveil the hypocrisy of the North and South, and realizing how he didn't want to be -sivilized. -
This is my theory of the ending. I based most of it off of Mark Twain's life himself.
reply
Atomic
1: 10 Okay I gotta speak up, here. On behalf of all of us here at Atomic Gospel:
God of the River. It is about a -God, - Trilling wrote, -a power which seems to have a mind and will of its own, and which, to men of moral imagination; appears to embody a Great Moral Ideal. -
While this God of the River isn't necessarily GOOD,
LOVE of it leads Huck toward GOODNESS,
which you can see in the way Huck's voice is
at it's most beautiful and poetic, when he's describing the River.
Critics argue otherwise, but their view is maybe too ignorant of what it means that Huck's voice is led to beautiful and poetic places by the mere THOUGHT of the River. It means Huck is led toward GOODNESS by the God of the River, obviously.
The God of the River is real, and it leads all who follow toward GOODNESS.
Namaste
reply
1: 10 Okay I gotta speak up, here. On behalf of all of us here at Atomic Gospel:
God of the River. It is about a -God, - Trilling wrote, -a power which seems to have a mind and will of its own, and which, to men of moral imagination; appears to embody a Great Moral Ideal. -
While this God of the River isn't necessarily GOOD,
LOVE of it leads Huck toward GOODNESS,
which you can see in the way Huck's voice is
at it's most beautiful and poetic, when he's describing the River.
Critics argue otherwise, but their view is maybe too ignorant of what it means that Huck's voice is led to beautiful and poetic places by the mere THOUGHT of the River. It means Huck is led toward GOODNESS by the God of the River, obviously.
The God of the River is real, and it leads all who follow toward GOODNESS.
Namaste
reply
Justin
We must keep in mind the times. This was during realism in literature. Books were realistic and often showed romanticism as flawed and foolish. The end of Huck FInn does just this. It shows romanticism and the subsequent age of slavery are still prevalent in society, despite the massive efforts for society to change. Huck realizes that things aren't gonna change. -I been there before. - Huck moves on from the entirety of society, realizing that it has no hope of changing and will inevitably repeat. Twain, being a cynic, was pointing out that no matter how much people try to change for the better, society will never not be deplorable. The only option is to leave society completely, or to be trapped in an endless cycle.
reply
We must keep in mind the times. This was during realism in literature. Books were realistic and often showed romanticism as flawed and foolish. The end of Huck FInn does just this. It shows romanticism and the subsequent age of slavery are still prevalent in society, despite the massive efforts for society to change. Huck realizes that things aren't gonna change. -I been there before. - Huck moves on from the entirety of society, realizing that it has no hope of changing and will inevitably repeat. Twain, being a cynic, was pointing out that no matter how much people try to change for the better, society will never not be deplorable. The only option is to leave society completely, or to be trapped in an endless cycle.
reply
Sophia
I see the ending of the novel to be a satire towards the Jim Crow Laws. Even after Jim is technically free, he is forced to go through unnecessary procedures by Tom. This shows how white people controlled blacks even after they were free through the Jim Crow laws. The fact that Tom threw rats and bugs into the shed with Jim shows how white people believed that blacks were -dirty- and it was -okay- for them to suffer. Along with this, the problem could be so easily solved (they could steal the key and free him) but Tom decides that it is okay to control him purely for his own amusement.
reply
I see the ending of the novel to be a satire towards the Jim Crow Laws. Even after Jim is technically free, he is forced to go through unnecessary procedures by Tom. This shows how white people controlled blacks even after they were free through the Jim Crow laws. The fact that Tom threw rats and bugs into the shed with Jim shows how white people believed that blacks were -dirty- and it was -okay- for them to suffer. Along with this, the problem could be so easily solved (they could steal the key and free him) but Tom decides that it is okay to control him purely for his own amusement.
reply
David
Honestly I've always taken the ending of the novel, and Huck's almost acceptance of returning to the status quo (of racism) to be a critique of the United States as a whole. By the time the novel was published, Reconstruction had ended. Jim Crow laws reigned, and though slavery had been ended, the political control of the South had returned to that old status quo once again. And thus then, Huck's decision to go back to the river, was perhaps an optimistic view that America, will not stay idle, and will also look for a higher goal than just -sivilization-.
reply
Honestly I've always taken the ending of the novel, and Huck's almost acceptance of returning to the status quo (of racism) to be a critique of the United States as a whole. By the time the novel was published, Reconstruction had ended. Jim Crow laws reigned, and though slavery had been ended, the political control of the South had returned to that old status quo once again. And thus then, Huck's decision to go back to the river, was perhaps an optimistic view that America, will not stay idle, and will also look for a higher goal than just -sivilization-.
reply
Aur-lie
We discussed this book (and its ending) in class, and the professor made this remarkable comment about the relationship between Huck and Tom being closely related to that of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Tom, like Don Quixote, loses himself through reading these adventurous novels while Huck/Sancho Panza is the guy who stays more down to earth and proposes more simple approaches to life, instead of losing himself in a fantasy. It's so cool when you think about it this way!
reply
We discussed this book (and its ending) in class, and the professor made this remarkable comment about the relationship between Huck and Tom being closely related to that of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Tom, like Don Quixote, loses himself through reading these adventurous novels while Huck/Sancho Panza is the guy who stays more down to earth and proposes more simple approaches to life, instead of losing himself in a fantasy. It's so cool when you think about it this way!
reply
desertrose0601
I-ve never found the ending odd. I guess as an adult, I can see where the thematic differences lie, but when I read this as a kid, I just saw an adventure ending and reality starting again. Which makes sense to kid-s brain. The river was a pipe dream and almost a fantastical adventure that had to end sometime. The end of the book was just reality setting back in, adventure time over.
reply
I-ve never found the ending odd. I guess as an adult, I can see where the thematic differences lie, but when I read this as a kid, I just saw an adventure ending and reality starting again. Which makes sense to kid-s brain. The river was a pipe dream and almost a fantastical adventure that had to end sometime. The end of the book was just reality setting back in, adventure time over.
reply
Niloofar
But is Huck actually aware of what-s happening? To do something might be different from understanding what you-re doing.
And so maybe he wouldn-t just change suddenly in all different aspect of his communication because what was hasn-t yet hit the other aspects of his characteristics?
He is just a kid with his own understandings.
reply
But is Huck actually aware of what-s happening? To do something might be different from understanding what you-re doing.
And so maybe he wouldn-t just change suddenly in all different aspect of his communication because what was hasn-t yet hit the other aspects of his characteristics?
He is just a kid with his own understandings.
reply
Fr.
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
reply
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
