As I chose to be a defense attorney in this fictional court case, I had no idea what kind of month I had gotten myself into. There was a lot of work, a lot of confusion, and a lot of uncertainty. At the end, however, the jury deemed Huck “not guilty.” Despite the decision in favor of my side, I feel that we had much room for improvement in every aspect our trial, from the opening statement to redirect examination questions. However, through the course of this project, I learned about laws and the court, and greatly deepened my understanding of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Initially, I was satisfied with our opening and closing statements. I felt that we had successfully pushed forward our arguments, appealed to jury emotion, attacked the prosecution’s credibility, and responded to their arguments. However, in retrospect, we could have improved them in many ways. In our opening statement, we neglected to mention the prosecution’s burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt. We could have shortened our closing statement (around seven minutes long) by eliminating repeated claims, such as how the duke and the dauphin testified that Huck did not fully understand their
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schemes. My side’s witness examinations generally went well. We worked with our witnesses beforehand to write both direct examination questions and answers and also potential cross examination questions and answers. My witnesses did a very good job of acting their parts, answering our questions, and staving off cross examination questions. However, I am not satisfied with our questions for Jim and Huck, which were crucial to our argument against the charge of aiding and abetting a runaway slave. Through Jim’s testimony, we attempted to present a precedent proving that he was not a runaway slave while on Jackson’s island, which, in retrospect, was completely irrelevant to the case, and instead confused the court. Through both Jim’s and Huck’s testimonies, we attempted to present timeline information. However, neither Jim nor Huck were able to clearly remember every single time and date, creating contradictions. Had we more thoroughly practiced this question with them, we likely would have avoided this confusion. As a whole, I am unsatisfied with my performance in asking cross examination and redirect examination questions.
In the testimonies of Tom Sawyer and the Widow Douglas, I did not adequately ask and modify questions in response to the witnesses’ answers. For example, when the Widow Douglas did not give me the desired response to one of my questions, I simply moved on to the next question I had written on my list. Even though the information she gave was ultimately unimportant in the jury deliberation, I feel that I missed an opportunity to benefit my side’s argument. Likewise, in these two testimonies, I did not fully utilize my redirect examination questions. I simply asked questions that I felt I should have asked in the cross examination, and did not further expand on the witnesses’
responses. The most significant blunder my partner and I made through the course of this trial was failing to present our timeline document, which nullified the charge of aiding and abetting by proving that Jim was a free man, to the court. We had taken care to read through the novel and find references to date and time, and constructed a timeline for Huck’s and Jim’s journey based on these and our agreed starting date (July 1, 1845). However, we assumed that we could simply present its information through our witness testimonies. This disrupted an otherwise smooth jury deliberation. As we did not give jury members a physical copy of the timeline prior, they could not use its information as concrete evidence, and they had to depend on our witness testimonies, which slightly conflicted with each other. A long debate then erupted over the validity of the witnesses’ statements, which confused the jury and delayed its proceedings. Had my partner and I presented the actual document earlier, this would not have happened. Prior to my participation in this trial, I had little to no knowledge of actual court proceedings, despite learning about the Supreme Court and its many cases in government class last year. I did not know how lawyers objected to questions and statements, what the purpose of a judge was, and how the jury deliberated. In this project, after researching various courtroom rules and procedures, and also experiencing them firsthand, I have garnered at least an elementary knowledge of legal procedure. Not only did I improve my understanding of the court system, but I also delved deeper into my study of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I learned more about all of my witness characters, and also about relevant scenes in the book, such as the incident with the Wilks family and Huck’s encounter with Judith Loftus. For example, in this trial, I realized that Ms. Loftus, new to St. Petersburg, was an unreliable source of information, a detail that I had missed in my earlier readings.
Gentlemen of the jury, I would like to point out to you three pieces of
"What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right." Whether he knows it or not, the character Huck Finn is a perfect example of the truth in this quote. His struggle between knowing in his mind and what is legal, but feeling in his heart what is moral was predominant throughout the novel. Today, we'll examine three examples of situations when Huck had to decide for himself whether to follow the law, or his heart.
Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn." Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. 348-359.
Over the 129 years for which the book has been in print, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been regarded with much controversy, for many different reasons. As it has progressed, the subject of this controversy has been almost constantly changing. This essay will explore some of the claims and explanations of the controversy, as well as a discussion on whether the book is even that controversial. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion about this novel, The main complaints seem to revolve around three core topics: Twain’s portrayal of Jim and other blacks, The extensive use of the racial slurs and racism, and the final chapters of the book itself.
Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn." Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. 348-359.
F i n a l P a p e r: L a w s v e r s u s M o r a l s
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a novel that is read by many students in high school classes all across America every year. However, when you have a book that popular among schools, you will start to gain some controversy over it. There has been a recurring debate over the topic of banning this novel from being read in schools due to its 'offensive racial epithets' and other reasons, like poking fun at religion and challenging authority. I disagree with those who say the novel should be banned, and believe that schools should continue to read it and disregard those who say otherwise.
Yet with the help of one aged yet wise and optimistic man he speaks his opinion, one that starts to not change however open the minds of the other eleven men on the jury. By doing this the man puts out a visual picture by verbally expressing the facts discussed during the trial, he uses props from the room and other items the he himself brought with him during the course of the trial. Once expressed the gentleman essentially demonstrate that perhaps this young man on trial May or may not be guilty. Which goes to show the lack of research, and misused information that was used in the benefit of the prosecution. For example when a certain factor was brought upon the trail; that being timing, whether or not it took the neighbor 15 seconds to run from his chair all the way to the door. By proving this right or wrong this man Juror #4 put on a demonstration, but first he made sure his notes were correct with the other 11 jurors. After it was
Ransomed? Whats that???.. it means that we keep them till they're dead (10). This dialogue reflects Twains witty personality. Mark Twain, a great American novelist, exploits his humor, realism, and satire in his unique writing style in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain, born in 1835, wrote numerous books throughout his lifetime. Many of his books include humor; they also contain deep cynicism and satire on society. Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exemplifies his aspects of writing humor, realism, and satire throughout the characters and situations in his great American novel.
Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are numerous crimes. The violence of these crimes is described vividly by Huck, the narrator, which shows their impact upon him. By showing Huck's shock over these events, Twain is showing that there is no real justice in the South, except for the hollow and often inappropriate excess found attempts to obtain personal justice. During these scenes Huck's turmoil reflects what Twain wants the reader to feel. Ultimately, this novel is a sharp criticism of a Southern lifestyle where justice is unobtainable.
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered the great American Novel with its unorthodox writing style and controversial topics. In the selected passage, Huck struggles with his self-sense of morality. This paper will analyze a passage from Adventures of huckleberry Finn and will touch on the basic function of the passage, the connection between the passage from the rest of the book, and the interaction between form and content.
Huck Finn, a narcissistic and unreliable young boy, slowly morphs into a courteous figure of respect and selflessness. After Pap abducts the young and civilized Huck, Huck descends into his old habits of lies and half-truths. However, upon helping a runaway slave escape, Huck regains morality and a sense of purpose. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck lies to characters, casting the authenticity of the story into doubt but illustrating Huck’s gradual rejection of lying for himself and a shift towards lying for others.
Since its release, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, has stirred up much controversy, most recently, over the book’s excessive usage of the word “nigger.” The topic has been debated by a broad range of scholars, ranging from authors to professors, to students alike, with both sides providing bold claims in support of their viewpoint. On the side arguing against Twain’s use of the N-word, there are arguments made stating that the word is offensive, inappropriate for the classroom environment and that the word, itself, is unnecessary for one to truly understand the novel. Opposing these arguments, those who support the use of the racial epithet state that removing the word would have more negative effects than positive, nor will
Huck Finn learns from the actions of people around him, what kind of a person he is going to be. He is both part of the society and an outlier of society, and as such he is given the opportunity to make his own decisions about what is right and what is wrong. There are two main groups of characters that help Huck on his journey to moral maturation. The first group consists of Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and the judge. They portray society and strict adherence to rules laid out by authority. The second group consists of Pap, the King, and the Duke. They represent outliers of society who have chosen to alienate themselves from civilized life and follow no rules. While these characters all extremely important in Huck’s moral development, perhaps the most significant character is Jim, who is both a fatherly figure to Huck as well as his parallel as far as limited power and desire to escape. Even though by the end of the novel, Huck still does not want to be a part of society, he has made a many choices for himself concerning morality. Because Huck is allowed to live a civilized life with the Widow Douglas, he is not alienated like his father, who effectively hates civilization because he cannot be a part of it. He is not treated like a total outsider and does not feel ignorant or left behind. On the other hand, because he does not start out being a true member of the society, he is able to think for himself and dismiss the rules authority figures say are correct. By the end of the novel, Huck is no longer a slave to the rules of authority, nor is he an ignorant outsider who looks out only for himself. This shows Huck’s moral and psychological development, rendering the description of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as a picaresq...
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist is faced with many moral dilemmas. Huckleberry Finn is barely an adolescent who is used to skipping school and horsing around with his friends. Regardless, he is forced to make decisions that no person should have to make, even though he is only a child. Huckleberry is an outstanding role model and a model of what a human being should represent. Even though Huck is surrounded by corruption and is led by examples that do not recognize right from wrong, he is still able to address nonconformity. He makes the most morally upstanding decisions while under stress and the disapproval of society. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy who grows up without the leadership of a father to guide him as he struggles with decisions that heavily impact those around him. Huckleberry makes the conscious decision to help a runaway slave escape to his freedom. He struggles with this decision for an extremely l...