Huckleberry Finn Book Report
This paper will be broken into two sections; the summary of key ideas from the book and the evaluation of the book. The summary of key ideas will discuss: the type of work this book is, the main ideas of this book, how the author developed these ideas, how the author substantiated his points, and the impression of this time period the author portrays. The evaluation of the book will discuss: my opinion of the book, insights gathered concerning this time period from the book, if this book supports or contradicts the way the authors of our textbook portray the time period, any bias in the book, is the book enjoyable, and finally is the book worth reading. All these points will be covered in the following paragraphs in chronological order.
Summary of the key ideas
The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a fictional story about a boy’s adventure floating down the Mississippi River. This book is organized into 43 chapters each containing at least two events each which are written above the chapter number. The book contains many ideas and events but there are three main ideas portrayed throughout the book.
The first idea that is portrayed is how African Americans are treated in this time period. This idea is portrayed throughout the book by Jim the run-away slave who floats down the river with Huck. The author portrays this idea through the way Jim acts, the way Huck and other whites treat Jim, and how Jim is forced into hiding whenever he is around whites other than Huck, king, and duke.
The second main idea is how free everyone was back then. People could up and leave any time they wanted and live prosperously off the land. There where jobs but not the kind where you had to report to a boss. Usually you sustained yourself by knowing a trade such as farming, blacksmith, boat captain, etc. Some people chose to steal, rob and swindle there way into money, which is portrayed well by the characters king and duke.
The third main idea is that of what teen life might have been like in the 1800’s. This idea is portrayed in the character Huckleberry Finn. Huck is a teen that had a deadbeat father who constantly abuses him and tries to take his money to go drinking. Huck is taken in by Widow Douglas and Mrs.
Mark Twain throughout the book showed Huckleberry Finns personal growth on how he started from the bottom as a lonely, racist, immature kid who knew nothing to where he is now, by finally breaking away from society’s values he was taught in the beginning. He has alienated himself from the from that society and revealed how in fact these values were hypocritical. He realized that he can choose his own morals and that the one he chooses is the correct one.
The 2011 Spanish film, Even the Rain, attempts to tell the story of Columbus’s explorations of Latin America as well as parallel those events with the water crisis that Bolivia has faced due to the privatization of water. While the film remained relatively historically accurate on the pretense of Columbus, it became glaringly obvious that the amount of effort that went into being historically accurate on the Bolivian front was dramatically less. Furthermore, the film uses the water war of Cochabamba to further the plot of the movie while disregarding the majority of the facts regarding the real water crisis that occurred. Additionally, the neglection of these details provides the heavy implications that the indigenous peoples of Bolivia are still being taken advantage of to further the gains of Europeans.
Jim’s anticipation for freedom grew higher as he expressed his future dreams and aspirations. Jim began saying things that “niggers” wouldn’t normally dare say. Jim was speaking like a white man, not like someone’s property, a slave. This attitude began to lower Huck’s vision of Jim, and his conscience grew even hotter. Huck had never been exposed to a slave who spoke this way. It was his inadequate education that told him this was wrong.
The book I am doing my book report on is called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain. This book revolves around a poor fourteen year old boy named Huck who runs away from his drunk father and finds friendship within a former slave, Jim, trying to escape to the free states. They adventure along the Mississippi River and end up stopping at various places throughout the novel and meet people who are all morally inadequate. “Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides. So I was satisfied, and said we would waltz in on it.” This quotes illustrates the dangers that come to Huck and Jim in this novel, but how Huck chooses to go with the plan anyhow, since it causes a sense of ‘adventure.’ The setting of this novel takes place before the Civil War in different towns along the Mississippi River in Missouri. I will talk about how Huck meets Jim, how he and Jim have to escape from their present issues, how they form a friendship and come across evil in their journey, and how they both end up free with a little help from Tom Sawyer.
This book is set in the year 1852 in the south. It is a coming of age novel about an adolescent boy named Huckleberry Finn. In this early stage of his life, Huckleberry is taught many of life’s lessons that will help him deal with events that may occur later on in his life. Huck fakes his death in order to run away from his alcoholic father and his caretaker, Mrs. Watson, and also to escape from being “sivilized”. While floating down the Mississippi River, he meets Jim, the runaway slave who is owned by Mrs. Watson. His life begins to change when he is faced with many moral struggles along the way. He has to fight against society’s views, which conflict with his views. One of the most significant moral struggles that confronts him is the issue of slavery. Throughout the novel, Huck Finn becomes more self-reliant and mature. He begins to understand the evil in slavery and he realizes that he must follow his own conscience in his actions towards Jim.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, many dominant American themes and culture are present. Twain explores these themes through the actions, relationships, and development of different characters in the novel. Freedom, survival of the fittest, and individual conscience are three themes that are explored in individual characters and in society.
Year round school or the modified school year is a rearrangement of the traditional school year to provide the students with continuous learning throughout the school year. Students receive the same amount of instructional time as a traditional school. In year round schools, the instructional time is balanced without of school time more evenly. (Winter, 2005) The National Association for Year Round Schooling defines it as “a schedule which contains no break lasting longer than eight weeks-schools are able to keep their students in constant learning mode, and are able to use the intersessions between periods of schooling to address the problems of students who are falling behind.” (St. Gerard, 2007, pg. 57) There are three common tracks of year round schooling. They are the single track, multitrack, and extended year. The single track is scheduled throughput the year into intersessions which allow time for enrichment or red-mediation. The multitrack is used to help schools reduce overcrowding. The school divides the teachers and students into groups of an equal size. Each group has its own schedule. One group is on intercession while the other is in school. The extended year increases the amount of time spent in schools from 180 days to as many as 240 days a year. (McGlynn, 2002)
The most popular form of year-round education is the 45-15 plan, where students attend school for 45 days and then get three weeks (15 days) off. The usual holiday breaks are still built into this calendar. Two other ways to organize a school calendar are the 60-20 and the 90-30 plans. Perhaps, the most important facet of year-round education is how it is implemented.
If kids know that there is a break within sight, then they might try harder and perform better. It was stated in text 1, paragraph 3,”They didn’t have the bored, glazed over looks of the kids who had been in school for weeks, with no breaks in sight.” This also can make the kids more engaged if they aren’t burnt out from going a long time without a break. This makes a teacher's job easier , if all the kids are listening and engaged. But, although these breaks are refreshing, it also refreshes your memory. Teachers would get more upset by teaching something, and immediately having their kids forget it . In text 2, paragraph 5, it states,” Although one of the main reasons for switching to year round schools is to improve student achievement, there is no concrete proof that students improve academically.” If there are no benefits to change to year round school, then why do
Burns, E. B., & Charlip, J. A. (2007). Latin America: an interpretive history (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
One of the first concerns of a student when they think of year-round school is that they will be attending school five days a week, 52 weeks a year. That thought is incorrect. The year-round school schedule is still based on 180 days, which is the same amount as the traditional school year. The big difference between the two different systems is that the year-round school year have breaks that are more spread out throughout the year. Instead of have a long three month summer break from school, the year-round schools give a one month summer break. Although the summer break is shorter, the system allows the school to have longer breaks during the school year. One example of a year-round school schedule is from Balanced Calendar; the children would attend school for nine weeks, and then receive a 15 day break. These two week breaks that happen periodically throughout the year allow the children to relax, and not think about homew...
Year-round school, also known as a “balanced calendar”, is a new idea that is being brought up all over the United States. When most people hear the term “year-round school” they often think that school will literally be all year. In reality, year-round school is still the 180 days that a nine-month school year would be. The 180 days are stretched out through all 12 months of the year, and student get frequent breaks throughout the year. Schools that decide to use a balanced calendar have the option of how many days are spent in school and how many days will be spend on break. The most common schedule used is 45 days in school 15 days on break. There are also two types on year-round schooling systems. Single-track is when all the students are placed in the same schedule. They all attend school on the same days, and they all get the same days off. Multi-tracking is when the students are placed sub-sets. In an article that discusses the overview of year-round school they explain multi-tracking, “…the student body is divided into three of four subsets. The four sub-sets rotate vacation time, so that three sets of students attend school during a given term”(Chittom).
What do you think about going to school year round with little breaks here and there, but not your traditional three month summer break? Year round schooling has been a decision argued with the government, teachers, principals and parents. Many kids and adults like to relax on their three month break. Many students are used to having two week winter break, one week spring break, and three months of summer break. Overall, one three month break would benefit than having three-week breaks broken up throughout the school year.
He makes you think and wonder about the external world in which in his mind does not exist. My question is that how can he believe in God and the sense that there is no external world if God himself is the creator of all things including humans, animals, mind and nature. There are some things that I could agree with for example if a tree is cut but no one is around to see or hear does it make a sound. The answer Berkeley would give is no because no one is around to perceive it. In this case that makes perfect sense to me. I can also understand the notion how an idea is perceived through our experiences and our senses of smell, touch, listening and etc. George Berkeley makes his readers think outside the box in such a way that the words we have been taught to represent one thing could very well represent something else in an abstract kind of way. Who is to say the words I have written do not represent something else. For someone who does not have a language could read George Berkeley and have their own representation of
Whistleblowing is an ethical procedure when there is clear evidence of serious evidence, that will harm the public and the blower has tried to find an internal solution to effect change. The whistleblower who is associated with the unethical activity has a moral responsibility to do the right thing.