"It warn't the grounding -- that didn't keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head."
"Good gracious! anybody hurt?"
"No'm. Killed a nigger."
"Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt. -HF, P. 279
This is a conversation between Huck and Aunt Sally, after Huck and Jim part ways and Huck travels on his own. This passage not only echoes Huck’s ever changing position on slavery and African-American rights but also juxtaposes the prevailing belief that slaves are not people, merely chattel. Literally, the passage displays the common disregard for African-Americans at this period in time, where their lives are counted strictly on a monetary basis. On a larger level, Twain writes these lines loaded with sarcasm and irony, predicting that future readers will comprehend the impropriety with which this scene is crafted. Also, possibly inadvertently, the term “Aunt Sally” is also a metaphorical phrase to mean something that is a target for criticism; in this case, Twain is criticizing her attitude toward the African American race.In addition, Twain satirizes the uncouth mentality which Aunt Sally so absolutely portrays in this scene. “Sometimes people do get hurt,” directly exposes and explicates the white Southern attitude toward slavery; their belief of their own righteousness and virtuosity despite their apparent mistreatment of other beings.
–Kristofer Kalas
"Good gracious! anybody hurt?"
"No'm. Killed a nigger."
"Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt. -HF, P. 279
This is a conversation between Huck and Aunt Sally, after Huck and Jim part ways and Huck travels on his own. This passage not only echoes Huck’s ever changing position on slavery and African-American rights but also juxtaposes the prevailing belief that slaves are not people, merely chattel. Literally, the passage displays the common disregard for African-Americans at this period in time, where their lives are counted strictly on a monetary basis. On a larger level, Twain writes these lines loaded with sarcasm and irony, predicting that future readers will comprehend the impropriety with which this scene is crafted. Also, possibly inadvertently, the term “Aunt Sally” is also a metaphorical phrase to mean something that is a target for criticism; in this case, Twain is criticizing her attitude toward the African American race.In addition, Twain satirizes the uncouth mentality which Aunt Sally so absolutely portrays in this scene. “Sometimes people do get hurt,” directly exposes and explicates the white Southern attitude toward slavery; their belief of their own righteousness and virtuosity despite their apparent mistreatment of other beings.
–Kristofer Kalas
posted by Kristofer Kalas at 10:58 AM
1 Comments:
Your recognition of how Twain portrays this disrespect towards the African American race in a sarcastic light is dead on. Twain wrote this passage to "mainly [tell] the truth" about Southerners view on slaves and how they are simply tools to be used by white men. A part I disagree with you on is that Huck did not desert Jim, Aunt Sally is the person currently in possession of Jim. This idea brings up the true irony of how even though Huck is counting slaves as merely tools, here he is going to risk his neck in trying to save Jim. All in all a good interpretation of the passage.
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