At the end of Chapter XXIV in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as "them two frauds…go all to smash" and start blubbering to the townspeople of Hookerville about the loss of his brother Peter Wilks, Huck comments that their display "was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."(210). Comment on the significance of Huck’s statement, using both the novel and examples from literature, the arts, science and technology, history, current events, or your own experience or observation. -- PJClements
posted by PJClements at 8:51 AM
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From it’s creation to the Antebellum Period, the United States allowed for the shameless enslavement of African and black peoples. These slaves were not prisoners of war, nor was their country a threat to the nation. Slave trade became the primary import to the United States, seen as a necessity for the health of the economy. The South, in which plantations and farmland require much labor, had developed the idea slavery as commonplace. White Americans in the South were generally raised not to question the theory of a certain type of human being considered property. These values in America’s history must be considered the most despicable and disgusting misdemeanor of the government. Written of the era, Huckleberry Finn’ s surface is a glimpse into the adventures of a young Southern boy, Huck. Huck has been taught, through the South’s culture, that slavery is natural and necessary, and that it is not a sin. In order to draw attention to this ideal’s blatant falsity, Twain introduces Huck’s reaction to various situations, questioning his morals. In the episodes involving the Duke and the King, Huck’s character proves that criminally vicious and sly acts such as that of these two men disgust him. However, this is what he has been taught. In order to comprehend Twain’s application of Huck’s reactions, the irony and contradictions of Huck’s upbringing and society must be noted.
Finding himself as the tag-along to many schemes, Huck is finally unforgiving and unwilling to make the empathetic exception to other’s sins, on the philosophy: “there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself, yet, and then how would I like it?” (87) Noting Huck’s lack of opposition the scams of entire towns and communities down the Mississippi, the conclusion can be drawn that Huck finds the robbing of three sisters so sinful that he himself steals from the King and the Duke, in order to return the money, and eventually property, to the sisters. Observing their scam in play, Huck decides it was “enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.”
Twain’s account of a boy’s ability to reject his teachings, not of slavery but of a particular slave - the Twain’s account of a boy’s ability to reject his teachings, not of slavery but of a particular slave - the character Jim, is intended to reveal just how dehumanizing the effect of enslaving your fellow man is. In criticizing the criminal’s ethics, Huck’s comment implies that their deception is shaming to not just those involved, but is shaming to the human race. As these criminals are stealing the livelihood and thus lifestyle of the sisters and this shames the human race, so too is the entire lifestyle, in fact life, of the slaves in the South. Twain draws this parallel without allowing Huck to realize the absolute inhumanity in slavery. Huck instead finds that, in his heart, he could not betray his friendship with Jim. This is intended to be taken as an isolated case, illustrating that some ”thing” that is capable of friendship should not be considered the property of “it’s” fellow man. Huck’s statement of the global shaming of the human race these criminals create is ironically positioned with this episode in moral opinion to juxtapose the rationale behind slavery.
I was not able to fully finish (hence three paragraphs).
Alex Von Arx
06/11/2007
Huck Finn Passage
When Huck, Jim, the duke and the king float towards a small village on the bank of the Mississippi and decide to disembark, none of them would have dreamed how they would leave it- dishonored and fleeing from a confused an angry mob. Once again the duke and king advocate a ruse to conceal their identities, this time thee key to their deception was the acquisition of the characters of two brothers. As Huck watches them blubbering and crying over a compete stranger while subconsciously plotting to con the whole town, he thinks, “Well, if ever I struck anything like it, I’m a nigger. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.” This statement packs a lot more then Huck’s disgust at the false emotions pouring out of the duke and the king: it also contains a tinge of hypocrisy and Huck’s traditional views on race and slavery.
To Huck, as the duke and the king adopt the personas of the brothers, this ruse is so “low down and ornery” that it shames humans all across the globe. The sheer nerve that the con-artists display is abominable, yet Huck cannot say that he was never guilty of such trickery himself. The reader has seen him on multiple occasions take on a different name and background (for instance, when he characterized “Sarah Williams” in the home of Judith Loftus), without the intent on crime, of course, but with the ideal of trickery still present. Huck also makes no initial attempt to stop the duke and king, which renders him just as much a player in the shameful ignominious game the duke and king revel in.
On the other hand, when Huck states, “… if I ever struck anything like it, I'm a nigger,” he reveals to the audience once again his innate views on the African-American race and how they are generally stereotyped in white society. This sort of statement Huck employs usually contains something unappealing which one compares oneself to, for the principal is to suggest something completely ludicrous. To Huck, is he ever saw something so preposterous, “he’s a nigger.” This heartless indifference towards the social status of African Americans levees the further importance of Huck’s “unlearing” and juxtaposes this with the opinions of many Southerners at the time.
To put this passage in common perspective, the sentiments Huck expresses over the duke and king’s display are not uncommon. The traces of insincerity and rooted racism crop up in several historical contexts; for example, the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration, while untying America and its citizens from Brittan, completely neglected to suggest any policies that deal with black slaves and their freedom (not to mention the Native Americans as well). Women’s rights, while not being strictly racist, still embodies the undeserved struggle of women to gain equality, even though “all men are created equal.”
Pretty much this was a beast sorry I didn't finish in time
In chapter 34 of Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn, Huck comments upon the actions of the Duke and King and says that they could “make a body ashamed of the human race.”(210). This statement is literally Huck commenting about how the Duke and King are going around pretending to be these three caring young girls’ long lost uncles in order to scam them out of their money. The two con artists get into there role and exaggerate it past the point of revulsion, bawling and wailing around for a man they never met, knew, or even cared about, just so that they can glean some money that they will waste away on booze and other forms of debauchery. On a symbolic level, however, Sam Clemens is commenting upon how people will do anything for money and lose often lose themselves in their greed. Examples of people being driven by their greed are the executives of Enron, who lied about their companies profits in order to make large sums of money and then attempted to ditch their company and abscond with the earnings. These men ruined thousands of peoples’ lives in order to make a quick buck and even though they were caught in the act, they still got away with a minimal punishment, just like the Duke and King. So, the grander point of this passage is to not let your greed overcome you and make you commit wrongs, but to stand of the side of the weak and defend them, like Huck did by helping the girls get their money from the fraudulent Duke and King. For in the end, the ones who truly win are the ones who help those who are in need, not the ones who exploit them.
Huck makes a strong statement saying that there are things than can make a body ashamed of the human race. There are quite a few things that can be done in this world to make someone be ashamed, but it is indeed definitely possible. Although becoming ashamed about the human race is quite simple, it can be brought up in different ways by singling out a group of people by acts that were committed by a few people or an act as a whole that just makes things worse.
Some specific accounts can bring shame upon a specific group of people and not only they entire human race. There are different acts that can bring up a bad reputation for a group of people and make them feel ashamed that they are a part of that group. For example, the reputation that African American girls have is that they are whores. Based on some people’s friends and what they know can spread to every person. But when it is a known fact of what some girls are doing out there in the world, it is really bad to be apart of that and be generalized in that category with a few other girls. That is when it gets to be ashamed of being an African American girl because of girls who go around giving us a bad reputation. Even though that is just a few people who can make people ashamed, when a group of people act out to certain things that are just terrible.
For many years, people have been saying that history is going to repeat itself and it was only a matter of time before things started to come back around and bite us in our butts. Racism is a problem that has been around for awhile but some people don’t see it because of a protected family they are in. Now the world is starting to see how bad the world can be. The Jena Six is a great example to be ashamed of the human race. How is it justified to send young men to jail for accusing then attempted murder when there was no weapon in hand? This is just another act of racism in this world. Slavery will not come back but it feels like out in the world there is some tension going on between African American’s and Caucasian. Personally, I am ashamed of how cruel people can be in the world.
Now for Huck, he has to deal with two frauds, the Duke and the King, running around scamming people for money. He thinks that it is just pitiful to see two men who would stoop down that low for money. But the irony in this statement is amusing considering he says it before the King decides to sell Jim back into slavery. Just when you think you couldn’t any worse, they go down even further to give people more reason to be disgusted with them. Later on in the story, it is not just the Duke and the King that are bad, but it is the townspeople who decide to tar and feather the King and the Duke. Two wrongs do not make it right. Although it is what the Duke and the King deserved, it didn’t mean they actually had to go through with it. But it is shameful to see how townspeople would react.
Jarrett Kunze
Huck Finn passage
Huck, after seeing what the duke and the dauphin have done, says that it is “enough to make a body ashamed of the human race”(210) He is ashamed of all the greed and selfishness of the two. They achieve sympathy while acting as Mr. Wilks’ brothers, set to inherit much of his land and money once he dies. Huck is disgusted by this, realizing how shallow a thing it is to do. This passage not only suggests Huck changing, but echoes the pattern of his hidden good morals. This connects back to where Huck is disgusted that Jim wants to steal his children back. He does not like the idea, but as they spend time together, Huck grows fond of Jim, realizing that he is just as human as the rest of the world. Literally, Huck has now realized that what they are doing is wrong and is disgusted by it. On a larger level, however, Huck has grown as a person, gaining better morals and a realization on reality and the greed in people.
“was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.”(210).
Huck narrates this while watching the spectacle the Duke and King are putting on to fool the townspeople. This passage not only echoes their [the carpetbaggers] shamelessness when swindling people, such as with the Royal Nonesuch and the impersonation of a preacher, but elevates it to a new level because it is in the presence of true tragedy. Huck has been dispassionate and apathetic in relation to their escapades in riverside towns until recently, where in the face of hardship the carpetbaggers still maintain their swindle. This is the beginning of Huck's slowly dissipating tolerance and respect for the "noblemen," which is completed later on during his betrayal of them in regards to the six thousand dollars. "This is a girl that I'm letting that old reptle rob her of her money…and this is another one that I'm letting him rob of her money" (225). His vision is no longer clouded by their lies and tall tales, and the carpetbaggers' symbolism is fully revealed; they stand for corruption and greed in the pre-Civil War South.
Ironically, these carpetbaggers perfectly epitomize the view of Thomas Hobbes in relation to life being "the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"(Leviathan). Huck is, unknowingly, upset at their actions as they violate the social contract which Hobbes advocates is necessary for humanity. The actions of the carpetbaggers are "returning them to a state of nature," as the social decency is breached while disrespecting the dead Wilks brother and receiving false pity from the townspeople. These principles are what urges Huck to claim that it, "“was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.”(210). "
-Kristofer Kalas
The passage shows how the human race can do terrible things to on another. Humans do not think about there actions before they commit the action. Some people will do wrong to anther human and to just better the situation that they are in. They will not think before they act and this gets them in trouble with authority and with otherpeople.
Huck says this about the two frauds when they are crying because he realizes what
terrible people they are and how they do not deserve to treat others that the way they did.
He sees in them that they are not good people and he does not want to turn out to be like them. This gives him a change of heart and he matures from this part like he does throughout the book. Huck can learn from this experience he has seeing this and he can
realize that he does not want to hurt people like the way they did.
This happens in the world around us all the time. Even now people do things to hurt or to offened people around them. With world affairs like what happened on 9/11 that effected the whole world because a group of terrorist didn’t like the united states. That event changed the world forever. It has changes securtity measures and the way people travel and has got us involved in a war in the middle east.
When huck saw this he saw 2 men that did not deserve to treat the people the way that they did. They should have been taught a lesson and not forgiven for what they had
done.
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