EVIL! *><*

Well, if I were to ever pick up a book with endless amounts of satirical referances, Huck Finn was probably one of the best, because I must say; I am not disappointed. Here’s one I found while reading:

“Trouble has done it, Bilgewater, trouble has done it; trouble has brung these gray hairs and this premature balditude. Yes gentlemen, you see before you, in blue pants and misery, the wanderin’, exiled, trampled-on, and sufferin’ rightful King of France.” -p120

I thought this was pretty funny as seeing how these crazy old guys who Huck just randomly met (as he does a lot of people throughout these chapters I suppose) speak english pretty well (and by the looks of it with a pretty good southern accent) and claim their King and Dukes of France. Shouldn’t such high quality or at least former high quality men of France be a little more well kept and more…French? The Satire alert is a blowin’.

Though traces of racism still exist today between the Latino-Americans, the Muslim people and African Americans living presently, I have my doubts it was ever as bad as when we still had slaves, being the late 1800’s. One of the reason that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is being banned by many school curriculums is because it deals with racism; a topic that few educators want to delve into too deeply and often avoid. An example of racism is when even though it could possibly be a coincidence Jim went missing the same time Huck did, Jim is immediately the main suspect of the murder. By all means, it could have very well been Huck’s father (though we know it wasn’t but they sure don’t) since he so poorly mistreats and neglects his own son. He could have been in a drunken rage and Huck could have said something to piss him off enough to kill him. Even though we know this isn’t true, it is possible, but instead Jim is the automatic scape goat, and a bounty is placed on his head. (He did escape as well, causing an alternative motive for the bounty, but for a time they did think he did it).

Huck’s father is definitely the worst case I’ve ever encountered when it comes to supporting others, despite their skin color. Here’s a satisfactory quote on page 27;

“Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful. Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio-a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain’t a man in that town that got as fine clothes as what he had…etc”

I can’t imagine why Huck’s father would really care about how the African Americans are being treated if he didn’t own a slave nor did he know of any personally that he knew he had power over. He certainly didn’t have any money, nor did he have a role in any highly respectable positions in his own government. I don’t see how he has the position to be in to complain when he’s too drunk himself to vote! Go figure…

It doesn’t surprise me at all that the book we’re reading, Huck Finn is full of satires, and is constantly poking fun and pointing out the flaws of the time period of when it was written. A few vague examples are Ms Loftus, being a complete definition of a “sivilized” human being and yet she drops the n bomb constantly as if it weren’t a big deal. Just another word in the every day vocabulary like “as” or “him”. Yet another is Tom Sawyer himself, when he plays robbers and wants to make a gang of burglars who aso double as murderers and yet they still find themselves crashing Sunday School parties and waving around sticks. He tried to be a bad boy like Huck, but he’s still a good innocent little kid just trying to look tough.

A few more specific examples are ones I found as follows:

“And he said if a man owned a beehive, and that man died, the bees must be told about it before sun-up next morning, or else the bees would all weaken down and quit work and die. Jim says bees wouldn’t sting idiots; but I didn’t believe that, because I had tried that lts of times myself, and they wouldn’t sting me.” -p.45

I found this quite humorous, but confusing at first. I think Jim was really trying to get a joke out by stumping Huck. This is just one of those instances where the southerners somehow have this knowledge of the weirdest things (African Americans, usually, since they were expected to know all about witchcraft and the sort). Personally, I had never heard such an absurd statement in my life, but it was really funny to hear it (once I finally got it). Another (maybe a better) example was one I discovered on p. 46:

“Yes. You know that one-laigged nigger dat b’longs to old Misto Bradish? Well, he set up…” -Ch 8

Very very interesting that an African American slave like Jim would address one of his own as a person being labeled by the n-bomb. I would figure that at least they had respect for one another, but it seems as though some or many of them have been convinced they are truly inferior to their white owners and deserve such a derogatory term to call them. Especially if it’s based solely on physical features.

According to Baker’s report, I agree something needs to be done to resolve the Arab-Israeli dispute. Though America did support Israel, I am pretty sure we had no intention do so for spite against the Arabs. I highly disagree with shifting our main objective to getting our troops out. Before the discussion today, I was pretty passionate about getting our soldiers out, but not knowing the risks of doing so. Back then, my only reason was to keep more of ours from dying, but now I see things in a whole new perspective. Though there a death squads, traces of Al-Queda, and Shiite insurgents and what not in Iraq, the bigger concern is to stabilize the nation before its neighbors seek to either dismantle it or conquer it. Saudi Arabia announced it would send forces over to help “make sure the Suni don’t take over” when in fact the Suni are the majority. Right there, that’s a potential danger, for those forces could very well be terrorists. Note I said, could, not are.

The Removal of our troops would mean we had intensified and sped up the process of which Iraq would fall into an era of deep trouble and political unrest and then abandoned the nation left to its own devices and to its neighbors. I also believe that one day Saddam would have naturally died, or fell from power, but his strict removal by us swept the nation into a depression. This was the beginning of the struggle to keep Iraq standing on its own two feet.

Intensifying our presence there does seem more reasonable as long we are still supportive, but more along the sidelines. The Iraqi army will hopefully be able to support and protect its own country, and with our help (though it seems they really don’t want it at all) this could be possible. This completely contrasts with how I felt before, but hey, opinions change. Especially when they get a few facts straight.

Satire (according to dictionary.com):

The use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

According to our class, we deducted that a satire was nothing different, but a sick humorous way of depicting a controversial issue, often ensuing in an umcofortable feeling if you get it, swift and just anger if you don’t.  We are on the verge of starting (if we haven’t already) the adventures of Huck Finn.  Banned in many school curriculums, this book covers all the issues of the time.  The idea was, that Mark Twain would publish the book in order to expose the animosity and inhumane subject of slavery.  Huck Finn, from what I already know, breaks the strictest rule of his state; in the sense that he assists a slave in escaping his plantation to be free.  When I read and listened to the article where Irish babies were proposed to become a “delicious dish” to feed a good family of four, I was in a state of horror.  But as it turned out, it apparently was supposed to be funny.  Some people got it, but as they laughed I became even disgusted with my own classmates.  I was one of those who just didn’t get it.  As the definition implies, only those who get it find it funny, the others just see it as moronic or distasteful.  The Onion proved the most bizarre of the examples of satire.  The one about the “Theory of Math” I found completely idiotic and was quick to explain the error.  My family often tells me I take things too seriously, and once again this was the case.  As usual, I had over-analyzed the situation but completely skipped over the fact it was just a joke.  It was supposed to be dumb.   All these are examples of satires.  The author or illustrator wants to get a point across, and all the time that point is that they imply change.  Writers of satire demand change, and subtly expose that which is wrong and wish only to see it be changed. 

As I read Frederick Douglass’s work on how a slave lived I was horrified at such an apalling scene set before me.  Sleeping without beds, but with hard scratchy blankets, living an entire year with the same clothing, and being restricted from anything pleasurable by the tyrannical Mr. Severe.  Singing provided, form what I already know, a way to complain without getting whipped.  They sang of their woes on the plantation, their poor living conditions, or their unending hunger.  They were only given around 8 pounds of pork or fish (whatever was in season) but the thing was, it expired.  Within weeks too. 

Many slaves had families, and the children, figuring they needed less, were only given a shirt or two with possibly socks or shoes.  Their food rations were given to their guardians.  The slaves sang to express their reluctance to be where they were and the pain they were undergoing.  On the terms of the Underground Railroad and the GrapeVine, song was a well organized code, the lyrics sometimes changed to fit a message but still followed the tune of the original song. 

According to the article and past ones we have already covered, the African-Americans were very religious, at least those who were considered sophisticated enough to attend.  They sat in churches, being preached about why it was set in the Bible that they were supposed to be slaves.  It was within the will of God that they would live the hard and unbountiful lives they were already suffering.