In chapter 12 Huck and Jim are contemplating on whether or not that there is any harm in borrowing the food that they find or not. Their social responsibility is to not steal because it does not benefit society. "So we talked it over all one night... trying to make up our minds whether to drop the watermelons, or the cantaloupes, or the mushmelons, or what. But towards daylight we got it all settled satisfactory, and concluded to drop crabapples and p'simmons. We warn't feeling just right, before that, but it was all comfortable now." (Twain, 72) Since they're worried about whether or not they are stealing means that they are well aware of their social responsibility. As a result they decided to drop some of the food that they "borrowed" so that they can feel better about themselves and at least be able to feel like they followed some kind of social responsibility.
"I'm unfavorable to killin' a man as long as you can git around it; it ain't good sense, it ain't good morals. Ain't I right?" (Twain, 76) Again in chapter 12 there is social responsibility but it has to do with the robbers that are on the wrecked steamboat. Two of the robbers, Bill and Jake, are trying to decide whether or not they should kill the third robber, Jim Turner. Bill wanted to kill Turner right away but Jake says that killing him would be unmoral since also may not be able to get away with it. Social responsibility has to do with morals because it is what people would have to follow if they want to achieve some form of social responsibility. By not killing him and letting him drown instead, just like when Huck and Jim dropped some of their food, they are able to feel better about themselves for not killing anybody because at least they followed some kind of social responsibility. It also shows that the robbers are aware of social responsibility because they know that killing Turner would be wrong.
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11 years ago
Rita, this is a great entry! You really analyze specific aspects of the novel which I think will help you flush out your ideas on your theme for your paper later. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Miss Wats. Great job Rita, do you think Jim and Huck are growing together? Learning from each other? Also did you notice the irony in robbers having morals and following a sense of social responsibility? hahaha i guess its true that a liar always lies but thief will tell the truth #morals. Is Jim Hucks responsibility just as much is Huck to Jim?
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was really great to read. Really insightful and thought provoking, RIta. So, in this post it talks about Huck and Jim and the Robbers all feeling the need to have some type of social responsibility accomplished to make themselves feel better. How can people living on the outskirts of society want so badly to follow the morals of a society they purposely left? I believe that even though these people have tried to isolate or detach themselves from society they are still humans. Humans are social creatures and creatures of habit. These two go hand in hand in our society. The robbers, Huck, and Jim might like to think that they are different because not everyone sees life like them, but in reality they are are all just the same.
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