Kakos' 6th Hour

Reactions and comments from my sixth hour Honors American Literature class.

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My favorite place in the world to be is underwater. My second favorite place is the front of a classroom.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Blog of Lindsay, Katie, and Christine

In chapter 23, "the king and the duke" convince the townspeople to tell everyone how good the show was and make them pay as well, instead of warning them to save their money. How does this show the selfishness of these people as they think only of how they were cheated out of their money and how they want to get even with everyone else?

At the end of chapter 24, Huck is ashamed of the human race. Why was he? And does this relate back to Twain's "The Damned Human Race"?

When Jim realizes that his daughter is deaf, he feels horrible for the way he treated her. How does his reaction relate to today and how people's attitudes towards each other change depending on certain handicaps they may have?

5 Comments:

Blogger Alexandra H said...

In chapter 23, the fact that the townspeople wanted to cheat out their friends instead of help them shows that they are extremely selfish and want everyone to be even. Instead of saving their friends from losing money, they tell them to go see the show so that they have to suffer too. At the end of chapter 24, Huck is ashamed of the human race because the "duke and king" are impersonating the family of a dead man for their own benefit. This relates back to The Damned Human Race because it shows how men will do anything for their own personal benefit. Humans have "devolved" to be stale enough to steal someone else’s identity.

1:49 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

People's attitudes toward one another change a great deal when they find out more about each other's handicaps and past history. People can be mean to someone and then find out that they have a disibility or are facing a hardship. The guilt comes over them and they regret what they have said or done. Everyone feels bad for those with handicaps or those that are going through something. They feel that they can not take it and do not deserve bad attitudes towards them.

1:57 PM  
Blogger Sarah S. said...

Responding along the same tangent as Aubry, I would agree that how an individual treats someone with a handicap would be drastically different from the way that person would be treated if they were in perfect health.

It is my belief that this stems from both ignorance, and societal pressures. I say ignorance, because it is very likely that an individual would treat someone with a handicap with "kid-gloves" or even avoid them completely in part because they don't know that person's limitations, and in an effort not to risk offending or embarrassing the person, they would revert to no contact at all. The other cause of this change in attitude is due to our culture itself. In a society that believes in political correctness practically to the point of obsession, it’s difficult to even approach an individual with a disability without the fear of saying the wrong thing or behaving in a way that would be deemed insensitive.

3:19 PM  
Blogger matt l said...

The fact that the townspeople not only helped "cheat" their fellow citizens, but allowed the king and duke to profit off of it is a prime example of human nature and how selfishness is evident in everyday life. The citizens that saw the show the first night didn't want to be portrayed as idiots, and sort of "took advantage" of the other townspeople. This can be tied in to Twain's "The Damned Human Race" in that the example of the king, duke, and townspeople epitomizes the point Twain was trying to get across. As for the thing with Jim and his deaf daughter, people are certainly treated differently based on certain things that have happened to them. Everyone knows this. It is not only limited to handicaps, but can be applied to things such as race, religion, family issues, and a number of other aspects. This will probably never go away.

9:04 PM  
Blogger Michelle S said...

The "scam" performed by the "duke" and "king" was an example of the cycle of greed. The two con men wanted money, and cheated the first group out, but then the first group saw this as a "wound to their pride" and wanted revenge. This happened to the second group, and then the third group. If the first group of people had rebelled against the con men, they may have all gotten their money back. But all they were thinking about was their own personal gain from revenge, and lost their chance to get the money back. Huck sees all this and is disgusted, with good reason. He says he is ashamed of the human race, which I believe comes from the fact that the human race often only thinks of itself. That is, each person will protect their own livelihood without understanding the consequences on other people. Mark Twain gave this excellent example to show how the amendment of pride can backfire on a person.

Oftentimes when one treats another person with a handicap indifferent to their disability, they can offend that person. Even if they do not offend that person, they may still feel guilty about not knowing about the condition, even if there was no way to know beforehand. This emotion, though unpleasant, is an example of how unique the human race can be. It is the opposite of greed. One person feels empathy for another, with no benefit in return. They do it simply for the sake of the other person.

9:50 PM  

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