Andie and Aubrey's Blog: Caught (Again)

Andie and Aubrey A.
Huck tries to escape the king and the duke during the confused frenzy at the graveyard when the bag of money is found in the coffin. He rows out to Jim and together they float away, but not fast enough,

"So, in two seconds, away we went, a sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river and nobody to bother us. ... I noticed a sound that I knowed mighty well- and held my breath and listened and waited- and sure enough, when the flash busted out over the water, here they come!-... It was the king and the duke. So I wilted right down onto the planks, then, and give up; and it was all I could do to keep from crying" (Twain 225).

1) Why do you think Huck and Jim didn't try to escape the king and the duke before this? Why didn't they after, when the king and the duke fell asleep drunk?
2) What do you think would have happened had Huck and Jim simply asked the duke and the king to leave?

Brian, Brian, and Ryan: Truth, Lies, and Kings

Brian, Brian, and Ryan

"I says to myself, I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place, is taking considerable many resks, though I ain't had no experience, and can't say for certain" (205)

Is it alright to lie in a tight situation to insure self-preservation even if the consequences could have an impact on others? How do you think Mark Twain would feel about this? How does this tie into Darwinism?

"Pretty soon he begun to speak, and I could see, he pronounced like an Englishman, not the king's way, though the king's was pretty good, for an imitation" (Twain 215)

What do you think Twain is satirizing when he brings the real kings back into the story in order to expose the fakes? Also, how does Huck know what a real Englishman sounds like, and why do you think Twain allowed the fake kings to reunite with Huck and Jim at the end of chapter 29?