Dialectic Journal #1

Chapter: 1
"After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushes; and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by-and-by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; when I didn't care no more about him; because I don't take no stock in dead people." (page 6)

Comments and Questions:
Mark Twain does a good job of showing insights early on in the book about Huckleberry and his opinions. Based on the passage, we could say that Huck feels that he is invincible, that he is immortal. He doesn't care about history, or about "dead people", because he feels that anyone before him can not help him, that you cannot learn from the past, that you can only make your own choices. I think this will come into play, because if you don't learn from the past, how will you ever be able to avoid the mistakes that others have made. If you learn from the past, you can easily avoid certain obstacles. But even if this does not come into play, we can easily say that this gives us an insight into Huck's mind.



Chapter: 2
"Now we'll start a band of robbers and it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood." (page 10)

Comments and Questions:
In this passage, Twain gives the boys a childish attitude. Little boys make gangs, and make promises and oaths that make them feel larger than they really are. Tom Sawyer has a confidence around him that makes all the other boys want to be larger than life. His overly confident attitude affects Huck and his future actions. Huckleberry asks himself multiple times, "What would Tom Sawyer do?" Huck wants to be larger than life, that might even be the reason why Huck does not like to learn from the "dead people". 
I think we could use this passage later on and compare this to Huck at the end of the story, and see how his maturity level has grown.



Chapter: 3
"So then I judged that all that stuff was only just one of Tom Sawyer's lies. I reckoned he believed in the Arabs and the elephants, but as for me I think different. It had all the marks of a Sunday School." (page 17)

Comments and Questions:
I liked how Twain used this passage to show that Huck is not easily persuaded one way or the other. That he is not a leaf just blowing in the wind, but that he is a tree that is firmly planted and not easily pulled one way or the other. So far throughout the book, Huck has always had his own opinion, whether he was living with his the widow and she had her own thoughts about life, or with his dad, or with Tom, he may have agreed with them on certain points but his life and his opinions were never swayed by them and their choices.



Chapter: 6
"But by-and-by pap got too handy with the hick'ry, and I couldn't stand it." (page 25)

Comments and Questions:
Huck references his distaste for any kind of liquor many times, and we can link that straight to his father's overuse of alcohol. Huck has seen what it can do to a man, and the affect that it has on the man's life, and people around him. This is definitely a one of the themes of the book.
Liquor is just a symbol. It is a symbol for something that Huck does not want to become. His father is easily influenced by alcohol, and so Huck does not want to become someone who is easily persuaded, who can be influenced by anyone who comes around.



Chapter: 8
"I reckon I was up in the tree two hours; but I didn't see nothing, I didn't hear nothing-- I only thought I heard and seen as much as a thousand things." (page 39)

Comments and Questions:
Mark Twain uses 'I' a lot throughout the book. I think it gives the reader a deeper look into Huck's thoughts and actions, and it gives the reader a personal connection with Huck. It makes you think that the 'I' is you. That this is your adventure as much as it is Huck's adventure. Just in this one sentence, Twain uses 6 I's. It also gives a feel of suspense. Sometimes repetition gives a slowness to the book, not boring, but just a suspenseful tone.



Chapter: 10 
"Old Hank Bunker done it once, and bragged about it; and in less than two years he got drunk and fell off of the shot towers... But anyway, it all come of looking at the moon that way, like a fool." (page 51)

Comments and Questions:
This is another reference to the evils of over usage of alcohol. This also probably influenced Huck's dislike of liquor.
This is a good example of the craziness of superstitions. It's amazing to me that they connected those two events. The bad superstition and him dying. It gives us an insight though on how gossip-centered Huck's village is. Not that it has changed too much, with our magazines and social networks, but it shows how small town Huck's view point is. Now back to my main point, the belief in superstitions. This is definitely a theme of the book. It was referenced especially when Huck is around Jim. This is definitely an influence of the African tribes through Jim.



Chapter: 14
Summary: Huck tries to explain to Jim that there are men that speak like them, and there are men that speak french. 

Comments and Questions:
This part made me laugh so hard! The idea that someone doesn't know that there are hundreds upon hundreds of different languages, just blows my mind. This passage really made a time separation between us and Huck. Nowadays everyone knows that their native language is not the only language spoken, but because of the limited communication, and the limited dispersion of knowledge, many people in Huck's time did not know even an 1/8 of what we globally know and understand.
I can see this being a small sub-theme of this book. We can already see Huck mature and  grow, but when he comes into more encounters with more people, I can see his knowledge of the world grow as his maturity grows.