Does the Audience Deserve This???

Did Mark Twain give us the ending we truly deserved? Majority of you reading this probably does not think so. But let me ask you this question, is the audience entitled to say what they think they do and do not deserve? Mark Twain, a satirical genius, does not owe us anything. In MMMYYYYY opinion, I do not believe the ending of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, deserves all the criticism it received. Everyone claims the ending was “anticlimactic” and “a waste of a read”, but what did you really expect? After all, the very first paragraph warns the audience to not look for a motive, plot, or rhyme or reason with anything that happens. That would include the ending. Many readers, including myself, were expecting an ending that consisted of Huck and Tom having this epiphany moment and finally doing the right thing and setting Jim free. That is what made the ending so unpredictable and exciting! No one expected Tom to come out with the news “oh by the way, you were already free Jim and it was  unnecessary to have you do all these tasks, butttttt at least you proved yourself worthy!!! Haha surprise??” Yeah no. Totally caught us off guard, HOWEVER, this pushes this satirical effect of the nonexistent plot. The ending that no one believes they deserved, matches the ironic mayhem that has developed throughout Huck and Jim’s adventures. Overall the ending shocked and upset millions of readers, but you can’t say Mark Twain did not warn us!

Rules, Shmules

We are told since birth, "Do not touch that," "Do not touch this," "Do this instead of that," "Stop doing that," and it is frankly quite tiring. Families reinforce rules at different levels however. One families "You must go to church every week," may be another families, "Stop going to church and listening to that bullcrap." Huck is surrounded by rules to the fact he feels he can not be himself. Everyone around him tries to tell him which set of rules to follow it becomes overwhelming for him and he just wants to live how he wants to live. The question becomes, how important are rules and to which extent should we always follow them? Can rules harm? DO rules interfere with one's development and individuality? In the case where specific rules force one to think a certain way or believe a certain thing, it can be argued yes, rules have the capability to change ones individuality. In the case of Huckleberry Finn, his individuality is often challenged by the widow and Miss Watson as they continuously try to tell Huck what he should and should not do at all times. Their number one goal was to "sivilize [him]," (Twain, 11) by telling him to "...set up straight,...don't gap and stretch like that," (Twain, 12). All Huck wanted to do, was be free, and be himself. Yes rules create uniformity and safety in some cases, but not all the time and should be recognized as such. In the end, parents should be careful when it comes to creating rules for their children to follow and keeping in mind the greater good of the rules and if it has the potential of creating a robot kid who is just going by what they say.