Shirly Ong
English 48B
25 January, 2008
Journal #7 Mark Twain
Quotes:
“Tom laid five cents on the table for pay.”
“Tom give him five cents to keep quiet.”
“There’s two hundred dollars reward on him.”
Summary:
In the first two quotes, Tom paid five cents to slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes for three candles and stop crying respectively. The third quote appears later in the story. It indicates that people can get two hundred rewards for catching an escaped slave.
Response:
These three quotes demonstrate the value money in the Missouri society at the time of Huckleberry Finn. As Tom got treasures from his adventure, he has considerable amount of money. Thus, he gave slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes five cents very generously. To slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes, five cents is not a small sum of money. At that time, they could get some food with five cents. I found this out later in the story when Huck gave another character ten cents for buying food and sharing the food with him. In contrast, catching an escaped slave could be rewarding. I could not believe that one can get two hundred dollars reward for doing so! Two hundred dollars must be a great sum of money to most people at that time. This reflects that slaves escaping from their owners were sinners. They were committing a serious crime. Freeing a slave is also a severe crime. The remarkable reward for catching an escaped slave indicates the poor status of slaves in the society. It was really pathetic to know that the king captured Jim and sell him to others for reward. Mark Twain has effectively described the evil side of humanity through “the king”.
English 48B
25 January, 2008
Journal #7 Mark Twain
Quotes:
“Tom laid five cents on the table for pay.”
“Tom give him five cents to keep quiet.”
“There’s two hundred dollars reward on him.”
Summary:
In the first two quotes, Tom paid five cents to slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes for three candles and stop crying respectively. The third quote appears later in the story. It indicates that people can get two hundred rewards for catching an escaped slave.
Response:
These three quotes demonstrate the value money in the Missouri society at the time of Huckleberry Finn. As Tom got treasures from his adventure, he has considerable amount of money. Thus, he gave slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes five cents very generously. To slave Jim and Little Tommy Barnes, five cents is not a small sum of money. At that time, they could get some food with five cents. I found this out later in the story when Huck gave another character ten cents for buying food and sharing the food with him. In contrast, catching an escaped slave could be rewarding. I could not believe that one can get two hundred dollars reward for doing so! Two hundred dollars must be a great sum of money to most people at that time. This reflects that slaves escaping from their owners were sinners. They were committing a serious crime. Freeing a slave is also a severe crime. The remarkable reward for catching an escaped slave indicates the poor status of slaves in the society. It was really pathetic to know that the king captured Jim and sell him to others for reward. Mark Twain has effectively described the evil side of humanity through “the king”.
1 comment:
20/20 Wow, that was very smart "economic detective work" Shirly!
Post a Comment