Transcript The Grangerfords ch. 17 and 18

The Adventures
Of Huckleberry
Finn
By Jacob H., Karina M., Jo C.,
Clarissa I.
Summary
❏ After crashing and falling off the raft, Huck arrives at a big beautiful log cabin. He
learns about the feud between his hosts, the Grangerfords, and their neighbors
the Shepherdsons.
❏ As “George Jackson”, Huck befriends Buck and finds Emmeline, a Grangerford
who died of sickness, and her poems intriguing.
❏ When Huck and Buck go hunting, he shoots at Harney Shepherdson but misses.
Surprisingly, the Shepherdson boy doesn’t fight back and rides away.
❏ Buck tells Huck that neither of the families remember how the feud began.
❏ One day, Sophia, Buck’s sister, asks Huck to retrieve a bible (with a hidden
message inside saying, “Half past two”). Sophia tells him to forget about the
Summary (Continued)
❏ A family slave leads him to a swamp that night claiming he wants to show
Huck some moccasins. Instead, Huck finds Jim waiting for him. Jim had found
and repaired the raft.
❏ The day after that, Sophia Grangerford runs off to get married to Harney
Shepherdson. It results in a huge gun fight between the two families. People
from both sides of the family die, including Buck.
❏ Huck regrets coming to the cabin and claims the battle is too sickening to tell
in further detail.
❏ Huck and Jim ride off in the raft and decide that there “warn’t no home like a
raft”.
What is the Lesson ?
❏ The lesson that Huck learns in chapters 17 and 18 is that people should learn to
forgive and let go of their feuds.
❏ The Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords are basically fighting over nothing because they can not
remember why they hate each other.
❏ The families are blinded by hate and do not even notice when one of their family members dies.
❏ Huck learns that no matter the reasons he is mad at someone he should either learn to let go of the
reason or forgive the other person(s).
How is the lesson Learned?
❏ Huck observed both the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons and realized
that feuding over trifling matters does not get anyone anywhere in life.
❏ For example the death of Saul, Tom, Bob, Buck, and Joe along with around to two or three
relatives from the Shepherdsons family.
Literary Analysis
Theme:
❏ Insignificant quarrels can lead up to huge disasters.
❏ The pressure of these two families continue to build up despite the unknown
cause.
❏ “The men took their guns along... and kept them between their knees or stood
them against the wall.” (Twain 117)
❏ When Miss Sophia and Harney Shepherdson ran off, that released all of the
stress that was built up.
❏ “...en ole Mars Saul en de boys tuck dey guns en rode up de river road for to
Literary Analysis (continued)
Diction:
❏ The Grangerfords are reassured as southerners due to their limited
vocabulary and extensive use of “nigger”.
❏ The slaves on the other hand have very broken English and don’t
pronounce the entire word.
❏ “How I gwyne to ketch her en I out in de woods?” (Twain 119)
Literary Analysis (continued p.2)
Tone:
❏ Throughout the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons battle for “family honour”
and all of that, we see a steady pace of comedy and humour.
❏ But once Buck dies, a sudden change in tone goes from humorous to serious
❏ “I ain’t going to tell all that happened-it would make me sick again if I was to
do that” (Twain 122)
Bibliography
❏ Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. N.Y.:
Baronet, 1990. Print.