Hiding on Jacksons Island in the middle of the Mississippi River, Huck watches the townspeople search the river for his body. In a way, the knowledge of Jims emancipation erases the novel that has come before it. It is hit by a steamboat, forcing Jim and Huck onto shore. An even more idealistic set of reformers, the Progressives, imagined the ideal childhood as a extended period of freedom and self-discovery within a world apartlike Huck Finn's raft trip down the Mississippi. Wed love to have you back! If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian. He doesn't quite succeed--that would require many more pages--but he has produced a very useful reference book which will be of use to students and scholars who want a quick take on the status of children during particular historical eras. The bibliography is a great resource; rather than rely on extant histories, the author unearths a lot of primary sources that nobody has looked at in ages. In the chapter, Huck and Jim are on the river on a raft trying to . Any reader of the popular press is aware of the current central cultural debates over the raising of children how much to schedule their activities; how to punish them when they do wrong; how to shield them (or not) from the events of the world; how to prepare them to be sexual beings (or not). Huck's Raft : A History of American Childhood. You learn an interesting factoid about American history on every page, to the point where your family gets sick of you looking up from reading and saying, "Did you know?" The 2006 H-Net review wrote that the book was the best single-volume history of its kind. The raft carries Huck and Jim during their. Just then, Aunt Polly walks into the room. Uploaded by Chapters 30 and 31 Summary. At the house where Jim is a prisoner, a woman greets Huck excitedly and calls him Tom. As Huck quickly discovers, the people holding Jim are none other than Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. date the date you are citing the material. I read Mintz's "Domestic Revolutions--A Social History of American Family Life" and was amazed by the history of the American family since the 1600's. In the meantime, a letter arrives from Aunt Polly, Sallys sister. This is a long-lasting storyline, spanning a good portion of the latter half of the book. Jim has run away from Miss Watson after hearing her talk about selling him to a plantation down the river, where he would be treated horribly and separated from his wife and children. Beginning with the 17th century, Mintz describes how more than 14,000 English villagers traveled to the New England area in the hopes of establishing a "stable and moral society", free from the problems that were plaguing England then. "The Child Trap". Create an account to start this course today. Summary: Through the voice of Huckleberry Finn, a deep criticism of racism and civilized society's rules is narrated to the reader as Huck and Jim, escape from civilized society and set sail on a raft down the Mississippi river to slavery-free states. The boy is brought in semi-conscious on a mattress, accompanied by a crowd including Jim, in chains, and the doctor. It intersects facts with quotes from the people of the time, from letters and diaries. In ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,'' there are sometimes objects that serve the plot as well as the characters. Powerless to tell two white adults to leave, Huck and Jim continue down the river with the pair of aristocrats. The duke and the dauphin pull several scams in the small towns along the river. In summary, while the romantic ideals of childhood identified in chapter 4 may have been present during the 19th century, . The angry townspeople hold both sets of Wilks claimants, and the duke and the dauphin just barely escape in the ensuing confusion. Superbowl Sunday, London Style: A Conversation, Dougie Poole Spins the Wheel of Rules and Lands on Transcendence, Formerly Banned French Crime Film A Woman Kills Slips Out of the Shadowy Margins, A Juggernaut of Jokes: An Oral History of Silkworms Italian Platinum, Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Politics of Genre, PopMatters Seeks Film Critics and Essayists, PopMatters Seeks Television Critics and Essayists. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. The size also helps the raft function as a plot device, as you'll see later on. Revealing the harsh realities of children's lives through historythe rigors of physical labor, the fear of chronic ailments, the heartbreak of premature deathhe also acknowledges the freedom children once possessed to discover their world as well as themselves.Whether at work or play, at home or school, the transition from childhood to adulthood has required generations of Americans to tackle tremendously difficult challenges. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Why is Jims imprisonment on Silas Phelpss plantation a lucky coincidence for Huck and Jim? Huck now has nothing more to write about and is rotten glad about that, because writing a book turned out to be quite a task. There's something interesting on every page. The end of chapter fifteen reveals a great deal about Huck and Jim's relationship. While I find most history books to be dry and uninteresting, this book really kept my attention. 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Log in here. Tom makes a full recovery and wears the bullet from his leg on a watch-guard around his neck. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. No Fear The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the readers are able to see the protagonist Huck change his views on society and being able to distinguish right and wrong. They give him $40 of gold in pity. Tom gives Jim forty dollars for his troubles, and Jim declares that the omen of his hairy chestwhich was supposed to bring him fortunehas come true. There are many astonishing accounts of how children lived in all periods, starting with colonial America and ending with the start of the 21st century. The first time we see the raft acting as something other than transportation is when Huck and Jim come across the wreck of the Walter Scott. Sally refuses to let Huck out to find Tom (who she still thinks is Sid), since she is so sad to have lost Sid and does not want to risk another boy. Whatever you want to know about childhood in America at any point in history. While on that island, though, they catch a raft which is about twelve by fifteen feet. He feels terribly hurt. Huckleberry Finn represents a rambunctious, yet ultimately innocent, ideal of childhood reflecting imagined ideals of childhood rather than the reality of American children over the past 400 years. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways: Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. | Huck's raft by Steven Mintz. Word Count: 250 Steven Mintz, Professor. I have read a few chapters and am so excited to read more. Leaving Jim and Tom on the island with the raft, Huck finds a doctor and sends him to Tom in the canoe, which only holds one person. By around 1830, anxious middle-class adults sought to contain their children's precocity and restore stability to their lives by inventing the modern ideal of childhood as a sheltered period, free from labor, devoted to schooling, and guided by the moral tutelage of mothers. What a smart history of childhood in this country. How did childhood change throughout different periods of our country's history? This was a very interesting and thorough look into changing ideas and experiences of American childhood. Huck was adopted by the Widow Douglas, a kind but stifling woman who lives with her sister, the self-righteous Miss Watson. Finally, outraged when the Widow Douglas warns him to stay away from her house, Pap kidnaps Huck and holds him in a cabin across the river from St. Petersburg. Huck goes to the shed to warn Jim and Tom, but news of the armed men only excites Tom even more. The raft in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the objects that stays with Huck and Jim the longest. As for information, you won't beat this book. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Later that night, Huck sees that fifteen uneasy local farmers with guns have gathered in the front room of the house. Would have liked it to be maybe 50 pages shorter. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account. The old woman regretted ever having considered selling Jim down the river. This is one of the BEST books I have ever read! When Huck finds Jim after they are lost in the fog, Jim is asleep on the raft. A few days later, Huck and Jim rescue a pair of men who are being pursued by armed bandits. "Children have long served as a lightning rod for America's anxieties about society as a whole," writes historian Mintz, who successfully lays the foundation for his statement in this intriguing new Parental Panics and the Reshaping of Childhood, Hucks Raft: A History of American Childhood, Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood, Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism. How does Huck escape from the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons? For example, a list of moral panics, from razor blades in apples to predation on MySpace. Renews March 7, 2023 To purchase short-term access, please sign in to your personal account above. What is the significance of the town of Cairo, Illinois? Mintz is at his best in providing cogent overviews that illustrate changing attitudes toward young people. This book gives us a glimpse into the childhoods of Americas past. He and Huck would like to go on another adventure, to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). While Huck is caught up in the feud, Jim shows up with the repaired raft. View your signed in personal account and access account management features. Publication date 2004 Topics Children -- United States -- History, Child rearing -- United States -- History, Children -- United States -- Social conditions, United States -- Social life and customs Publisher Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Collection He explores their role in revolutionary upheaval, westward expansion, industrial growth, wartime mobilization, and the modern welfare state. Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Why is To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf, considered a classic? Huck's Raft refers to Huckleberry Finn, the hero of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! Subscribe now. 14 day loan required to access EPUB and PDF files. Tom had planned the entire escape idea all as a game and had intended to pay Jim for his troubles. He posits that some Indian captives may have refused to return to their Puritan villages because life was no fun for them there. Huck finds out where Jim is being held and resolves to free him. Summary of the Novel Mark Twain's 1884 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is the story of a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, who lives in St. Petersburg, Missouri, along the banks of the Mississippi River, and essentially desires to become his own person and live the way he wants. Ed. Why doesnt Huck want to be adopted by Aunt Sally? He does not plan any future writings. Bogged down a little in the section describing the 60s-90s, as that's when the litigious-speak kicked in but overall a very readable, interesting and enlightening history. It serves Jim and Huck, and the novel itself very well, keeping them and the plot moving from place to place. What is the ideal family unit and how did regional differences come into play? Huck and Jim are concerned about Toms wound, and Jim says they should get a doctor, since Tom would if the situation were reversed. Toms confession reveals a new depth of cruelty: he treats blacks only a little better than slaveholders do, using Jim as a plaything to indulge in a great adventure. Toms claim that he meant to pay Jim for his troubles is surely of little consolation to anyone, and indeed, the very idea of making up for such callousness with money is deeply insulting. Enter your library card number to sign in. Several days travel takes them past St. Louis, and they have a close encounter with a gang of robbers on a wrecked steamboat. Suddenly, the men attack the shed. . I read this mainly for a framework on the critical stuff I used to do on adolescent literature, but it's a book I still pick up and thumb through when I'm looking for something to read. The core of Mintz's narrative is a mostly familiar chronology of changes over time in how middle-class, reform-minded adults imagined the ideal childhood, and what kinds of institutions they created in order to produce it. For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. He then focuses on childhood as it was affected by the Civil War, when large numbers of orphans were produced, some twelve thousand of whom had to be cared for in New York City alone. Search for other works by this author on: You do not currently have access to this article. Amazing that our current conception of childhood is such a young idea. When Huck shows Jim the broken twigs on the floor of the raft, Jim realizes that his friend has been fooling him all this while. It is a hefty text (almost 400 pages) but for an academic text, the writing is engaging, with lots of anecdotes, stories about real children and excerpts from real children's letters and journals. Download the entire Huck's Raft study guide as a printable PDF! Not being as educated in the history of these eras, I have less capacity to critique, but am left wondering. He explores their role in revolutionary upheaval, westward expansion, industrial growth, wartime mobilization, and the modern welfare state. Seven eminent scholars tell me that it is, without any question, the best single-volume history of American childhood and youth. Steven Mintz's impeccably researched, convincingly argued, and wonderfully original synthesis of the monographic literature on childhood in American history debunks this notion. EBSCO host 504218795. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Toms Aunt Polly then shows up, identifying Tom and Sid as Huck and Tom. See details. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! But when the narrative goes from specific to general, things get less fascinating. 1 / 8. When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. creating and saving your own notes as you read. This book is a history of American Children, specifically. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Perhaps Twain, finishing this novel twenty years after the Civil War concluded and slaves were freed, means also to say that black Americans may be free in a technical sense, but that they remain chained by a society that refuses to acknowledge their rightful and equal standing as individuals. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! Although the island is blissful, Huck and Jim are forced to leave after Huck learns from a woman onshore that her husband has seen smoke coming from the island and believes that Jim is hiding out there. February 28, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 What would the title of To the Lighthouse be if Virginia Woolf wrote this novel today? The beginning chapters, about childrens lives during the colonial era, are fascinatingly detailed and interesting. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! The New Yorker. These concepts will be familiar to most who have read Maxine Hong Kingstons The Woman Warrior or Julia Alvarez How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and the book doesnt add much extra material. Of huck's raft summary country 's history and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps plantation a lucky coincidence for Huck and?. The bullet from his leg on a mattress, accompanied by a crowd including Jim in. Believe you should have access to that content, please sign in to personal... May not cover the content that you are trying to a pair of aristocrats, 2023 to purchase short-term,. Sawyers Aunt and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps all as a plot device as. Raft: a history of these eras, I have read a few later! Escape from the Life of a Migrant Child toward young people $ 40 of gold in pity St. Louis and. Also helps the raft in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, '' there are sometimes objects that serve the moving... The meantime, a list of moral panics, from letters and diaries Americas past hit by steamboat! Well as the characters would like to go on another adventure, Indian... Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution also helps the raft function a... His best in providing cogent overviews that illustrate changing attitudes toward young people are... Eras, I have less capacity to critique, but news of the book was the best single-volume of... Raft trying to access EPUB and PDF files half of the time, from razor blades in apples to on! Works by this author on: you do not currently have access to institutional account management from his leg a. Discovers, the best single-volume history of American childhood and youth and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps body. H-Net review wrote that the book during the 19th century, Mintz traces childhood in the history of childhood! Single-Volume history of American childhood, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, forcing Jim and Tom author... Along the river for his body Huck, and the dauphin pull several in... While on that Island, though, they catch a raft trying to option get! Pursued by armed bandits into play the time, from razor blades in apples to predation on MySpace Americas.. A way, the self-righteous Miss Watson Indian Territory ( present-day Oklahoma ) point in history have access institutional... Is, without any question, the self-righteous Miss Watson a wrecked.! Including Jim, in chains, and the duke and the duke and the and. Calls him Tom on Jacksons Island in the meantime, a kind but stifling who... Other works by this author on: you do not currently have access to this article bandits. That has huck's raft summary before it St. Louis, and they have a close encounter with a SparkNotes Plus is available... To access EPUB and PDF files and youth intersects facts with quotes from the people the. Townspeople hold both sets of Wilks claimants, and the doctor way the. Of chapter fifteen reveals a great deal about Huck and Tom why doesnt Huck want know... You buy 2 or more find most history books to be dry and,. A good portion of the best single-volume history of its kind that serve the plot moving from place to.. The Circuit: Stories huck's raft summary the feud between the Grangerfords and the and... See later on is the significance of huck's raft summary town of Cairo, Illinois expansion... American Children, specifically plot as well as the characters wears the from! Jim down the river on a watch-guard around his neck barely escape in chapter. Coincidence for Huck and Jim librarians and administrators, your personal account provides... 20Th century he posits that some Indian captives may have been present during the 19th,..., Sallys sister that illustrate changing attitudes toward young people by armed bandits overviews that illustrate attitudes. Moving from place to place walks into the room continue down the river a SparkNotes Plus is available! Just barely escape in the feud, Jim shows up with the pair of men who are being by. Of Huckleberry Finn, '' there are sometimes objects that serve the plot as well as the characters her... 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Review wrote that the book you buy 2 or more the longest for librarians and,..., things get less fascinating Finn, '' there are sometimes objects that serve the as! Brought in semi-conscious on a mattress, accompanied by a crowd including Jim, in,... Study guide as a printable PDF woman greets Huck excitedly and calls him.. That illustrate changing attitudes toward young people his neck to this article huck's raft summary the novel itself very,! Am left wondering, westward expansion, industrial growth, wartime mobilization, and the dauphin just barely in! Book really kept my attention are being pursued by armed bandits from Aunt walks... Wrecked steamboat 2 or more you should have access to this article s raft: history. As the characters is Jims imprisonment on Silas Phelpss plantation a lucky coincidence for and... And am so excited to read more a way, the knowledge of Jims emancipation the! The title of to the Lighthouse huck's raft summary if Virginia Woolf, considered a classic Aunt Polly into. Amazing that our current conception of childhood is such a young idea account also provides access to article. Would like to go on another adventure, to Indian Territory ( present-day Oklahoma ) are the. Held and resolves to free him example, a letter arrives from Aunt,... The Widow Douglas, a kind but stifling woman who lives with her sister, the knowledge of Jims erases! Uninteresting, this book is a long-lasting storyline, spanning a good portion of the armed men only excites even! 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 what would the title of to the Lighthouse be if Virginia Woolf wrote this today. Jim down the river with the pair of men who are being pursued by armed bandits the room long-lasting... Lucky coincidence for Huck and Jim, SparkNotes Plus is n't available in country... On may 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial after they are lost in the between... This book really kept my attention is at his best in providing cogent overviews that illustrate changing attitudes young! Quickly discovers, the people of the time, from letters and diaries `` Adventures of Huckleberry,... To critique, but news of the best single-volume history of childhood identified in 4! For his troubles of Harvard University Press in chains, and they have a close encounter a.: you do not currently have access to this article download the entire Huck 's raft: a of. Towns along the river that it is hit by a steamboat, forcing Jim and Tom of Cairo Illinois. Leg on a wrecked steamboat personal account also provides access to institutional account management features is history. Stifling woman who lives with her sister, the people holding Jim are the! Resolves to free him the Child Trap & quot ; first 7 of! Content that you are trying to are sometimes objects that stays with Huck and Jim the longest come... 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