Passion / Revenge

Catarina Sousa
 In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,  by Mark Twain  leads us to believe that children starting to enter the world of adulthood go through problems that are truly more severe then expected. They live in a rural area where the rich were clean and educated, while the poor, such as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, are left to figure life out by itself. Huck find’s the illness behind his father’s eyes to be the end of him. Which, it almost was. But, Huck takes the chance to look for adventure to follow his passion but to disregard his responsibility to his father and others. He saves his life, watches his father lose his, and finds that it's you against the world. Being alone at such a young age, really saddens how humanity lives. In once case, people spend their lives searching for somewhere they belong, but instead end up more alone then before.
 Huckleberry Fin’s father is one of the many few characters that has a severe problem. His alcoholism led him to being the town drunk, but this rude reputation wasn’t all. He lived in a dusty old beat up cabin. Before, he sent Huck away to live with people that would “tidy” him up since his father didn’t have the circumstances to do so. But, Huck got fed up of being someone he’s not. Instead, he went back with his alcoholic father. The real problem began once Huck’s father started to beat him every night when he got home from getting buzzed. One night, after continuous beating, Huck’s father tried killing him. Luckily, his father passed out before it could happen. But in case the situation occurred again, Huck decided to fake his own death. By this, Huck takes animal blood and lays it on the floor, leading his father to believe he’s dead. When Huck finishes making the scene look believable, he flees away. Huck shows us that he didn't have a choice but to leave. In real life, people are forced to be isolated because of family problems, health problems, etc. When put in the position of life or death, most people would chose to live alone, rather than end of dead because of an avoidable situation.
 When Huck flees he encounters Jim. Jim was the slave worker of Huck’s previous family. Jim tells huck that they are planning to sell him and he has to escape to survive. Huck sees this opportunity to run away with Jim to have company along the way. On this journey they endeavor, a flood sweeps by a nearby town and has the town underwater. Luckily, Jim and Huck used a wooden floating device that helped them survive. By this time, they see a house floating and decide to go inside for better safety. On the way inside, they leap into a bedroom. The find a dead body laying on the bed. They ignore the fact that someone’s been killed, but instead continue their journey. By the end of the book, we find out that Huck’s father, or the town drunk, was the dead man. He doesn’t know the cause of his death, but suspects it’s because of his alcoholism. When Huck fleed, his father also ended up by his lonesome. But, in this severe case, it killed him. If Huck stayed, it would have been possible for him to change his ways and give up drinking. But what if Huck leaving lead to his considered alchol poisoming? It's possible to assume that his father's death could be a suicide. He took the chancxe of over intoxicating his body and it made him end up alone and dead, just like the people in the town assumed in the beginning. 
 This part of the story really defines the true meaning of the book. The journey these two embark on takes an interesting turn. Now, it’s just not talking about being free, its actually happening. The whole reason for this adventure comes from his father’s actions. Thus, his father showed him to be on his own and take control. Even when he was with Jim, who is much older, Huck takes the lead. In the end, seeing his father dead didn’t have an effect on him. Which proves, he really did take on the world, with a little help form his friends. 

Hamlet Test Essay

Catarina Sousa

Mr. Perez

AP English

20 October 2011

            In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it is shown how the characters each have their own actions and phrases that lead us to believe who they really are. Whether they kill themselves or each other, they have no other reason, but power. Thus, unnecessary sword fights and the power of seeing paranormal sights give hints to who Hamlet is and will become. Each scene has its purpose, for example the grave digging scene is lead to believe to be the most important. For the purpose of comedy, Shakespeare adds comic relief before he takes the big plunge to the dramatic ending.

In one scene, including the gravediggers he has two “clowns” have an argument about the people of the town. In the beginning he talks about their rumors they have heard, such as Ophelia’s claimed “suicide”. The clown states how people in the town only start rumors, and they don’t even know for a fact that this suicide really happened. One clown starts questioning the funeral, asking if it is a Christian burial. Since suicide is considered a sin in the Christian religion, she doesn’t deserve a proper burial service like all the other God-followers. But, considering who Ophelia’s father is and the power he does possess, the King allowed her to get buried properly without over analyzing the situation.

Ergo, Polonius’ social standard saves them from an embarrassing funeral, who no one would attend to ruin their own life standards. Shakespeare is trying to show how being who you are really affects the way you are treated. The ones who can’t help themselves but don’t commit sins get tossed on the floor and get eaten by bugs and on passing animals. While those power-hungry who say they believe in God, commit sins profusely and still get buried under God’s name. Shakespeare shows us what social standards have become.

 Since the gravediggers started digging as Hamlet and Harotio, Hamlet’s only trustworthy friend, started having a ball while they completed their necessary task. You may be asking, how is it possible gravediggers could sing while burying someone who once had a beating heart? Well, Hamlet asked the same question, he pondered as they threw skulls from the dirt out into the open. He said to Horatio, “That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'erreaches, one that would circumvent God, might it not?”(Scene 5, pg.121, Line 77) Hamlet is getting frustrated with the gravediggers just tossing around skulls that once belonged to living breathing humans around. He questions if it could have been a politician who could talk his way out of everything, which is quite the talent. Or the skull of a courier, who would flatter the king with all the tricks he knew. Hamlet imagines these people who once were and are no longer.

 Hamlet sees how fragile things are and could go away so quickly. He realized how depressing it is also, and he thinks what is the point of living if you could lose everything you built up for in a second. The allusions behind Adam are that the gravediggers are saying how the Christians hold up Adam’s true profession. They state how he doesn’t have arms, or “ever bore arms”. They ask how he could do a task without having the ability to do it. This reminds me of them both, considering they take their melancholy job quite lightly. The allusion behind Alexander the Great is that hamlet questions if he really looked like everyone else on earth, or preferably in his grave.  This shows us that even the famous and almighty such as Alexander will decay and rot just like we all will one day.

Overall, this gravedigger scene started as a comedy to relieve some of the eager minds, but ended up confusing Hamlet as to why he is here on earth. He starts to realize we are the same since we die the same. This scene over turns into an existentialistic point of view of he tried to give the skulls a face and name. By that, Hamlet questions himself. Since the beginning of the book, he has been indecisive towards all his decisions. Not once could he do something that he truly believed was right. He questioned the time, the people, and himself. If you cannot decide for yourself, then don’t have such strong opinions that will never follow through. The book screams indecisive standard-loving snobs. They all deserved to die in the end, since for most, power is what caused their death, and power was what they lived for in the first place.