Introduction: The plot, the characters, the subject, the theme are all elements that make up a television show, a film or a novel. An episodic novel follows a similar structure to a television show. The narrative takes connected incidents, often linked through the characters. In any given "episode" or section of a novel, the characters, their motivations, and their relationships with other characters would change little or not throughout the novel. Sometimes when characters meet other characters, there is no major impact on the protagonist. Background: Mark Twain wrote the novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in an episodic format, writing small "episodes" within his novel. Twain took the separate juxtaposing episodes and integrated them into the great American novel. The setting of this novel is before the Civil War in the American South, a major conflict at that time being that of slavery. Thesis Statement: From this period came the themes of the novel that can be considered: insight into humanity, friendship, and family. Three separate episodes perfectly illustrate these themes, for example Huckleberry Finn understands the importance of his decision whether or not to report Jim (chapter 31) when Jim misses his family and his daughter (chapter 23) and Jim shelters Huck (chapters 8 and 9). .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Topic Sentence: At such a young age, Huckleberry Finn made a very mature decision. Chapter 31 is such a monumental chapter because Huck, a 13 year old boy, made a very mature and moral decision. During this chapter certain events led to Huck's famous phrase, this could be related to how he made his decision. The Duke and King are crooks and working on their next scam and Huck sees a chance to escape. The scammers ended up making a fake flyer and handed Jim a $40 reward. Huck felt guilty for helping Jim escape slavery. Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson illustrating Jim's whereabouts. He is momentarily relieved to write, feeling that this confession will save him from going to hell for helping a slave. This relief slowly turns into guilt and he must choose between two things: going to heaven or hell. His final decision resulted in the statement “Fine, then I'll go to hell” – and tore it up. Evidence and Citation: In chapter 31, he describes the inner conflict that Huck was facing. He said: “The more I studied about it, the more my conscience crushed me, and the more wicked, base and unpleasant I began to feel. » Comment: This shows that when Miss Watson tried to "civilize" Huck, some of her ideas and rules stuck with her. Evidence and Quote: Huck faced an internal battle that was tearing him apart because he was taught that anyone who helped a slave escape was doomed to hell. After writing the letter, Huck said, “I felt good and cleansed of all sin for the first time in my life, and I knew I could pray now.” Shortly after, he said, "But somehow I couldn't hit any place to harden myself against him, but only the other guy...and finally I hit the time I saved him by telling the men we had smallpox on board and he I was very grateful and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the alone he has now; » Comment: This proves that Huck was not capable of seeing Jim as something evil or bad. He could only remembergood times with Jim, he grew to have a meaningful friendship and relationship with Jim and that just can't be broken by being told it was wrong. Evidence and Quote: Huck also says, "I would return to wickedness...And to begin with, I would go to work and rob Jim of slavery again." Commentary: This shows that Huck was willing to do anything to get Jim back from the Duke and King, so that he could have his friendship again. Why is this considered such a mature decision in the literature? Huckleberry Finn was a thirteen-year-old boy able to challenge society's beliefs that slaves were less than human. No one in this novel told Huck that Jim was anything other than a slave, but Huck saw through that facade. He saw a kind man who was able to feel feelings and feel sadness for being taken away from his family, which society once again said. that slaves were not capable of having feelings. This ties into two of the themes of this novel: friendship and the view of humanity. This chapter perfectly illustrates the friendship between Huckleberry Finn and Jim while giving readers insight into the inner workings of Huck's brain and thought process. Topic Sentence: Huck was able to see Jim as a person who was experiencing grief. During chapter 23, the Duke and the Dauphin successfully scam people for their show. They ended their show after only a brief performance, the locals, embarrassed that they had been scammed, told everyone in town how great the play was so they wouldn't be the only ones scammed and 'they can always keep their honor. The Duke and the Dolphin ended up with $465 over the three nights of screenings. The most important part of this chapter is the ending, where Jim misses his wife and two children. Evidence and Quote: In chapter 23, Huck says, "I fell asleep and Jim didn't call me when it was my turn." He often did that. When I woke up just at dawn, he was sitting there with his head down between his knees, moaning and crying to himself. Commentary: This illustrates the theme of family, as Jim was crying because he missed his family and was homesick. Before the Civil War, one of the beliefs in the South was that black people did not care about each other and would not cry after being torn from their families. Evidence and Quotes: Huck also says, "I didn't pay attention to it and I didn't let it be talked about." I knew what it was about. He thought of his wife and children up there, and he was depressed and homesick; because he had never been far from home in his life; Commentary: This quote shows how Huckleberry Finn began to learn that Jim had the same emotions as him and expressed them in the same and different ways. Evidence and Quotes: “And I believe he cared as much about his people as white people do about their own people,” Huck says. Commentary: This proves Huckleberry Finn's acceptance of Jim as an equal. He was able to overcome the difference in skin color and culture and understand what Jim was feeling. Evidence and quote: “It doesn't seem natural, but I think it is. He often moaned and cried like this at nights, when he judged that I was asleep and said, "Po' little 'Lizabeth!" “Po little Johnny!” It is very difficult; I make it clear that I will never come to see you, no, no! Commentary: This shows that Jim truly cared about what Huck thought of him and did not want Huck's opinion of him to change. It also shows how much Jim still cared about his family, even when they had been apart for months or even years. Huck was able to seehow distraught Jim was and wasn't going to make things worse by saying something sarcastic. They were able to remain friends, gaining more respect for each other and learning more about what mattered to each other. Topic Sentence: Jim was able to see Huck as a friend more quickly than Huck was able to see Jim as one. In Chapter 9, Jim and Huck take their canoe, food, and supplies into a cave to hide if visitors arrive on the island. A storm hits the river and, in a flooded house, Jim and Huck find a body. The man appears to have been shot in the back. Evidence and Citation: In the chapter it says: “There was something on the ground in the far corner that looked like a man. Then Jim said, “Hello, you!” » But it didn't change. So I screamed again, then Jim said, "That man isn't sleeping, he's dead." You stay still - I'll go and see. Commentary: Jim goes to see who this man is, shows the friendship that blossoms between Huck and him. Jim doesn't want Huck to see a dead man's face, lest the images scare Huck. Evidence and Quote: “Come in, Huck, but don’t look at his face – it’s too scratchy. » Comment: This shows that Jim is protective of Huck, he has barely met the boy, but he wants to protect Huck from the bad things in the world. Why does Jim show so much concern for Huck after meeting him? Comment: Jim's son could have been about Huckleberry's age, so maybe Jim was just letting his fatherly instincts take over and trying to protect his "boy". Evidence and Citation: Later in chapter 10 it says, "After breakfast I wanted to talk about the dead man and guess how he was killed, but Jim wouldn't." He said it would bring bad luck. Commentary: This shows how Jim takes Huck in and how Jim treats Huck like a son. Jim wants to stop Huck from thinking about this because he is trying to be fatherly and protect him. We later learn that the man they found dead was Huck's father. Why did the author choose to tell us who the dead man was later in the story? Mark Twain might have chosen to tell us who the dead man was in chapter 7 because it adds more to the relationship between Huck and Jim. Jim, a runaway slave, protects Huck, a white boy, from the fears and trauma that might arise from seeing a boy's father dead in front of him. This chapter ties into the theme of understanding humanity, as we try to protect people if we can. It doesn't matter whether we are related to them or not, people try to avoid traumatizing children. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Concluding Paragraph: “An episodic novel is composed of loosely connected incidents, each more or less self-contained, often linked by one or more central characters (Wiehardt 2019). Throughout the novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", these episodes are used for example in chapters 31, 23 and chapters 9 and 10. Mark Twain can make the reader wonder about the society from which ours emerged in 279 pages. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is such an amazing novel because of the questions it makes you ask while reading it. Like “Why is Jim able to see Huckleberry Finn as a son?” » Mark Twain takes the themes of the novel and interweaves them into something beautiful that teaches a lot about what it means to be human and how friendship and family relate to it. In chapter 31, Huck was able to overcome the differences between him and Jim. In chapter 23, Huck learned that Jim was human and showed feelings. In chapters 9 and 10, Jim has.