Blogpost 3

The Grangerfords has elements of humor, sadness and an allusion to a famous British play you might have read Freshmen year. Identify all 3 of these from the book and provide detail

            The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, introduce the Grangerfords at the beginning of the seventeenth chapter. Huck, after being saved from a pack of dogs is interrogated by a member of the Grangerford family, to see if he is a Shepardson. After settling that Huck is not a Shepardson, he is invited into the Grangerford home and is immediately immersed in their family’s bizarre culture. The family owns a large estate and many slaves, and although Huck finds the furnishings to be tacky he still admires the house and the family’s lifestyle. The Grangerford’s are introduced to Huck with a fantastic lifestyle. Although the Grangerfords are idolized in Huck’s eyes, he finds point of sadness in their life. Huck finds many sad works of art about the house, and especially in her room, which seemed to be untouched. Each work portrays a theme of death and sadness. “They was different from any pictures I ever see before --blacker, mostly, than is common. One was a woman in a slim black dress… and she was leaning pensive on a tombstone on her right elbow, under a weeping willow” (Twain 184). Each work was created by the late daughter Emmeline Grangerford, who died at the age of fifteen. Although their lifestyle is highly admired by Huck, he cannot help but be saddened by the remnants of Emmeline and her room in the house.

Although the remnants of art left by Emmaline were sad to Huck, he finds humor behind her work, because although sad, her theme of death is ironic in the sense that she is dead also. Twain uses humor when introducing the Grangerfords. Besides the work of Emmeline, Twain uses the introduction of Buck to show humor. Huck asks Buck to spell his name after they first meet, and twain uses Buck’s answer to be humorous to the reader.  “"G-e-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n--there now," he says.” (Twain 156 ). Buck’s answer is obvious to the reader to be wrong. Twains uses Bucks introduction to Huck to spark humor during Huck’s time with the Grangerfords. Huck’s initial impression of the Grangerford’s is one of humor and sadness. Huck finds the house’s tacky décor to be humorous as well as Emmeline’s ironic work. Huck’s initial impression of the Grangerfords is one of humor, sadness, and adoration for their lifestyle and what they have.

            Besides the themes of sadness and humor that are apparent in the introduction of the Grangerfords in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the bizarre story behind this family also alludes to the famous Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. Immediately after meeting the Grangerfords Huck hears of the Shepardsons. After staying with the Grangerfords for a while Huck hears of the feud between the two families. Although the reason for the feud is unknown the hate between the two families is almost tangible.  When both families attend church together, the hate is still rampant, even though the minister preaches about brotherly love. “we all went to church… The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees” (Twain 289) The feud alludes to the feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s in Romeo and Juliet, which was similarly violent. The similarities between the two stories become even greater when Sophia Grangerford runs off with Harney Shepardson. Although the feud between the Montague and Capulet’s ends in a family union and the feud between the Grangerfords and Shepardsons ends in battle the two stories have considerable similarities. Besides the themes of humor and sadness introduced with the Grangerfords, the chapter of the bizarre family compares greatly to the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Page numbers may be different because I was reading off of my Kindle edition.