Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999, Childhood is frequently a solemn business for those inside it. New England Puritans sought to provide their children with stable, orderly childhoods within the framework of patriarchal families, in which fathers could prepare them for a godly life (or a sanctified death). To purchase short-term access, please sign in to your personal account above. Huck introduces himself as a character from Mark Twain's earlier novel, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Huck says that, while the book is mostly true, Twain told some "stretchers," or lies, but that that's okay, because most people tell lies one time or another. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. ISSN 0028-792X. I would have liked to seen more on queer kids and families but overall this book was fantastic. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Subscribe now. How did childhood change throughout different periods of our country's history? I hope I got the details right. He does not plan any future writings. Huck then reveals all to the eldest Wilks sister, Mary Jane. She has come to Arkansas from St. Petersburg after receiving a letter from Sally mentioning that Sid SawyerToms aliashad arrived with Tomwho was actually Huck. The men, clearly con artists, claim to be a displaced English duke (the duke) and the long-lost heir to the French throne (the dauphin). Already a member? These children were often . Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood By Steven Mintz Belknap Press, 2005. Free trial is available to new customers only. Steven Mintz is an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin. Now, Steven Mintz gives us the first comprehensive history of American childhood encompassing both the child's and the adult's tumultuous early years of life. 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. Wed love to have you back! Should children be sheltered and protected from the world, or are they ready to work and be a part of society from a young age? We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Huck and Jim team up, despite Hucks uncertainty about the legality or morality of helping a runaway slave. When Aunt Polly and the Phelpses hear about the assistance Jim gave the doctor in nursing Tom, they immediately unchain him, feed him, and treat him like a king. They capture the raft and loot the house, finding in it the body of a man who has been shot. Huck feels bad about helping Jim run away and has a moral dilemma. What is the significance of the town of Cairo, Illinois? Most readers, at first, think that Huck's trick on Jim is funny. Includes 5 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment. Uploaded by It sometimes strands them, forcing them into a story line they might otherwise have avoided, or it might provide a quick escape route from dangerous situations. Huck and Jim are concerned about Toms wound, and Jim says they should get a doctor, since Tom would if the situation were reversed. As a result of his adventure, Huck gained quite a bit of money, which the bank held for him in trust. Chapters 30 and 31 Summary. Perhaps the most revealing aspect of his story concerns the tension between approaches to child-rearing which emphasize patriarchal control (usually stressing children's need for strict discipline and moral instruction) and those which emphasize maternal care (usually seeing children as autonomous beings who should be encouraged to realize their individual potential). Log in here. As it is, the old men catch up with them, and the storyline concerning the four of them continues. After reading his descriptions of the clothing which Puritan children were forced to wear, including clothes that forced their spines straight and made crawling impossible (Puritans thought crawling was abhorrent), one can hardly blame them. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Huck has had quite enough of that. He explores their role in revolutionary upheaval, westward expansion, industrial growth, wartime mobilization, and the modern welfare state. They make it to their canoe and set off downstream toward the island where the raft is hidden. This view covers American history from the perspective of children. 2005 eNotes.com The bullet in Toms leg seems rather deserved when Tom reveals that he has known all along that Miss Watson has been dead for two months and that she freed Jim in her will. The old woman regretted ever having considered selling Jim down the river. In the end, it is no wonder Huck wants to avoid further sivilizing.. on February 14, 2014, There are no reviews yet. As he points out, governmental policies vacillate wildly as one or another of these approaches moves to the center of public consciousness. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. While Huck is caught up in the feud, Jim shows up with the repaired raft. The place is filled with farmers and their wives, all discussing the bizarre contents of Jims shed and the hole. An odyssey of psychological self-discovery and growth, this book suggests a vision of childhood that embraces risk and freedomlike the daring adventure on Huck's raft. Today, adults impose ever-increasing demands on the young for self-discipline, cognitive development, and academic achievement, even as the influence of the mass media and consumer culture has grown. What is a general plot summary of To the Lighthouse? What is the ideal family unit and how did regional differences come into play? Tom hatches a wild plan to free Jim, adding all sorts of unnecessary obstacles even though Jim is only lightly secured. They treat Jim roughly and chain him hand and foot inside the shed. In this summary, we will cover chapter 19 of Mark Twain's ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'' Peaceful Travels After experiencing the deadly feud between the Grangerfords and. Without the raft, it would never have occurred. I found the end of the book, which looked at childhoods in the 1990s a bit less interesting, just because it felt like it was edging the line of assumption and judgement at times. Free trial is available to new customers only. Huck's Raft is a history of American childhood and youth, written by Steven Mintz. Subscribe now. In the chapter, Huck and Jim are on the river on a raft trying to . This effort fails miserably, and Pap soon returns to his old ways. Tired of his confinement and fearing the beatings will worsen, Huck escapes from Pap by faking his own death, killing a pig and spreading its blood all over the cabin. An example is the story about Claudette Colvin, nestled in the chapter dealing with civil rights and Brown v. Board of Education. He hangs around town for several months, harassing his son, who in the meantime has learned to read and to tolerate the Widows attempts to improve him. Scholarly, and engagingly written, it places the history of childhood in the mainstream of the history of the United States; as . Ace your assignments with our guide to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! FreeStandard Shipping. The king, angry at Huck for trying to give them "the slip," grabs him by the collar when they catch up with the raft. Why doesnt Huck want to be adopted by Aunt Sally? The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. on 50-99 accounts. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% The 2006 H-Net review wrote that the book was the best single-volume history of its kind. This engaging and compelling account of the history of childhood in America is a tonic by a first-rate historian that is both scholarly and beautifully written. When on board the wreck, Huck hears thieves discussing the murder of one of their fellow thieves. Parents, teachers, and general readers will benefit greatly from reading it. Several days travel takes them past St. Louis, and they have a close encounter with a gang of robbers on a wrecked steamboat. You can view our. This allows the whole subplot with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons to occur. By helping the doctor treat Tom and shielding Huck from seeing his fathers corpse, Jim yet again affirms that he is a decent human being. Lotu Tii 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. During a night of thick fog, Huck and Jim miss the mouth of the Ohio and encounter a group of men looking for escaped slaves. The Unchosen Ones: Diaspora, Nation, and Migration in Israel and Germany. When Tom wakes the next morning, he reveals that Jim has actually been a free man all along, as Miss Watson, who made a provision in her will to free Jim, died two months earlier. While on that island, though, they catch a raft which is about twelve by fifteen feet. Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood Paperback - April 30, 2006 by Steven Mintz (Author) 126 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $15.93 Read with Our Free App Hardcover $20.00 10 Used from $19.99 4 New from $39.74 1 Collectible from $10.00 Paperback $30.00 17 Used from $15.82 16 New from $25.64 However, in chapter 5 of "Huck's Raft", Mintz explores the experiences of children in the early 20th century who were often forced to work in factories and on farms to support their families. In this way the raft provides extra suspense and helps get them needed supplies. Huck's Raft comes to me, in the modern fashion, garlanded with pre-publication praise. Like Huck's raft, the experience of American childhood has been both adventurous and terrifying. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. 94 lessons 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 size also helps the raft function as a plot device, as you'll see later on. date the date you are citing the material. 2. If the raft had been a boat, Huck and Jim would have been able to escape the Duke and the Dauphin after the incident at the Wilks' house. Huck knows that helping Jim escape is breaking the law, but Jim is also his friend. Terrified of the disease, the men give Huck money and hurry away. When Huck finds Jim after they are lost in the fog, Jim is asleep on the raft. It is far from a perfect book, but I appreciate its efforts to show a wide ranged approach to gender, race, and ethnicity. SUMMARY. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian. The raft in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn serves many purposes other than simple transportation. It is hit by a steamboat, forcing Jim and Huck onto shore. Just then, Aunt Polly walks into the room. But youre left wondering why such an interesting subject was not necessarily explored throughout the book. PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated. Discount, Discount Code Jim has, technically, been a free man almost the entire time. Huck's Raft, written by Steven Mintz, provides a very detailed recollection of various periods in the history of American childhood. Adults envy young people their youth, vitality, and physical attractiveness. While they camp out on the island, a great storm causes the Mississippi to flood. This was one of those books that I found in a list of references while reading an assigned text. Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood. Click the account icon in the top right to: Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. Starting with the 18th century, Mintz traces childhood in the United States up until the end of the 20th century. These over-reported incidents are not necessarily representative of the way teenagers live nowadays. Good overview of how America, since its inception as a society, has handled the phenomenon of childhood. Aunt Sally then steps in and offers to adopt Huck, but Huck, who has had enough sivilizing, announces his plan to set out for the West. View the institutional accounts that are providing access. Some of the local men would like to hang Jim but are unwilling to risk having to compensate Jims master. How does Huck escape from the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons? He and Jim are stranded with the murderers. (one code per order). Huck, touched by her concern, vows never to hurt her again. He finds some people who say they want to search his raft for runaway slaves but Huck says his family is on the raft and has smallpox. What dreams and plans does Jim have for his future once he successfully escapes from slavery? 37. pp. Purchasing 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. Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Summary and Analysis Chapters 19-20. At the end of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, a poor boy with a drunken bum for a father, and his friend Tom Sawyer, a middle-class boy with an imagination too active for his own good, found a robber's stash of gold. Download the entire Huck's Raft study guide as a printable PDF! 28 Feb. 2023