Feed Overall

I overall really enjoyed reading Feed because it showed the way society changed so much over time. They completely functioned and interacted different with other people. They really didn't interact with other people like we do today which is sad. They don't have normal conversations face to face and they don't even have children the same way anymore. Their society was completely different from anything we are accustomed to. Violet was my favorite character out of the novel because she was the only one who understood how the way they were acting was depleting the world. She wasn't accustomed to having the feed since she was little, so therefore she knew what it was like to be a real human being. Her having the feed degenerating inside of her, which was killing her made it seem more realistic that the feed was the best thing in the world to have. There were a bunch of malfunctions with the feed and she was living proof that having the feed was not necessary. The book made you appreciate the way things are today because the way that they lived in the book didn't seem like it was all that great.

Feed Part 4

     Titus finally arrived at the hospital with Violet and he had to sit outside patiently waiting for the doctor to come out to tell him the results. One of the nurses come out and told him there was some complications and the doctor would be out shortly, but Titus was beginning to grow impatient with them, so he paced back and forth down the hall way of the waiting room.
     Finally her dad arrived and he went in the room at once. When he walked back outside he sat down and Titus approached him. He told Titus that she was okay and after a while he went in to see her. She was covered in cables and Titus was afraid to get near her. They were chatting back and forth and she told him that she was going to be fine for a little while and he was worried about her. He left when the orb came in and went with his mom to Link's house to get his upcar. That night he ate dinner at home and watched the feed instead of doing his homework. When he fell asleep that night he dreamed of Violet.
     The next day Titus went to Violets house and it just seemed awkward between them. Violet kept rambling on and on about things that she wanted to do with her life before she died. Titus didn't really have a lot to say and it seemed like he didn't really care either. She had a whole list of things to do with him and enjoy all different types of things. When it came to a response from him, he didn't really have a a lot to say to her. Violet and her father called the feedtech because they wanted to petition that they needed help paying for the research and repairs. Her father threatened to take their business elsewhere but it doesn't seem like it mattered to the company because after they replied to Violet and her father, they didn't have anything else to say.
     The next day Titus went and saw Quendy and told her how sorry Violet was. He wanted her to know that it wasn't her fault, it was just the feed malfunctioning and messing with her brain. Quendy understood and told him to not treat Violet like she was "low-grade." That it wasn't Violet's fault that this was happening and Quendy found a link showing Titus what was happening to her so he would understand it better.
     That night while Titus was sleeping, Violet left him a message at three in the morning. She was telling him how she couldn't sleep and how her parents never had a feed because they were too expensive when they first came out for her family to get one. She also told him how her leg went numb earlier that day but it went back to normal and here was nothing more to say about it. She told him she hoped he was okay this morning and that she knew he was acting distant towards her. When Titus listened to the message the next morning and he could smell the distinct smell of the hospital. He was hoping the shower he took would get rid of the smell but it didn't. He finished listening to the message on the way to school and he just sat in his upcar as everyone raced inside so they wouldn't be late for school. He mentioned how the leaves outside the school turned red showing he was late. I thought that was kind of cool how the surroundings outside changed.
     The next chapter was just a list of things that Violet was telling Titus she wanted to do before she died. She kept naming things and putting him in the situation as if they were going to be together forever. I don't think she realized that Titus was distancing himself from her day by day. Titus couldn't focus in school that day. He seemed like he was changing ever since the situation with Violet. He didn't even listen to her list all the way through. He would just go back and forth listening to different parts as if he didn't care. Violet had tried chatting Titus for a few times but he kept ignoring her. He went over the Link's house where him and Marty were at and asked them to go in mal with him. Once they got in mal they were out of their mind. They ended up at the ice cream store and don't know how they got there and went to the mall as well. Violet tried chatting Titus again and when she got him to answer he told her that he was coming to her house. She could tell that he was too "whacked" out of his mind to drive and she begged him not to but he did it anyways. When he got there he noticed how her hair was different and she met him outside because she didn't want her dad to know. She was trying to tell him about how her dad had given up on teaching her but Titus was so "in mal" that he couldn't pay her any attention and finally he fell asleep on the ground.
     Titus got a message from Violet while he was sleeping and it was how her morning went. He was put into her place and viewed the events that happened while he was ignoring her. She went numb like she had been doing and fell down the stairs. The feedtech came on once she had fallen and told her that she wasn't available to be helped out for her condition and they couldn't invest in her. Titus could just see her
lying there on the floor waiting for her dad to come and help her up. After he had woken up they just sat there in the grass and talked. He began to feel bad because he hadn't done anything to help her and he felt as if they weren't dating anymore. He kept wanting to touch her and trying to do things to get her to touch him but she didn't catch onto the hint. He told her he needed to leave and when he went to leave he waited for her to kiss him but she didn't. The next day Violet's arms stopped working and she had to be sedated to calm her down.
    Later on Violet started to send Titus another message and he could tell that it was going to be a long one. She told him in the message that she was scared to loose all of her memories so she was going to send them all to him and then one day when she wanted to know them he could tell them to her. He never opened up any of the memories but he could feel them coming in and they were starting to give him a headache. He deleted everyone of her memories, which was a jerkish move to me. Those were her memories that she had of her past and she trusted him with those and he just deleted them. He was turning into someone that she didn't know and you could tell he was distancing himself majorly from her.
     The next day Violet just randomly appeared at Titus's house without him knowing. His mom sent her up to his room and she asked him if he wanted to go to the mountains with her. He at first turned her down and said he had plans, which he didn't, and she got angry with him. She sent him pictures of the cabin and things and finally convinced him to go with her. Titus was really being a jerk to her and he also told her he never got her memories or her messages from the chat. They finally left for the mountains and Violet could tell that there was something wrong with Titus. They got to the mountains and she was so excited about everything. She had put the room in under as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they got their bags and went  to the room. Later on they went to tour the mountains and things around it and Titus just kept realizing how stupid it was for him to be there. They ended up getting into a huge fight and leaving the mountains. He took her back home and they kept arguing on the way there. Her arm had went numb and she was crying too. When they got home her dad got her out of the upcar and Titus left.
     She sent him the next day apologizing for some of the things she said and that she loved him and wanted to talk. He completely ignored her message again and went to play basketball with Link.
     The summer when they got out of school, Titus and his friends flew to Jupiter to stay with Marty's aunt for a little while. At that time Titus was dating Quendy at the time and he seemed to really like her. He talked about how people were freezing up and it was freaking everyone out. This chapter was a little confusing because I didn't really understand what they were talking about. Titus just kept feeling like he was trying to catch up with the new things in society but he always felt like he was running.
     Finally, Titus's dad came back form his trip that he went on with work. He showed them a video of the trip and things that happened during it. When the family was watching the feed that their father had shown them they picked up on the fact that he kept looking down the V.P.'s shirt. When the video was over Titus's mom was freaking out on him and was fussing about what was in the video. Titus had gotten a message during the video that there was something wrong with Violet and he needed to come. When he got there to her house, it was all dark and quiet and her father pointed him to her room. When he got to her room, she was just lying there. She couldn't speak, she couldn't talk, she just lay there like a vegetable. In todays terms you would say she was in a coma. Her dad started to talk to him and it turned into her father yelling at him over and over. He was partially blaming the situation on Titus because Titus was the one who introduced her to all these new things. Her father also blamed himself, for getting her the feed in general. He didn't want to get her one, but from a experience he had, he knew that she would suffer without one. Titus just left and that night he lay there ordering pants after pants, even though he had no credit.
     A few days later, Titus dressed nicely and went to visit Violet. When he got there he went in and sat by her bed. He just held her hand and she lay there not saying a word. He told her about the things she liked, all the new things happening in the world. He also told her the story of them because he didn't want to forget her. He cried for the first time while he was with her because he realized that she was dying. As he told her the story, her heartbeat got slower and slower.

Feed Part 3

Everyone was home now back on Earth but things still weren't the same. Titus's parents were treating him like he was sick, going back and forth to his room to check on him. He got tired of sitting in the house so he went out on his parents upcar and explored around the town a little just to get out. He came back and watched things on his feed and was glad he had friends to talk to. That night Quendy's parents were out of town so they were going to have a party at her house. He was excited about going and he had to pick up Violet and take her because she didn't have a way to get there. He was real nervous about seeing her for the first time since everything had happened at the moon. Everything seemed to be fine and Violet asked him what the parties were like. She told him that she was home-schooled and kind of sheltered so she didn't know what went on at parties. He told her that they were just like what you saw in the feed but a little bit dumber. Violet was nervous that everyone was going to be different acting at the party because of what had happened before on the moon, but Titus told her not to worry that everything was going to be fine. When they got to the party the realized that everything was completely normal. Violet went over to talk to Calista and Titus went and spoke to Quendy and she acted like everything was fine. Quendy then m-chatted Titus and asked if he thought Link and Calista were doing it and Titus told her yes. She went on to say how her and Link used to do it and she seemed really jealous that Calista was his new girl now. She asked Titus if him and Violet were dating and he said yes, then she told him how Calista thought that Violet was stuck up. So he m-chatted Violet to make sure everything was okay. Titus didn't seem okay with the fact that everything was okay with everyone at the party. He expected things to be weird with everyone and when they weren't he felt strange about the situation. Titus went upstairs where a lot of people were at and they were getting "mal." I took this as a translation of getting high like people do today but I wasn't for sure of what it meant to be exact. Titus decided not to do it and he went downstairs to find Violet. They went outside and talked and that's when she explained to him that her feed network was damaged. The day she went outside to talk to the doctors, they were telling her that her network was messed up and it should fix on its on. Titus freaked out on her and began to ask questions, but she reassured him that everything was going to be fine. They stood on the porch for a while and just held each other, and for the first time in a while, Titus thought he was in love.
The next night Titus dreamed about how he was getting all these games for free and he felt like someone was nudging him and he kept asking who it was and at first they said the police but he didn't believe them. He wanted to know who it was and when he woke up the next day he couldn't remember anything but the games which weren't there anymore. But the elf gloves, the bow, and the lizard were all his.
The next morning Violet chatted Titus and told him she had a new idea for him to meet her at the mall. When he found her at the mall he noticed that she was wearing a lowcut shirt and he liked it and it showed off her lesion. Ever since everyone had watched the show Oh? Wow! Thing!, apparently lesions were cool now. She told him about her idea and how the people in the mall were there to target things that went across your newsfeed because things in their were things you were interested in. So what if you started exploring all these new things and then your feed would be all confused and no one in the mall would understand what you wanted. Violet dragged him through a bunch of different stores and they looked at the most random things and never bought them. When it was time to go home, Titus asked if he could take her home and she refused. He didn't understand her reasoning for it and she told him that her dad had to save up for a year for her to go to the moon. I kind of got the feeling that Violet's family didn't have that much money and she was ashamed at where she lived, so that's why she never let Titus come over. He dropped her off at the feed technicians and went back home.
That night Titus chatted Violet and he could tell something was wrong with her. After chatting for a while she brought up the experience at the mall which perked her up a lot. After being with Violet for a while Titus began to feel like he was stupid. Not necessarily dumb, but since Violet was learning all of these things about history and more advanced subjects than him, he just felt as if he wasn't as good as her. They were chatting one day and she told him that she didn't always have a feed because her parents couldn't afford it and her father didn't want her to have one. They got in a argument about how society was either democratic or republic and Titus hated when she acted like this because it wasn't the Violet that he liked, she wasn't herself. She told Titus that she felt like the world was being brought up as self-centered, ignorant idiots. She realized what she had said because she was technically calling him that and felt bad because its not what she meant. Later on Titus brought him being stupid up to his mom and she got all defensive thinking Violet had called him dumb and he had to explain to her that it wasn't anything Violet had said. Titus's parents didn't give up and they felt sorry for him to they kept talking about how Titus was all the wanted and he was exactly what they wanted and he wasn't dumb. His parents told him about how he was created which sounded kind of different to me because I thought it was like it was now, but definitely not. They told him that they told the geneticist that they wanted him to have specific features but also look like DelGlacey Murdoch. After a while of conversation, Titus's parents told him that they were getting him his own upcar and he was sooo excited. He couldn't wait to take Violet out in his very own upcar.
The next morning Titus, his father, and Violet went to look for Titus a upcar. He had a hard time choosing between a sportier car that would just hold two people or a bigger car that would hold him and all his friends. Violet helped him decide on a autumnal color and on the bigger car. That night they all had supper at Titus's house. Violet got in a dispute with Titus's father about whether trees were necessary or not. She had mentioned earlier that her and Titus might be going to the Jefferson Park but his father told her that it had been cut down. The fight got really awkward and so Titus brought up that Violet had told him that there wasn't going to be a trial for the man that hacked into their feeds. After the awkwardness had begun to wear on them, Titus's father said it was time for him to take her home. When she went to get up, her foot was asleep and she couldn't feel it at all. This worried Titus and he wasn't okay with the things that were going wrong with her. She finally was able to walk and he took her to the new mall near her house, where her father picked her up.
The next day Titus went to pick Violet up for their date to the country side and he met her father for the first time. On his way there he noticed that Violet lived in a different neighborhood than his. Each house was in the same bubble, versus in his neighborhood, each house was in a different bubble and had their own kind of weather. When he got to Violets house he met her dad and she wasn't kidding about how strange her father was. He spoke with words that no one understood because he believed that the language was dying. When they left Titus kind of stepped onto a sore subject because he told her that her life was different because her parents weren't married and she lived in a different location than he did.
On their ride to the farm they were talking about how their families met and such. Violet had told Titus that her parents never got married and when she was six or seven her mom left and went to South America where it was warm. Ever since then her dad had raised her and she was homeschooled and what not. Titus told her of the story how his parents met and lived together and went to Venus, since Venus was the planet of love and how he proposed and everything. Finally they arrived at the farm and they could smell the filet mignon and they went on a tour to watch how things grew. They went and bought doughnuts as well and Violet said they should eat the plain ones first because it was more of a thrill to get to the better thing later. Then she went on to tell him about how she would order something on the feed and keep pondering on it and then finally order it but not take it out of the box for a little while and then give in and take it out. But she liked doing this because of the thrill it gave her when she finally got to something new. Titus and Violet went on the steak maze race and tried to see which one of them could get to the middle first and they were being all cute. They finally sat down and watched the sunset together. Violet randomly asked Titus if he ever thought about dying. He told her he wanted to die in a overload of intense pleasure of his senses. That night he carried her back home and when he climbed into his bed he could hear the feeds of everyone in his family. His feed with speaking softly and informing him of all different types of things as he drifted off to sleep. He kept having this ridiculous dream and feeling like someone else was tampering into his feed. He called for the feed tech assistance but she kept getting annoying and not helping with the problem so he just went back to sleep. I don't understand how people can tamper into his own feed when its in his mind. Yeah, there's people in the networking systems but I don't get how they can mingle into his brain.
That Saturday they heard about the commercial for Coke, if you said it to your friends like a thousand times you would win a free six pack. So Titus and all his friends got together and they kept talking about Coke and it got real awkward when Violet said something about it and everyone looked at her weird. Titus could tell that all his friends were chatting about her and he tried to move the conversation forward. They had decided to all go to the store to get some Coke since thats what they were all talking about. During the walk outside, Calista and Loga were talking badly about the remarks that Violet had said and she was starting to get mad. Violet chatted Titus and told him it was time for her to go home, so he didn't have a choice and took her home and had to leave his friends. On their ride back home Violet and Titus were chatting and he felt as if she was showing off when she used big, weird words in conversation with his friends. As the conversation kept going Violet finally told him that her feed was really messed up. The technicians were trying to figure out what was going on, but they said since she got hers so late that he brain wasn't adapting to it as well as everyone else's did and she could die from it malfunctioning. she quickly changed the subject and told Titus to drop them so they could feel sudden vertigo together. She asked him to go back to his friend's house and he told her it would be awkward so they went back to his house. They just sat on the couch wondering about Violet's condition and talked about things they could do before her condition worsened. She didn't want to think about it even though the technicians said it was deteriorating faster. Violet had dinner with his family that night and then Titus took her home later that night. The next day they went to the Sea and sat on the sand and looked out at the water. They had to wear suits when they were there which was really strange. They kept talking about Violet's condition and she told him that parts of her body kept freezing up more frequently now which freaked him out. He had to change the subject and he told her he really liked her to get everything off her mind.
The next day at school when Titus walked in he noticed Calista's new lesion and Quendy was quick to chat him about it and tell him that it was fake. They were chatting back and forth and you could tell that she was "meg" jealous that Calista was dating Link. Titus chatted Violet to tell her about it and then she asked where he got his name from. Titus finally told her that he was supposed to be a clone of Abraham Lincoln. I find these things to be really weird and I don't understand why people were created this way in this time period.
That Friday night they went to the party and when they walked in they got drinks like everyone else and started dancing. After a few minutes of being there, Quendy walked in covered in lesions. Everyone just stopped and stared at her because they were in shock of what she was doing. After a while Titus took Violet to the attic and told her about the game they used to play when they were kids and how only Link's friends knew about the special hiding place. Titus found some old paintings in the attic as well and they were some of Link's dead relatives. When Violet and Titus returned downstairs to the party they saw that everyone was playing spin the bottle. On one of the spins when Link landed on Quendy and they started to kiss and it pissed Calista off because Quendy wasn't stopping. Finally after Calista had, had enough she called Quendy out and told her she looked stupid and how what she was doing was ridiculous. Marty spun the bottle next and it landed on Violet. Violet was not okay with this and when Marty got closer she freaked out on him. She started yelling and saying weird words and telling everyone that what they were doing was stupid and what Quendy did to herself was dumb and she looked like a monster. Violet was spinning out of control but Titus noticed that her body was going limp and her eyes had gone white and she wasn't okay. He kept telling everyone to call and ambulance but no one would do it because Violet was being rude before this had happened. Finally some women came and Titus went with them and that's when he realized that the party was over.


This section was really long but there were a lot of interesting parts and different things that I noticed throughout the section. When strange things occurred I noted it in my summary. Sorry guys! There was no way I was going to remember every single thing that I wanted to point out by the time I finished reading this section.

Feed Part 2

Titus awoke from being knocked out since his feed was cut off and he discovered his feed wasn't back on as well. They were all laying in the hospital, waiting for their parents to get there. They didn't understand why their feed was cut off, but then the police informed them that someone had hacked into the system and they were trying to figure it out. Titus and his friends were so bored and they couldn't find anything to do. They had depended on the feed their entire life. Titus went on to explain how the feed not only helped them out with educational things but it helped them come up with things that they hadn't even thought of yet. They pretty much relied on the feed to do all of their work for them and now that they didn't have it, they were completely lost and didn't know how to function. Titus just kept complaining about how bored they were and that night when they were all supposed to be asleep he heard Violet walking to the bathroom and when she came back Titus asked her to sit with him for a little while. They didn't really have anything to say to each other so they sat there in silence. Violet began to cry silently and Titus noticed it and mentioned it to her and she asked him could he not be normal for once, in other words do things without the feed. The next morning Titus's father arrives and he's dressed all business-like. He forgets that Titus can't talk in M-chat and has Titus tell him everything that happened. His father starts to talk to himself and then tells Titus he's going to the police. Violet seems like she was listening in on the conversation and Titus is worried she is going to think that he is weird or something like that. Quendy asked Violet when her parents were coming and Violet told her that they were busy with work and things and were probably not going to come at all. The group of friends decided that they were tired of being bored so they came up with this game where they took needletips and shot them at the anatomy skinless man on the wall. Violet was surprisingly good at it and she won the game every time. She tried to teach Titus how to play the game and he found it attractive that she knew what she was doing. Loga came in because it was time for the girls tv show to come on and they all sat around her while she told them what was going on. I thought that everyone lost their feed connection but apparently Loga still had hers because she was able to watch the show. The doctor came in a little while later and started making a fuss because they made such a mess with the game that they were playing and Link's mom heard him fussing and came in and told them that the kids were stressed and the game was the only thing entertaining them. Titus was really starting to get attached to Violet and he liked the fact that they were getting so close to each other. She told him that today was like a salad day and the only good part was the ranch. Later on that evening Violet spoke to the doctor and while she was out Titus had noticed that Link and Calista were hooking up. When Violet came back in the room she asked Titus to go somewhere with her. When they got where she was taking him, it was to the garden, the garden that had died because the glass windows had cracked and the moon dust and air had leaked in and killed all the plants. They stood in the middle of the garden and for the first time Titus kissed Violet.
They returned back to where everyone was and Violet and Titus were sitting on the bed talking about their families. He told her about how he had a little brother and what his parents did for a living. She told him that her dad was a college professor and he taught the "dead language." She said they were languages that weren't used anymore and she got out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote it for him. Titus was very shocked that she actually wrote things down. He had always used the feed to write things for him and wasn't used to things being done without electronics. They noticed that Marty was freaking out and crazy things were happening to him. When the others tried to get someone's attention, everyone else in the ward told them to be quiet. Titus asked Violet if her father really wasn't going to come and get her because he was busy and she told him that, that wasn't the real reason..its just what she told him.
The next day the doctor, a nurse, and a technician came in and told them that everything was back to normal and they were going to get their feed's activated. At first when Titus went to get his activated in the examination room, it wasn't working properly. It took a while for his to work, but when it did information from the feed kept pouring in. Everyone was so excited that their feed network had returned and they couldn't stop laughing. Titus looked over at Violet and she was just as happy as everyone else and they found each other's hands and danced while information poured through their feed networks.

This part of Feed was kind of interesting to read because the gang didn't really know how to work properly without their feed's working. They were completely different people and didn't know how to function without having someone help them through everything. I can understand why they were probably freaking out about not having their feed networks. It was kind of like a learning experience for them. They were used to something their whole life and in a matter of seconds it was taken away from them and they didn't know how to work without it. Violet and Titus's relationship matured in this part and it made me really happy for them to finally show their true feelings to each other and not hide them inside.

Phenomenal Woman- Maya Angelou

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/maya_angelou/poems/492

This poem talks about how women always ask the writer how she attracts men. She tells us that she's not model size, but its the fire in her eyes. She goes on to say how she doesn't do anything out of the ordinary to attract men, it's just the type of person she is. Maya Angelou seems like she is trying to tell the audience, kind of narrowing it down to women, that you don't have to be something your not to attract the attention of men. Being yourself and having confidence is a woman's best quality and most men find that attractive.

The Story of an Hour- Kate Chopin

http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0052-story-of-an-hour-kate-chopin.html


This story tells of a woman who has heart troubles as it is, but is astonished at the news that her husband has been killled. She sobs and weeps as any woman would do at first but then she stows away to her room and sits in a chair that faces the outside. She sits there and ponders on the past events that have just occurred but she whispers to herself "free, free, free." She sobs a little at the news of her husbands death once again but begins to think about the life she was about to face on her own. After sitting there for a while her sister knocks at the door and tells her to come outside. When she finally gets up and walks outside of her room and down the stairs, her husband is standing in the doorway looking at her. He wasn't dead indeed after all but the woman didn't seem excited about his presence.

This story sounds so familiar but I can not remember where I have heard it before. The woman was at first startled with the news of her husbands death, but then she seems at peace with it. It mentions in the story that she loved her husband, but sometimes she didn't. The lady seems to be accepting her new life on her own as she sits by herself facing the window. She doesn't seem to be saddened by the death of her husband anymore. "Free, free free" is what she says to herself. I think she is talking about herself, like that she's free from her husband now. Since he's dead she has no one to answer to, no one to worry about, no one to tell her what to do anymore. The lady seems kind of disappointed when she walks downstairs to see that her husband was not dead. She feels trapped again and knows that she is going to have to live the life she had been living ever since they got married.

What do you guys think?!

The Red Convertible

This story starts off with the author telling us about how him and his brother went in together and bought a red convertible, "Red Olds." But he went on to say that they both had owned it, but now his brother owned it to himself and he didn't know why. Lyman (the narrator) was really good at making money. He once owned a restaurant called the Joilet Cafe. He started off working there as a busboy and then became part time manager, then he fully owned the whole place. But that all went down hill because a tornado came threw and tore the place all to pieces. Lyman and his brother went into town one day with all their money and that's when they saw "Red Olds." Before he knew it they had bought her and were driving around everywhere. One summer they decided just to drive where ever the road took them and they would stop and take breaks along side of the road. One day they were driving and they saw a girl standing aside of the road so they picked her up. Lyman asked her where she was from and she told them "Chicken" which was in Alaska, so thats where they went. The girls name was Susy and her family took them in like they were their own children, they even had their own tent beside their house. But it began to grow cold outside and it was time for the two brothers to leave. The night before they left Susy went into their tent and they broke the news to her. She told them that they have never seen her hair and she unpinned all of it and her hair reached the ground! Henry picked her up and put her on his shoulders, because he always wondered what it would be like to have long, pretty hair. The next morning they left the family and headed towards home. They got home in time for Henry to be deployed to be a Marine in the services. He only came home once for Christmas and then he was off again, but he did write letters. He only got two letters written before the enemies caught him, so he had to stop. But Lyman kept writing him letters hoping that he would get them and he told him all about the things he was doing to the car. Lyman kept referring to it as Henry's car, even though Henry gave it to him when he was deployed. When Henry returned home, he had changed dramatically. He wasn't the same person anymore and Lyman wasn't happy about the change. He couldn't joke around with his brother anymore and I guess it was just hard for him the accept the fact that he brother wasn't the same person anymore since he had come back from overseas. One day Henry and Lyman were watching TV, when Lyman heard a clicking noise and looked over at Henry and he had bitten through his lip and blood was running down his face. Lyman tried to help Henry but he just pushed him away and tried to act like it was nothing. After supper that night when Henry left the room, the family was talking about how they needed to get Henry some help but they didn't want to take him to the hospital because all they would do was give him drugs. Lyman figured maybe if he destroyed the "Red Olds" that Henry would pay some attention to it and it might bring the old Henry back. Henry finally noticed after a month that Lyman had let the car get beat up and run down. He fussed at Lyman about it and Lyman just kept his mouth shut and didn't say a whole lot because he wanted Henry to go back to his old self and maybe the car would do the trick. After that day, Henry was always working on the car..day and night. He even strung a lamp outside to be able to see at night to work on the car. He was much calmer now and he was getting back to himself, but Lyman still wasn't happy. Lyman was used to him and his brother doing things together and now Henry was a loner. One day, Henry asked Lyman to go for a spin in the ole car and their younger sister took a picture of them outside of the car. Lyman hung the picture up on the wall but after a while the picture creeped him out. One night he was drunk and high and had to leave the room because of the picture and his friend came over and they put a paper bag over it. Lyman then goes on to explain the drive that him and his brother took. Henry was calm and quiet which made Lyman happy but all of a sudden Lyman lost it and grabbed his brother and yelled wake up, wake up and Henry knew exactly what he was talking about. He said he knew it and he knew that Lyman had destroyed the car on purpose, but that Lyman should take the car for himself. They get into a fight over this stupid car and start hitting each other and after a few hits, Henry starts laughing and says "you take it" and finally Lyman agrees. They drink the beers that were in the cooler and then Henry decides to go for a swim in the river to cool off. The current starts to get a hold of him and suddenly he's gone. Lyman took the car to the edge of the bank, put it in first gear and got out, and slowly let it roll into the water.

Woahhhhh I did not expect this to be the ending of the story. After reading this story, the quote that comes to my head is "Appreciate the things you have in life, because one day..they could disappear. I feel really bad for Lyman throughout the whole story because he feels like he's lost his brother completely since he went off overseas. But when he finally gets him back to his old self, the river current takes him away again. I can't imagine what was going through Lyman's head as this was happening, that poor kid. This story just really teaches you that you should always appreciate the people and things you have in life, because one day you might not have those things anymore.

From Blossoms

When I first read this poem, I knew it was about peaches but I also could tell there was a deeper meaning to it and I couldn't figure it out until we had the class discussion on it. The poem seems like its in the perspective of a young or older couple. The author uses "we" a lot, which is what made me think that it was referring to more than one person's perspective. In the beginning it says "we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turned towards signs painted Peaches." This line kind of seems like the couple that was traveling along had no intention of buying peaches, they just stumbled upon the signs and didn't pass up the opportunity. The poem kind of is making symbolism to me with the peaches referring to someones life maybe. Like you go through good experiences and you go through bad ones, but you just keep moving forward regardless of the situations. When the author says "peaches we devour, dusty skin and all, comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat," kind of uses the peach representing life, like saying that not everything comes as desired but you just keep moving along with it. 


"O, to take what we love inside, to carry within us an orchard," this line seems like the author is saying take the good things or memories and cherish them inside to carry within you and you can always relive those moments in your head regardless of the new memories or adventures you face..you'll always have those good moments in your memory.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web is one of the oldest movies that I can still remember to this day. The very end of the movie is the saddest part of all and it was the piece that was taken out of the story for us to read. It starts out with Charlotte and Wilbur in the stall they were placed in at the fair grounds. Wilbur had just won first prize at the fair and he was very proud of the metal he was wearing around his neck. Wilbur and Charlotte were talking about how they were soon to be going back home when Charlotte broke the news to Wilbur that she would not be returning with them. Wilbur threw a fit and whined about it because he didn't understand. Charlotte explained to him that she was becoming very weak and wouldn't make it but only a few more days. Wilbur finally understood where she was coming from and he decided that he was going to take her sacs of eggs that would soon become babies with him. He had to beg and bribe Templeton, the rat, to get the egg sac down from the web and finally with the bribing of food, Templeton got down Charlotte's babies. Wilbur carried the sac in his mouth home and they finally broke loose from the sac and took Charlotte's place in spinning webs at the door. Charlotte finally died a few days after everyone had left the fair grounds. Wilbur said that he would never forget her because she was a great friend and also a good writer as well.

In the beginning in paragraph two, Charlotte was trying to easily tell Wilbur that she wasn't feeling well at the time but he wasn't understanding what was going on with her. Wilbur was still very young and Charlotte kind of took the mother role in his life. She meant a lot to him and it seemed like he would do anything for her. This story even though its super old, still makes me sad, because its kind of like loosing your best friend..no one would want to go through that, human or animal.

Feed Part One

In Feed Part One, Titus and his friends decide to go to the moon for their spring break. On their ride there Titus is trying to sleep but his friends keep making so much noise to the point where he can't sleep. His friends Marty and Link kept playing around and when they reached the no gravity zone, Titus finally gave up. They got to the hotel that they were going to be staying at and it seemed kind of sketchy to them but Marty reassured him that it would be fine. When Titus got to the moon he was saying how he wanted to "hook up" with someone because he felt lonely all the time. He hadn't been with anyone in a while and he always felt lonely, even when people were with him. Once the girls put their stuff in their room and the guys as well, then they walked around and tried to find something to do. The group tried to get into this college party but when they attempted to get in the college kids just looked at them like they were crazy. They all kept complaining about their lesions on their bodies that were oozing liquid and gross stuff out of them. The lesions were on a different part of the each one of their bodies and they continued to spread. The group then decided to go to the Ricochet Lounge. In the Ricochet Lounge you put on helmets and pounded in to each other and the walls as well. Titus didn't really want to participate in the game so he just stood in the corner and admired this girl that had just walked in the Ricochet Lounge. Titus was extremely attracted to her and he couldn't figure out why. She was wearing unfamiliar clothes, a gray wool dress, and sat in the corner at the snack bar by herself. Titus sat in the corner of the Ricochet Lounge and admired her. She pushed her juice out of her mouth hoping no one was watching and she watched as it floated in the air and then sucked in back into her mouth. He was hoping that none of his friends would say anything to him and they didn't. Marty and Link kept playing in the Ricochet Lounge and they kept getting rougher and rougher and finally the manager said something to them so they had to leave the lounge. The girls went to the bathroom to fix their hair, because their hairstyles had changed and when they returned Quendy was complaining because no one told her that her lesion had spread. The guys told her it was fine and that it wasn't noticeable. She didn't believe them so they told her to ask the girl over there (referring to the girl that Titus had been admiring). When she asked her the girl responded and said that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was because it was within the lines. If it crossed over the lines then it would appear more clearly to everyone. The girl showed them her lesion which was on her neck and she said how she was wanting it to spread around her neck so it would form like a necklace. They finally left the Ricochet Lounge and tried to find something else to do. The guys kept hitting on Violet and asking her questions about their lesions, which disgusted her and she was hoping that Titus was going to say something flirty as well but he didn't which surprised her. The girls kept playing with Quendy's hair to fix it so it showed off her lesion. They couldn't find anything to do so they decided to get drunk and go to a club. They went to this place where they thought they could get fake ID's but it was closed down. So they tried to break into the mini bar, but that didn't work either. So they decided to go to the club sober. Violet felt very uncomfortable in the club because she had never been dancing before. Violet and Titus began to talk and he didn't seem to be as interested in her as he thought he was but all of a sudden the gravity cut off and Violet grabbed Titus's arm and apologized for it. An older man then began to speak to them and say "we enter a time of calamity" over the speakers. The police finally came and beat the man over the head so he would shut up and they warned the kids that they're chips were about to be cut off. When the chips cut off everyone dropped to the ground. 

At first when I started to read Feed, I didn't understand any of their language, well the way they worded some of the things, like "null" and "meg." After reading for a while I was able to translate their words and understand what they were talking about. I didn't understand what the "feed" chip was in their brains     either. I finally got that the chip was kind of like a little dictionary/advice giver in their brain that helped the out when they needed it. It also provided them with shows to watch and stuff like that whenever they wanted. So it was kind of like a portable tv, dictionary, and therapist all in one. 

The School

So as I was reading this I was real confused at why in the world everything that embraced that one school died. Those poor children probably had no hope for anything. The poem seems like it's trying to capture the audience and give them a perspective of life maybe? Everything that they tried to take care of died. The salamander, the puppy, the trees, the tropical fish, Matthew and Tony, their parents...where did they all go? The poem might be trying to tell us that you need to appreciate what you have. I'm just not really sure where Barthelme was going with this. At the end the children wanted the teacher to make love with Miss Helen, the teaching assistant. That kind of threw me off guard with the events that were happening in the poem. Was Barthelme trying to add in a positive environment for the students by placing love into the school. Because once the relationship between the teacher and Miss Helen sparked a gerbil appeared. So if their was a positive environment in the classroom all the time, then would things in the room stay alive?

A Silver Dish

The silver dish is a story about a man who is grieving the death of his father. He mentioned in the beginning of the story that he mentioned how his father had a wife and a mistress and only cared for himself. Woody also told the audience how he had two sisters, who were in their fifties and lived with their mother. Woody dressed his father for the burial in the way that he wanted and buried him amongst jews, like his father requested. Woody told the audience about the time his father left his mother and sisters and he made Woody the "man of the house." Woody tells the story of how his father's family had previously abandoned him when they were traveling to America because of his eye infection, which could also affect his decisions in leaving his family. He was left as a young boy, so he probably sees that it's okay to leave his family as well. He told us how the preacher looked down upon his father as well. On pages two and three its Sunday and the bells rang, which reminded Woody of his father. Woody hadn't really come to closure with the death of his father until he heard the bells ringing on Sunday, which is the day he would visit his father.
Aunt Rebecca kept giving him a hard time of showing characteristics of his father. Aunt Rebecca had previously had her breasts removed and Woody was told that it was because women who didn't have their breasts fondled and played with obtained breast cancer. This was kind of interesting to me because I have previously heard this somewhere else but I don't remember where, it seems kind of silly that this would be true..but you never know!
While Morris was laying in the hospital, he begged Woody for help. He told him that Halina's husband had taken his money and he wanted to protect her. He didn't think that her new husband was good for her. Pop also mentions that he can only "help" Woody. In A Silver Dish Woody states "He wanted me like himself, an American." I think this means that Pop wants to teach Woody how things in society really are and not how his mother and aunt want them to be. They're extremely religious and there's nothing wrong with that but Pop has a more actual view of how society is and actually faces hard times.
Pop completely used Woody for money and ended up getting him kicked out of seminary school, which meant a lot to him. He got Woody to get him fifty dollars and while he was getting the money Pop stole a silver dish from a locked cabinet that he thought was going to be worth a lot of money. After Pop and Woody left their house, it wasn't long after that, that they figured out it was missing.
Woody took his "dependents" to Disney World in Florida when it opened. At first I didn't understand what he meant by dependents but he was referring to his mother and sisters and the mistress. He didn't refer to them as family because he felt as if he was taking care of them out of it being his duty and not out of loyalty.
The last few paragraphs Woody was describing to the readers the pain he was going through as his father was slowly dying. He never really showed compassion for his father throughout the story, he just did little things like stick up for him with the silver dish situation and see him behind his mother's back. Pop was really the only relationship Woody had in the story. Woody referred to his mother, mistress, and sisters as people he had to take care of. He made it seem like it was his "job" to take care of them and not him doing it out of willingness.

Howl

So I read this poem about four times and still didn't understand it. The first time I read it I was like what in the world is he talking about. As I was reading it I was noticing that he was really straight forward with the way he said things and he didn't hold anything back. There were things in the poem about drugs, alcohol, and he didn't refrain from cussing either.

Anyone care to explain what Howl is about? Because I really don't get it.

HARRISON BERGERON

This was a very interesting thing to read. I wonder if the world will really be like that in 2081. It was really weird how after just one different sound in their ears and they would forget everything that they were just thinking about and be completely clueless. It also was really weird to me how everyone had to wear those headsets and they were disciplined if they weren't wearing them. The whole story revolved around the show with ballerinas that they were watching on tv. It was really confusing to understand because all of a sudden it switched to their son being on tv and how he was a really bad criminal and how everyone obeyed to what he said. Apparently their son was seven foot tall and handsome and he spoke aloud to everyone and told them that whoever rose first was going to be his empress. When the ballerina rose, he removed her mask and took away her "handicap" bags. Also mentioned in the story the father, George, says that he was going to remove his bags and be as equal as his wife. I'm guessing that if you weren't wearing the "handicap" bags then you were lower status in society. George also mentioned that he wouldn't remove any of the weights out of the bag because he would be imprisoned and charged money if he removed them. The story reminded me of how people with Alzheimer's Disease were, in the way where they didn't remember anything that was going on after a few minutes. The only difference was that the only reason they didn't remember the things that were happening in the present time was because of a noise broadcasted into their ears. I think they try really hard to remember what had just occurred but they can't remember so they just go on about their day and act like nothing had changed.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

This has to be one of the saddest things I have ever read in my life. It really shows how heartless some people can really be.

This story is about a family of a mother, father, three children, and the father's mother that lives with them. They were arguing in the beginning of the story on where they were going to go on vacation. The grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee and the rest of the family wanted to go to Florida. The grandmother did not want to go to Florida because she said thats where the misfit was and he was on the loose and she didn't want to run into him. They didn't listen to what the grandmother said and left for Florida just as they had planned. The grandmother sneaked her cat into the basket and she covered it with some sort of blanket so her son wouldn't say anything because he despised the cat. They went on their road trip to Florida and made a few stops along the way for food and things. On their way there, grandmother babbled on about how she would love to see this old house that reminded her of her childhood but the son refused to stop. Once the children begged and nagged him, he finally turned around and they headed down the road that the grandmother had told them about. She realized when they were driving down the road that the plantation house was in Tennessee and not in Georgia where they were at. She was so embarrassed at her mistake that she didn't say anything. The grandmother accidentally hit the basket that the cat was in and he jumped out onto the father. This startled everyone and cause the car to flip and the family flung out in their wreck. Once they figured out that everyone was okay they sat in the ditch and pondered on what they were going to do. They saw a car coming and when it pulled up, three men got out that had guns and began to talk to them about the predicament that they were in. The grandmother then realized that one of the men that were standing in front of them was the misfit. The misfit told his two partners to take the two males into the woods and after a while the women and the misfit heard two gunshots. The misfit's two partners returned and took the female's with them this time except for the grandmother. The whole time all of this was going on the grandmother kept saying to the misfit that he was a good boy and would never harm a lady. The misfit would agree with her but he kept saying how he was different. The misfit also mentioned that he had good parents, which didn't make a lot of sense because usually people who turn out bad have had a rough childhood or a bad experience previously. He told her that he wished he would have seen when God raised the dead, because maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they had. He said that "it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," which kind of made it seem like that he believed that if you knew you were going to die anyways you might as well do bad things. He eventually shot the grandmother three times in the chest, which finished off the whole family and the two partners drug her off into the woods where the rest of the family was.

I don't understand how someone could just shoot a whole family like that for no reason at all. I wonder if something really did happen in his past that made him have that attitude towards life and not care what happened to him in the end. This story is really sad, but it shows just how cruel some people can really be.

Langston Hughes

Theme for English B was so simply written by Langston Hughes and directly straight to the point. He talks about how he is twenty-two years old and the only african american male in his class. He mentions throughout the poem that just because he's african american doesn't mean he can't like the same things as other people who are a different race. He's trying to explain to us how diverse it is to live in America and be a different race. He wants the audience to know that just because he's a different race doesn't mean that he can't think or have the same opinions of someone of a different race. People shouldn't judge someone because of their race, but because of what they think. 

Harlem is really kind of confusing to understand. It starts out talking about dreams getting deferred and how they gave up on them. I think Hughes is referring to where did the dreams go? Did they "fester like a sore, And then run?" He makes it seem like the people in Harlem just gave up on their dreams and didn't pursue them like they intended to. 

Countee Cullen

In "Yet I Do Marvel," Cullen starts out by using God in his couplet. This poem kind of seemed like in the beginning of it, Cullen tried to use God as a way to open up the audience but after the first two lines, he contradicted himself and made it look like he didn't know what to believe. He makes it seem like he questions God, because it God was "so good" then there wouldn't be blind me, starving men, or dying men..but what he is forgetting is that God had to die for us for us to even have life so therefore he should be a little more grateful. This poem was kind of confusing and it was short as well which made it a little harder to understand but I understood it once we discussed it in class.

In "Heritage," I was kind of confused with what he was talking about. Cullen talks about whether Africa is "true" or not and he has a hard time distinguishing which way he should go. He feels like his heart is going with Africa which is his emotional side, but his head is telling him to go to America because there is more opportunities for him there. He italicizes certain the beginning, a piece in the middle, and a portion at the end to distinguish that these are important parts of the poem, kind of like the chorus of a song. He tries to explain to the audience that he feels like he isn't accepted by either heritage, so therefore it makes the decision for him harder. He feels like he is alienated from society and his home, so he really has no where to go which is kind of sad. He also kind of puts down Africa as well, maybe inferring that it wasn't exactly what he wanted but its where he felt like he really belonged.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

I decided to translate the beginning to help me get an idea with what the poem was talking about and it pretty much was telling us about they come upon this guy that they feel safe with him because they don’t believe anyone can come back from hell. He tells the person that he can’t tell anyone but he’s going to tell him a secret, because he knows he can’t tell anyone. The irony is that Dante really can speak and tell other people later on.

Throughout the poem by the interpretation that I got, Prufrock is really insecure about himself and doesn't feel like he is good enough for anyone. Prufrock starts out the poem with nice things to say but then he changes up the mood of the poem by adding in how the how the streets are half-deserted with annoying people, how he had a restless night in a cheap hotel. It kind of seemed like he was going to have a positive attitude with the poem but then he changes the mood really quickly. Some things we pointed out in class that also helped me understand how miserable he was, was when he was describing the fog. He says that "rubs it's back against the window panes," but he also describes it as yellow which meant it was literal fog, that it was combined with sewage smells and pollution from the disgusting environment he lived in. 


Prufrock also tells us how he is shy towards women. He mentions that the women only speak of Michelangelo, but they were only doing it out of a fashionable sense. He feels like he is inferior to women and has no ability to talk to them. At one point, Prufrock kind of seems like he is going to talk to the mermaid but of course, he never does. We also mentioned in class "if you measure your life with coffee spoons, then your not going anywhere," which true because you have to venture out and not judge what is happening day by day.  

The Wasteland

I've been putting off this blog for a while. Me and poetry do not get along, if you couldn't tell by my quietness in class. I was really confused at what I was reading but after reading it a few times and you guys blogs I kind of understand. The first time I read it I was soo confused because it talked about so many different things and I didn't understand where all the subjects were coming from.

Section three seemed like he was talking about how everything was deserted. It was titled "The Fire Sermon," which kind of fit what he was saying to me, like everything had been burnt down and the town was empty. Just by the way Elliot is describing the town and his actions towards the audience make it seem like something terrible happened, maybe a fire. This poem really confused me, so can you guys bring it down to my level and help me out? :)

"The War Prayer"

Twain starts off telling us about how everyone in the town is cheering on the new volunteers of the war, He tells us about how the volunteers families and friends are waving goodbye to them as if they were excited about them leaving, but I feel as if Twain automatically expected his audience to understand the sadness of the families as well. Twain talks about how people gather at the Church that following Sunday including men who want to enter into the war. He also mentioned how the "bronzed heroes" were returning and everybody was excited to see them. Twain also mentions how there were people at the Church who were envious of the volunteers because they did not have any sons or husbands to send off to the war.

The preacher then starts the "long prayer" and begins it out with asking the Lord to watch over the soldiers who are participating the war. The preacher also talks about how he wants the soldiers of his town to beat their opponent and win the war successfully. Twain then tells us about a strange looking man that appears at the Church and how he is dressed compared to everyone else. The man just walks in hoping no one would notice and stands beside the preacher as he is praying. He touches the preacher and hopes for a chance to speak. When the stranger speaks he talks about how he is there to speak the words that were running through the audiences minds as the preacher was praying, the "unspoken" prayer. He then re-prays to the audience and adds in the words that he thinks the people were thinking. He talks about what would happen to their foe if they won the battle as the preacher had mentioned earlier. The stranger described the situations of the losers of the war for example, "help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst..." The stranger is trying to make the audience feel guilty for praying this prayer and wanting them to win the war.

Huckleberry Finn- Chapters 36- to the end

In Chapter 36, Tom and Huck were still going out of their way to get Jim out of the shed. Finally Tom gives in and lets them use the shovels to dig a hole to get to Jim. They finally got to Jim again and he was excited to see them again as he always was. Tom warned Jim of their plans that they had to let him out but there would be a change every time something new came up. Tom came up with some of the dumbest idea’s and Huck never really agreed to them because Tom “knew everything’ since he had read it in the books. Tom thought it would be a good idea to hide things throughout Jim’s food that they brought to him. One time Tom put a candle in Jim’s food for him to find but Jim found it when he bit into the food.  That evening they were all in the shed when the other slaved hollered out “witches” because dogs were coming, so Tom threw out a piece of meat to distract the dogs from coming any further.

In Chapter 37, Tom and Huck start to get worried that they were going to get figured out. Tom’s aunt starts to notice that things are going missing and it drives her completely insane. She at first notices that the shirt is missing and then she picks up on everything else like the sheet, the candlesticks, and the spoons. She preaches to her husband about how everything is missing and blames the candles and the spoons on the rats. She sends her husband off to fill up the rat holes, but Huck and Tom had already done it. Tom also starts to get confused about the spoons as well because he thought there were nine but he didn’t know that Huck put one up his sleeve so Tom’s aunt wouldn’t notice when one was missing. That night she puts the sheet back on the line and tells them that she gives up on counting. They continue to steal things and out them back so the aunt won’t notice. They also finally figure out how to make the pie and feed it down the ladder so Jim could have it, while Nat the other slave wasn’t looking.

In Chapter 38, Jim and Tom are trying to decide what he is going to carve on the walls. Throughout this chapter Tom has to make everything more complicated than it really is. He at first wants Jim to carve it on a log of wood and then he decides that, that was too easy so he tells him to carve it on a rock. Then Tom tells Jim that he has to have a pet because all prisoners have pets, but Tom only names the animals that Jim is afraid of. He at first mentions spiders, rattlesnakes, garden snakes, and then rats. He said that Jim had to train it to become his pet and then he would be a real prisoner. The next thing Tom tells Jim to do is to grow some kind of flower with his tears, which seems unrealistic. There would be no way that Jim could grow a flower and it live, with his tears.

In Chapter 39, Tom and Huck are gathering all the things that Jim needs to be a real prisoner. When they go to find the snakes they cant and Huck tells us how scared Aunt Sally is of the snakes and she will whoop and holler when they’re around. Tom also thinks it’s a good idea to warn them because nobody pays attention to anything around there so if they had a warning then maybe they would pay attention. He gave them many warnings such as a letter, drawing pictures on the front and back door, and the final letter. They planned out as well for Huck to dress as a servant girl to deliver the first letter and for Tom to dress as Jim’s mother but he didn’t want to do so.

In Chapter 40, is when Jim finally gets away! That night right after supper Aunt Sally sent Tom and Huck right to bed. Huck sneaked back downstairs into the cellar to get more food while Tom was dressing up Jim as his mother with Aunt Sally’s gown. Huck got caught by Aunt Sally she took him into another room to question him that was filled with a lot of famers who had guns. The butter in Huck’s hat started to leak down his forehead but when Aunt Sally figured out what it was she just sent him back to bed. Tom, Jim, and Huck got out of the house easily and when they were ready they gave the signal and hurried off into the woods. While trying to escape, Tom’s pants got caught on a wire but he broke loose before the famers got to him. They sent the dogs out as well but they were the dogs that belonged to the family so the dogs just kept running when they figured out who it was. Finally, they got to the canoe and the raft and took off down the river. They were all so happy but then they realized that Tom had a bullet in his calf. Jim and Huck told him he didn’t have a choice and when they reached a village he was going to the doctor to get it taken care of.

In Chapter 41, the doctor goes with Huck to tend to Tom’s leg but he had to make up another story so the doctor wouldn’t tell anyone. Huck decides to get some sleep and then head back to his uncle’s house. He tells his uncle that Tom was supposed to meet them at the post office but when Tom doesn’t show up they go back home and everyone is all up roared about Jim escaping. It starts to become nighttime and Tom still isn’t back from “town” his uncle goes to look for him in town. When Tom’s Uncle returns home, Huck makes sure to stay clear of him because Huck is already a bad liar and he doesn’t want Tom’s Uncle questioning him. During the night Huck starts to get worried so he goes and checks on Tom a few times throughout the night and early that morning.

In Chapter 42, in the beginning Tom was still missing but not before too long he showed up on a mattress with doctor and Jim behind them in chains with a group of men. Tom was brought into the house, for he was out of his mind and he needed his rest. But Jim was sent back to the cabin and he was chained up good this time and was on a water and bread meal for some time. Huck went to visit Tom one afternoon when it was time for him to wake up and Aunt Sally was there as well. When Tom woke up he was as happy as could be and told Aunt Sally everything that had happened about them stealing Jim and all the things that go with it. Not before too long, Aunt Polly showed up and she knew the truth all along because she had Tom’s brother Sid with her at her home. Aunt Sally was furious with Tom and she warned him never to do it again or there would be consequences. Also, Aunt Polly confessed that Jim was a free slave because it Miss Watson’s will after she died, she wrote in it that Jim was to be freed, so Huck and Tom did all that work for nothing.

In the final Chapter, Huck asks Tom what the plan was all along when Jim was free. Tom tells him that they were going to march through town and show everyone what a great deal of a person Jim was. The doctor also told Aunt Sally and them what a great help Jim was to him and so they fed him all he wanted and clothed him. Tom also pays Jim forty dollars for being a good slave and Jim was excited because now he thought he was a rich man. Huck also learns that the man in the house that they found dead earlier was his father and he wouldn’t have to worry with him no more and he could get his money from the Judge. Aunt Sally also wanted to adopt Huck and take care of them but Huck wasn’t sure of the situation because he had already been there and done that before. 

Huckleberry Finn- Chapters 31- 35

In Chapter 31, Huck talks about how the Lord and the Duke still continued to go throughout different towns and try to hoax people with their shows to get money. One day the Lord went into town and he told Huck and the Duke that if he didn’t return by noon then it was safe and they could come too. They ended up going into the town and after they had been there a little while Huck escaped from their presence and went back to get Jim so they could get away from the Lord and the Duke. When he went back, Jim was gone! He looked and called everywhere for Jim but he was nowhere to be found. He started off for town and he asked someone along the streets if they had seen him and they told him that he was at the Phelp’s place, that Mr. Phelps had bought him for forty dollars from someone and was wanting the two hundred dollar reward. Huck was confused on what he was supposed to do, should he write a letter to Miss Watson saying where Jim was? Or should he try to get Jim back and continue on their journey. He debated this for a while and even tried to pray about it but he couldn’t because he knew either way it was wrong. Huck ended up going to the Phelps farm and he accidently ran into the Lord. He told the Lord everything that happened and the Lord told him that he was the one that sold Jim. He told Huck that if he wanted to get Jim back that he had to promise that they wouldn’t “blow” on them and he would go away for the three days that they were partaking in the show. He sent Huck forty miles out of the town to look for Jim but Huck wasn’t stupid and he turned around as soon as he knew the Lord wasn’t looking.

In Chapter 32, Huck goes onto the plantation of Mr. Phelp to look for Jim. On his way there he runs into a slave woman and her children and she claimed, “It’s you, at last! ain’t it?” Huck was startled and just agreed and with everything the woman asked him about Tom. The woman wanted to play a trick on her husband and when he returns home she asked him if Tom had come back yet and when he responded no, he turned towards the window and then Huck came out. Everyone was really starting to believe that Huck was Tom. When Huck found out that they that they thought he was Tom Sawyer, he was relieved because he knew that part, after all Tom was his best friend.

In Chapter 33, Huck goes back into town and he stumbles upon Tom Sawyer himself! Tom at first doesn’t believe it’s Huck because after all Huck was dead according to everyone in town. Eventually Tom believed it was Huck and Huck told him everything that was going on. To Huck’s surprise Tom agreed to help him steal Jim back from the Phelps. Huck and Tom come up with a plan and Huck started back for the house and a few minutes later Tom came as well. The family was awfully excited to see strangers and invited them in for dinner. Tom’s aunt was so glad to see him and she hugged and kissed him over and over until Tom said that he was his brother Sid. But even after he said that she still hugged and kissed him as well. That evening at dinner they all had a great deal of conversation and Huck and Tom listened out for the mention of a runaway slave but they never spoke one word of it. That night Huck and Tom stayed in the same room and they escaped out the window a little after dinner and went into town. The family had mentioned the show and Huck knew exactly what they were talking about, the Lord and the Duke’s show. They ran into them on their walk there and they had been tore to pieces from the audience that trampled the stage. Like Huck usually did, his conscious kicked in and he felt bad for what had happened to them.

In Chapter 34, Tom and Huck talk about how they are going to set Jim free. When Huck tells Tom his plans he proclaims that Huck’s plan is too plain and there needs to be more adventure in it. They sneak around that night and break into the shed to see if anyone is in there, because the days before they saw one of the other slaves take food to the shed. When they break into the shed there wasn’t anyone in there. Later that day they hang around the plantation and see the slave that carried the food out to the shed. They go where he’s at and make conversation with him until they get out of him what was in the shed. He takes them with him to deliver the food and sure enough Jim was sitting in the shed. He was so excited to see Huck and Tom, but quickly enough they changed the situation up and said that they didn’t know each other so the other slave wouldn’t get suspicious. They told Jim that they were going to get him free and they would be back later that night.

In Chapter 35, Huck and Tom are still trying to get Jim out. They go on a lot of adventures to get him out and Tom makes sure that everything they do is a challenge to make the adventure more interesting. They steal everything they need and when they go to steal the watermelon, Tom makes sure they pay for that so people don’t get suspicious. Tom even goes as far as to say that they are going to saw Jim’s leg off to get him free. Tom still thinks he knows everything and Huck has to listen to him because he read about it in the books. Tom just tries to make everything complicated about getting Jim out of that shed so it would be more fun for him, when really it was bothering Huck. If I were Huck I would not have put up with Tom’s ignorant behavior. Huck should have just did what he thought was right as well as quick and easy for saving Jim from the shed.