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Our readings of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians; Tom Sawyer, Detective; and Tom Sawyer, Abroad have given us some rare experiences with Twain.
Now that our meetings are in hiatus we can use this blog to share our thoughts.
Twain relied especially on Army officer Richard Irving Dodge’s Our Wild Indians (1883) for insights about Native American beliefs and practices to add realism to his unfinished novel, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians; for example, Twain writes that Jim would not be hurt by his captors. This understanding comes from Dodge’s book which explains that Native Americans believed that to harm an African American would bring bad luck: “Buffalo soldier no good, heap bad medicine.”
I hope you’ll share a comment to be read by others in our group. I’d be interested to hear what anyone has to say about how Jim is characterized, how Huck misunderstands maps, how Jim misunderstands time zones and how he explains the creation of the Sahara Desert, how Tom explains “cussing” by the Pope of the Middle Ages and modern-day bishops, or any other things you’d like to share with our group.
Click the “Leave a Comment” button, type your comment, and then click the “Post Comment” button. I will not display your e-mail address, and I will use only the name that you type into the box to identify yourself as your “signature” for the blog comment. I hope you’ll share something about the books we read.
ormondliterature 
Denny once asked us why we thought Mark Twain didn’t finish Among the Indians, having now read 9 chapters, my guess would be because there was almost no way this could end well. There was no place for the usual Twain humor.
The opposite of that view is why I enjoyed Tom Sawyer, Detective, and especially Tom Sawyer Abroad. In fact, I wish their journey abroad had gone further. I was sorry when it seemed they had to return home so abruptly. I found these two stories clever and esp. Tom Sawyer, Abroad, funny. I loved how the Sphinx was described! And the map reading and time changes were told so cleverly.
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I loved the innocence and naïveté of Huck shown through the maps scene. His “literal” acceptance of the maps showing each state as a different color reminded me of my own literal son. When he was three and having an aggravating day, I finally told him if he didn’t stop he would go to his room and stay there until I said he could come out “and not before.” It wasn’t until I reached those last words that I saw his expression change and he burst into tears. I didn’t know what had had the dramatic effect until I realized he thought I had the power to keep him from being four.
Huck was 14, but still innocent and ignorant and believing in the literal portrayal of the states on that map.
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