HF Responding and Reflecting - Biographical/Historical Lens

Throughout my years in school, this is now the fourth time I have read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a school setting. Each time I've read the novel, there has never been one particular focus in how I was reading. The assignments were far more based off of the content and events that took place in the book, rather than having to make connections and draw inferences from what I was reading. I believe that this gave me an advantage in reading the book through the Biographical/Historical lens because I didn't have to focus so hard on what was happening. Instead, I could think about what was happening in United States history in parallel to what was happening at that time in the novel.

For example, it never really struck me in the past at how odd and unusual the relationship between Huck Finn and Jim was for that time. Had the same relationship been in place in current times, no one would think anything out of the ordinary about it. If anything, people would see Jim as much more of a mentor or big brother figure to Huck Finn, rather than just a Black man. But in those times, Huck Finn for sure would have been shamed and frowned upon for so much as talking to a Black man in the same way he would talk to a White man. There's also the event where after Huck plays a mean prank on Jim, he apologizes. Again, this sort of action would be positively reacted upon had it occurred in times like today. However in the 1800's and 1900's, being a White boy apologizing to a Black man was seen as a sort of sin. It was almost as if in doing so and apologizing, Huck was treating Jim and putting him on a social level equal to Huck's. 

In reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through the biographical/historical lens, I've also been able to view and interpret one of my favorite scenes in the book in a completely different way. There's a scene when Huck Finn is off of the river and disguises himself as a young girl, but then has to continue to prove him "being a girl" to a woman he encounters. Throughout the scene, we as the reader can tell that the woman is skeptical of Huck being a girl, and she continues to ask him to perform certain "womanly" tasks, such as sewing. Later when he's been discovered, one point the woman brought up is that he threw like a man, not like a girl. This reminds me a lot now of events in the feminist movement today that weren't nearly as existent in the times of the novel. In 1845, the feminist movement had basically not been founded yet, as the 1900's are really when women started to speak up, leading up to the 1920's when women were finally able to vote. Nowadays feminism and women's rights are HUGE, and I think the comparison of the eras is very interesting and the scene in the novel can really highlight how the movement has evolved throughout history.