Thursday, February 14, 2008

Ch 6: Pap's Rant

By this point in the novel Twain has already depicted Pap as a negative character. He is unrefined, stubborn, and ignorant. Having the prior notion that Pap is no good and can't be trusted helps bring out what Twain was really trying to convey during the drunken rant that Pap goes on about a rich black man he ran into which turns into a rant about the flaws in government in regards to racial issues. "Here's a government that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six months before it can take a-hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, shite-shirted free "n"'(Twain 26). Pap becomes infuriated as he goes on about this black man that cannot be touched because he had not been in the state for six months. While this expresses the views of the people of the time, Twain uses to desciption of Pap's movements to help add to the display of the stupidity and ignorance of society. Pap gets so hotheaded that he starts stumbling around and hurts his leg, and while he is spastically acting out injures his toe in the process. The way that Twain depicts these scene is somewhat humorous to the reader. Shedding this light on humor and such an ignorant speech adds to the view that society and its views together are down right stupid and inhumane, for we see Pap jumping around like an animal. All the while Twain is creating irony because as Pap compares black people to animals and lower than dirt, he himself is acting like a foos, and displaying a dispicable sight.

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