Criticism

I think that before reading the criticism, I had a picture in my head of what the solomon scene meant, albeit not a thoroughly solid one. I thought that the two people in the solomon story were the north and south and the divisions between them over the issue of slavery. Solomon, who represented government to me, offered to resolve the issue by cutting the child (aka America)in half, making half of America "free" and the other half "slave". I didn't see that Twain really meant there to be a real mother and a fake mother because huck and jim's conversation didn't really focus on that at all. However, after reading the Sloan criticism (despite some of the issues I had with it), I think that it made me see some of the other minor things that I didn't totally solidify in my ideas. For example, the fact that Jim infers the inherent beliefs of the people and the apathy of government speaks to the purpose of mentioning this. "It lays in de way sollermun was raised. You take a man dat's only got one er two chillen; is that man gwyne to be wasteful o'chillen? No he ain't; he can't 'ford it. He know how to value ém. But you take a man dat's got 'bout five million chillen runnin'roun'the house, en it's diffunt" (Twain 66). This passage is detrimental to this section of the book because Twain speaks about his believes about government and people in general by saying that the government (solomon) doesn't know how to appreciate people because they have an obligation to so many people that they marginalize groups in society. Also, it says that Twain wants to see the cycle broken; that is the beliefs of superiority involved with race, passed down from generation from generation and still lingers in postbellum America. However, Sloan isn't totally thorough in her information. She mentions the Jim Crow Laws in her criticism despite those law being passed after Twain finished writing the book. I agree with her idea however, that "jim is not foolish; indeed, he is the wise fool who adjudicates based on only dispensation he knows and exposes its gross inconsistencies in the process"(Sloan 2). I just disagree with her idea that Twain was speaking to the wrongs in postbellum society somewhat, as I think Twain wrote it to include the wrong of the antibellum society and its effects on postbellum society. Based on my classmates ideas, I think that that the broad range of ideas is intriguing. However; I would like to agree with Gina's ideas on the solomon section of the book, with the exception of which mother is which because I don't believe that Twain meant that to be a focal point. I also would like to disagree with Reena on that the mothers are black and white people because I think that the issue is more in depth than that, but I would also like to agree with her envisionment of solomon as the government.