While reading these chapters, I felt so awful for the family of Peter Wilks. The Duke and the King are just trying to con the family out of what they are getting from the deceased, but why? Didn't they just get all that money from the last town? So i don't understand why they have to take this money away from this poor family. Also, why did Huck only tell Mary Jane? Why didn't he warn the other two sisters as well? Huck seems to be a terrible liar, so I feel instead of making up that awful mumps story, he could have warned them too. I also want to know where Jim was when all of this was happening? was he just laying low waiting for Huck to come back so they could leave? Maybe this was mentioned when they arrived to the town, but I have no recollection of reading that. I think that Huck and Finn should have ditched the Duke and the King a while ago. They just seem to be getting them in a bunch of trouble instead of helping.
As I was reading, I noticed that when the Doctor called out the Duke and the King for not being who they say they are, the town rallied around them and trusted them because of all the charity that they had done for their "nieces". It makes me question, who have I trusted just because they are nice, and not because I know who they really are. For example, the doctor says, "You talk like an Englishmen, don't you? It's the worst imitation I ever heard. You Peter Wilks brother! You're a fraud, that's what you are!" (Twain 169) After the doctor says that, it says, " Well, how they all look on! They crowded around the doctor and tried to quiet him down, and tried to explain to him and tell him how Harvey's showed in forty ways that he was Harvey." (Twain 169) The entire town was convinced that the frauds were who they say they were, and they were willing to turn against someone who they knew. This reminds me a little of The Crucible. The girls of the town were accusing the people of their town of witch craft to help themselves. However, in this case the towns people were against the accuser, and wanted to try and convince him otherwise. Whereas, in The Crucible, they believed every word that the accuser said (besides a few).
I found that the Duke and the King are characters that I don't really appreciate. I wasn't really fond of them when they first came to stay with Huck and Jim and they wanted them to call them Duke and King. I thought that they were conning them into whatever they wanted, and Huck knew that, he just never said anything. After they Duke and the King took advantage of this family, I now really don't care for their characters at all. I find them ignorant, and they don't care for the feelings of other people. I was a little angry when Huck and Jim got away from the city and the Duke and King caught up with them. I was really hoping they would be caught as the frauds that they were and put in jail so it could just be Huck and Jim again.
As I was reading, I noticed that when the Doctor called out the Duke and the King for not being who they say they are, the town rallied around them and trusted them because of all the charity that they had done for their "nieces". It makes me question, who have I trusted just because they are nice, and not because I know who they really are. For example, the doctor says, "You talk like an Englishmen, don't you? It's the worst imitation I ever heard. You Peter Wilks brother! You're a fraud, that's what you are!" (Twain 169) After the doctor says that, it says, " Well, how they all look on! They crowded around the doctor and tried to quiet him down, and tried to explain to him and tell him how Harvey's showed in forty ways that he was Harvey." (Twain 169) The entire town was convinced that the frauds were who they say they were, and they were willing to turn against someone who they knew. This reminds me a little of The Crucible. The girls of the town were accusing the people of their town of witch craft to help themselves. However, in this case the towns people were against the accuser, and wanted to try and convince him otherwise. Whereas, in The Crucible, they believed every word that the accuser said (besides a few).
I found that the Duke and the King are characters that I don't really appreciate. I wasn't really fond of them when they first came to stay with Huck and Jim and they wanted them to call them Duke and King. I thought that they were conning them into whatever they wanted, and Huck knew that, he just never said anything. After they Duke and the King took advantage of this family, I now really don't care for their characters at all. I find them ignorant, and they don't care for the feelings of other people. I was a little angry when Huck and Jim got away from the city and the Duke and King caught up with them. I was really hoping they would be caught as the frauds that they were and put in jail so it could just be Huck and Jim again.