The Code Of Honor Essay Research Paper — страница 3

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catch him, the doctor validates his honor: .I never see a nigger that was a better nuss or faithfuller, and yet he was resking his freedom to do it x (Twain 255; ch 42). .So, every one of them promised, right out and hearty, that they would t cuss him no more x (Twain 256; ch 42). Let s review what the people treats him before the doctor s speech: .chained him again, and not to no bed-leg, this time, but to a big staple drove into the bottom log, and chained his hands, too, and both legs, and said he warn t to have nothing but bread and water to eat x(Twain 255; ch 42). What does make people stop torturing him? It is only the doctor s validation, which makes the people believe Jim is a man with virtues because he does something honorable, and they forget he is a runaway nigger at

a monment. What Jim has done is just something comes from his good-hearted. Jim has the honor long before; only no people care to validate it. Ironically, Tom .manages to set a nigger free that was already free before x (Twain 261; ch 43). Jim has been free when he is on the river! Nobody tells him this, so he is still a runaway nigger. He suffers more before Tom can set him free in Tom s style, which makes Tom feel he has honor in doing such thing. After close reading Othello and The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, we realize the same critical point in these two great works: honor determines social construct, although we might argue that the other factors, like the races, the characters, the traditions and so on, also affect the social value. In fact, these factors have relations

to honor, or are by-products of honor. Shakespeare. Othello. Signet classic. New York: Penguin, 1998 Mark Twain. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Oxford, 1999