Which word is more fun, "paganism" or "heathenry?" I was writing an abstract on an article about Beowulf the other day and I had to choose between those words several times. I like them both, but paganism sounds more like fires and full moons and heathenry sounds more like ancient kings and their funeral pyres.
I just finished reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for my American Lit class and as we were having a discussion about the ending I came to a realization. Tom Sawyer is Dignan from Bottle Rocket. Everyone in the class kept going on about how Tom annoyed them by making everything so complicated and taking control of things away from Huck and putting Huck and Jim through such misery just so things could be "right." I thought of Dignan telling Anthony he had to "escape" from the hospital by climbing out his window and down his rope of sheets. It made me so happy, sitting there in class thinking of all the connections between the two characters. I've always loved the end of Huck Finn. Tom comes in and makes everything so much fun. And Huck is a little like Anthony, too: "You've got to get me one of those jumpsuits." I wonder if Wes Anderson had Tom in mind at all.
Posted by linnea at January 25, 2005 11:58 PMThat's an awesome observation about the connection b/t Tom and Dignan. I'm impressed.
Posted by: KornSt@r at January 26, 2005 10:28 AMI read somewhere once that Twain brought in Tom to do all those dumb things at the end as a contrast to the character of Huck. Tom doesn't appreciate Jim as a human being, so he objectifies him to satisfy his own taste for adventure, while Huck has grown to appreciate Jim almost as a father figure, and definitely as a human, throughout the whole book. Tom's actions just seem so shallow to me, compared to what Huck has learned. But you can have your fun.
Posted by: heidi k at January 26, 2005 11:19 AMThe thing about "paganism" and "heathenry" is that both of them denote a position relative to something else, e.g. Christendom (I don't really like to call it Christianity in the Middle Ages). Though they are nice words which have pleasant sounds and exotic connotations, I'm on a quest to find a more neutral term. Any ideas?
Posted by: Jeannette at January 26, 2005 12:45 PM"I don't really like to call it Christianity in the Middle Ages." You don't think there were Christians in the Middle Ages?
Posted by: Evan Donovan at January 27, 2005 11:25 AMI don't think there were people in the Middle Ages. I think everything before 1868 is a construct. Prove me wrong.
(I'm already regretting that joke. This should be fun.)
Posted by: mesh at January 27, 2005 6:44 PMMadness pure madness
Posted by: Will at January 27, 2005 11:31 PM