No, I'm not planning on river rafting on the Delaware while it overflows its banks after Hurricane Irene.(Thankfully, all of my family and friends are safe.) I did, however, accompany Huck Finn on his trip down the Mississippi this week while we waited out the storm.
This read has been wonderful research for my middle grade Underground Railroad novel, When It's Dark Enough, You Can See the Stars..I learned that mattresses were called ticks, and could be stuffed with straw, and well-to-do folks topped it with a feather tick. Poor folks used corn husks, which could be uncomfortable with the occasional corn cob stabbing you in the back.
Reading a book published in the nineteenth century gave me a surprising perspective. Huck wrestles with his desire to set Jim, a slave, free. Jim belongs to someone else, and is stolen property. Whereas we would see this as a noble endeavor, Huck viewed it the way many people in his time did: he was stealing goods and sinning against God and Jim's owner. Huck assuages his guilt by writing a letter to Jim's mistress, Miss Watson, but never sends it. He says,"All right, then, I'll go to hell", and tears it up. Huck didn't realize he was making a choice of which God would approve.
The face of slavery has changed, but it is still out there. What do you think slavery looks like now? Let me know.
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