Highlight the central idea in pink and supporting details in yellow. Their complexions too, differing so much from ours, their long hair and the language they spoke (which was very different from any I had ever heard) united to confirm in me this belief. Indeed such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country. When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace or copper boiling and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. Paraphrase the central idea.

jaxsonmennessey27

jaxsonmennessey27

taken from the novel “the adventures of huckleberry finn” by mark twain (1884), the author narrates about social issues and norms related to morality, prejudice, and slavery. twain included the excerpt above in order to discuss a moral conflict that huck is in: following the moral values he has received from the society in which he lives. moreover, there are moral issues such as gilt and blame discussed here. in the excerpt above, which is part of chapter xvi, huck faces a dilemma: jim to escape or telling miss watson about jim’s flight. huck feels confused, since by choosing one action or another someone is going to get hurt. both jim and miss watson have him in different ways; jim has protected him and has been very kind with him and miss watson has him with his education. the following sentence is a clear example of the dilemma huck faces when he narrates what his conscience tells him: “what had poor miss watson done to you that you could see her niger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? ”.