4: Syntax

This passage depicts the ridiculous and extreme rules the young boys of the gang create. It involves violent acts of murder that will be bestowed on any lad that breaks these rules by leaking their secrets. This emphasizes the first-person point of view of Huck because readers believe the rules more since Huck is describing them. If some unknown narrator was running off the list, the absurdity of them would be more obvious, but since Huck believes in them and, as he says, "everybody was willing," they seem more real. This characterizes Huck even further by illustrating in even more depth his fearlessness, but also unawareness of the world. He talks of killing others and possibly having to punish his friends as if it is not a big deal and the rules are completely normal. This also describes his wild imagination even further.