Buck's late sister, Emmeline, passed at a mere fifteen years old. A girl of many talents she was a gifted artist as well as a poet. Infatuated with death, she constantly wrote poetry about deceased members of the town, called "tributes". She also painted morbid pictures, featuring teary-eyed women dressed in black, dead birds, weeping willows, and tombstones. Huck reflects on her death, saying, "They kept Emmeline's room trim and nice, all the things fixed in it just the way she liked to have when she was alive, and nobody ever slept there. The old lady took care of the room herself, though there was plenty of niggers, and she sewed there a good deal and read her Bible there mostly" (Twain 138-139). This quote discloses how Emmeline is greatly missed in the Grangerford family. It's obvious to Huck that a deep sadness endures because of her tragic death. Her room is kept in perfect condition, and though there are plenty of slaves, her mother is the main person who does it. Mrs. Grangerford, most likely, does very few chores around the house, and the fact that she insists on taking care of Emmeline's room independently shows her true devotion to her daughter. The room is a way for Emmeline's family to keep her memory alive.
Tragedy is not found with solely Emmeline's death, but also other deceased members of the family. The main cause of their passing is the Sheperdson-Grangerford feud. The Sheperdsons live nearby, and like the Grandgerfords, are very affluent. Buck and Huck have a brief encounter with a Sheperdson boy, and Buck tries to shoot him (but misses). Even though Huck knew there was a feud, he had no idea how serious it was. Buck explains it to him, saying, "It started thirty year ago, or som'ers along there. There was trouble 'bout something, and then a lawsuit to settle it; and the suit went agin one of the men, and so he up and shot the man that won the suit -- which he would naturally do, of course. Anybody would" (Twain 144). The feud parallels with the Capulet- Montague one in Shakespeare's famous play "Romeo and Juliet". The Prince in "Romeo and Juliet" describes the feud as follows:
"What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets" (1. 1. 79-87).
In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Buck, along with the rest of his family, doesn't even know what the feud was caused by. In "Romeo and Juliet", when the Prince refers to the men as "beasts", he is essentially saying how foolish it is to continue something that was started so long ago. Mark Twain and Shakespeare are both poking fun at the irrationality of the feuds, as well as the silly concept of "family honor" that the all members are trying so hard to uphold. This concept, in the end, leads to violence of the death of many of the characters. Twain, thorough the two chapters in which the Grangerfords are featured, artfully maintains a balance between humor, sadness, and the solemnity of the feud.
