My overall involvement with the Mark Twain Mock Trial was that it was a great learning experience. When my character Huck was on the stand, it was a little nerve racking because as a character one is not sure what to expect when being cross examined. Huck’s character was a really fun one to portray. It was a lot of work though because Huck is a very large character as he is the narrator throughout the novel. I was worried that I would be unable to represent him well as a character. Huck also was a very important character to the defense’s side because he befriends Jim, so I felt the pressure to answer correctly. The amount of questions being asked becomes very overwhelming on the stand, or at least that is how I felt. It was necessary that to take time before answering questions so I did not contradict a previous answer.
Both sides asked questions that made the jury really question some of Twain’ s intentions through different characters. The sides both asked rebuttal questions that caused all the lawyers to think on their feet and be quick witted. The prosecution and the defense both brought very clever points to the trial. The trial was a good way to do a review of the whole book, and bring emphasis to important themes in the book. As the trial was unfolding the reader was not sure what the outcome would be. Both sides had very strong arguments to why Mark Twain should be guilty or not guilty. When the verdict of Mark Twain being not guilty was determined, I was happy and surprised. It could have reasonably gone either way, but because my character was on the defensive sides I was happy that our hard work had come with a matching and victorious outcome.
