...My literary critique on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is focused on the confusion of the message being given to the reader do to the conscious struggle between right and wrong, an example of that would be the decision of stealing from Ms. Watson and freeing Jim, or not stealing from Ms. Watson and leaving Jim as a slave. Huck did decided that even though stealing from Ms. Watson would surely send him to “Hell” he still went with his gut and freed Jim, But with that later in the story shortly after Ms. Watsons death Huck and Jim found out that in her will she had freed Jim anyways. The ending of that situation in this story is what I choose to critique because of the cloudy message that is being given to the reader. It does not support...
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...fiction and nonfiction, it is difficult to categorize Mark Twain as an author. According to Neil Schmitz, Mark Twain was, “a southern humorist gone over, not just a deserter, a dissenter, but a literary scalawag, a southern writer in unionist discourse and narrative” (91). Most people recognize Twain’s brief, witty, straightforward proverbs that are often quoted today. He also wrote many novels, a few nonfiction books, a plethora of short stories, and essays. Mark Twain uses a variety of rhetorical devices including carefully chosen, colorful language, satirical tone, and unique symbolism to entertain and to enlighten his readers about the moral dilemmas and the beauty of the America he knew. According to Ernest Hemingway, all of American literature comes from one great book, Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain, Huck Finn vii). Although this statement may seem hyperbolic, it does indicate the important place Mark Twain holds in American literature. Early Nineteenth century American writers tended to try to write like English writers with flowery, ostentatious language (Schmitz 100). Twain’s writing style was innovative when it was written and is still absolutely unique. He writes with simple prose and careful word choice. Each word is carefully selected and each sentence is meticulously crafted. Twain writes, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning”...
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...Huck Finn in American High Schools The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, also known as “Huck Finn,” is an iconic and well-known classic that is part of the curriculum in high schools throughout the United States. Huck Finn, as one should easily guess, is the protagonist of the entire book. Huck faces many challenges throughout, from his faked death to get away from a lonely life and abusive father, to his internal struggle of turning Jim in. And because of its historical accuracy and moral actuality, it should be a continued required reading in high school curriculums. The setting of Huck Finn is before the Civil war, roughly 1835-1845, when slavery was still legal in the recently independent United States. Any slave not freed by his owner was hunted down and white domination was frequently practiced and seen. When Huck faked his death towards the beginning, was also when Jim, the Widow’s slave, fled. Whites and...
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...Analysis of Huckleberry Finn Samuel L. Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, was one of the first American writers to truly express realism in his writing. (A&E) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884 and quickly became a novel of controversy for its intense language. (A&E) The novel is about a young white boy and runaway slave who take on the Mississippi River and experience a wide variety of adventures. Along the way Huck finds himself fighting an internal battle of his morals vs. his conscience. According to Gemma Marshall not only was it a controversially themed book based on race, but a story of a young boy’s battle within himself to join society or follow his heart in the matters of black people. After reading the novel, I found myself drawn to Huck and his internal struggle. I found it to be a novel that can overwhelm you with different emotions that sneak up on you. Huckleberry Finn is about a young white boy named Huck and a runaway slave named Jim who travel on the Mississippi River seeking freedom. You can quickly see Huck’s contempt for a civil life style and his irritations with the “do as I say not as I do” environment he is in. At this point Mark Twains establishes that internal battle between Huck’s morals and his conscience. The book introduces a variety of characters, which throughout the story will affect Huck’s life and this internal struggle. As you are introduced to Jim, the runaway slave, you will quickly see how regardless of...
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...of ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ to show what is revealed about characters and themes Huckleberry Finn is an American Novel written by Mark Twain which was published in 1885. It is one of the first books ever to be written in dialect. In this essay, I will be specifically focussing on the final chapter of the novel and will be showing how the language reveals key points about the characters and themes. Throughout the novel, Jim is constantly referred to as a ‘nigger’. However Huckleberry calls him by his real name, Jim. This shows how Huckleberry values Jim more as a person compared to other people. It shows how spending all this time together has made a special connection and bond between them. Jim has been a father figure to Huckleberry as well as a friend for the whole journey and it plays a powerful role in the novel. In the final chapter, it is very clear to see that Tom Sawyer is an imaginative individual who is adventurous, and is obsessed with wild plans taken from the plots of adventure novels. This is shown when Huck says “And then Tom he talked along and talked along, and says le’s all three slide out of here one of these nights and get an outfit, and go for howling adventures amongst the Injuns…” The use of the adjective ‘howling’ when describing the adventures shows how wild Tom is as a person and a character in the novel. He wants to experience the extreme and nothing less. It is obvious to us that Tom serves as a foil to Huckleberry. He shows Huck to be...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain By Brenda Tarin British Literature 2323 Lois Flanagan January 27, 2009 Tarin ii I. Introduction II. Biographical sketch of author A. Past to present B. Experiences and achievements III Plot analysis A. analysis of plot structure 1. Exposition 2. Complication 3. Crisis 4. Climax 5. Resolution B. Theme of plot IV Critical analysis A. Theme 1. Racism 2. Slavery C. Characters D. Atmosphere E. Conflicts V. Evaluation VI. Review of movie version VII. Conclusion Tarin 1 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Samuel Langhorne Clemens also known as the famous and brilliant Mark Twain, was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835 to John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Clemens was the youngest of the five children, as a child Clemens moved around a lot, he first moved to the small town of Hannibal at the age of four. Here he attended a private school and seemed to finally recover from his poor health at the age of nine. When he was twelve his father died of pneumonia, he suddenly decided to leave, and make money, since his family needed all the help they could get. He quit school and was a printers apprentice, then moved and helped his brother print and edit for a newspaper. In 1858 Clemens became a river pilot...
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...Unruly Society For this essay, I chose to look at the end of chapter 21 and beginning of chapter 22 at which point the scene where Huckleberry Finn watches as Sherburn shoots down Boggs in the street for cursing his name. After which the mob forms to lynch Sherburn and he gives his speech on cowardice. I believe this plays a very important role in the Authors main theme of the moral pubescence of the time. Generally speaking during this period in American history there was no law and order, for the most part crime was handled by the general public and it was usually handled by masked man lynching someone at night mainly out of fear for themselves because if they were to do it during the day everyone would see them and they could be killed for doing it, I think Twain is trying to convey to the reader that most people were scared. During this time there was no organized police force to help people; hence a lot of crimes went unpunished. In this passage Sherburn states, “Why don't your juries hang murderers? Because they're afraid the man's friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark” (Twain, 165). Sherburn refers to the lack of law and to the crowds own cowardice. This time of lawless society was accurately depicted in An Introduction to Policing, by J.S.Dempsey in his first chapter on early policing. “An 1840 New York newspaper reported: Destructive rascality stalks at large in our streets and public places, at all times of day and night, with none to make it afraid;...
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...MWA: Huckleberry Finn Author, Title, Setting, Genre The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a satirical, Adventure fiction novel written by Mark Twain. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Though the timing of the publishing takes place some twenty years after the Civil War, the setting within the novel lies sometime between 1830-1840, where slavery is very much alive and thriving in the south, which Twain presents as Huck travels down the Mississippi River along Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas. Twain aims to show the reader the inhumane and unnecessary racism that existed towards African American during his time. Summary The novel begins by Huckleberry Finn, who goes by Huck for short, giving the reader context as to how he in to his current position. We find out from him that he acquired quite a bit of money at the end of Twain’s previous novel, Tom Sawyer, and is on his way to becoming “civilized” by sisters Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. However, being good friends with Tom Sawyer makes this a difficult feat, as he is always coming up with the next great adventure for Huck, which includes pranking Miss Watson’s slave Jim. Huck’s father had been rumored to be long gone, for the better most would say, yet Huck has a feeling that he is still wandering around so he disposes all of his money over to Judge Thatcher. Huck’s gut feeling proves trustworthy, for Huck’s father “Pap” shows up...
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...in a Blink of an Eye” REPRESENTATIVE QUOTE: “Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around.” (Chapter 3 – Pg. 14) CHARACTERS: • Huckleberry (Huck) Finn – protagonist, narrator, all around main character. • The Widow Douglas – takes (Huck) under her wing in hopes to better him. • Miss Watson – The Widow Douglas’ sister • Tom Sawyer – Huck’s fellow companion, first introduced in Mark Twain’s previous novel. • Jim – Miss Watson’s slave. • Pap – Huck’s alcoholic, racist, father. • Judge Thatcher – Works along side The Widow Douglas to protect Huck’s well – being. SETTING: The series of events in this episode unfold in the imaginary Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. The scenes unravel in the town where Huck resides with the Widow Douglas and the other housemates, and in the surrounding areas. PLOT OVERVIEW: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a follow-up to the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry (Huck) Finn is a thirteen-year-old adolescent living a life of not knowing what is next. Huck was “adopted” by The Widow Douglas. The Widow Douglas strives to impart manners on Huck and to better him as a young boy. However, Huck was raised in a matter that completely contradicts his new procedures and ways of living. Huck has the mentality of an...
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...doi:10.4304/jltr.1.5.632-635 An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Huck’s Growth Yanxia Sang Basic English Department, Dezhou University, Dezhou City, Shandong Province, China Email: dz_syx@126.com Abstract—Huckleberry Finn is one of Mark Twain’s outstanding masterpieces. Superficially, it tells a story about a 13 or 14 year old boy’s adventures with Negro Jim on the Mississippi river. In fact, it reflects the growth process of Huck through adventures. His growth is embodied by his choice on independence, his change of attitude towards Jim, his moral growth, and the different social roles he plays. Huck’s growth is influenced by the inner and outer factors. On the one hand, friendship, nature and society make up the outer environment for Huck’s growth. They have great effect on the development of his growth. On the other hand, his own instinct and his sound heart finally decide the direction of his growth. Index Terms—growth, the influence of Jim, nature and society, instinct, sound heart I. INTRODUCTION Mark Twain is a giant in American literature. He is a great realist and satirist in late 19th century. His delicate familiarity with children’s psychology, his thorough understanding of Americans and American society, his great contribution to American English and his immense witty humor have won great respect and reputation among the people around the world. Of all the works Mark Twain accomplished in his life, the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is the most successful. This...
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...justified because ends war?) "it relativises the absolute, it does not absolutise the relative" 2. Conscience; what it is and what it is not (e.g. Nike - love = non-preferencial therefore should treat workers well - factory in Indonesia 177x legal toxic fume limit). [ NOT: 1. intuition/inner-feeling, 2. "guidance by the holy spirit" external decision maker, 3. "internalised value system of the culture and society", 4. "reason making moral judgements" (Aquinas). ] WHAT IT IS: function, not a faculty - something you do, rather than have, verb not a noun, there is no "conscience", just a word for "our attempts to make decisions" (e.g. Huckleberry Finn decides to befriend slave, Jim). "Antecedant rather than consequent conscience" - prospective, not retrospective (no guilt/regret/hindsight etc) 3. The idea of situation (e.g. Fletcher's lifeboat - captain orders sailors to jump overboard to save women & children). "Unique and concrete moment in which the decision is required" - every situation is unique/relative (e.g. Ford Pinto case - cost benefit analysis) 4. Making decisions rather than following rules - teleological, not deontological. "A-rational, not irrational" Don't just blindly follow rules, use conscience situationally (e.g. hero of situation ethics = St. Louis Cabbie "there are times a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing" - chose not to vote Republican as his father/grandfather etc had done) Four Presumptions: 1. Pragmatism - "the good is what...
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...arts. The test consists of 40 multiple-choice questions. • 30 of the questions come from fiction readings. • 10 of the questions come from nonfiction readings. There are seven passages. • Three of the passages are from prose fiction (novels, short stories, and folk tales). • Poetry and plays have one passage each. • Nonfiction has two passages. There are three literary time periods. One passage comes from each of these periods: • Before 1920 • 1920-1960 • After 1960 The following reading skills are tested: • Comprehension—identifying the main idea, the purpose of a selection, supporting details, and using context clues to discover the meaning of unknown words 2 • • • Application—applying ideas to a new context Analysis—recognizing the way material is organized, including identifying inferences, figurative language, and knowing an author’s style or tone Synthesis—combining understanding of passage with extra information you bring to the passage, looking at an author’s style, tone, point of view, and purpose The number of questions you answer in each reading skill area is as follows: • Comprehension 8 questions • Application 6 questions...
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...Chapter 1 Summary The narrator speaks of his grandparents, freed slaves who, after the Civil War, believed that they were separate but equal—that they had achieved equality with whites despite segregation. The narrator’s grandfather lived a meek and quiet life after being freed. On his deathbed, however, he spoke bitterly to the narrator’s father, comparing the lives of black Americans to warfare and noting that he himself felt like a traitor. He counseled the narrator’s father to undermine the whites with “yeses” and “grins” and advised his family to “agree ’em to death and destruction.” Now the narrator too lives meekly; he too receives praise from the white members of his town. His grandfather’s words haunt him, for the old man deemed such meekness to be treachery. The narrator recalls delivering the class speech at his high school graduation. The speech urges humility and submission as key to the advancement of black Americans. It proves such a success that the town arranges to have him deliver it at a gathering of the community’s leading white citizens. The narrator arrives and receives instructions to take part in the “battle royal” that figures as part of the evening’s entertainment. The narrator and some of his classmates (who are black) don boxing gloves and enter the ring. A naked, blonde, white woman with an American flag painted on her stomach parades about; some of the white men demand that the black boys look at her and others threaten them if they don’t...
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...NORTH AMERICAN FICTION BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Before starting our study of American Fiction we must understand what American Literature is in itself and which pieces of writing we can include within this label. It is believed that when a piece is written in North America, more precisely in the USA, it would automatically be given this epithet. But it should be taken into account that this idea is quite broad and doesn’t reflect the real essence of the term. However, there is also another definition that gathers this essence: American Literature is the one that represents the Americanism, the singularity of the USA philosophy and culture. This way, instead of focusing on who the author is, it is focused on the content of the writing. In that which concerns Fiction, the following documents are the ones considered as narrative: Speeches Letters Short Stories Essays Political Documents Sermons Novels Diaries 1 FIRST LITERARY EXPRESSIONS The first documents in which the idea of Americanism is very present are the Sermons. They respond to the strict Protestantism settled in the New Continent after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans in the Mayflower (1620) and the Arabella (1630). They established a theocratic community whose main and only point of reference was the Bible. That is why the idea of the ‘city upon a hill’ is still very present in American mentality. As we all know...
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...A Guide to Writing the Literary Analysis Essay I. INTRODUCTION: the first paragraph in your essay. It begins creatively in order to catch your reader’s interest, provides essential background about the literary work, and prepares the reader for your major thesis. The introduction must include the author and title of the work as well as an explanation of the theme to be discussed. Other essential background may include setting, an introduction of main characters, etc. The major thesis goes in this paragraph usually at the end. Because the major thesis sometimes sounds tacked on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by building on a key word or idea. A) Creative Opening/Hook: the beginning sentences of the introduction that catch the reader’s interest. Ways of beginning creatively include the following: 1) A startling fact or bit of information Example: Nearly two hundred citizens were arrested as witches during the Salem witch scare of 1692. Eventually nineteen were hanged, and another was pressed to death (Marks 65). 2) A snatch of dialogue between two characters Example: “It is another thing. You [Frederic Henry] cannot know about it unless you have it.” “ Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I will tell you [priest].” (Hemingway 72). With these words, the priest in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms sends the hero, Frederic, in search of the ambiguous “it” in his life. 3) A meaningful quotation (from the book you are analyzing...
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