...Mark Twain: The conscience of a country. When writing, a person’s inner thoughts come to life. It happens whether they mean it to or not. The author might accidentally choose certain words that bring their own feelings to light, or they could come right out and say how they feel. The point is that every author, no matter how good, will project what they believe onto their writing. Mark Twain does this in The adventures of Huckleberry Finn on numerous occasions. In a time of extreme patriotism and narrow-mindedness Twain made the nation rethink their most basic of beliefs. In a bold move, Twain chronicled his beliefs pertaining to religion, slavery, and civilization. Each time his “profanity saving” pen touched paper he acted as the nation’s conscience. Mark Twain, through the use of wit and satire, challenged the most basic of American beliefs for nearly half a century Religion was a common target of Twain. “What put twain off about religion was its bossiness and it’s alignment with corrupt community values…” (Blount 53). In Huckleberry Finn these beliefs are evident in the character of the Widow Douglas. Though she is a professed Christian she takes no stock in the Christian principles of acceptance and focuses instead on the “bossiness” aspect of Religion. The widow was against practices that she took no part in. It could either be that she thought she always did the right thing or possibly that she determined right and wrong. The former of these two options would make her...
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...Jim and Huckleberry Finn’s growth throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn set the stage for Daniel Hoffman’s interpretation in “From Black Magic-and White-in Huckleberry Finn.” Hoffman exhibits that through Jim’s relationship with Huckleberry, the river’s freedom and “in his supernatural power as interpreter of the oracles of nature” (110) Jim steps boldly towards manhood. Jim’s evolution is a result of Twain’s “spiritual maturity.” Mark Twain falsely characterizes superstition as an African faith but, Daniel Hoffman explains that most folk lore in Huckleberry derives from European heritage. Tying your hair into knots with thread to defend against witches who ride their prey is even referenced in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Mr. Hoffman then goes on to ask and answer “Why, then does Mark Twain make such a point of having only Negroes, children and riffraff as the bearers of folk superstitions in the recreated world of his youth?” (109) He clarifies that during the time Huck Finn was composed, Twain was living far from his childhood home. His memory of Uncle Dan’l, who Mark Twain divulges in his autobiography, was the origin of Jim, and his stories are skewed by Twain’s memory. Hoffman also believes that Twain infuses his ideas on “superstition: slaves: boyhood freedom” (109) It Is grouped together due to his experiences of his youth. “The minstrel stereotype, as we have scene, was the only possible starting point for a white author attempting to deal with a Negro character...
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...Freedom is the foundation of many ideas and progression in history. Those who acquire victory in a conflict usually will punish the other side by taking away their freedom, which creates a larger divide that can take years or even centuries to bridge and allow both sides to coexist equally. The losers of these battles are named minorities, while the victors are titled the majority. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn himself creates a conflict with society and civilization, and as such takes it upon himself to be free of society’s cold, firm grasp that he had become a part of. Huckleberry runs away on a wild adventure with his slave friend Jim, and together they run and encounter many twisted individuals on their way towards freedom, which ironically for Jim, was in the southern portion of the United States. Mark Twain etches every thought and feeling either of these individuals onto the pages of his novel like a caveman desperately trying to carve a story into a cave wall, yearning for his message to be shared with anyone out there who could possibly be listening. This message is that minorities can never truly have freedom. No matter how far Jim and Huck ran, they were eventually brought back to where they began, and forced to live their lives as they once did, because they were not the victors in the splattered battlefield of these pages, the ink running away from the bodies of the characters like blood from the losers of the battle, telling...
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...Slavery in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Metaphor Over the past three centuries, only a handful of American authors have achieved such success that their work continues to be read and studied decades, even hundreds of years after their deaths. Mark Twain achieved this success by writing some of the greatest novels American literature has ever seen. Arguably his most famous work, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn essentially revolutionized American literature. One might say that Twain initiated the transition from romantic epics to more realistic-based tales. A second profound American author, Ernest Hemingway, even said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn,” (Hemingway). Within this work, Twain uses some topics that were very controversial at the time to present an even more insightful idea. While one of the main issues in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is slavery, Twain uses it as an allegory for the struggle, that still exists today, between an individual’s conscience and society’s norms and ideals. In this novel, the setting and time period during which it takes place plays a significant part in the overall plot. Though Twain wrote this novel in the 1880s, several years after the Emancipation Proclamation, he chose to set the novel a few decades before the Emancipation Proclamation. In choosing this, he enabled himself to highlight slavery as one of the main issues of the novel. During the time when the...
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...Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, uses his book of adventures to poke fun at certain ideas that he does not agree with. Satire makes fun of things with a bit of humor. The humor can be hard to discern, but his message is clear. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain creates various events to satirize southerners, gullible religious people, and Romanticism. Twain uses Pap and the people of Bricksville to show that he does not hold southerners in high regard. When Pap gets drunk, he goes off on an epic “govment” rant that makes southerners seem stupid. Pap claims he will “never vote agin” if a black man was able to vote (Twain 188). Twain misspelled “again” on purpose so that it could demonstrate southerners with poor intellect. Twain made Pap’s “govment” rant just as hard to read as Jim’s dialect on purpose. He wanted to show that black men identify equally with southerners. Also, the people of the...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Analysis of Pap’s Influence The introduction of Pap Finn in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn precipitates a dark and unscrupulous element which shrouds the novel, as his presence in any situation designates obstacles, trials, and neglect. His character is a symbol which exposes the bigotry of white society and the melancholy and taboo element of a dysfunctional family. Despite the abounding negative impacts of his character, his relationship with Huck nevertheless manages to generate constructive developments in Huck’s character. Their impaired relationship possibly elicited Huck’s compassionate and empathic approach to Jim’s predicament, as he himself endured mistreated and captivity from his father....
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...Name Course Course Instructor Date Parent figures in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck indirectly searches for a home among the different characters, with whom he interacts. The theme of parental figures is core to this piece of work. There are different characters, which represent parental figures. These are important to Huck, as they help to shape him into a man. The characters that are a representation of parental figures include Jim, Mr. Grangerford, Miss Watson, Judge Thatcher, and Widow Douglas. According to De Koster, these are seen to play an important role in different aspects in the development of Huck, thus are a personification of parental figure to Huck (56). This essay therefore, argues for the theme of parental figures in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Parents are important in the life of a child. Their presence and involvement in the life of their children contributes positively to the growth of the children. However, when parents are absent during a child’s growth process, or are irresponsible, and do not look after the child, this has a negative impact on the child. Parents ought to be there for their children to count on them. In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, parental figure is an emerging theme, because Huck, who plays an important role, lacks parental guidance and care. For most of his life, his biological parents are not part of him, and therefore, have limited influence...
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...American Literature 23 November 2009 Analytical Essay of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was written by Mark Twain and originally published in 1884 during a time when slavery was prominent in the United States. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the story regarding the interracial friendship between the two main characters, Huck and Jim. Huck is a young white male who is on the run, making his getaway from his abusive father. While escaping the life he lived, his adventures take him down the Mississippi River. Jim is a black escaped slave, making the same journey along the Mississippi River as Huck, making his way to freedom. As they experience different adventures on their travels along the Mississippi River, Huck and Jim form a very unique friendship. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn became a book that both revolutionized American literature and became a book at the center of literary debate (Webb). Many people regard The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as one of the greatest novels in American literature; others think it celebrates racism and should be banned from our schools. “In recent years the racial (and racist) implications of every aspect of the novel have been subject to critical debate, as have questions about the racial beliefs of the author”(Levine 95). The reason for the wide spread debate is mainly due to the books vernacular use of the word “nigger” and, although some argue that the novel is extremely racist,...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the sequel to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book was written during 1883 and took place during the early 1800’s, in Mississippi with a young boy named Huckleberry Finn. He lived with Miss Watson and would occasionally see his father Pap who was known as the town drunk. Huck soon becomes fond of one of Miss Watson’s Slaves, Jim, who later escapes at the same time Huck makes a run from his abusive father and coercive school life. Huck makes an escape from his fathers cabin and sets off during moon rise to Jackson Island where he meets Jim, a run-away slave of Miss Watson. Miss Watson was planning to sell him for 800 dollars and he wouldn’t be able to see his family. This bond between Huck and Jim began...
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...Twain's motivation for writing “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn”, is not to start a conversation on race rather; to start a conversation on morality of our thoughts and actions. Twain developed his purpose through a story of Huck and the situations that test him. In the society where he resides a common word is “Nigger” in referring to African-Americans who were mostly slaves. This negative connotative word is what changed the focus away from the main purpose of the book. Twain expressed the true message of the book through Huck's “Adventures”, and how he is tested on his morals. During these Adventures Huck does not act in the stereotypical way expected of a boy in this society. This represents why “ The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” is not a racist book rather a depiction of a boy in a racist society who choose to pick a different outlook on what is morally right. By considering the use of the word “Nigger” throughout the book, analyzing the adventures that tested Huck, and the relationship that developed between Hick and Jim. To make a stereotypical southern society Twain choose to mock the dialect and common language used. He choose to keep the society in the book as similar as possible to the one that would be seen in real life. This leads to negative conclusions on how Huck was raised and also to question the morality of the book. To dispute this Jane Smiley in “Say It Ain't So Huck” is that the use of this word causes there to be a deeper racism in this novel [pg...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel by Mark Twain, is the experience the once supporting character from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, endures while escaping from his drunken father, Pap, and faithful mother figure, Miss Watson, along with his slave friend Jim. As this novel takes place in the southern United States near the 1840s, while on their expedition, Huck and company encounter many people and situations which could today be only considered as racist. Many people believe that because of these moments, Twain has produced a very simple and plain racist story. However, in reality, what Twain was attempting to achieve was to hold a “mirror” up to society and make them realize the error of their ways. Miss Watson freeing...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Classic American Bildungsroman Mark Twain’s famous novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is much more than a story about a boy and an escaped slave adventuring along the Mississippi River; it is a bildungsroman, a coming of age tale. Huckleberry has the mindset of a child in the beginning of the story. Over the course of the novel, Huckleberry gains a more mature outlook on things such as racism. He also becomes a more morally aware individual as a result of his adventures. Although Huckleberry regresses near the conclusion of the novel, it easy to see that he is far more mature than he is in the beginning of the novel and therefore a better person, Huckleberry has come of age. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is difinetly bildungsroman. In the beginning of the novel it is clear that Huckleberry is not mature in the least bit. He has a poor understanding of morals which is to be expected due to his lower class upbringing and lack of education, neither academic nor religious. Huckleberry addresses the fact that he has been living with the Widow Douglas: “she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out” (1). Although Huckleberry ends up not running away, it is clear to the reader that he is not happy trying to be civilized. He is a typical teenager...
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...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a great book. Also called the most racist novel ever. is it racist i don't think so. Others say the book is racist because the book states the n word 217 times by a white man. In my eyes when twain wrote this book he did not care what people were going to think thats why the book turned out as great as i did. most authors think too much about what other people are going to think. when twain wrote the book its was made in 1884 during slavery the word nigger was used very heavily. People focused how much the N word was used but didn't look at how a slave was a friend with a young white boy at the time. The author of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain some say he is racist some say he is just a great author. Is mark twain racist? Most people who read the book say OH! he is racist because he uses the n word and he is white to me he was just creating a good book during a slavery time. A white boy friends with a slave you will never find that in 1884 but in this book...
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...The Role of Satire in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” The “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” written by Mark Twain is a story that most everyone has heard of or read. Much of the talk about the book is whether or not it should be banned for the use of the “n word.” Setting all of the debate and feelings aside about the usage of said word, readers can take away a lot from the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The book is full of underlying themes and meanings that deal with people and the way society was during the setting of the story. Many of the themes can still pertain to our lives today. Mark Twain makes great use of satire in the novel to poke fun at certain ideas and themes while ultimately challenging the reader to decide what is right or wrong. The “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is littered with satire throughout the novel. One of the main themes that Twain pokes fun at is that of religion. From the beginning of the book Mark Twain reveals to the reader Huck’s view of religion. Huck is all excited to learn about Moses and the Bulrushes and is drawn in by the story until he finds out that Moses is dead and has been so for quite some time. Then Huck is no longer interested because he has no use in hearing about a dead man from years ago. The relevance of the story to his life is lost when learns that Moses is dead. The same goes for the entire Bible. Huck struggles with the personal application of the Bible to his life because he feels that it is just...
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...metaphors, and similes create vivid depictions of his characters, and show their similarities and differences. He is a master of using the elements of satire and humor to explore the theme of social issues while still making the experience enjoyable. The theme delicately intertwined in the excerpt from Life on the Mississippi, is the growth of America. Steamboats were the primary way people along the river, moved from one place to the other, and traded wares; this trade drove the economy. Twain grew up during the period that steamboats were essential, and since he lived in a port city, it isn’t surprising that as a boy he dreamed of becoming a pilot himself. The pilots of steamboats were respected, they made a good salary, and they had adventures. Twain eventually became a pilot and lived to witness the decline of steamboats due to the increase use of railroads. The Civil war brought trade to a standstill in 1861. This switch is what motivated Twain to reconsider his occupation as a pilot and begin writing. Twain illustrates his stories similar to how a painter would, however, his medium is written language. The story line of the excerpt begins in childhood with an account of what life was like, and what future the boys he grew up with fantasized about having. Afterwards Twain gives a detailed description of the peaceful town that bustles with life when the steamboat appears, and how the town dies again within ten minutes of its departure. He says, “The town drunk-pours out a human...
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