Huckleberry Finn Diction Essay

Huckleberry Finn- The main character, from whom we get a first person account of in much of the book. Huck travels down the Mississippi to escape his abusive, alcoholic father. On the way he meets the theatrical King and Duke who come up with endless schemes to get rich. Huck is involved in every significant plot event because the book is focused around his journey. Some adjectives to describe Huck are: Rebellious, Brave, Smart, Patient, Content, Generous, and Loyal. Huck’s most notable attribute is his ability to discern what is right and wrong.

Jim’s unselfish actions reveal his love for Huck, and through Twain’s use of imagery, the reader is able to better comprehend this love and understand why such a choice is one of great difficulty. Twain again uses another element of tone to reveal Huck’s assertive tone. In using syntax, Twain places emphasis on Huck’s continuous flow of uninterrupted thought. In the passage, he incorporates substantial amounts of semi-colons, dashes, and commas, to further represent Huck’s haphazard gush of thoughts. Twain writes, “. . . straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking – thinking how good it was all this happened so, and . . .” (Twain 161). The usage of dashes emphasizes a shift in thought, therefore allowing the reader to notice Huck’s ambivalence. He also does not fail to disclose that Jim heavily depends on Huck and would be practically unable to function without him, and resorts to using italics to do this. A reader can infer that Huck is in the process of deciding between conforming to society’s standards or forming his own. This idea is proven through yet, another example of syntax: “I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was; and such-like times; . . . and the only one he’s got now; and . . .” (Twain 161). The reflective tone in the passage can be characterized, finally, through the usage of details. By using the tone element of details,

As the story goes we see the strong friendship of Huck and Jim. We're witness of how they both Huck and Jim look after each other, which is a sign of a strong and solid friendship. For example, "I went to sleep, and Jim didn't call me when it was my turn. He often done that." In these excerpt from the story we can tell that Jim looks outs for Huck like a parent would or a friend. Also, these excerpt from the story tells us how Jim has the habit of calling Huck before he sleeps to check up on him. One of the images above shows Jim and Huck together like friends, in this image it shows how they're both spending time together and maybe Jim is checking up on Huck and having a conversation. Furthermore, in the other image conveys and relates the

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book about a boy‟s “coming of age.”

Twain’s syntax is related to both sources through his way of developing a topic, with having his

“All heroes are shadows of Christ” (1), stated John Piper, a religious scholar, pastor, and teacher. Piper’s analysis of Jesus’ traits resulted in his connection between those whom the community views as heroes and Christ. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain applies a biblical reference to Huck’s companion, Jim. Disregarding the fallacy that Jim does not relate to a Christ figure because of his abusive past, his personality becomes comparable to the Messiah through his benevolence and sacrifice.

This quote shows the reader an example of how diction and tone can help to further get a sense of the mood in the novel. The quote uses powerful words such as tiptoeing and crept. These words are what create the allure of tension within the novel for the reader. The tension that the tone and diction is indicative of creates suspense in the novel and showed how crucial the scene was. For Huck Finn the stakes were very high, as being caught by these two men whilst they were scheming would have had serious consequences. Furthermore, higher stakes meant that this passage created an emotional investment in the characters. A more visceral sense of the plot and characters could be gleamed through the diction and tone that was used. It was almost as

The paragraph in which Huckleberry knocks a spider off his shoulder into a lit candle shows Huck is extremely superstitious. Twain describes Huck sitting down in a chair before going to bed. Sitting in his chair, feeling lonesome and downhearted, a spider crawls up his shoulder. Huck flicks the creature into a candle and it shrivels up. Huck believes the act of killing a spider is extremely unlucky. Twain writes, “I didn’t need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck so I was scared and most shook the clothes off me,” (Twain, 3). Killing the spider leaves Huck wary and frightened to the point where Huck decides to do a ritual. Twain describes, “I got up and turned around in my tracks three times

They misused words and meanings so that their speeches had comic effects.The most interesting aspect of Huck’s vocabulary is the malapropism. They are used for two reasons in the text, first to show Huck’s poor education and social background, second to suggest the humoristic aspect of the novel.

Twain’s use of colloquial, homespun diction to veil Huck’s enlightened views on slavery and racism in the novel, creating an

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, dialect is used to develop Jim’s character. Jim is a run-away slave; hence he has no education. His dialect throughout the story shows his lack of education. An example is when he says, “‘Why, Huck! En good lan’! ain’ dat Misto Tom?’”. Jim does not use correct grammar and does not fully pronounce his words when he talks. This differs from someone educated, such as Tom. In the story Tom says, “‘I don’t reckon he does; but what put that into your head?’”. Tom uses closer to proper grammar and pronounce his words completely, the opposite of Jim. Even though the difference seems very large, Jim’s dialect is believable because slaves don’t receive an education. Without an education, you don’t

“The situation of the orphan is truly the worst, you’re a child, powerless, with no protectors or guides. It’s the most vulnerable position you can be in, to see someone overcome those odds tells us something about the human spirit. They are often depicted as the kindest or most clever of characters.” Michelle Boisseau describes how important these types of characters are. In a Sunday Times article, she states that a lot of the stories and novels are considered to be apologues about orphans becoming the hero of the book. Huck’s story is quite like this subject. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain, it’s about a boy named Huckleberry Finn, who sets

Mark Twain’s book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told the story of a white boy, Huck, helping a slave, Jim, to escape in the 1840s. The use of language in the book, such as the N-word and Huck’s language, has caused great controversy. While some people comment the book as an outstanding anti-racism book, this book is not suitable for being taught to the general students for its language, its difficulty of understanding, and some possibly misleading context to younger students. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rather controversial due to its seemingly offensive language, mostly the N-word. According to the film, Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a great number of students and parents of students, including those in colleges, argued to banish this book from the school reading list because the students felt insulted when this book is being taught in class.

Each character in “Huckleberry Finn” has a noticeably different dialect throughout the text. Mark Twain uses most of them as a way to satirize the plot. For example, The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who are the soft spoken christian women of the story. Or Pap, the abrasive and aggressive man. But most importantly, Huck and Jim, the protagonists of the tale. They are definitely the most memorable dialects in the plot.

What did Huck care if it hurt Jim’s feelings? To Huck and the rest of the world, Jim was just a "nigger." But now, Huck has surpassed society’s values and knows that Jim has feelings, too. After telling Jim the truth about the fog prank, Huck sees Jim’s feelings and sees how he hurt them. Huck says that he went and "humbled [himself] to a nigger; but [he] done it, and [he] warn’t ever sorry for it either afterward, neither" (Twain, 84). He saw that Jim really did have feelings.