The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been faced with a great deal of controversy when talking about the ending of the novel. Most critics see the ending to be a failure, while others see that the ending is the perfect way to end the story. The ending of the novel seems to have a change in tone from a serious one to something more comedic. The tone seems to change once Tom is introduced to the story. This comedic tone is shown in both the beginning and the ending of the novel with both parts having Tom being included in the adventure. The most obvious reasons why the ending is a failure is with the way Twain frees Jim and with the introduction of Tom. The novel overall is a great piece of literature but is upsetting when it comes …show more content…
Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry Finn.” In this article, Marx speaks about how the ending of the novel makes the readers feel uneasy, he criticizes the way Jim was freed from slavery, and the way Huck loses all sense of maturity and independence with the introduction of Tom in the story. Marx writes, “To take seriously what happens at the Phelps farm is to take lightly the entire downstream journey” (291). The journey on the raft was one that was serious and not that comedic but once Tom was reintroduced into the story the tone returned to something more cheerful and humorous that can be found at the beginning of the story. Marx also talks about the way Twain freed Jim at the end of the story. “In the end we not only discover…freedom has been granted by old Miss Watson” (292). Miss Watson was willing to sell Jim to a slave owner that offered eight hundred dollars for him because of her greed she was willing to separate a father with his family. She is meant to be a good Christian woman but she doesn’t see the hypocrisy of owning another human being. Alongside these two points, Marx also points out that Huck loses all sense of maturity and independence once Tom shows up. “But at this point Tom reappears…Jim’s capture the occasion for a game” (295). All the moral changes that Huck went through on the raft were quickly lost with the reintroduction of Tom. Tom manages to convince Huck to go on this wild scheme to free Jim. …show more content…
Jim’s freedom was a game to Tom and this can be seen when Aunt Sally asks Tom why he wanted to help free Jim. “Well, that is a question…goodness alive” (260). Tom and Huck have two different opinions on Jim. Tom doesn’t have a relationship with Jim making it easy for him to do more risky things because he doesn’t care for Jim health and all he cares about is the adventure. As for Huck, Huck has built a relationship with Jim and his goal is to help Jim achieve his freedom. Lester writes, “Jim is a play-thing…or a torchlight parade” (367). To Tom, the thrill of an adventure is more important than to help Jim escape from slavery. He uses this opportunity to convince Huck to play into this unnecessary adventure and Huck not being able to stand up to Tom does whatever he’s told. Lester also talks about how Miss Watson freed Jim in her will even though he was accused of killing a white boy. “Huck, having manufactured…suspect of murdering a white child” (367). There may be a chance that Miss Watson forgot about Jim being accused of killing Huck, but in reality, Jim would have been hunted down and captured if they suspected him of killing a white boy. Lester says that
Twain 's use of satire is one of the many things that makes this book a classic. By pointing out human weakness Twain helps show flaws in society and how society can be wrong. This book serves as a lesson about forming your own opinions and in Huck’s cause it is about breaking from society’s morals and deciding that slavery isn’t wrong. Huck 's experiences with Jim, helping him escape slavery illustrate this. Huck sees how people can be cruel even when they claim to be civilized. “”Twain 's satirical attack on slavery, hypocrisy, and prejudice in antebellum America compels readers to look not only at slavery and racism, but also at the whole tradition of American democracy””(PBS). Twain satirises the people Jim and Huck meet and the society they are in. Huck and Jim must oppose the “respectable” people they meet along the Mississippi, Miss Watson, Pap, the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons, and the Duke and King(Nichols 13) because they don’t agree there ideas and they would take Jim back into slavery. How Miss Watson can be a
A hero’s journey is described as a person who goes through a spiritual or physical change which allows him to become a better self. Throughout this journey there are many steps which include the call to adventure, a supernatural aide or mentor, initiation by trials and adventures, victory, and return. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck goes through his journey and understands the need for a change, so he can become a better person for the rest of his life. In Huck’s journey he hits certain points such as the call to adventure, his transformation, and his return.
Jim is a runaway slave. He lived on Jackson’s island across the river from where the community he was originally at. By being a runaway slave, Jim is breaking the law. He is owned by another human, Miss Watson. Jim is considered the legal material property of another person. Huck rejects this legal law, and agrees to help Jim break the law by escaping. Huck is shocked at himself for doing this and even believes he will go to hell for his actions. But Huck decides to choose friendship over what society tells him to do. When Huck and Jim are on the adventure down the Mississippi, their friendship grows stronger and stronger. They depend on each other to survive. Huck attempts to turn in Jim. When Huck and Jim came to the shore by a town. Huck gets off and looks for someone to report Jim. However, Huck runs into some white people wanting to capture runaway slaves. They Huck if he had any others in the boat with him. Huck get scared for Jim and told them that there was his mom, dad and sister in the boat and they all had small pox. By doing this, Huck puts his heart ahead of his head. Huck and Jim returns to St. Petersburg. Jim gets to be free, although Huck doesn’t realize that. Huck saw Jim in a building thinking that Jim was now a slave that couldn’t leave the plantation. So he got Tom Sawyer and then Tom wanted to plan out a way to get Jim out. The plan that Tom had was ridiculous because they could just walk in and take Jim away. Huck tried to point that out to Tom but, as stubborn as Tom is, they did Tom’s plan. A while later, they finally got Jim
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been banned from many schools and public libraries due to the use of racial slurs. Although these slurs are frowned upon now, they were a normal part of the society shaped Huckleberry (Huck) Finns life. The world Huck Finn grew up in is before the abolition of slavery. This is when the states is begun to separate, but the civil war is not yet stirring. Huckleberry’s life was influenced by his small town of St. Petersburg, the time period he lived in, and certain people.
In this essay, Leo Marx is talking about how the ending of the story in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not well connected to the whole meaning of the events that happens throughout the story. He is saying that the ending of the story throws out completely the plot. Marx is explaining how interesting was the journey that Huck and Jim had, searching for Jim 's freedom, but to him everything what they did to get Jim out of this slavery was meaningless because they didn 't have to do it. It seems that all their work wasn 't worth it at all because after everyone knew about Miss Watson 's death, Jim was freed right at that moment. Marx also talks about how Huck at the end of the story encounters himself travelling lonely again like at the beginning of the story. He also mentions how at the end all the characters get separated from each other, which it’s kind of ironic after all what they lived together to ended up not being together.
Twain also exposes the deplorable concept of slavery by allowing Huck to view Jim as an equal person. As the novel proceeds, Huck and Jim continue their voyage down the Mississippi River and become close friends. Huck eventually has to decide whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson. " And I got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and
While he chooses not to hand Jim over, his position remains unclear. His moral compass is muddled. “I was stuck…but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time”. (l60). A true turning point reveals itself through Jim’s emotional vulnerability to Huck about Jim’s devotion to his family. While still bound by white southern culture, this added dimension to Jim’s character allows Huck to see past traditional stereotypes. Huck begins to view Jim more as a person and less as a slave. Having said that, Huck never reaches the point that readers so desperately wait for. While he decides to help Jim, Huck views his decision as morally wrong. It is Twain’s way of keeping Huck from overcoming the bounds of his culture, and Huck’s incomplete moral
Aside from the ending as a downfall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taught an important lesson, one that showed the importance of the self in the maturing process. We saw Huck grow up by having the river as a place of solitude and thought, where he was able to participate in society at times, and also sit back and observe society. Through the child's eye we see how ignorant and mob-like we can all be. Then nature, peace, and logic are presented in the form of the river where Huck goes to think. Though no concise answer is given, the literature forces the reader to examine their surroundings, and question their leaders, which can also lead into this great disappointment. Because we idolize Huck for his individualism and beliefs, the end of the novel lets all the readers down. We can no longer refer to Huck as a hero because he never got Jim to freedom, instead prevented him from it. Although Huck loved Jim, he feared his future and what would happen to him if he were caught
.” (Twain, ix) He openly and firstly acknowledges the irregularities in this story and explains that it is not on a whim that he uses this specific type of language but with the purpose to expose the world to a new and original form of literary design. The main character in this story is Huckleberry Finn, the complete opposite of a traditional European hero; he is not the typical king or nobleman that traditional stories tell of. He is an everyday boy uneducated and seemingly unworthy, Huckleberry Finn is the epitome of a real American every day hero. Mr. Twain writes this book as a way to show that just by simply maturing and growing up so that Huckleberry Finn can make the right decisions in all aspects of his life; it makes him a noble character. “We are asked to trust this not as a sport, but rather as a well-considered and well-honed document. . . We are invited to experience and to appreciate this narrative in terms of its thought, its thoughtfulness, and its craft.” (Fertel, 159 –Free and Easy”)
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has stirred up much controversy over such topics as racism, prejudice and gender indifference, but the brunt of the criticism has surrounded itself around the ending, most notably with the re-entry of Tom Sawyer. Some people viewed the ending as a bitter disappointment, as shared by people such as Leo Marx. The ending can also be viewed with success, as argued by such people as Lionel Trilling, T.S. Eliot, V. S. Pritchett and James M. Cox in their essays and reviews. I argue that the ending of the novel proves successful in justifying the innocence of childhood through such themes as satire and frivolous behaviour.
People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.
The debate rages on about the ending of the book Huckleberry Finn. In the book, it depicts a slavery filled nation with a boy and a runaway slave on a raft traveling the Mississippi River. The boy, Huck, is about 13 years of age and lived with his abusive and drunk father. Jim, a runaway slave meets Huck and turns out that they have some things in common. Their journey of escape from their unliked views on society begin on Jackson Island and up the Mississippi River. As they are on the raft, the reader finds out that Jim wants to be free which is the books ending, but how the ending plays out is what the debate is mainly focused on.
Furthermore, Huck internally criticizes Jim’s talk about “saying he would steal his children—children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm,” and states that it was a “lowering of him” (16). Huck’s lack of moral development epitomizes here, as he criticizes a “n*****” for his utopian vision of a peaceful life with his family. Huck’s conscience starts to attack him in this moment as he no longer thinks about Jim as his friend and starts to acknowledge that, in reality, he’s a black person. Although it appears that Huck is moral since he helped Jim escape, Huck doesn’t disapprove of the institution of slavery; he only helped Jim because he values their friendship. This is further exemplified when Huck makes the decision to take the canoe and go tell on Jim, though he tells Jim that he will go and check if they’re in Cairo. Twain juxtaposes Jim’s two possible futures, one of freedom, and the other of enslavement, to show the influence Huck’s choice will have. When Jim calls out “‘Jim won’t ever forgit you, Huck;
Huckleberry Finn, who narrates, begins Chapter One by stating that the reader may know of him from another book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Also by Mark Twain) but it doesn't matter if you have not read it. According to Huck, Twain mostly told the truth, with some exaggerations tossed in, though everyone--except Tom's Aunt Polly, the widow, and maybe Mary--lies once in a while. The other book ended with Tom and Finn finding the gold some robbers had hidden in a cave. They got six thousand dollars each, which Judge Thatcher put in trust, so that they each got one dollar a day from interest. The Widow Douglas adopted and tried to "civilise" Huck. But Huck couldn't stand it so he threw on his old rags and ran away. But he went back when Tom
"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." (Hemingway). In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the novel is all about creating something new from rejecting the old and having some hatred and violence.