Mark Twain Literary Analysis Essay In the nineteenth century, the word “huckleberry” was used to describe an unimportant person or event. The main character in Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is Huckleberry, and Huckleberry is depicted as an unimportant person and you can see this in the way people treat him and his situation. Twain demonstrates elements of Realism by mimicking the ethical struggles and social issues which were relevant to the time period in which this book was set. Although Huckleberry is the main character in Twain’s novel, he is portrayed as insignificant. One situation where Huck is treated as though he isn’t important is when Miss Watson and Judge Thatcher try taking away Pap’s custody over Huck, he explains how “The judge and the widow went to law to get the court to take me away from him and let one of them be my guardian; but it was a new judge that had just come, and he didn’t know the old man; so he said courts mustn’t interfere and separate families if they could help it, said he’d druther not take a …show more content…
The main way Twain demonstrates Realism is by focusing on social issues and ethical struggles, he does this by emphasizing characters from different social classes and uses different dialects to reveal class distinctions. Jim shows his position in the lower class when he tells Huck he “hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans”(15). Jim is a slave and he’s the lowest in the social class, he doesn’t get an education and Twain shows this by the dialect. Twain shows the social issues when Jim talks about how Miss Watson wanted to sell him, he describes how “she could git eight hund’d dollars for me, en it ‘uz sich a big stack o’money she couln’t resis’”(15). Miss Watson clearly cares about the money more than she cares about Jim. Twain demonstrates social classes and how slaves, like Jim, were treated more like objects rather than
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
Although The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most well-known books of American literature, not all that is said about it is necessarily good, especially regarding its ending. First of all, racism, and more importantly, what the novel implies about it, is prevalent from the very first page to definitely, the last. Most prominently, this is because of the 219 times the n-word is said, however, the reason Twain did this is open for interpretation. Obviously, this word is incredibly offensive to the modern reader, which in turn, is part of the brilliance; the novel could never be published into today’s world. Neither could it ever be published before the Civil War. Nonetheless, there
Huck has only ever known his father as the uneducated drunk that he was in the book. Therefore, when he is out with Jim for such a long period of time, he begins to look up to Jim and his outlook on life. In Document E, in the letter Huck wants to write to Miss. Watson, we see him explain somewhat the adventure him and Jim went on. Specifically, when they were traveling down the river, “...and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was;” (Document E). To me, this not only shows how Huck saw Jim as a father figure, but how Jim treated Huck as his own flesh and blood. Also in Document E, we see Huck decide to help Jim rather than telling Miss. Watson where he is. This exhibits how Huck is okay with the fact that this will always be on his conscience, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’--and tore it up,” (Document E). Huck deciding this on his own shows us how he didn’t want anyone to know where Jim was because he wanted him to stay in his life. He also wanted to save Jim so he would still have that father figure in his life. In spite of the fact that Jim has no rights, Huck is able to learn valuable things from this man on their adventure down the
In Huckleberry Finn there are several themes. There are themes of racism and slavery, civilized society, survival, water imagery, and the one I will be discussing, superstition ( SparkNotes Editors). Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation (“Merriam-Webster”). Superstition was a very popular theme in Huckleberry Finn that you saw throughout the story. Huck was somewhat superstitious, but Jim speaks a wide range of superstition and folk tales. In the story it makes Jim seem as if he is unintelligent, when really his superstitions and beliefs come true and shows he
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.
Huck's father is absent until he finds out that Huck has found some money. Pap is an outcast full of hate for blacks and pretty much for all of society. Huck, as a product of his society, speaks the language of his society. By choosing as his point-of-view a young boy from the slave south, Twain is able to present and challenge the values and assumptions of this time. Among the assumptions and values of the time that the reader encounters in the book are the strict definitions pertaining to Huck's world and the people who inhabit it:
“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
Given that Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon Clemens, an abolitionist, and also had great acquaintances with other abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe, it is evident that he believed in the immorality of slavery and its necessary end. In order to provide a realist approach for the story, it became necessary for Twain to maintain the language used in southern states. Not only did the language prove to give a more accurate representation of the general sense of superiority white slave owners felt over their slaves, but it also set the precedent in literature for using language as a medium of conveying information about setting and characters. The language, in a way, is a necessary evil to expose and shed light on topics that make people uncomfortable. Furthermore, despite seemingly portraying Jim as ignorant and gullible, when looked at through Huck’s eyes, it is important to remember Twain intended for the reader to debunk the stereotypes Huck sees by understanding Jim’s true characteristics – caring, creative, and intelligent. Twain wrote this novel with the intention of creating discomfort, in an effort to bring to attention the problems that society shies away from, and banning the book would only go against progress.
Something important I found when I read a little more about the novel, is that it was banned and censored in various parts of the world, but especially in the southern United States. The south was offended not only by the crudity, but realistic way Twain portrayed the pre-Civil War American society. Racism, slavery, superstition and morality are some of the most important topics of the novel. Here, Huckleberry Finn is portrayed as an outlaw, some kind of outsider who has grown in complete freedom and therefore a person who neither knows nor applies the rules of society. Huck is a person who does not distinguish what is right or wrong, but who is carried away by his particular way of understanding the world.
Huck and Jim have a dynamic relationship for the story that they are in. In a situation that may not have been plausible for that time period Twain manages to show how in the beginning where Huck sees Jim as a slave, what society chooses to interpret him as. Lesser, black, worthless, and less than human. Huck in the beginning does not respect him and he even sees Huck as maybe slightly dumb or easily tricked. However as time goes on and the story begins to unfold Huck begins to see Jim in a new light. He begins to see him as an equal someone who he shares experiences with and someone who he wants to protect. And in society that is morally incorrect for Huck to do so he goes through somewhat of an internal struggle, however he does continue
Twain uses Huck to make decisions based on this hypocritical slave-owning, Christian lifestyle. Huck must choose to either aid a runaway slave named Jim or return him to Miss Watson, while the white society of the South would expect Huck to return Jim to Miss Watson. Huck and Jim 's friendship makes this a significant decision because Huck is morally conflicted. Jim is his friend, but he is also the property of Miss Watson. An excerpt from Magill 's Survey of American Literature puts the situation in a right perspective exclaiming “Jim is property before he is man, and Huck is deeply troubled, surprisingly, by the thought that he is going to help Jim, not only because he sees it, in part, as a robbery, but more interestingly, because he sees his cooperation as a betrayal of his obligation to the
.” (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”)
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.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain provided social commentary on southern society and beliefs. Twain addressed a number of significant issues throughout the novel, including religion and slavery. There are a number of instances where Huck, the 14 year-old protagonist, pushes back against the idea of organized religion. Similarly, Huck encounters a personal and moral dilemma when it comes to the practice of slavery. This idea of rebellion against society is a major concept explored in the book. Small instances of Huck’s rebellion culminate with him eventually freeing a runaway slave. The main examples include Huck’s refusal to learn the Bible, Huck’s decision against not to turn Jim in, and Tom and Huck’s choice to set Jim free at the end of the story. Huck’s refusal to conform to and demonstrate the social norms of the South illustrate the theme of rebellion against society.
it got tiresome and lonesome. . . . I felt so lonesome I most wished I