Malapropism In Huckleberry Finn

“The story is told from Huck’s point of view, and his narrative voice is a remarkable mixture of bad grammar, slang, homespun wisdom, and lyrical attentiveness to nature” (Bloom 22). In the novel, Twain uses southern dialect to reflect the time period and location in which it was written (James).

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,

Many people easily fall into corrupt things, such as conformity. One can test the strength of a mind by observing its ability to retain pureness. Huck is exposed to many evil ideas and ways of living. Although it seems to the reader that he has fallen into these ideas, Huck proves everyone wrong. When Huck lives with the widow, he is not allowed to swear, the widow is trying to straighten Huck out and this is one thing that must go. As one would think, being in a household where profanity was abolished would create clean language for Huck. As we see in chapter six, "I had stopped cussing because the widow didn't like it, but now I took to it again, because Pap hadn't no objection"(Twain 75), Huck does not conform to society or the widows way of living. He has a free mind and all he wants to do, is feel it. In the beginning of the novel the widow explains to Huck about prayer and being one with Jesus. Although Huck's religion is also known as superstition, he once again, pleases the widow. Huck tried this prayer nonsense, "Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing came out"(60), with no luck. Huck isn't a rebel, he will try anything once, if its not for him, then that's fine because there are always alternatives. Although Huck mocks society, he does try out these conformities of humans.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the skillful way in which Twain relates Huck’s thoughts. By telling the story from the first person point of view, Twain not only lets the reader into Huck’s mind, but he also allows Huck to characterize himself in terms of dialect—his manner of speaking, as we hear his thoughts in his own uneducated and thoroughly “countrified” voice.

One of the reasons that Huckleberry Finn was banned in the past was because people found the dialect that Twain used unintelligible and shameful to the United States. These people thought that the manner of speech in which the novel was written would make Americans appear simple-minded. This may be the case with some, but the vernacular that the author used was the real dialect that majority of the population practiced in the time period that Huck existed. The novel is not meant to put America to shame, but rather to show the reality of how people spoke and acted in the mid nineteenth century. The vernacular is yet another aspect that makes the novel truthful because it gives readers a realistic view into the life of people from that time in American history.

a range of bizzare similes in both passages that make these stories stay true to the past and

Language matters. More specifically, the words we use change the way we perceive the world around us. This theory, known as linguistic relativism, gives us a way of analyzing the motivations and worldviews of characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through the way they discuss the problems presented to them. This is especially important when discussing reform, as a character’s changes in speech can help us asses the affect their environment has on their ability to ameliorate the situation. In Chapter 36, Trying to Help Jim, Twain presents a cynical picture of reformation, arguing that regression pervades

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

“Git up and hump yourself Jim...they’re after us!” (pg. 62). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is an exciting and adventurous story written in the late eighteenth century. The above quote exhibits the plot of the novel where a boy and his friend (who is a slave) run away together. The story is written in late eighteenth century Southern dialect, which helps the reader understand the era in which this novel was written. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the author uses primarily three diction strategies: connotative

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses Huck’s personal hyperboles, irony and an appeal to pathos as he subtly attempts to alter his Reconstruction's audience view on the African Americans role in society. Towards the end of the novel

Without doubt, Edgar Allan Poe’s story is one of the author’s masterpiece. The story is an exhibit of artistic genius with various literary features well incorporated. Among them, irony, defined as, “A figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs”, is the most evident. Allan Poe demonstrates the use of various types of irony throughout the play, which he uses to pass the intended message to the audience.

Unless the writer is very aware of how to create tone in their messages the reader may not catch on to the joke, and a conflict will quickly arise.

Twain uses colloquial diction to convey Huck’s struggle between the values of his southern upbringing, which urge him to return Jim, and his strong friendship and loyalty with Jim, which encourage him to protect the runaway. Although Huck lacks education, Huck interprets the laws in ways that are morally sound, an interpretation that most educated people fail to understand, while they blindly accept the injustice of slavery. Throughout the novel, Twain makes use of uneducated diction and syntax to convey an ironic contrast between Huck’s ability to discern between moral and immoral actions and his lack of education.

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” (Twain, ix) Mark Twain opens his book with a personal notice, abstract from the storyline, to discourage the reader from looking for depth in his words. This severe yet humorous personal caution is written as such almost to dissuade his readers from having any high expectations. The language in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is completely “American” beyond the need for perfect grammar. “Mark Twain’s novel, of course, is widely considered to be a definitively American literary text.” (Robert Jackson,

I was the “funny guy” in my clique of high school friends. Ever since I learned to read English, I enjoyed reading and collecting joke books. I exhausted every single joke book from the small community library in town. Riddles, jokes about animals and wildlife, reasons why I didn’t do my homework, lawyer jokes, and later on, ethnic jokes. I knew they were funny, but I wanted more. Perhaps it was my lack of physical achievements that made me obsess with a need to entertain my peers.