Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
You have to get your mind set right to enjoy this book, and it is a long complicated plot line. The beginning chapters establishe the silliness of Tom Sawyer and the innocent nature of Huckleberry Finn. Huck's calm observations about Tom's silly games (playing pirates and being blood brothers) have a humorous tone to them, but only if you realize that Twain is using Huck to make fun of the "romantic" novels that were popular during his day. Romantic here does not mean "love;" it means the type of writing where no one is actually hurt, where everything is seen through rosy colored glasses, and life always works out good.
Chapter 6 --Twain's description of Pap ranting and raving about the "govment," Pap's clear prejudice against negroes, and Pap's drunken rage when he chases Huck around the cabin are not funny. The chapter ends with Huck holding a gun for protection against his father.
Chapter 7--Pap leaves Huck alone and he decides to escape. As he kills the pig, drags the blood around, and creates a scene to look like he has been murdered, he comments that he wished "Tom Sawyer was there, I knowd he would take an interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches. Nobody could spread himself like Tom Sawyer in such a thing as that."
The Language: it's hard to get used to the spelling of Huck's voice unless you speak it out loud and can hear it. For example, Huck says "warn't" instead of "wasn't." He says "haint" instead of have not." Try to keep a list of the other phonetical spellings.
Nature: Note how most of Huck's troubles involve human beings--he manages the river, the woods, and nature quite well. Jim teaches him how to interact with humans--by Chapter 14 Huck is admiring Jim. He says about Jim: "he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head." Jim is also gentle about teaching Huck--when Huck plays a mean joke on him (Chapter 15), Jim scolds Huck (he calls Huck "trash") and teaches Huck how to be a decent human being. However, Jim is not educated: he believes a lot of superstitous stories and twists Bible stories quite a bit. Jim is also subservient to Huck in many instances.
Huck is a liar: Huck lies when it is convenient to him. Some of his lies are silly nonsense, others are to gain information or to protect himself and Jim. The first type of lies reflect Huck's immaturity, the second type are much more significant. Huck is trying to reconcile what he has been formally taught and what he knows in his heart to be true.
Chapter 17-18 reflects both types of lies as well as Huck's maturing process and tender heart. The chapter also includes satire of art and poetry--mark the section of the description of the house--we will return to that section when we study satire. Be sure to read these two chapters--the end of Ch. 18 includes a famous line: "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. you feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
Chapter 19: The two frauds (the Duke and the Dauphin) join up with Huck and Jim. Even though their characters are scoundrels, Twain uses them to illustrate a few other things: Huck understands human nature by the time these two "rapscallions" show up (end of Ch. 19). Townspeople along the river are poor, uneducated, and most of the time, quite accepting and friendly.
Chapter 23: A poignant scene at the end when Huck decides to "protect" Jim from the truth about the Duke and Dauphin and Jim recounts learning that his daughter was deaf.
Chapter 25-28: Huck ended Ch. 24 with "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race" so the reader is set up to understand that he does not approve of the new scam by the Duke and Dauphin. It also shows the tenderness between Huck and Mary Jane, whom he clearly admires.
Chapter 32: The first paragraph is a beautiful description of nature. But the true beauty is the second sentence in the second paragraph. Notice how long that sentence is!
End of the book: The early scenes with Tom Sawyer also set up the end of the book when Tom shows up again. Huck defers to Tom as a leader, even though it is clear that Huck is much more mature. Tom knows Jim is free, but he treats Jim's situation as game. Why Jim agrees to some of that nonsense is part of what makes the end of the book so unsatisfying.
While on the river, realized that Jim's feelings are just as significant as any white person's, and that Jim is probably one of the most decent human beings that ever drew breath (in a literary sort of way!).
Chapter 6 --Twain's description of Pap ranting and raving about the "govment," Pap's clear prejudice against negroes, and Pap's drunken rage when he chases Huck around the cabin are not funny. The chapter ends with Huck holding a gun for protection against his father.
Chapter 7--Pap leaves Huck alone and he decides to escape. As he kills the pig, drags the blood around, and creates a scene to look like he has been murdered, he comments that he wished "Tom Sawyer was there, I knowd he would take an interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches. Nobody could spread himself like Tom Sawyer in such a thing as that."
The Language: it's hard to get used to the spelling of Huck's voice unless you speak it out loud and can hear it. For example, Huck says "warn't" instead of "wasn't." He says "haint" instead of have not." Try to keep a list of the other phonetical spellings.
Nature: Note how most of Huck's troubles involve human beings--he manages the river, the woods, and nature quite well. Jim teaches him how to interact with humans--by Chapter 14 Huck is admiring Jim. He says about Jim: "he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head." Jim is also gentle about teaching Huck--when Huck plays a mean joke on him (Chapter 15), Jim scolds Huck (he calls Huck "trash") and teaches Huck how to be a decent human being. However, Jim is not educated: he believes a lot of superstitous stories and twists Bible stories quite a bit. Jim is also subservient to Huck in many instances.
Huck is a liar: Huck lies when it is convenient to him. Some of his lies are silly nonsense, others are to gain information or to protect himself and Jim. The first type of lies reflect Huck's immaturity, the second type are much more significant. Huck is trying to reconcile what he has been formally taught and what he knows in his heart to be true.
Chapter 17-18 reflects both types of lies as well as Huck's maturing process and tender heart. The chapter also includes satire of art and poetry--mark the section of the description of the house--we will return to that section when we study satire. Be sure to read these two chapters--the end of Ch. 18 includes a famous line: "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. you feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
Chapter 19: The two frauds (the Duke and the Dauphin) join up with Huck and Jim. Even though their characters are scoundrels, Twain uses them to illustrate a few other things: Huck understands human nature by the time these two "rapscallions" show up (end of Ch. 19). Townspeople along the river are poor, uneducated, and most of the time, quite accepting and friendly.
Chapter 23: A poignant scene at the end when Huck decides to "protect" Jim from the truth about the Duke and Dauphin and Jim recounts learning that his daughter was deaf.
Chapter 25-28: Huck ended Ch. 24 with "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race" so the reader is set up to understand that he does not approve of the new scam by the Duke and Dauphin. It also shows the tenderness between Huck and Mary Jane, whom he clearly admires.
Chapter 32: The first paragraph is a beautiful description of nature. But the true beauty is the second sentence in the second paragraph. Notice how long that sentence is!
End of the book: The early scenes with Tom Sawyer also set up the end of the book when Tom shows up again. Huck defers to Tom as a leader, even though it is clear that Huck is much more mature. Tom knows Jim is free, but he treats Jim's situation as game. Why Jim agrees to some of that nonsense is part of what makes the end of the book so unsatisfying.
While on the river, realized that Jim's feelings are just as significant as any white person's, and that Jim is probably one of the most decent human beings that ever drew breath (in a literary sort of way!).
Comments
In scenes, such as where a boat smashed right through Huck and Jim's raft, figurative language is used to place the image in mind of the boat breaking through the raft and sending Huck and Jim into the water. That was visual to me, at least. . . . Also, figurative language is seemingly used where Huck says, "the work of the rattlesnake-skin", where the snake skin is given human characteristics.
Twain appears to be consistent in Huck's grammar. For example, Huck will say "I knowed" and slangs such as "warn't" are used throughout the book. Twain keeps the verb tenses consistent when Huck is in dialect. Twain uses informal diction which includes wrong verb tenses(example: "then I done" and "I had wore"), problems in subject-verb agreement(example: "i begun"), double negatives(example: "wouldn't never"), regional colloquialisms(example: The word, "judged", is often used), slangs(example: t'other")and unorthodox spelling(example: "good-by"). These are just a few thoughts which are debatable. . . .
In other words, you have made a lot of observations, but they don't appear to be based on conclusions from scenese. Try to focus on one or two aspects of love (maybe Huck/Jim and Huck/Pap) and point out different places where you observe their relationship. Note also that relationships can change. . .I think Huck's feelings for Jim change over the course of their trip. I also think that Huck is not as mature as we think he Why does he let Tom treat Jim in such a humiliating way?
When Huck is speaking Twain uses dialect but when Huck is narrating Twain mostly uses regular language.
I also thought the way Twain encourages foreshadowing was interesting (on page 91)when he literally spells out that more bad luck was soon to come.
My point to address is Huck and Jim's primary movement from shore to river and north to south with relation to the plot. I have noticed, so far, most of the trouble they run into has happened on shore. But I am kind of confused as to where Tom went.
In chapter four Huck is talking to his father who showed up in his room and his father says "First you know you'll get religion, too." Having Huck's father saying this casts a bad shadow on religion. His father though is a drunk seems as though he would be angry or disappointed that his son would be interested in religion. Having religion and disappointment paired together indicates Twain's harsh feelings towards this subject.
In chapter eight Huck is talking about prayer about how it really only works for the right kind of person. Having this view gives religion a hypocritical view. God is suppose to accept all and love all but having Huck tell us really only the right kind have prayer answers gives a bad view onto the idea.
In using dialects, Mark Twain presents readers an accurate feel of the differences between society then and society today.
One main point, I noticed, was the use of superstition. On page 45, Jim tells Huck to not count the things you are going to cook for dinner because that would bring bad luck. He also states that if a man owns a beehive and he dies the bees must be informed before sun-up next morning or else the bees would die. Another superstition that he refers to at the end of the book is that if you have hairy arms and a hairy breast you are going to be rich. At the beginning of the book Jim is poor, but then at the end he turns out to be rich and tells Huck, "I tole you I ben rich wunst, en gqineter be rich ag'in; en it's come true; en heah she is!"
My question is about the conclusion of the novel and if I think it is appropriate or not. The ending is definitely disappointing. Twain could have elaborated more and made it more interesting. The last couple pages were all a blur because I didn't really want to read it anymore because of it being so dull. I would have rather a longer ending as long as it was more intriguing.
I noticed that Twain will begin explaining certain things in detail like "The door of the cavern was big enough to roll a hogshead through it... and then the sentence will end with something so basic, like "So we built it there and cooked dinner". This shows how intelligent and observant Huck really is, but then again it shows how simple life was for Huck. This also created a sense of detail so the reader will feel and see what the character see, but also not boring them to death, and by getting to the point.
I definitely found parts of this book humerous. I really enjoyed the part where Huck dressed up as a girl and the lady caught him and kept his secret. By injecting the book with humor it really tones down the serious and intense feelings the other scenarios present.
Another technique I noticed is the use of added "unneeded" information between dashes. It really lets us in on Huck's personality/humor and makes the book more humorous, if you were to notice it. Some examples include, on page 23/24' "Every time he got drunk . . . he raised Cain and he got jailed. He was just suited - this kind of thing was right in his line." And also, "Pap warn't in good humor - so he was his natural self." It's sort of like he's adding in his sarcastically toned two-cents.
Huck is set out for an adventure. His journey includes going down the Mississippi River, Jackson's Island, and the steamboat. These are all examples of how Huck is the picaro of the story. In each stop he made to reach his destination, he experienced something vital and matured through the process.
At first, I was confused as to why Huck and Jim were traveling South because slaves are free in the North. I think it is because they're not intending on landing in a town actually in the South, rather a town in the North just farther South than they were. If that's wrong, could someone please help me understand this part? But it is essential to the book that they are heading South, because then their stop in the free town is missed and that's where the storyline really comes from. Throughout their back and forth trips from shore to river, most trouble is on shore. The reason Twain does not have Jim and Huck experiencing trouble on the river is that is the time Huck and Jim have to develop their relationship. This is how we find out that Jim is actually intelligent just very uneducated. We learned early on in the book that Huck is also uneducated and he is presented with many chances to pursue an education but has no interest in it. I noticed several times in the book when his superstition was mentioned. If he really believes that counting your dinner or killing spiders is bad luck, then that is what he relies on. He does not try to learn about the world or about "luck" itself. I might now be rambling, but his superstitions in this book seemed to highlight his lack of intelligence.
In Huck Finn, Twain successfully models many versions of a family. From Huck and Pap's relationship to Huck and Jim's, I see the vast difference that love plays in each. Huck is Pap's biological son which should clearly opens doors to love. As I first started the book, I saw Pap abandon Huck multiple times for drinks, nights out, and serving jail time. I thought "Somehow Pap loves Huck,right? How can you not find love for your own offspring?" As I've read more, I do believe that Huck loves his father and his father loves him. It is shown to me when Huck has a hint of hope his father has changed after his promise to the Judge, his reaction to his Pap's death, and even by giving his money to his father to support his bad addiction.Pap's love(however minute it may be)is shown when he is on the boat looking for Huck's dead remains. The love role plays is more hidden in this "family" relationship, but it does exist.
Love's role in Jim and Huck's version of family unravels throughout the story. What started as partners in crime, led to an understanding of one another. Both characters struggle to find their way in society and both are hardly accepted. Jim and Huck run into each other while searching for a better life. This connects more and more throughout the book as we watch them help each other achieve their ending goal. Jim is protective over Huck when hiding the dead man's identity and shows trust in him as he follows Huck's over the top and silly adventures. Huck's love for Jim is shown when Huck decides that he can't bring himself to turn Jim in, even if he "goes to hell" for it. He struggles with his upbringings telling him it is wrong to help a black man escape, but lets his heart get the best of him as he declares he is willing to take any punishment in order to help Jim become free. In Huck's ignorance, he shows his love for Jim in helping him escape. I believe the connection Huck finds with Jim is all he's been looking for and helps him grow up throughout the plot line.
Another example of satire is how Mark Twain pokes fun at the level of knowledge of the characters. For instance, when Huck sneaks out to go meet up with Tom Sawyer and his gang, a discussion arises about "ransoming". None of the boys know what the word means exactly, so they each decide what it should mean, despite it being not necessarily true. This is also a prime example that in society, ideas can be thought to be true if others accept the idea, even if it is truly wrong.
Overall, the satire provides for a comical effect in the novel, lightening the mood and adding a twist of tongue-in-cheek humor between the reader and the author.
Southern dialect contains words with syllables added to them, such as "a-coming", while other words have syllables taken out of them, such as "'bout".
In addition to what Molly said about humor, I enjoyed the attempt by the duke to act out Shakespeare's Hamlet soliloquy, in which he adds in parts of Macbeth apart from his corrupted version. Though he does not exactly hit the nail on its head, his ability to recognize sections of the soliloquy as well as his ability to act out the scene (which Huck highly regards) makes it reasonable to conclude that the duke is educated in theater.
Twain also casts a negative view on organized religion. The camp meetings associated with the religious revival, in particular, are looked down upon when the con artists tricks the people attending the meeting. Huck remarks that the people's actions were "just crazy and wild." These two general words hint at the overall outlook on organized religion. The point Molly made about Mrs. Watson owning a slave also places a burden on organized religion because she can be considered one of the purest characters in the book.
Huck's tone in this passage appears to be quite awestruck and ardent when he describes the colors of the sky. The tone throughout the passage also seems, to me, as though it is both melancholy and peaceful in that the thunder storm makes the scene so somber, yet so beautiful and calm. The figurative diction used really magnifies the scene, making the visual aspects of the scene very sublime.
Twain creates this situation to show how Jim cares more for Huck than Huck does for Jim at the beginning of the book because Huck uses it to fool Jim. Huck leads Jim to believe that they were never separated and the events from the previous night never happened. Huck feeds off of what Jim says to make him even more confused to the point where he believes none of it ever happened. In the third paragraph before the end of the chapter Jim realizes that Huck was lying for his own comic relief. Twain uses the anaphora of "en" to emphasize how upset Jim was when he thought Huck was dead and how happy he was when Huck was back on the raft.
In chapter 31, Huck gets away from the Duke and the Dauphin and hurriedly made his way to where the raft was only to discover Jim was not there. Huck states, "I set up a shout--and then another--and then another one". Twain uses repetition to create a hectic tone which shows that Huck is worried about Jim and his whereabouts. He continues to say "old Jim was gone" at the end of a long sentence. This sets a disappointed tone. Showing that Huck now cares for Jim.
Later on in that chapter Huck has to decide if he is going to turn Jim in or not and says, "All right, then, I'll go to hell," and proceeded to tear up the note he was going to send to Mrs. Watson. The actions and words Twain has Huck say demonstrates the love Huck feels for Jim, which by the end of the book is equal to the love Jim feels for Huck.
Throughout the book, Twain often uses long sentences with multiple clauses separated by semi-colons, commas and hyphens. One thing that stuck out was the paragraph in the middle of page 205 that begins "It made me shiver." The first several sentences actually do not contain multiple clauses. As Huck is identifying his feelings and searching for answers in rhetorical questions, the sentences Twain chooses are very abrupt. But as Huck begins to explain why the words for his prayer would not come, the sentences he uses grow in length.
His first, abrupt sentences express individual thoughts and questions addressing his mood and what he was to do about it. When Huck starts to answer his own questions is when his sentences grow into one complete thought.
The structure of sentences is something I notice often. When Huck says "You can't pray a lie-I found that out" that last clause is what really resonates. We know what it is that Huck found out rather than just knowing he found something out. Twain could have easily written "I found out that you can't pray a lie" but it would not have had the same effect.
Huck's tone in this passage seems very innocent. I am not sure an exact example to use to confirm this though, any suggestions? I have a few ideas; I am not sure how to formulate them into logical sentences. Twain does use this scene though, to tie back in the calico dress and the sun bonnet Huck stole from the house that Pap was found dead (pg. 50, par. 2).
To add on to my first blog post:
Twain uses an abstract sentence, a short but powerful sentence, to display the most important sentence in the novel. Huck's love for Jim, Huck maturing, the current beliefs of society and how Huck disapproves of them and he follows his own can all be symbolized in the one sentence "Alright then, I'll go to hell".
Also I like to add that Twain used many different tones in his writing. Each chapter had a different effect. Some had more of a melancholy tone and others were flippant. For example the way Twain talked about the "dead body" in chapter eight and nine portrayed a depressing tone(since the foreshadowing of Huck finding out it is his father)and in chapter 10 portraying a flippant tone about how Huck is the reason why Jim gets bit by a snake, sets a great contrast between the three chapters.Twain used contrast to emphasized the different tones in his paragraph and chapter structure.
Also Huck's friend Jim speaks in this manner : "Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn' hear sumf'n.
It also seemed to me as if the older characters used more of the regional colloquialisms than Huck...For example Hucks father says: "Who told you you might meddle with such hifalut'n foolishness, hey?" And then Sherburn says in chapter 22: "And if you hadn't had him to start you, you'd 'a' taken it out in blowing." Maybe the reason I thought that Twain used more colloquialisms from the older characters was because they spent more time using those colloquialisms, and Huck's adolescence, plus the time spent with the intelligent widow may be the cause of a smaller use of colloquialisms(even though he still has the dialect)