Appreciate The Adventures of Huckle

Why did you choose this particular book? Typical reasons might be:

 

1.     “All modern American literature comes from on book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn….There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”

—Ernest Hemingway

 

1.     The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book by Mark Twain, considered as one of the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective).

The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Satirizing a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist about twenty years before the work was published, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.

 

1.     Because of his delicate familiarity with children’s psychology and his thorough understanding of Americans and American society, Mark Twain profoundly and vividly depicts the adventurous story of Huck and Jim and reveals his own views towards the civilized society. This point appeals me to read this novel.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Abstract：

First published in Englandin December 1884 and in the United Statesin February 1885, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of Mark Twain’s masterpieces and considered as one of the Great American Novels. The novel depicts the adventurous story of a white child Huckleberry Finn and a black slave Jim’s escape toMississippi to pursue a free life. Through poring over the novel from children’s perspective, this book report tries to reveal the novel’s themes and the author’s views towards human civilization.

 

Key word:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, children’s perspective, book report

 

1. Brief Introduction of Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called “the Great American Novel.”

Twain grew up inHannibal,Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion’s newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on theMississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which became very popular and brought nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling.

He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

However, he lacked financial acumen. Though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, however, he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility.

Born during a visit by Halley’s Comet, he died on its return. He was lauded as the “greatest American humorist of his age,” and William Faulkner called Twain “the father of American literature.”

 

2. Plot

Used to living a free and undisciplined life, Huck can’t stand his new life in his adopted mother Douglas’ home, where he has to wear decent clothes everyday and learn endless rules and regulations, which afflict him a lot. One day, Huck’s drunken father comes back after disappearing for over one year. He forces Huck to live with him in a hut among a remote forest. No longer need to learn the decent manners, Huck is fairly contented with life in the forest, fishing and hunting freely. However, he couldn’t stand that his father often beats him when drunken and keeps asking Huck to hand out his share of unexpected fortune, which he got with Tom Sawyer. Therefore, Huck takes the chance that his father goes to the town to sell the wood, makes a false spot that he’s drowned, steal his father’s raft and escapes toJacksonIsland.

JacksonIslandis a deserted one. However, Huck unexpectedly encounters Jim, an escaped black slave. Later, Huck learns that Jim escaped because he got the news that his mater wanted to sell him again, and that in order to get rid of the slavery fate, Jim escaped to the island. Even though Huck knows it’s against the law to help an escaped slave, they become good friends as they have similar experiences. Realizing that the island is not safe enough, they set about leaving for another state and float along theMississippion raft. To avoid the search, they hide among the forests in the daytime and goes out only at night. Finally, overcoming a cornucopia of setbacks, they get to a wide river gulf where they think a safe place. To their disappointment, after consulting the people on the river bank, they find they are matter-of-factly heading for the opposite direction and nearer to the centre of their state. Frustrated, they can do nothing but let it be. For them, only the wideMississippiand their small raft are their free paradise.

One dawn, they meet two people dispelled by a crowd. Compassionated, Huck and Jim adopt them. After a short time, they find out the two people are liars who later take charge of the raft and sell Jim. Knowing he can’t win over them, Huck secretly leaves the raft for Filps Farm to save Jim. In the farm, Mrs. Filps takes Huck for his nephew Tom. Huck finds out that the man who buys Jim is just Tom’s uncle and the household is waiting for Tom’s visit. Smart enough, Huck takes the chance to play the role of Tom in the farm and prevents Tom’s coming. However, Tom loves adventures and he demands to play the role of Tom’s younger brother Xide. Several days later, they work out an adventurous plan to save Jim. They spread the news that Jim is going to escape, and the whole staff in the farm goes out to hunt for Jim. As they carry the real guns and pistols, Huck and Tom are scared to death and try to escape. In a panic, Tom got a shot and experiences what real adventure is. Only after Jim is taken back does Tom reveal the truth that Jim’s master has announced Jim a free man. At the end of the story, Mrs. Phelps wants to adopt Huck who declined, however. Huck has made up his mind to live a free life where the Indians inhabit.

 

3. Character Analysis

The main protagonists in this fiction are white teen Huck and black slave Jim. The former escaped from a restraint and hush adopted family to pursue free and undisciplined life, while the latter escaped from his master’s house to get rid of his slavery fate. During their adventures, they develop a deep and unbreakable friendship.

Huck is the central character of the fiction and an upright and rebellious child image in American literary history. At the beginning of the story, he is active and restless. Influenced by racial discrimination of that time, he looks down upon Jim, mocks him, and once even wants to reveal him to the court. However, as they encounter many setbacks and frustrations together, and survive from a narrow escape, Huck develops a deep friendship with Jim and determines to help him attain freedom. The story depicts a lot of Huck’s psychological activities. For instance, there is a scene where Huck wants to reveal Jim to the court. He writes a letter and says “Well, so, go hell.” He then tears the letter immediately. Just as the author once said, “The wholesome soul (democratic idealism) has a conflict with malformed ideology (racial discrimination) and the malformed ideology is wiped out.” Huck’s change of views towards Jim and his actions to help Jim to attain freedom vividly imply the author’s view about racial discrimination—Now that racism could not even deceive a child into believing it, it’s inexorable that the slavery system will break down, that the white and the black should struggle together to foster a new democratic and free world.

Jim is a loyal and capable black people. His doomed destiny as a slave that can be sold randomly is the reflection of the pathetic life of black slaves. Different from Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom’s Cabin who is obedient to his sufferings, Jim takes measures to escape from the his master. Under that context, his actions can be considered as brave enough. Besides Jim are full of sympathy and sacrifice spirit. When they are floating along theMississippi, he takes care of Huck and tries his best to keep this white child from fear and danger. When Tom gets a shot, he puts his safety aside and helps the doctors to save him in the farm dangerous for him. Through depicting these kind-hearted and noble behaviors, the author tries to convey that the blacks are no worse than the white in personality, and that they surpass the white in many aspects, thus negating the theories of racial discrimination utterly. The creation of such an image is to state the requisiteness and urgency of abolishing slavery.

 

4. Comment:

This book reveals the author’s views towards civilized adult world through children’s perspective—Now that racism could not even deceive a child into believing it, it’s inexorable that the slavery system will break down, that the white and the black should struggle together to foster a new democratic and free world..

In children’s perspective, the adult world represents the civilized world. They understand the adult world from their unique point of view. They try to spare feeble efforts to express something, to change something, which are mere silent protest and leads to their despair. Children will inevitably pass their childhood and turn adults who suppress their own children. It is a vicious cycle attributed to human civilization.

At the beginning of the story, although Huck escapes from the civilized education, he still couldn’t keep himself far away from the adult world, which is filled with his drunken father’s screaming, scolding and beating. He knows he couldn’t stand directly against the adults, so he takes a silent step like most other children—after careful planning, he makes up a false scene that he’s dead and leaves the hut. Huck wants to rescue Jim to realize his dream of individual heroism. Jim is an innocent black slave different from the civilized world, a member of a class negated by the so-called civilized white world. The salvation reflects Huck’s revolt against the so-called civilized adult world. At the end of the story, Huck returns to the “civilized” world, but he’s aspiring to live in the west where he thinks he could be free from the rules and manners of the adult world. However, this idealized west doesn’t really exist and it resembles the “despair” that even the dreaming place of a child is “civilized” by the adult.

After reading the whole book, it’s obvious that Huck is a special literary image different from any other literary images—He has some unique features that can’t be explained through adults’ eyes, namely, his virginity. At first, Huck uses his fairy-tale point of view to look at the world, only to find that there is a huge gap between the reality and fairy tale. When he thinks about the world childishly, he finds out the reality is so chaotic and perplexing. As a consequence, he gradually begins to shun the reality and his adventures turn into escape. He tends to reject the so-called civilization of the adult world and aspire for the undeveloped nature. He once even tries to change the dark and chaotic world through his resistance. However, under immense pressure of the adult world, this kind of resistance will collapse, be assimilated or be swallowed.

1)      The voice in the fairy tale

What firstly accompanies children is the voice in the fairy tale, which is truthful

and good-natured. Then, the children are assimilated by adult world, the fairy tale being assimilated into the reality. Huck is no exception. He admires the nature and considers the sound in the forest the most natural. He feels the safest and most comfortable to sleep surrounded by the sound of the nature. “Put on my previous rugged clothes and hide into the big barrel I used to store candies, contented and free.” This is the sound he likes subconsciously. This is the voice in the fairy tale. This is the voice of realness and naturalness.

2)      The voice of the inner heart

Then, what follows the sound in the fairy tale is the voice of the inner heart. This

voice reflects the attitudes and aspiration the children have towards the society. At first, Huck is the son of a drunkard and is often scolded and beaten by his father. He likes sleeping in the forest and eats the food thrown by others, not as normal as other people living in the same society. Then the widow adopts him. Although he begins to accept some ways of normal life, he manages with all these with efforts and feels afflicted to some extent. When he couldn’t stand his new life anymore, he slides off, puts on his ragged clothes and goes back to live in the big barrel. Huck loves the nature and adventures. After he has made up a false scene that he’s dead and heads for his freedom, he meets the black slave Jim. According to the law, not revealing the escaped black slave is considered guilty. However after several mental conflicts and the later accompaniment, Huck realized that Jim is kind-hearted and friendly, and they develop a deep friendship. During their adventures, Huck learns more about the dirtiness, hypocrisy and guilt of the upper class and he becomes more mature. Matter-of-factly, Huck’s adventures are subconscious exploration, guided by the inner heart, to pursue freedom, nature and keep away from the chains and shackles of the so-called civilization.

3)      The trial to make a voice

After the inner voice has accumulated to a certain sum, it’s likely to be released.

It’s a process from exploration to resistance. During their adventures, Huck sees all sorts of so-called civilized life—the floating corpse on theMississippi, the liars, the aristocracies fighting against each other…Compared with the honest, loyal, kind-hearted Jim, he sees more clearly the sins of the white society. Jim cries anxiously for Huck when he thinks Huck is driven away by the floods. He also helps the doctors to save Tom and remains at the farm which is dangerous for him… All his actions are sparking with the good aspect of the human society. Huck’s trial to help Jim to escape and attain freedom is a decision made after pondering the society and a transformation from exploration to resistance. This embodies that Huck tries to make a sound from the inner heart.

4)      The silent resistance

At last, the children’s subconscious evasion, to some extent, is a form of

resistance. Compared with the chaotic and perplexing voice from the adult world, their voice is too weak. Therefore, they subconsciously resist through evasion, silent resistance. In this silent process, the children wish they could walk out of this chaotic adult world and to an undisturbed world of their own where they can make a voice. Under the guidance of the widow, Huck reads the Bible everyday even though he doesn’t know the meaning at all, and he can’t get across why people should go to the heaven. But it doesn’t matter, as long as he could be with his good friend Tom. He feels the new decent clothes are chains and shackles, restraining him. Therefore when his drunkard father forces him to live in an island with him, he can adapt himself quickly to the new living environment and begins loving living in the nature, where he can smoke, fish and don’t need to read and do homework. It reveals his evasion of the adult world, civilized education.

 

Conclusion:

Through children’s perspective, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn profoundly and vividly narrates the adventurous story of Huck and Jim, and reveals the author’s views towards racial discrimination—Now that racism could not even deceive a child into believing it, it’s inexorable that the slavery system will break down, that the white and the black should struggle together to foster a new democratic and free world. The adult world is usually too perplexed for children to join in. What the adults need to do is to set a good modal for the children and create a equal and harmonious world.