Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens?

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910)

• Grew up in Hannibal, Missouri on the bank of the Mississippi River

• At age 22 (1857-61) he trained to be a steamboat pilot

• Volunteered for the Confederate Army then quit (1861)

• Traveled west (Nevada) to find gold; worked as a journalist in SF (1861-64)

• 1876: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

• Published 3 humorous articles under the name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”

• Clemens took the pseudonym “Mark Twain” in 1863

• “Mark Twain” is a riverboat term indicating 12 feet or 2 fathoms of water

• The name may have also originated from Clemens’ habit of ordering 2 drinks in saloons; “Mark Two/Twain”

• Twain was the first modern celebrity• His popularity was such that he

created mass/popular culture with his literature

In the summer of 1903 The Ladies Home Journal, decided to send photographer Thomas E. Marr to take pictures of Three Famous Authors at their summer homes. Mark Twain, at his in-laws' Quarry Farm in Elmira,

New York, was one.

• Twain endorsed various products with his name

Champion of the Common Man

• He was critical of the rich & the disparity between the rich & poor that existed in The Gilded Age

• Twain championed the cause of the underdog & spoke for the common man

• Despite his popularity, he declared bankruptcy because of bad investments

• In 1894, he traveled around the world on a lecture tour to pay off his debts

• Twain’s greatest public triumph came amidst great personal tragedy (his daughter & wife died within years of each other)

• In 1906 he began wearing his trademark white suit exclusively

• By 1907 Twain was an American institution; in the same year he was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford University (his formal education ended at 11 yrs old)

• The final 5 years of his life he spent alone, lonely and drinking

• Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

• Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

• I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.

• I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

• It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Mark Twain Quotations

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

• Mark Twain’s first official novel.• Published in 1876• It became a classic in American

literature by 1910• The character of Tom Sawyer is

based on a childhood friend of Twain’s

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. It’s the best book

we’ve had. All American writing comes from that.

There was nothing before. There has been nothing since.”

– Ernest Hemingway

• Hemingway is referring to the role of language in the novel and the prose style used by Twain.

Huck doesn’t talk like Ahab; he doesn’t talk like Hester or Arthur Dimmesdale.

Huck Finn marks a change in American prose style

Not literary language, but the language of experience•Written language = English•Spoken language = American

The Language of the Novel

• Huck’s language is pared down, stripped of ornamentations

• Twain captured the terse rhythms of spoken language

“The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the

lightning bug.” – Mark Twain

• Huck’s language is a boy’s language– Inseparable from his character– Dialect = character + experience– Before the “fall” (adulthood); Huck reports with

an innocent eye, a sense of awe; he is trustworthy, reliable narrator

• With his pen name, Samuel Clemens is twice removed as a narrator– Samuel Clemens>Mark Twain>Huck Finn

• This allows him to do things and say things which he otherwise would not be able to do as a writer.

First-Person Narration

“You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no

matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly

he told the truth.”- Huck Finn

Although similar in content, the following two passages illustrate the difference in

dialect and prose style between

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“…a gray squirrel and a big fellow of the “fox” kind came skurrying along, sitting up at intervals to inspect and chatter at

the boys, for the wild things had probably never seen a human being

before and scarcely knew whether to be afraid or not. All Nature was wide awake

and stirring, now; long lances of sunlight pierced down through the

dense foliage far and near, and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the

scene.”- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter

XIV

“I could see the sun out at one or two holes, but mostly it was big trees all about, and gloomy in there amongst

them. There was freckled places on the ground where the light sifted down

through the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little, showing

there was a little breeze up there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and

jabbered at me very friendly.”- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,

- Chapter VI

• Before the novel was published in 1884, colloquialisms, vulgarities, & slang were barred from the printed page

• Twain liberated American literature with Huck Finn, and he did it without apology“They have expelled Huck from their library as ‘trash’ and suitable only for

the slums. That will sell 25,000 copies for us.” – Mark Twain

Breaking New Ground

The Novel• Satire: a kind of writing that holds

up to ridicule the vices & follies of human beings or society

• Picaresque novel: a episodic novel recounting the adventures of a roguish hero

• Bildungsroman: a novel that details the maturation, psychological development & moral education of the main character

The Origin of the Novel• Huck Finn began as a sequel to Tom

Sawyer; it began as a boy’s book, but became something much greater.

• Twain put the book aside for 5 years, after the first 400 pages of manuscript

• In April 1882, he traveled down river to New Orleans; in May he returned up river & in June he picked up the novel again

• Twain had been away from the river for 20 years (since before the Civil War)

• What he saw in the South was the horrible failure of freeing the slave

The Novel• Huck Finn is set before the Civil War and

before emancipation• Huck must unlearn what he has been

taught about slaves• “I do believe he cared just as much for his

people as white folks does for theirn. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” - Huck

• As a boy, Twain was not opposed to slavery; Huck and Twain undergo a similar transformation

The novel is set in along

the Mississippi River in the

1840s.

On the west side of the Mississippi

River, Missouri was

a slave state.

On the east side, Illinois was a free

state.

Ohio River

Cairo, IL

Mississippi RiverMISSOURI

=SLAVE STATE

ILLINOIS =FREESTATE

North to Freedom• The novel takes place prior to the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a Federal law which was written with the intention of enforcing a section of the U. S. Constitution that required the return of runaway slaves.

• It sought to force the authorities in free states to return fugitive slaves to their masters.

North to Freedom

• In practice, however, the law was rarely enforced because the northern states were against slavery.

• Therefore, before the law and even after it was passed, slaves in the South would run north for a chance for freedom.

Slave Hunters

Hunting or catching slaves was a profitable business.

The Mississippi River• Its estimated length is about 2,320

miles, starting at Lake Itasca Minnesota and reaching to the Gulf of Mexico.

• The narrowest stretch is about 20-30 feet.

• It can span up to 4 miles in some places.

• The deepest section, near New Orleans, is estimated at 200 feet deep.

“Mark Twain” steamboat at Disneyland

“The Mississippi Queen”

The Importance of the Novel

• Twain “put a face on black folks…he took a black person and made them a human being.”

• “Before this, the term ‘nigger’ referred to a non-person, a product, someone else’s goods.”

- Dick Gregory

The Importance of the Novel

• The novel is about “race and space”; it made us as Americans radically different from Europeans, despite our similarities

• The Mississippi River is a symbol of the American frontier and the American spirit of freedom and movement

Controversy• Initially, there was opposition to

the novel because of Huck’s vulgarity and his portrayal as and uncivilized boy

• In the late 1950s, the novel began to be criticized for its so-called racist elements, including the use of the “N-word” and the portrayal of the slave, Jim’s, character

• Opposition to the novel still exists today

The N-Word

• The word appears approximately 213 times in the novel but is not as derogatory as Twain or Huck would have understood or used it, despite its modern connotations.

• Many critics feel that Jim, even though a slave called “Nigger Jim,” is the character who shows the most humanity in the book.

The Noble Jim• Jim is full of faults, ignorance, and

superstition, as is Huck.• Jim’s character, however, is

honorable, loyal, trustworthy, and trusting throughout the book.

• It is only through Jim that Huck achieves maturity and an accurate understanding of slavery, his own and Jim’s humanity, and man’s failings.

Sill Controversial• Despite these facts, many groups

continue to protest the casual use of the N-word and the stereotypical character traits of Jim.

• Many parent groups disapprove of the use of the word in classroom, claiming it promotes racism and bigotry.

• The debate continues, with many groups pushing for the word to be removed from the text.

• Nigger the Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy

• Kennedy is a Harvard Law professor; he writes about one of the most powerful and obscene words ever invented.

The “N” Word• The issue at hand today is the “n”

word and whether or not it is appropriate to teach a novel that uses the word.

• “If nigger represented only an insulting slur and was associated only with racial animus, this book would not exist; rather, nigger is fascinating precisely because it has been put to a variety of uses and can radiate a wide array of meaning.”

-Randall Kennedy

The Power of the Word• Books have been banned for using

the word• In 1998 an Arizona woman sued

the Tempe Union High School District, requesting that they remove The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”.

• Her case went all the way to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

The Power of the Word• Court Cases have been

overturned because criminal justice officials were somehow connected to the word

• Individuals have sought damages under antidiscrimination law because they were abused by the word

• Judges must decide to tell jurors about a witness’s use of the word

The “N” Word

• The word is a key term in American culture.

• It is a profoundly hurtful racial slur meant to stigmatize African Americans.

• It has been an important feature of many of the worst episodes of bigotry in American history.

The “N” Word• It has accompanied innumerable

lynchings, beatings, acts of arson, and other racially motivated attacks upon blacks.

• It has also been featured in countless jokes and cartoons that both reflect and encourage the disparagement of blacks.

• It is the signature phrase of racial prejudice.

The “N” Word• Cultural literacy requires detailed

knowledge about the oppression of racial minorities.

• A clear understanding of the word is part of this knowledge.

• To paper over that term or to constantly obscure it by euphemism is to flinch from coming to grips with racial prejudice that continues to haunt the American social landscape.

Origin of The “N” Word• Leading etymologists believe that the

word was derived from an English word "neger" that was itself derived from "Negro", the Spanish word for black.

• Precisely when the term became a slur is unknown. We do know, however, that by early in the 19th century the word had already become a familiar insult.

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html

The “N” Word• In 1837, in The Condition of the

Colored People of the United States; and the Prejudice Exercised Towards Them, Hosea Easton observed “’nigger’ is an opprobrious term, employed to impose contempt upon [blacks] as an inferior race…The term itself would be perfectly harmless were it used only to distinguish one class from another; but it is not used with that intent…it flows from the fountain of purpose to injure."

The “N” Word• Writing in 1940 in his memoir The Big

Sea, Langston Hughes remarked,"[t]he word nigger to colored people is like a red rag to a bull. Used rightly or wrongly, ironically or seriously, of necessity for the sake of realism, or impishly for the sake of comedy, it doesn’t matter. Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even though the book or play is written by a Negro, they still do not like it. The word nigger, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America."

“All right then, I’ll go to hell.”• America’s original sin lies in the fact

that slavery was legal at our inception

• In this statement, lies the great moral awakening for white Americans.

• It suggests that the possibility of redemption exists for the sin of slavery.

• Huck rejects slavery and the beliefs of a white, slave-owning society and accepts being seen as an abolitionist

“All right then, I’ll go to hell.”• “the ultimate Christian moment” – David

Bradley• It is a totally selfless statement; Huck

chooses to do what is best for Jim, rather than what is best for himself.

• “Every moral choice that we make; if we decide not to do what we think will save us but what will save someone else—that’s the ultimate Christian moment.” - David Bradley

• The novel has been called “a hymn…to the solidarity of the human race.”; the novel gives us hope as a nation that one day we may be able to come to terms with our history with slavery