Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was one of the most noted and popular literary figures of the 19th century. His popularity stems in part from his subject matter, which was primarily about unvarnished Americans, and in part from his writing style, which was natural, humorous and cynical. Critics of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn criticized its "coarseness and bad taste" (Bilyeu 2). Twain had a knack for examining and ridiculing the foibles and stupidity of his fellow human beings. Two of the best volumes to look at when wanting to see these aspects of his writing are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These two novels have many of the same characters and take place in a generally similar locale (the old South). It can be argued that, as with a great many of Twain’s other writings, these two novels are greatly influenced by the people Twain had direct experience with. This would include aristocratic southern whites, poor whites, free blacks and slaves, as well as northern abolitionists. As he encountered representatives of each of these groups, Twain’s views (often racially tinged) became modified to greater or lesser degrees, but the contradictions in Twain’s views are very evident in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain’s early writings seem to reflect the prevalent 19th century view of a Darwinian based white superiority over other races and peoples. More specifically, it was focused on and Anglo-Saxon superiority. It is hardly surprising that this perception would have imprinted itself on the young Twain in a way that often made his views seem contradictory. One example of Twain’s contradictory nature was that while he fought briefly for the South, he was later pleased that the North won the Civil War and had great admiration for U.S. Grant, the general who had defeated the South, so much so that he helped to publish the ailing Grant’s autobiography (Gillespie 2). Although Twain had some trouble convincing the General that he could get paid a great deal more than he thought.
I pointed out that the contract as it stood had an offensive detail in it which I had never heard of in the ten per cent contract of even the most obscure writerproposed a ten per cent royalty for such a colossus as General Grant (Autobiography 259)
As Twain grew a literary figure and began to have greater interactions with a wider circle of associates, he came into contact with people who could help him challenge many of his earlier assumptions. The abolitionists Twain met seem to have had a profound impact on his views of southern society and its treatment of blacks (Silva 2).
This is shown in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this work, the character of Huck finds himself drifting down the river on a raft with the escaped slave Jim. As they travel together, Huck talks to Jim and learns about his hardships and pain. Huck also experiences an internal conflict in which he weighs what he sees as the duty to report an escaped slave against his friendship with and growing compassion for Jim (Huckleberry Finn 271-272).
And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the nighttime, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a floating along, talking, and singing, and laughing. But somehow I couldn't seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind. (Huckleberry Finn 271)
The decision that Huck makes to defy what the society around him would expect by helping Jim may reflect Twain’s own inner debate on similar topics. Twain was a product of his society, but as he examined that society, he saw its flaws and expressed these in print. The literal journey of Huck and Jim down the river is also a metaphorical one for the characters, the readers and perhaps even for Twain himself. The raft and the river in the story seem to serve as a kind of separate stage on which Huck and Jim can build a relationship apart from the one imposed by the society they are floating past.
This trip can also be viewed as a quest for a “new world” in the sense that both Jim and Huck are attempting to escape from an old life to a new one. In Jim’s case, the old world is slavery for himself and his family while, in Huck’s case, the old world is his drunken father and the conventions of a boring “civilization.” This attempt to create a new world for themselves is thwarted at very turn by the intrusion in one form or another, of the society around them (Kravitz, 3).
The reappearance of Tom Sawyer in the later part of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is sometimes seen by some critics as a failing. They suggest that this character and his nonsensical and childish actions take away from the subject matter and tone. Tom is unable to see the serious nature of slavery in the more adult and serious way that Huck now does. This is why Tom is willing to create a ridiculous plan for Jim’s escape from slavery, even when he knows that Jim had already been freed by the character of Miss. Watson some months before. He simply wanted have the “fun” of planning Jim’s escape (Gillespie 13).
" Then what on earth did you want to set him free for, seeing he was already free?"
"Well, that is a question, I must say; and just like women! Why, I wanted the adventure of it; and I'd a waded neck-deep in blood to goodness alive, AUNT POLLY !" (Huckleberry Finn 361)
However, it may be that this failing was intentional on Twains’ part. He may have provided Tom as a yardstick that the reader can place against Huck to see the many ways in which Huck has changed, especially with regard to slavery.
Yet, despite the changes that Twain himself may have gone through in his own thinking, he seemed to have trouble applying the lessons he learned about tolerance toward one group to another group. Native Americans are a case in point. Throughout most of Twain’s life, he often expressed in writing and in speeches his disdain for Native Americans. The reason for this almost instinctive dislike might be nothing more than that Twain was expressing the same opinion that everyone around him held. However, even in his own autobiography Twain associated his character of Injun Joe with Satan (Autobiography 74).
For a man who spent a great deal of time challenging assumptions, this seems odd. However, it is actually in keeping with the pattern Twain demonstrated of only relieving himself of biased opinions when he actually encountered the peoples he describes. The character of Injun Joe is a villainous “half-breed” outsider who has little or no place in the white controlled South that serves as the setting for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This absolute villain dies a terrible death in the end, and it is that interesting that Twain doesn’t allow any of the characters to verbally question the justice of starving Injun Joe to death, although Tom feels pity mixed with relief.
Injun Joe lay stretched upon the ground, dead, with his face close to the crack of the door, as if his longing eyes had been fixed, to the latest moment, upon the light and the cheer of the free world outside. (Tom Sawyer 252)
While Twain may have absorbed the idea (to an extent) that bigotry against blacks was wrong, Twain was unable at this point to make the leap to opposing the concepts behind bigotry itself. However, during the decade between the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain seems to have moved to the point where he can more easily express outrage over slavery.
It should be noted that Twain originally intended The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to be nothing more than a profit making sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. However, in the several years it took Twain to actually complete the novel, it changed from a simple adventure story to a powerful morality tale about the South and race relations (Bilyeu 2).
It is important to also note that while you can glean a great deal about the attitudes of Twain and how they evolved over time from his writing, it is a fact that a very large percentage of the writings of Twain, both in articles he wrote as well as thousands of letters, are missing (Powers 3). This means that it is quite possible that a number of valuable insights into Twain’s thinking have simply been lost forever.
Nevertheless, there is no question that there is a slow evolution of Twain’s views when you examine and compare The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the later The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This same evolution is seen when you compare other works by Twain. For example, Twain’s highly critical views on the peoples of the Azores in The Innocents Abroad is in stark contrasts to his more generous views of local peoples expressed in his later travels. All of this points to a man who was still learning about himself and others until the day he died.
Works Cited
Bilyeu, Suzanne. “Mark Twain’s Bad Boy.” New York Times Upfront 142. 10 (Mar 1, 2010): 18- 20,TE3,TE6-TE7.
Gillespie, Nick. “Mark Twain vs. Tom Sawyer.” Reason 37. 9 (Feb 2006): 57,59,61,63
Kravitz, Bennett. “Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn.” Papers on Language and Literature 40. 1 (Winter 2004): 3-27.
Powers, Ron. “Keeping up with Mark Twain.” Smithsonian 34. 6 (Sep 2003): 74,76-78,80,82.
Silva, Reinaldo Francisco. “Mark Twain and the "Slow, Poor, Shiftless, Sleepy, and Lazy" Azoreans in The Innocents Abroad.” The Journal of American Culture 26. 1 (Mar 2003): 17-23.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. Print.
---. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Hartford: The American Publishing Company, 1876. Print.
---. The Autobiography of Mark Twain. New York: Harper and Row, 1959. Print.
Explanation for Sources Used
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were used as the primary texts in this paper.
Mark Twain’s autobiography was used because of the insights it offered into what Twain was thinking (or at least, what he wanted people to think he was thinking).
Suzanne Bilyeu’s “Mark Twain’s Bad Boy” article effectively points out how Twain’s work was at the time, and still is today, controversial.
In “Mark Twain vs. Tom Sawyer” Nick Gillespie reviews Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers, and points out many of the inconstancies in Twain’s character.
Bennett Kravitz’s “Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn” explores the psychological and metaphorical aspects of the journey Jim and Huck take together on the raft, and relates these to how Twain wants us to view the characters.
In the article, “Keeping up with Mark Twain” Ron Powers discusses the vast amount of work Twain left us, as well as the work that has been lost. This information makes clear the double-edged difficulty of gauging Twain based on his writings.
Reinaldo Francisco Silva’s “Mark Twain and the "Slow, Poor, Shiftless, Sleepy, and Lazy" Azoreans in The Innocents Abroad” reveals yet another example of how Twain would often stereotype entire peoples without actually knowing them to any degree.
