Literature review of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1885) – is an outstanding novel by Mark Twain. Once Ernest Hemingway stated: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since" (Esther, “What Have Writers Said About Huckleberry Finn?”). Hemingway was referring to the broadest aspect of the impact of the Twain`s novel: its democracy and humanity, its versatility, and a new language for literature, simple and as close to the spoken language. All these characteristics became common for American literature of the XX century.
The time when Mark Twain was working on the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was a difficult period in the history of the American South. Already after the victory of the North in the Civil War when slavery was abolished, the former slaveholders, planters tried to re-establish it in the Southern states, and they wanted again to dominate in the country, they were creating different organizations, societies aimed at drowning in blood the struggle of blacks and poor whites for freedom – they were struggling for the truth they believed in. Citizens of the Northern part of the US oppressed intentions of the southerners by different means. Mark Twain, as well as some other writers, fought in his own way: he narrated about the recent past showing evils and injustice of slavery. This novel is a vivid example of such a struggle.
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is adjacent to “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”: here are the same characters and the same action time. However this novel reveals a more mature position of the author, in a richer manner covers all aspects of human experience and has got a deeper generalized sense, which is not at surface and urges the reader to look for it between the lines. “Evolution” of author in an artistic approach is also evident. Style remains the same as in “Tom Sawyer”, however, images are portrayed more skillfully, and inner world of main heroes became more sophisticated.
In the novel, the author returned to his favorite and repeatedly tested form of first-person narration and made a narrator not Tom, a boy from a bourgeois family, but Huck, a homeless boy, a child of poor and immoral parents. This technique had a double effect. At first, masterfully reproduced, sturdy and colorful, truly national language, of which the book is written, gives America`s life a picture of special distinctiveness, creates an impression of a conversation “with no intermediary”. Secondly, this allowed deeper to reveal the nature of the hero, only briefly outlined in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, to show the formation of his personality.
The main story starts soon after adventures with Tom. Huck returns to the widow Douglas where he starts to live by the book – goes to school and finally gets a chance to become an equal member of society. However, his life of joy comes to an end with a return of his father who found Huck only for his avaricious design – to take away treasury from his son that was found by him and Tom. Huck requests Judge Thatcher to take all his money for saving, which the Judge accepts. Soon the trial starts over the right to possess the money, and the new judge takes maverick father`s side leaving Huck defenseless before his father who takes him back to live in secluded forest shanty till money is received. On the one hand, Huck finds life in the usual surroundings more pleasant than in a warm house; however his dad returns every boy`s day into a torture. During one of father`s booze Huck narrowly escapes death which is the boiling point for him, following which he decides to farewell to his dad. One day, Huck, taking advantage of dad`s absence, fakes robbery of the hut and his murder and gets away on a boat to Jackson's Island.
On the island Huck finds his old friend – black man Jim – slave of Miss Watson, who ran away not to be sold to the South. Friends decide to go on a raft down the river at night to reach Cairo in Illinois, and thence by steamer up the Ohio River to the “free states” where there is no slavery. However, they plan crumbles when by accident Huck loses Jim in sick fog. The raft with the boy reaches the shore, where Huck finds the family of Grangerfords and tells them a fabricated story of extinction of all his relatives on a small farm in the backwoods of Arkansas` forests. Huck is admitted to the welcoming Grangerfords – rich, beautiful and very chivalrous Southerners, however, having lasting for decades dispute with another family of not less pleasant Shepherdsons. A dispute, which more looks like blood feud.
Huck`s life at the Grangerfords changes when one of the local blacks leads Huck to sight at water snakes, but instead of them – on a small glade Huck sees Jim sleeping! Soon after that another swing of destiny makes old friends abandon this place. Daughter of the Grangerfords leaves parental house with Harney Shepherdson. Of course, the Knights give chase – but are ambushed by the Shepherdsons. On this day, all men of two families die, and even Buck Grangerfords, Huck`s friend of his age, is killed before Huck`s eyes. Now there is nothing left at this place for Huck and Jim finds – they sail away.
Their next stop is on the land of Arkansas where they meet two swindlers for whom personal benefits are above dignity, moral values and sense of conscience. Huck and Jim stay with them for a while spectating way of life of those two and wishing to escape their company at the earliest possible moment. However escape is successful only for Huck, whereas Jim has been sold to a rich family. Now it is an affair of honor for Huck to rescue his sworn friend from slavery.
In the end, I would like to analyze a novel a little to shape the novel in the fullest. Huck's mind is free from romantic cliches, and his character is formed by reality. He has no vivid grandstanding virtues, but he has substantial advantages. Nature gave him a solid faithful heart, open to all humiliated people. Huck has a sense of inner independence, forcing him to flee from contentment and comfort, which offers him the widow Douglas and the Phelps, to a menacing world. His love of freedom – is the rejection of bigotry and bourgeois well-being and lies.
Compared with “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Huck's character appears in a new, very large property – in a civil courage. From the first chapters Twain makes Huck an active participant in social conflict. He is the defender and concealer of a runaway slave. Even saving Jim from slavers he risks losing his own freedom. Let not fully conscious, his fight for social justice gives his rebelliousness much deeper social meaning than in “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.
Narrated by Mark Twain story of slavery and freedom, death and rebirth (remember that episode when Huck cleverly faked his death to escape from his father) has not only specific, but also a symbolic meaning. This novel is not only about the legalized slavery of black Americans, but also about the lack of freedom of the white man enslaved by social conventions and prejudices of the surroundings. It is not only about the “revival” of the hero after his supposed death, but also about the actual birth of his personality, which has acquired a decent soul. Huck and Jim's desire for freedom – it is also an eternal human eagerness to spiritual liberation.
Works Cited
Lombardi, Esther. What Have Writers Said About Huckleberry Finn?. About.com. n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Penguin, 1986. Print.
