Preview

Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
979 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
Title: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Author: Samuel Langhorne Clemens or Mark Twain
Date of Publication: 1884 (Great Britain) 1885 (USA) Genre:Bildungsroman, Picaresque, Adventure/Drama
Historical information about the period of publication: Twain, although he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from 1876-1883, based the plot in the pre-Civil War era. During the slave era, there was much political unrest in the country. The Mason-Dixon line drew the line between the free states and the slave states. Many slaves attempted to escape by entering the free states as escapees. There were laws at first, like the Fugitive Slave Act, which were passed by the federal government for returning slaves to their
…show more content…

Characteristics of the genre: The bildungsroman novel, also known as a novel of education or coming-of-age novel, contains the conflicts and struggle of characters developing from childhood to maturity. The picaresque novel, an early form of the first-person narrative, is usually episodic in structure with the episodes often arranged as a journey. The narrative focuses on one character, who has to deal with authoritarian masters and unlucky fates but who usually manages to escape these miserable situations by using his or her wit. Huck Finn, with the help of his cunning friend Tom Sawyer, help Jim escape imprisonment in the shack.
Biographical information about the author: Clemens writes under the pen name Mark Twain, and much of the substance for his novels comes from real life experiences. After he was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. Only 80 miles from St. Louis, he grew up near the Mississippi river and large forests. His father
…show more content…

First, Huck prefers the easy life of the outdoors to the civilized life of the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, although he does not feel safe around his drunkard father. To escape his father's capture after his father finds he has cash, Huck decides to fake his murder by using the blood from a pig and leave for Jackson Island. Luckily, he also doesn't get beaten anymore. Huck finds Jim, Miss Watson's slave, on the island, and both escape confrontation with the searchers together. They plan to travel north into free states after connecting with the Ohio River. This plan is thwarted when a fog engulfs their raft, they float past the city of Cairo, and their raft is eventually ruined by a steamboat. Jim and Huck separate, but Huck finds his way to stay at the Grangerfords, who eventually die off during a feud with the Shepherdsons. Soon, Huck finds Jim, and they're off on their journey again until they come across two rogues who go by the identities the duke and the dauphin. They rob innocent townspeople of their money by putting on trumped-up shows, lie to girls whose father has just died to take their money, and sell Jim for profit. Huck feels he's in a mess and has to help Jim, but he ends up at the Phelps farm. The Phelpses are relatives of Tom, who arrives to visit soon. Huck meets with Tom earlier, and they decide that Huck should remain to be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    learned from his gut feelings, the question is which one is right? Throughout the course of the…

    • 1153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Pap leaves the cabin he locks Huck in and beats him when he returns drunk. Huck escapes Pap and the cabin by faking his own death. He hides on Jackson’s Island in the middle of the Mississippi River. Huck runs into Jim, Miss Watson’s slave in the woods and they stay together. Huck and Jim find a raft and house floating down the river. A dead body is in the house but Jim refuses to let Huck see the man’s face. They start downriver in the raft and run into con…

    • 2373 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Throughout the book, it is hinted and notified that Huck Finn is the narrator. As the reader continues to read, he or she realizes the amount of slang and many misspelled words. The Book is written through Huck's perspective. Because Huck has many misspelled words, slang and, grammatical errors, I can conclude that he is uneducated in literature.…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told from a uneducated, young boys point of view. This book was for the longest looked at as inappropriate to some readers but that did not change the booked popularity. The two main characters in this book were Jim and Huck; Jim being s run away slave and Huck wanting to help him escape. This book tells the typical American life back then and it is reality.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Huck has a grim attitude toward people he disagrees with or doesn't get along with. Huck tends to alienate himself from those people. He doesn't let it bother him. Unlike most people Huck doesn't try to make his point. When Huck has a certain outlook on things he keep his view. He will not change it for anyone. For instance in Chapter Three when Miss Watson tells Huck that if he prayed he would get everything he wished for. “Huck just shook his head yes and walked away telling Tom that it doesn't work because he has tried it before with fishing line and fishing hooks.” This tells us that Huck is an independent person who doesn't need to rely on other people.…

    • 2192 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Penny Essay

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mark Twain wrote about a boy, Huck Finn a young boy with a dream of freedom and adventure. Huck is under the care of Mrs. Watson who wants to teach him how life would be lived. She wants him to be modern like her but Huck is nothing like that but then he was taken from her by his father, an old drunk man that can’t live without beer in his system. Huck is so badly treated by his father that he fakes his own death to get away from his father and runs off to Jackson Island. Once on Jackson Island he meets a man, Jim a runaway slave from him town. Then they began a wonderful friendship. Mark Twain uses many different…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this passage, Huck accidentally contradicts his original lie that his name is Sarah, telling Mrs. Loftus that his name is Mary. Huck is able to recover, however, and makes it sound like he can be called either Sarah or Mary. This is an example of Huck’s cunning. He is able to quickly fabricate a story that sounds like it is the truth.…

    • 689 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a book about a boy who travels down the river with a runaway slave. Twain uses these two characters to poke fun at society. They go through many trials, tribulations, and tests of their friendship and loyalty. Huck Finn, the protagonist, uses his instinct to get himself and his slave friend Jim through many a pickle. In the book, there are examples of civilized, primitive, and natural man.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Huck Finn Criticized

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Wagenknecht, Edward. Mark Twain: The Man and His Work. 3rd edition. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Huck Finn Essay

    • 529 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Mark Twain’s picaresque The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a mesmerizing tale of a runaway boy and a fugitive slave on a series of satirical escapades. Though it was written in post-Civil War America, the story is set in an earlier time. Slavery is still prominent among Southern states, and education is scarce. The protagonist, Huckleberry, is trying to escape the clutches of his abusive, alcoholic father. His companion Jim is fleeing from slavery, on a mission to become his own proprietor. While on their journey, they encounter many people who reveal their true colours. Although some characters are exposed as gentle, patient, and caring, as in Jim’s case, the majority of others are shown to be selfish, disgusting and hostile. This novel was written in a light that prominently displays Twain’s opinion of society and cynical view of the human race. The characters that most noticeably demonstrate these beliefs are the Duke and Dauphin, Sherburn, and Pap Finn.…

    • 529 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The story takes place while Huck and Jim are traveling down the Mississippi River, heading toward "free territory". Jim tells Huck his plans of working hard in the north and then eventually coming back, to buy his wife and kids. Meanwhile, Huck has a guilty conscience. Huck feels bad that he is helping Jim escape to freedom, when Miss Watson (who was the lady that owned Jim), never did anything bad to him. In Huck's eyes, what he is doing is wrong, and that is why he feels so guilty. People at this time, did not realize that slavery was a cruel thing, because they thought of slaves more as objects. Huck is going against his society because he feels that Jim is rightfully Miss Watsons "property".…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn's Journey

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most loved novels in American literature. Due to its popularity, there are a lot critiques and analyses of the work, especially of Huck and his development. But in all the analyses of Huck, people have neglected to appreciate one of the most important protagonists in American literature, Jim. Without Jim's guidance for Huck, Huck's journey would have failed. In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim plays the role of a father to Huck by providing for his physical, emotional, and moral well-being.…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck and Jim find themselves both trying to escape to freedom. When Huck is kidnapped by pap he learns to enjoy his time because he no longer has any responsibilities. Huck thinks to himself that, “It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing,…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn's Journey

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages

    They live an extravagant life with a lot of property and slaves who work on their property. When Huck first meets the Grangerfords, they assume he is from the Shepherdson family, who Huck soon finds out are their rivals. After things are sorted out and the Grangerfords not long believe Huck is a Shepherdson, they are extremely friendly and become great hosts and welcome Huck with open arms. Huck grows close with their youngest boy, Buck. Buck and Huck are very similar in character, as Twain intended, and through these similarities Huck sees what his life could have been like if he were originally born into a better family. As Huck spend more time at the Grangerford’s estate, the more he becomes curious about this blood feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. Buck tries to explain the situation to Huck. “‘Well’ says Buck, ‘a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other man’s brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in - and by and by everybody’s killed off, and there ain’t no more feud. But it’s kind of slow, and takes a long time’” (Twain 107). Buck also explains that it has been so long, that the two families no longer know what the feud is about. To Huck this is a little confusing, but soon realizes how serious this feud is. During his stay with the Grangerfords Huck sees several murders from this feud, including his friend Buck’s. Quite shaken up about this, he decides to head back to the river and end his stay at the Grangerfords. Huck, again, comes to the conclusion that people can be very cruel to one another, judging from his experience from the constant feuding over something that was forgotten by both…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain is the story of a young man, Huck Finn, who runs away with a slave named, Jim. On their journey they break laws, encounter challenges, and Huck is faced with questions that define his identity. The events in the novel take place during the mid-1800s along the Mississippi river. Throughout the novel Twain uses sarcasm and ridicule to expose flaws in society during this time, making Huckleberry Finn a satire. Twain uses the characters to satirize the flaws in mid-1800s southern society by mocking the racism, church life, and morality of its members.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays