Huckleberry Finn Essay Example
How does Mark Twain present the theme of escape in the extract displayed in Chapter 20?
Published in the 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s follow-up to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is set in the Mississippi River before the American Civil War in the mid-19th century. The novel is written in a subjective style from the viewpoint of its protagonist, Huck Finn. Who is escaping from his previous live and drunken father. Huckleberry Finn is an immensely realistic novel, revealing how a child's morals and actions clash with those of the society around him. Twain displays the theme of escape in almost every aspect of his writing; the description of the setting, the dialect of Huck as well as the motifs conveys by the characters. Huckleberry Finn falls under the Bildungsroman genre which is a story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. By viewing Huck’s growth and development throughout the novel readers become aware of his quest for freedom and his desperation to escape from the structure of society. It is evident within the beginning of chapter 20 Huck’s need for escape.
The extract within chapter twenty has a semantic field of nature words such as ‘rain, sky and leaves’ are used by Twain to describe the setting. The references to nature symbolises freedom which Huck’s wishes to attain to escape the structure of society and his current life. Different language techniques are used throughout the extract. Twain uses the repetition of the phrase ‘by-and-by’ throughout the extract to reflect the passing of time and a different situation within the extract. By frequently referring to the passing of time the author reflects the maturing of Huck’s character as his quest for freedom commences. The motif of light and dark is clearly reflected throughout the extract displaying Huck and Jim’s fear of being caught. ‘We got away as soon as it was good and dark’ demonstrates how the dark represents escape
Published in the 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s follow-up to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is set in the Mississippi River before the American Civil War in the mid-19th century. The novel is written in a subjective style from the viewpoint of its protagonist, Huck Finn. Who is escaping from his previous live and drunken father. Huckleberry Finn is an immensely realistic novel, revealing how a child's morals and actions clash with those of the society around him. Twain displays the theme of escape in almost every aspect of his writing; the description of the setting, the dialect of Huck as well as the motifs conveys by the characters. Huckleberry Finn falls under the Bildungsroman genre which is a story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. By viewing Huck’s growth and development throughout the novel readers become aware of his quest for freedom and his desperation to escape from the structure of society. It is evident within the beginning of chapter 20 Huck’s need for escape.
The extract within chapter twenty has a semantic field of nature words such as ‘rain, sky and leaves’ are used by Twain to describe the setting. The references to nature symbolises freedom which Huck’s wishes to attain to escape the structure of society and his current life. Different language techniques are used throughout the extract. Twain uses the repetition of the phrase ‘by-and-by’ throughout the extract to reflect the passing of time and a different situation within the extract. By frequently referring to the passing of time the author reflects the maturing of Huck’s character as his quest for freedom commences. The motif of light and dark is clearly reflected throughout the extract displaying Huck and Jim’s fear of being caught. ‘We got away as soon as it was good and dark’ demonstrates how the dark represents escape