The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

American RealismThe Civil War to 1914

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”

--Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage

American Realism

• A direct contrast to Romanticism

• Writers aimed at a “very minute fidelity” to the common course of everyday life; tried to represent faithfully the environment: the way ordinary people lived and dressed and the things they thought and felt and talked about

• Subjects included far-from-idealized characters: poor factory workers, corrupt politicians, and prostitutes

• Realism is not just concerned with recording wallpaper patterns, hairstyles, or the subjects of conversations. It sought also to explain why ordinary people behave the way they do.

• Realism also focused on emerging sciences—biology, psychology, and sociology—as well as on their own insights and observations.

Our Author: 1835-1910

• Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens

• “Mark Twain” is a river term meaning a depth of two fathoms, or twelve feet

• Spent his life as a river pilot, Confederate soldier (for a few weeks) reporter, writer, lecturer

• Lived abroad, which was cheaper than America then

• Born and died poor

Mark Twain’s Wit

• “When I was 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years.”

• “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.”

• “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made government.”

• “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”

• “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

• “It is better to be thought a fool and remain silent than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”

• “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”

• “All generalizations are false, including this one.”

Huck Finn

• Twain began HF as a sequel to Tom Sawyer, in 1876

• It was exceedingly hard to write, and Twain published it in 1884

• Considered a finer book than Tom Sawyer, demonstrating a more mature point of view and a richer strata of human experience

• Set before the Civil War, 1835-1845

• One of the most banned books in the United States

• “The basis of all modern fiction.” --Ernest Hemingway

Huck Finn: The Basics

• Major Characters• Huck

• Jim

• Minor Characters• Pap

• Widow Douglas

• Tom Sawyer

• Judge Thatcher

• Aunt Polly

• Setting• Set shortly after Tom

Sawyer (Huck was 12-13 in TS; in Huck he’s 13-14 “or along those lines”)

• Set before the Civil War—1840’s ish

• Locations range up and down the Mississippi River

How Twain responded to censorship

DEAR SIR:I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for adults

exclusively, and it always distresses me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean; I know this by my own experience, and to this day I cherish an unappeasable bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again this side of the grave. Ask that young lady—she will tell you so.

Most honestly do I wish I could say a softening word or two in defence of Huck's character, since you wish it, but really in my opinion it is no better than those of Solomon, David, Satan, and the rest of the sacred brotherhood. 

If there is an unexpurgated Bible in the Children's Department, won't you please help that young woman remove Huck and Tom from that questionable companionship?

Sincerely yours,S. L. Clemens

A word about language

• Dialect: a particular way of speaking a language (accent, word choice)

• Dialect is intentionally used as a characterization tool

• The “N” Word is used 219 times in the novel—once again, this is deliberate to portray a message