|| NHS
HomePage || My
Homepage || Introduction
Page ||
|| NHS
HomePage || My
Homepage || Introduction
Page ||
Erin Simonds
Period 4 English
Sunday, October 04, 1998
The characters in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn are very creative, and extremely realistic. Using several literary techniques, Twain creates an almost palpable realism for each and every character - even the fringe characters in the story. Recreating the dialects of each individual character adds a lot of this authenticity. Jim, Miss Watson's slave, is the clearest example of this, because the author goes through a lot of trouble to recreate exactly the accent and tongue of the Southern-raised man. Another of Twain's techniques used to identify the traits of each character is taking advantage of stereotypes, and putting the reader's predetermined view of a certain type of character to use. This is visible in Twain's portrayal of the three crooks that Huck and Jim ran into on the wrecked steamboat. Using only a few descriptive passages, all three crooks are clear in one's mind, not from a vivid description in the text, but from the reader's preconceived image of the clumsy-unintelligent-thief-character, like the crooks in 101 Dalmatians.
Jim, the slave, is a main character of the story, but is introduced rather late in the book. Typically, the one or two important roles in a story would be described early in a book, if not from the very beginning. The character of Jim, however, is brought into the novel after much of the characterization of Huck has already occurred. By the time Jim and Huck run into each other on the island, the reader has already had about 40 pages to acquaint themselves with Huck. Despite this unconventional approach, the character development of Jim is very well done. Twain uses realistic recreation of Jim's dialect to give the reader a sense of Jim's background, and the accent connotes a feeling of hardship and rejection. Twain also brings into focus a lot about Jim's upbringing by showing the reader Jim's strong belief of superstitions.
Twain uses the readers preconceived image of the blundering crook to bring to life the words and actions of the three steamboat thieves. Almost every young-adult story of Twain's era had the sort of fringe character, and Twain needed only to add unique characteristics to the predetermined class of character. For the three steamboat-robbers, these traits included a unique southern accent for all, one man with a sly purpose, and two men with what they would like to think were clever minds.
Erin Simonds
Period 4 English
Sunday, October 11, 1998
Rather than discussing one of the 19 points, and its relationship to the story, I feel it would be better to write about the part of the novel which struck me as particularly meaningful. As I was reading, and had most of the book 'under my belt', I began to notice a trend in Huckleberry's narration. As with all first-person narratives, Huck broadens his criticism from family and community to criticism of society and human nature as a whole. While thinking about that, I noticed one particular topic which came up again and again in Huck's narration, as well as built into the story line. From the very beginning of the book, down to the very last sentence, Twain places special emphasis on the subject of the treatment of African-Americans.
Twain was known to be a fervent believer in equality, despite being born and raised in Missouri. I think that when he wrote Huckleberry Finn, he wanted to expose a large audience to the blatant immorality of slavery and inequality. Twain accomplished this in two different ways. The first way was to incorporate the idea of racism subtly in the plot, and provide stark contrast so as to let the reader come to his/her own conclusions about the morality of it. The second route that Twain used was to include references to prejudice and treatment of blacks directly into the dialogue and narration. Although more distinct, the second technique is not as powerful as the first.
The first technique relies on a reflection of the racist mentality of the time, and a subtle contrast to that mentality. What the reader learns through dialogue in the story typically serves as the representation of common white mentality. This 'background information' comes to the reader through instances such as Huck's father speaking roughly of an educated black man that he heard tell of, who "...they said was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could vote when he was at home... I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold?-that's what I want to know. (pg. 27)" This passage, along with many others, forces the reader to recognize the common thinking in those days - that blacks are heartless, soulless, inhuman, laborers. Later in the book, these beliefs are placed against stark contrast when the reader is exposed to Jim, a runaway slave who is built like an ox, but is kinder and gentler than most people the reader knows in their own life. Jim is shown as a person, rather than a slave - a person who stays up 4 hours longer than he has to, so his friend can get a good nights sleep; a person who cries every night about losing his wife & children to slavery; a person who is devastated at the idea of losing his friend - a white boy. When the reader is shown this, he/she comes to the realization - on their own, of course - that slavery, prejudice, and racism are cruel, wrong, and immoral. Due to the subtlety of the clues that inspire this revelation, Twain's message makes a strong impression on the reader.
The second way that Twain brings his message to the reader is through distinct references in either Huck's narration, or dialogue with other characters. One example in particular occurs near the middle of the book, when Huck is speaking with Miss Mary Jane about being a servant (or in his case, a valley). Miss Mary Jane kindly poses the question, "How is servants treated in England? Do they treat 'em better 'n we treat our niggers?", all the while knowing that 'niggers' aren't treated very well at all down South. The quote brings up, through the innocent questioning of a young lady, the idea of how Southerners treat slaves. When Huck responds that they are treated worse, she appears appalled, and asks if they get holidays, like slaves do. Here, the reader realizes the blatant absurdity of Miss Mary Jane's thinking. She knows very well that slaves are treated like dirt, and the thought of someone being treated worse could mean but one thing - being treated like dirt, even on holidays. Yet again, Twain brings about the general senselessness of both slavery and the way white people think about black people through what seems like an innocent storybook. Apparently, he did a good job, because it inspired me enough to write especially about it.