Huckleberry Finn is an amazing character. From the opening pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck engages the readers in a very friendly and conversational manner. When Huck mentions, “Mr. Mark Twain” by name, he instantaneously achieves an independence from the author. In addition, Huck mentions Twain’s previous novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to introduce his best friend, Tom. Beyond establishing a voice, Huck also introduces the readers to his energetic, but hard life. Huck is not just a poor guy, but also an entertaining one who is eager to question the details of life, and the aspects of human traits, such as the propensity to lie.
Huck further explains his life by introducing the readers to the Widow and Miss Watson who have adopted Huck, and have decided to refine him. Throughout the first chapter, the Widow constantly bemoans her failure to modify Huck. Huck recoils over praying, or grumbling, before eating. He states, “When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there weren’t really anything the matter with them.” The Widow also tries to inform Huck about the bad place, hell, and he utters that he would like to go there. Then the Widow got mad at him, and told him that she was going to live so as to go to the good place, heaven, to which Huck thought that he could not see an advantage in going to the same place she was going to. Moreover, the Widow taught him about Moses, and although at first Huck became very interested in him, when he realized that Moses had been dead a considerable long time, he quickly lost interest.
So far, Huck is a very interesting character. In the beginning, Huck’s troubled past portrays a disturbed child who is merely trying to cope with life by joining a gang and befriending Tom, who seems to make a lasting impression on Huck. But, as the story untangles itself, Huck seems like a rational character; he is not afraid to ask questions and explore his opinions. However, although Huck is a wonderful character and a natural philosopher, I still can’t help but wonder why Mark Twain uses a child as the main character and to represent the consciousness of the book?
posted by: Ranu N.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Do you remember the fable of "The Emperor's New Clothes"? In it, all of the adults go along with the Emperor's ridiculous sham, while only a young child is uninhibited enough to tell the truth about the situation. I think some of the same dynamic is going on here; kids (or teenagers, in this case) are sometimes the only ones who will really be honest about a stupid societal standard. Adults are sometimes too afraid to risk their social standing by questioning things everyone else takes for granted, while a young person often has the courage to tell the truth. (Or just doesn't know any better!)
ReplyDelete