Exploring Themes and Characters in "Huckleberry Finn": A Historical Perspective
Delve into Mark Twain's classic novel, "Huckleberry Finn," set against the backdrop of the early 19th-century Pioneer America. Discover the intricate character dynamics of Huck and Tom Sawyer, as they navigate themes of innocence, social systems, and the clash between nature and society. Uncover the rich historical context that influenced Twain's portrayal of a changing American landscape post-war, reflecting on lost freedoms and contrasting ideologies.
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Huckleberry Finn: Setting and Character 1-7 Monday, 23 September 2024 Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Preamble Set in 1830s, looking back Twain: nostalgia simply mental and moral masturbation Writing from 1876- post war, dominant North, mechanisation and industrialisation. South retaining idealised notion of Ante Bellum grandeur A chance to revisit his boy-life on the Mississippi, and his time as a river pilot (1851) from which his name derives. He felt like: some banished Adam revisiting his half forgotten Paradise and wondering how this arid world could ever have seemed green and fair to him A voice from the highly sivilised Gilded Age, looks back on the Pioneer period so central to American experience. A Romantic novel, a picaresque novel and a version of the Pastoral. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Pioneer America Early 19th Century. Manifest Destiny called settlers to travel to the West. Based on the idea of God calling settlers from the East to bring their ideals and morals to the rest of the continent to sivilise it. Not universally agreed. Reinforces ideas of Devout Christian beliefs and helps to establish the idea of the Frontier and the frontiersman unpolished and hard men, always hospitable whilst showing great self-reliance. 1830s: Mississippi is a true Frontier Mississippi and other rivers are the superhighways of the day still offering a sense of natural influence on any journey. Not tamed. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Context of creation A sense of a lost freedom post war. A compromised integrity imposed by a dominant and triumphant North Twain rejected a world no longer rooted in the reality of the Pioneer experience but which could dream and be taken in by dreams pedalled by conmen. The South is stuck in a dream world supported by romantic medievalism in writers such as Walter Scott. decayed and swinish forms of religion systems of government . Sham chivalries of a brainless and worthless long-vanished society . No longer able to see man and nature in harmony, but a taming and destruction of nature by man. Novel puts the innocence of Huck and of natural and healthy instincts in opposition with the experience of a social system devoted to commerce and the utilisation of nature. The longing for a return to innocent times is part of a pastoral vision of times past and links the novel to the great Picaresque philosophy: Candide (Voltaire). Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Tom Sawyer Preceding book (1876) Establishes idea of Jackson Island as a kind of Eden, removed from the civilisation of Hannibal. Establishes Huck as unlikely member of sivilised society due to the reward money he is wealthy. He will seek to lose this wealth in order to be true to his innocent self. Established both characters: Huck is idle and lawless and vulgar and bad went at his own free will in short everything which make[s]life precious, that boy had. Sawyer is a dreamer and fantasist Huck will reject his games in favour of an unvarnished realism and awe towards the world. Sawyer s return at the end of the novel is for many critics the weakest aspect of the writing. Huck equates Sawyers fantasies as both lies and fit for Sunday School the philosophies of nature and society cannot exist together. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Settings: Locus 1-8 Pap s Hut Widow s House Isolated from all timber so thick you couldn t find it if you didn t know where it was 2 aspects of Frontier life the civilised and natural. Isolated from other folk Gun for hunting live off the land. Widow s house: function as location of sivilised behaviour. Live by barter dead animals for food and alcohol. Bedrooms. Behaviour patterns enforced by Miss Watson. kind of lazy and jolly smoking and fishing no books, no study. Focus is on the humorously ironic rough life and a dismal , regular and decent home. Beaten by drunk father. Formal clothes. Social timetables. Religious observance. Fine dining . Left alone, becomes awful lonely I didn t want to go back to the widow s anymore and be so cramped up and sivilised as they called it I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead Keeps slaves. Hypocrisy? Setting for political comment alongside beatings and harshness. Nature speaks to Finn, but only of death, increased by his superstition. Needs another way the river. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Setting: The river is introduced. Thus far used for transport and communication. In ch7 becomes a symbol of chance and good luck June rise natural possibility. Finds the canoe which enables escape. First raft seen; Pap will sell the logs. the river looked miles and miles across awe and wonder. River bank gives sanctuary when Pap is looking for him Senses the immensity of nature the sky looks ever so deep (cf Wordsworth Prelude book 1 boat stealing) Freedom to smoke. Eventually finds the island and settles for a nap relaxed and free. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Establishing Character: Widow Douglas and Miss Watson Female role models. Emblems of societal restriction and improvement Kind is there a sense the money is the draw? Behaviour not unlike Christian missionaries clothes, poor lost lamb Religion at the heart of actions Strict Keep slaves. Huck s innocent comment about food things get mixed up and things go better can be seen as a comment on this. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Establishing Character: Tom Sawyer and the gang At first is seen as a source of freedom and can be followed Establishes credentials as a figure as wild as Huck Change comes once gang is created. Tom s gang is derived from books and is increasingly fantastical. Huck an orphan is allowed to join, but this breach to original rules establishes the societal values of the gang. Huck resigns at the play acting and the attack on the school outing The Sawyer gang is a sivilised version of the reality of such groups. Tom needs to be in control of the gang and to impose his own version of all they do. The all the marks of a Sunday School suggests Huck sees himself as ready to move beyond children s games he is growing up. Sawyer is aggressive and rude in his teasing of Huck. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Establishing character: Jim Introduced as Miss Watson s big nigger and the butt of a practical joke it will be a while before Huck stops seeing him as someone to tease belittling his intelligence? Highly superstitious continues trad. Image of ill-educated blacks in Literature Tom s joke with the hat is utterly believed as proof of the supernatural. Superstition is an ongoing theme and can be linked to Innocence Jim s fame following this is deemed to have ruined (him) for a servant because he got so stuck up develops a sense of Jim not knowing his station as a slave. Like Huck, he no longer fits into this world He fails at his guard duty and falls asleep. The trop of the lazy slave is suggested. Own vernacular is clear and strong who dah? establishes him as an independent character. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Establishing Character: Pap The Angry White Man Feels completely powerless in the face of the shift in society, especially in the areas of politics and race Negative connotations of whiteness : tree-toad white, fish-belly white contrasted with the stark blackness of his hair. No mixing of colour here. Establishes change in Huck - starchy clothes taunt. Also aware Huck can read and write, suggesting a lack of education in the frontiersmen of the earlier generation. Drinker and brutalist. Seeks money from Huck, not parental responsibility. His views on race seen in his attack on the black professor establish the views of the uneducated of the day and set the tone for the racism seen from society. Also establish the idea that some civilising influence might be a good thing, and also the inability of some to assimilate in any way. Undercut by the bathetic drunken fall as he finishes the rant. Motive for looking for dead Huck ? Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
Establishing Character: Huck and Money Much of the book is about money Huck s wealth, Pap s return, the Feud, the Prince and the King Huck has extreme wealth left from the Sawyer narrative. Wealth is a sivilising influence and there is also a need for Twain to rid Huck of this wealth, gained in a plot redolent of romantic literature. Father s wish for the gold is a clear symbol of the corrupting power of money Huck s innocence when approaching the judge is outstanding: he signs his money away as a response to the fear of his father s return. It is of no intrinsic value to him and represents his withdrawal from the trappings of society. Jonathan Peel JLS 2018
