More handpicked essays just for you.
Analyze the adventures of huckleberry finn
Analyze the adventures of huckleberry finn
Huckleberry finn analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Responsibility
In today’s society, human beings must learn to take care of something or someone,and that is a responsibility that they must uphold. In both the Lord of the Flies, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the responsibility of the boys is to manage by themselves without any adults to take care of them. The events in William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies can be easily compared to those of Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, because the main characters both have major responsibilities. There are two responsibilities that the characters came in contact with, taking care of people,including themselves, and being responsible enough to do the right thing. Thus, responsibility helps individuals to evolve and mature.
Taking care of yourself, as well as others is an enormous responsibility. In both books, the main characters must take care of themselves because they do not know who they can trust. The boys in the Lord of the Flies basically have to live their own lives, for they are on an island with no one to run to except themselves, or some of the other boys that they trust. Although, the ones they trust are already fending for themselves. The characters all go through changes as they adjust to their new world, and become different people because of it. In example to this, Jack seems like a strong willed character at the start of the book, but the other boys never would have imagined he would turn into a cold blooded killer. Therefore, they must learn to take care of themselves for they can not depend on Jack or any of the older boys, to be there for each and every one of them. It is proven that each boy has this responsibility in the following quote;
“Merridew turned to Ralph. ‘Aren’t there any grown-ups?’ ‘No.’
Merridew sat down on a trunk and looked round the circle. ‘Then we’ll have to look after ourselves.’” (Golding 17)
This is an immense responsibility for the boys, because they never had to live on their own before they arrived on the island. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both Jim, the runaway nigger, and Huck choose the responsibility of taking care of themselves. This is because they both run away from the lives they had been living.
“But looky here, Huck, who wuz it dat ‘uz killed in dat shanty ef it warn’t you?
Since the beginning of time people have been living on their own. They have been relying on themselves to survive for centuries. In many books the characters also must rely on themselves, as Huck Finn does in Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is a book about a boy growing up , and his flight down the Mississippi River. Through his actions and thoughts Huck is able to survive the dangers of the river and in doing so develops self reliance and independence as well as non-conformity to what is acceptable to society.
William Faulkner’s life was defined by his inability to conduct himself as a true Southern gentleman. He never achieved affluence, strength, chivalry or honor. Therefore, the myth of Southern masculinity eluded him. Faulkner shied away from violence, he never proved himself in battle. He was not a hard worker, nor was he an excellent family man. Seemingly worst of all, he did not follow in the footsteps of his father and the “Old Colonel.” The code of Southern gentility highly praises family tradition. As a born and bred Southerner I can attest to this fact. Every man in my family for ten generations has been a plumber. It is the utmost honor for a man to follow his father’s example. Faulkner, unfortunately, was incapable of really living like his father. Therefore, I believe Faulkner’s collective failures are rooted in the fact that he could not live up to the standards set by the men in his family.
In the beginning, Huckleberry Finn hasn?t fully formed opinions on topics such as slavery. He is quite immature and content to just have ?adventures? with his friends. During his journey on the raft, he learns much more about himself through his dealings with others. He establishes his very own standards of right and wrong. Huck?s most important lessons are learned through Jim. He learns to see Jim as a person rather than as a slave: ?I knowed he was white inside? (263). More than any other character in the book, Jim is a catalyst for Huck?s maturity. Through Jim as well as other people he meets along the way, Huck becomes a more defined person who?s more fully himself. His development through the course of the novel proves The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to be a gradual journey toward growth and maturity.
Attempting to leave his mark in history as a great author, Faulkner created a host of characters comprised of the faults of human nature in the South. And Faulkner is characterized by the range of his technique and tone along with the themes concerning the South.
William Faulkner was a well-esteemed author of the 20th century who used many literary techniques to display messages in his writings. In his short story, A Rose for Emily, he used literary tools such as point of view, physical plot structure, and symbolism to develop his theme that the past is always wound into the present.
William Faulkner was a twentieth century American author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Most famous for his novel The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner defines Southern literature. In his mythical county of Yaknapatawpha, Faulkner contrasted the past with the present era. The past was represented in Emily Grierson, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Alderman, and the Negro servant. Homer Barron, the new Board of Alderman, and the new sheriff represented the present.
On September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, a son was born to Murry Cuthbert and Maud Butler Faulkner. This baby, born into a proud, genteel Southern family, would become a mischievous boy, an indifferent student, and drop out of school; yet “his mother’s faith in him was absolutely unshakable. When so many others easily and confidently pronounced her son a failure, she insisted that he was a genius and that the world would come to recognize that fact” (Zane). And she was right. Her son would become one of the most exalted American writers of the 20th century, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature and two Pulitzers during his lifetime. Her son was William Faulkner.
William Faulkner was a prolific writer who became very famous during his lifetime but who shied away from the spotlight as much as possible. He is remembered as both a gentlemanly southern eccentric and an arrogant, snobbish alcoholic. But perhaps the best way to describe Faulkner is to describe his heritage, for, like so many of his literary characters, Faulkner was profoundly affected by his family.
Any one who’s ever visited the south has a true appreciation for the writings of William Faulkner. Everything ever written by William Faulkner has a trace of the South that can be felt by just reading his words. Growing up in Mississippi, Faulkner was exposed to the Deep South and everything it had to offer, both good and bad. Through his writings, William tackles some of the most difficult issues of his time period and sheds light to the every day issues going on in the South. William Faulkner set the precedent for future generations, and he will arguably never be contested in his southern style. Without William Faulkner, American literature would be blind to the truth of the South and all its glory.
One of William Faulkner's influences to his work was by the Southern culture and values. The south is present in most of his stories. Faulkner uses the same towns, such as Jefferson or Yoknapatawpha County. In the book, Southern Renascence: The Literature of the Modern South, the authors Luis D. Rubin Jr., and Robert D. Jacobs describe Jefferson as, "In Jefferson possession and accomplishment are taken for granted, seen as inevitable outcomes of being. Being, that is a male, a white… being, in terms of attributes which other cultures may regard as mere products of experience ..." (Rubin & Jacobs, 108).
Growing up in Mississippi in the late Nineteenth Century and the early part of the Twentieth Century, young William Faulkner witnessed first hand the struggles his beloved South endured through their slow progression of rebuilding. These experiences helped to develop Faulkner’s writing style. “Faulkner deals almost exclusively with the Southern scene (with) the Civil War … always behind his work” (Warren 1310. His works however are not so much historical in nature but more like folk lore. This way Faulkner is not constrained to keep details accurate, instead he manipulate the story to share his on views leading the reader to conclude morals or lessons from his experience. Faulkner writes often and “sympathetically of the older order of the antebellum society. It was a society that valued honor, (and) was capable of heroic action” (Brooks 145) both traits Faulkner admired. These sympathetic views are revealed in the story “A Rose for Emily” with Miss Emily becoming a monument for the Antebellum South.
When society labels an individual’s action as delinquent or evil, it begins to take on as a personal identity. The “dramatization of evil” occurs in a society because the community and its young individuals do not interpret situations, such as crime, in the same way. Their ideas clash, as most youth do not see their activities as criminal. They mostly respond with “it 's not hurting anyone” or “we’re just having fun.” As young delinquents engage in their initial criminal act, Labeling Theory recognizes this as their “primary deviance.”
...However, this doesn’t deter Faulkner from writing very complex stories that reflect his literary prowess. Most of his characters can hardly speak correct English, and yet, his pieces are filled with words that even I have trouble discerning meaning from. In particular, Rider’s character is very blue collar. Faulkner communicates this to us in many ways, but has no trouble throwing in phrases like “the junctureless backloop of times trepan”. This occurs throughout all of these stories. It is like the characters are very natural, they know the environment, the have the skills to hunt, they work hard, and they love each other. But these ideas are contrasted by his writing style and complexity and really blend nicely to create very good pieces of literature. It was just one thing that caught my eye in reading these pieces and I am very envious of this skill he possesses.
William Faulkner has been credited with having the imagination to see, before other serious writers saw, the tremendous potential for drama, pathos, and sophisticated humor in the history and people of the South. In using this material and, in the process, suggesting to others how it might be used, he has also been credited with sparking the Southern Renaissance of literary achievement that has produced much of the United States best literature in the twentieth century.
To conclude with, William Faulkner was an author that used uncommon technique in his works. The complexity of his themes make readers feel more engaged into thinking deeper and feel the beautiful Southern setting Faulkner describes ( William Faulkner: PBS). Faulkner based his stories on his childhood experiences and the experience of being an adult in the South (Unger, 67). Faulkner represents the Southern man in his works and the beautiful scenery of the South. William Faulkner wrote about his experiences of his childhood, his time in the war, adulthood, and Southern society (William Faulkner: Biography). Faulkner’s journey to find his passion in writing, the novels he created that would make him stand out from other authors, and the legacy he had on readers is what made William Faulkner a significant author in American history.