Written by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn is a classical book on the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and his newfound friend named Jim who is a slave. Throughout their adventures together, Mark Twain includes instances of violence, both brutal and explicit, to portray a message through Huckleberry Finn’s point of view. By using these violent scenes, it helps Huckleberry Finn change his perspective on life itself and develops the plot. To fully understand the violent aspects that Mark Twain uses, identifying them and showing how they are relevant to the story can give the reader an appreciation for the work of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.
In one of the first instances of violence, when Huck encounters his father for the first time, his abusive father “kidnaps him” and the two go together to live in a wooden hut. Many times in the night time, Huck mentions, “ Every little while he locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky and fetched it home and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me (whipped)” (Chapter 6) His father’s abusive habits increase as Huck keeps living with his father to the point where his father chases him around in the night trying to kill him with a knife saying that he is the Angel of Death “he chased me round and round the place with a clasp-knife, calling me the Angel of Death.... I begged, and told him I was only Huck, but he laughed such a screechy laugh, roared, cussed, and kept on chasing me up.” (Chapter 6) This traumatizing experience causes Huck to take drastic measures to escape from his father. But when Huck leaves with Jim, he soon enough encounters other occasions of treachery and crime that influence him to do the “correct” thing...
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...witnesses a gun fight between the two families “All of a sudden, bang! bang! bang! goes three or four guns….the boys jumped from the river – both of them hurt – and as they swum down the current the men sang out “Kill ‘em!” “Kill ‘em!”” after witnessing the death of two Sheperdson boys, Huck reacts and says “It made me so sick I most fell our of the tree. I ain’t agoing to tell all that happened – it would make me sick again if I was to do that. “ Through observing the feud and Huck’s reaction, Mark Twain makes a distinct parallelism to real life feuds like the South vs the North and how he saw the fighting as pointless just like how the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons didn’t really have a real purpose for the excessive bloodshed. Huck’s reaction reflected Twain’s reaction showing that Twain was disgusted and sick of the war being fought between the two parties.
The use of violence used by Twain in his novel is when Huck and his friend, an escaped slave Jim, are separated from one another after a storm on the river. Huck survives the storm and swims to shore. He then finds the Grangerford’s household and stays with the family. Because of Huck’s positions he is stuck in the middle of a feud the Grangerfords have with an opposing family, the Shepherdsons. Huck time spent with the Grangerfords causes him to grow a close relationship with Buck but while fighting with the other family, Buck is shot right in front of Huck and dies in the river. "I ain't a-going to tell all that happened- it would make me sick again if I was to do that," (Twain 115). The violence portrayed in this scene is horrifying that
At one point, Huck’s father attempts to kill him in their home. “Bye-and-bye he rolled out and jumped up on his feet looking wild, and he see me and went for me, he chased me round and round the place with a clasp-knife, calling me the Angel of Death and saying he would kill me…” the reader by this point has developed their opinion of Huck, and must think to themselves, in what way twain has described the father. Twain has manipulated the father's language to show how the white father in the white dominated culture, is worse than anyone
Society has always denounced the acts of death and children running away from their homes. Huck can be seen as a morbid child as he is always talking about death and murder. Society would rather not have anything to do with people who have such a melancholic outlook on life. Living with years of torment by his drunkard father, Pap, Huck feared the day he would return to daunt his life. When Pap does return, he seizes Huck and drags him to a secluded cabin where Huck is boarded inside and unable to leave: This is where the dilemma occurs. In this position, Huck has a decision to make, either take note to the morals of society and listen to his conscience, which will result in more added years of pain and anguish from Pap, or Huck can listen to his heart and do what he thinks is best.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain during the late 1800’s (Mintz). The book brought major controversy over the plot, as well as the fact that it was a spin-off to his previous story, Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book has remained a success due to Twain’s interesting techniques of keeping the audience’s attention. Chapters eleven and twelve of “Huckleberry Finn,” uses a first person limited point of view to take advantage of the use of dialogue while using many hyperboles to add drama to entertain the reader by creating description within the story without needing to pause and explain.
Huck has been raised in a high-class society where rules and morals are taught and enforced. He lives a very strict and proper life where honesty and adequacy is imposed. Huck being young minded and immature, often goes against these standards set for him, but are still very much a part of his decision-making ability and conscience. When faced to make a decision, Hucks head constantly runs through the morals he was taught. One of the major decisions Huck is faced with is keeping his word to Jim and accepting that Jim is a runaway. The society part of Hucks head automatically looks down upon it. Because Huck is shocked and surprised that Jim is a runaway and he is in his presence, reveals Hucks prejudice attitude that society has imposed on him. Huck is worried about what people will think of him and how society would react if they heard that Huck helped save a runaway slave. The unspoken rules th...
One aspect of the novel in which Twain uses satire is the idea of family feuds. Mid-way through the novel, Huck meets young Buck Grangerford. Huck soon learns of an everlasting feud existing between the Grangerfords and the neighboring family, the Shepherdsons. Buck explains to Huck his fierce hatred for the Shepherdson family, but also that he truly doesn’t know why there is a feud or how it came to be. The reader finds out that the two feuding families essentially switch off killing members of the opposing family. As Huck experiences first hand a skirmish between Buck Grangerford and Harvey Shephardson, in which Buck tries to shoot Harvey, he asks Buck what Harvey had ever done. Buck responds with, “Him? He never done nothing to me(120).” Confused, Huck then asks what he wants to kill him for. Buck answers, “Why nothing- only it’s on account of the feud(120).” In this instance, Huck questions the logic behind such foolishness. He is young, but he understands that this feud has no point. He represents Twain’s own questioning of man’s preoccupation with brutality, and his illusion of false honor and chivalry. Taken at face value, the few Shepherdson-Grangerford scenes seem nothing more than a meaningless cameo on Twain’s part, however with closer inspection, we see the true motiv...
-The man vs. man conflict is brought up many times throughout this story. The first that is posed is the conflict between Huckleberry and Pap. Pap is Huckleberry’s abusive biological father, and an alcoholic to boot. He first comes in and tries to steal his son’s fortune, just so he can get drunk. Huckleberry is kidnapped by his father for a short time, and during this is beaten many times. Huckleberry eventually escapes as he saws his way out of a shed with an old saw he finds. He then kills a pig to fake his own death and smears blood all over the shed so the story is more believable.
In, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author, Mark Twain contrasts what life is like on the uncivilized shore compared to the peaceful life on the river. Huckleberry Finn is a character that rejects society's behaviors and values because he does not want to be "civilized" like everyone wants him to be. Huck is someone with a mind of his own and someone who does what he pleases. Since Huck is someone who rejects society, he eventually ends up running away and traveling up the Mississippi River with a slave name Jim. The two runaways find peace on the river and they also find that they do not have to deal with the cruel society on shore. In this respect, what qualities make the river and society on shore so different from one another and how does Twain establish these contrasts? Huck and Jim are two individuals seeking freedom from the uncivilized people on the shore and during their journey together they find freedom on the raft floating up the Mississippi River.
Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.
Mark Twain applies humor in the various episodes throughout the book to keep the reader laughing and make the story interesting. The first humorous episode occurs when Huck Finn astonishes Jim with stories of kings. Jim had only heard of King Solomon, whom he considers a fool for wanting to chop a baby in half and adds, Yit dey say Sollermun de wises?man dat ever live? I doan?take no stock in dat (75). Next, the author introduces the Grangerfords as Huck goes ashore and unexpectedly encounters this family. Huck learns about a feud occurring between the two biggest families in town: the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons. When Huck asks Buck about the feud, Buck replies, 搾... a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other man抯 brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in ?and by and by everybody抯 killed off, and there ain抰 no more feud挃 (105). A duel breaks out one day between the families and Huck leaves town, heading for the river where he rejoins Jim, and they continue down the Mississippi. Another humorous episode appears n the novel on the Phelps plantation. Huck learns that the king has sold Jim to the Phelps family, relatives of Tom Sawyer. The Phelps family mistakes Huck for Tom Sawyer. When Tom meets with Aunt Sally, he ?.. [reaches] over and [kisses] Aunt Sally on the mouth?(219) This comes as a surprises to her and Tom explains that he 揫thinks] [she] [likes] it?(219) Later, Huck runs into Tom on the way into town and the two make up another story about their identities. The two then devise a plan to rescue Jim. They use Jim as a prisoner and make him go through jail escaping clich閟.
Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is said to be one of the greatest American novels to ever be written and is what all other pieces of American literature are based off of. The novel has been debated for over an entire century and will continue to be debated for much longer. Never the less, Huckleberry Finn teaches young students and adults the important life lessons. ”The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain should remain required reading in American Literature classes because it enlightens students about the horrors of racism and slavery, familiarizes students with the South during time period, and properly portrays the powers of conformity.
Mohandas Gandhi once stated these words, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent." The same can be said about many things in life. However, when thought about, few people may consider the violence brought up in literature. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many scenes that illustrate the blind, violent nature that most humans tend to share. Mark Twain has used violence throughout his novel to enhance his beliefs on the injustices of slavery and any other form of senseless violence known to mankind. From the beginning with Pap's continuous abuse towards Huck, till the end with Emmiline Grangerfords poetry, is filled with violent sections that magnify the hypocrisy and stupidity of people.
Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are numerous crimes. The violence of these crimes is described vividly by Huck, the narrator, which shows their impact upon him. By showing Huck's shock over these events, Twain is showing that there is no real justice in the South, except for the hollow and often inappropriate excess found attempts to obtain personal justice. During these scenes Huck's turmoil reflects what Twain wants the reader to feel. Ultimately, this novel is a sharp criticism of a Southern lifestyle where justice is unobtainable.
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered the great American Novel with its unorthodox writing style and controversial topics. In the selected passage, Huck struggles with his self-sense of morality. This paper will analyze a passage from Adventures of huckleberry Finn and will touch on the basic function of the passage, the connection between the passage from the rest of the book, and the interaction between form and content.
Despite all the criticism, of racism and other questionable material for young readers, Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a superbly written novel, which in the opinion of this reviewer should not be remove the literary cannon. Twain’s novel is a coming of age story that teaches young people many valuable lessons and to some extend makes students reexamine their own lives and morals. The most common argument for its removal from the literary canon is that the novel is too racist; it offends black readers, perpetuates cheap slave-era stereotypes, and deserves no place on today’s bookshelves. However one must ask if Twain is encouraging traditional southern racism or is Twain disputing these idea.