Huckleberry
Finn
Dialect and Local Color
Rachel Choi
Eunice Jang
Daniel Lee
Who is Mark
Twain?
•Born in 1835, died in 1910
•Pen name: Mark Twain
•Real name: Samuel Clemens
•Used his personal experiences
for his novels
•Innocents Abroad (1869):
own travels
•Life on Mississippi (1883):
riverboat pilot
•Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn (1884): boyhood
•Theme of realism in his novels
About
Adventures of
Huckleberry
Finn
Written by Mark Twain in 1884
First modern American novel
"All modern American literature
comes from one book by Mark Twain
called Huckleberry Finn" – Earnest
Hemingway
One of the great American literary
achievements
Short Summary
River adventures of a boy and
a slave
Explore morality, conscience,
and society
Setting: time of slavery in the
U.S.
Tom vs. Huck
Tom: interested in the
adventure of the escape
Huck: interested in liberating
Jim
Concept of slavery: Right or
wrong? Who belongs to
whom?
Quote Analysis 1
""The nigger run off the very
night Huck Finn was killed. So
there's a reward out for him -three hundred dollars. And
there's a reward out for old
Finn, too -- two hundred
dollars." (Ch. 11. Mrs. Loftus)
When Huck visits the town
with his girl dress, he hears
the rumor.
Runaway slaves were found
quite often in the South
Local color: slavery during
this time
Quote Analysis 2
“I ain't going to hurt you, and I
ain't going to tell on you,
nuther.” (Ch. 11. Mrs. Loftus)
: I am not going to hurt you,
and I am not going to tell on
you, either
Mrs. Loftus finds out that
Huck is a boy, and tells him to
identify himself, in this scene.
Double negatives: ain’t &
nuther (neither) are traits of
Southern dialect.
Discussion Questions
Why is dialect and
local color important
in literature?
What other ways,
besides the ways I
listed on the
PowerPoint, could
be used for dialect
and local color of
the specific region?
Answer not on this PowerPoint
 we will discuss in class!
What is Local Color?
Fiction or verse which
emphasizes its setting
Concerned with the
district, era, customs,
dialects, costumes,
landscape, clothes,
language, traditions,
and other peculiarities
Dual influence of
romanticism and
realism
First local color writer:
Bret Harte
Ex) Location: South
 Speech: Southern
dialect
Mark Twain: great job
with local color
Characters’ looks,
speeches, acts, etc.
Vernacular
Specific dialect in a
region
Boston
Georgia
Kansas
Intension: to make the
story realistic
Huck Finn Video & Audio
http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=
poyXLZsjlhs&feat
ure=PlayList&p=
6BDB04E5E6B3
02DC&playnext=
1&playnext_from
=PL&index=2
Beginning,
2:48,5:30
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