
Twain wasn’t entirely
sure at the time of
composing the “notice”
that begins the book
which aspect of his
creation he wanted to
emphasize – its
seemingly innocent
evocation of the past, or
its highly ironic and
humorous condemnation
of that past, especially
the race-based social
system that persisted in
the South.



Huck’s tone: friendly,
honest, and maybe a bit
rascal-like: He almost calls
Twain a liar, although he
doesn’t realize that it could
be taken as an insult.
Twain’s trick: He’ll be
expecting you to
understand things better
than Huck: a simple, almost
illiterate kid. Twain will
almost be winking at us
over Huck’s head.
Notes adapted from Joseph Claro in “Mark Twain’s
Huckleberry Finn,” Barron’s Educational Series;
and Ronald Goodrich in “The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn,” Living Literature Series.



“The Widow Douglas she
took me for her son, and
allowed she would
sivilize me.”
Huck was introduced in
Tom Sawyer as a free
soul who cannot endure
the restraints imposed
upon him by the “genteel
society” of his day.
Huck’s newfound wealth
and the Widow Douglas’s
care drag him into
society, making it almost
unbearable.


The restrictions of the
widow’s conventional
household as much as
Pap’s cruelty compel
Huck to run away and
begin his adventures.
Although in his own mind
Huck is simply trying to
avoid conventional
restraints, consider his
escape as a rejection of
his society’s hypocritical
façade.



“…I don’t take no stock
in dead people.”
Huck listens with keen
interest to the story of
Moses and the
Bullrushers but loses
interest when he
discovers that Moses has
been dead for thousands
of years.
He simply cannot bring
himself to care about the
plight of people who
lived in the long-ago,
dead past.

This indicates very
early in the novel
Huck’s intense and
practical concern for
live people.
Subsequent episodes
fully establish his
sympathetic attitude
toward people in
trouble, which often
grows into active
involvement to help
them.


Read Tom’s scheme
carefully: You’ll get a good
picture of who Tom is,
which is a kid who is
smarter than most but not
nearly as smart as he thinks
he is.
Huck doesn’t see how
ridiculous Tom’s statements
are: He assumes that Tom is
much smarter than he is,
and he takes Tom’s
statements at face value.
Twain doesn’t expect us to
be that naïve.



Deep glimpse into Huck’s views
on religion: He talks about the
difference between the God that
the widow tells him about, and
the one he hears about from Miss
Watson. Huck thinks they are two
different Gods: This is Twain
suggesting that God can be
imagined in different ways by
people with different
personalities.
Clue: Red (need this for extra
points).
Huck says he prefers belonging
to the widow’s God, but he
doesn’t see how God would want
him. But Twain doesn’t share
Huck’s low view of himself, and
doesn’t expect the reader to,
either.




Huck believes that just about
everyone he comes in contact
with is better than he is.
Huck does not miss his father.
He also isn’t very excited
about playing robber with
Tom’s gang. Read the
conversation between Huck
and Tom carefully, as it shows
the contrast between the two
boys. Huck thinks about the
concrete world around him;
Tom follows a set of rules he
has compiled from his books.
Tom calls Huck a “sap head”;
Huck doesn’t dispute this.



Plot begins to develop here.
Huck is at least slightly
warming to living civilized.
Interesting insights into Pap
here:
• Pap is not someone Huck
respects. Pap is an abusive
father, thief, and drunkard.
• But Huck refuses to tell a lie to
his father (regarding the
money).

We also meet Jim. This
introduces all kinds of issues
• Censorship: Jim is illiterate,
superstitious, childlike, and
easily led: Some critics think
readers will conclude that is
what all African Americans are
like.
• The same people might be
offended by Huck’s use of
the word “nigger.” But
remember: The novel is set
in a Southern state in the
middle of last century. In that
setting, the word “nigger”
had no special meaning,
good or bad. It was simply a
regional pronunciation of
“negro.” In that setting, Jim
would be typical.
• Also remember: There’s
often a big difference
between what Huck says and
what Mark Twain believes.




Huck is not afraid of Pap; he sees him
as a pathetic, ragged, old man.
Pap sees Huck as an uppity kid trying
to show up his old man by reading,
wearing clean clothes, etc.
Huck is kidnapped; and although he is
imprisoned by his father, Huck finds
he likes getting back to his old style
of living: roughing it.
Twain talks above Huck’s head here
again: We know that Pap never had
anxiety raising his son; he is not a
good citizen; that his threat to leave
the country is laughable; and that Pap
look s ridiculous for suggesting that
he is superior to a black college
professor simply because Pap is
white.



Huck lies by saying someone
tried to break into the cabin:
This lie is told out of sheer
self-preservation.
Read the description of Huck’s
escape carefully: It’s pretty
elaborate, obviously the work
of a bright kid that doesn’t
need the “fancy touches” of
Tom Sawyer.
Huck wants everyone to think
he was murdered: including
the people who care about
him, which indicates he’s
determined to set out on his
own and leave his life behind.


When he escapes and
sets up on Jackson Island,
Huck describes what it’s
like on the river: “The
sky looks ever so deep...”
When he does this
throughout the book, his
language becomes
gentler and almost
becomes poetic.
Huck loves the river like
most of us love people.