The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
By: Mark Twain
Published in 1884
Mark Twain
• Real name was
Samuel Clemmens
• Very political
• Wrote about social
issues and how he
felt about slavery,
racism, and war
• Grew up in Missouri and was a river boat
pilot
• His experience on the river is what
inspired a lot of his stories
Mark Twain cont.
• Twain wrote novels,
articles, essays, and
poems
• He wrote of happy
times
• His wit turned a bit
darker when he wrote
the novel The
Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
published in 1884
Realism
• a theory of writing
in which the
ordinary, familiar, or
mundane aspects of
life are represented
in a straightforward
or matter-of-fact
manner that is
presumed to reflect
life as it actually is.
Huckleberry Finn
The novel occasionally has been banned in
Southern states because of its steadfastly
critical take on the South and the hypocrisies
of slavery. Others have dismissed Huckleberry
Finn as vulgar or racist because it uses the
word “n*****,” a term whose connotations
obscure the novel’s deeper themes—which are
unequivocally antislavery—and even prevent
some from reading and enjoying it altogether.
The fact that the historical context in which
Twain wrote made his use of the word
insignificant—and, indeed, part of the realism
he wanted to create—offers little solace to
some modern readers.
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
• A story of a boy’s journey to finding
himself in an imperfect world
• Bildungsroman-self discovery
Background Information
• Huck is friends with
Tom Sawyer
• Huck lives with Miss
Watson
• Huck’s mom died when
he was young and his
dad is an abusive
alcoholic
• Huck seeks to run away
from Miss Watson and
be able to live on his
own and take care of
himself
Major Characters:
Huck Finn: young boy that seeks to
run away from home; smart and
efficient; uncivilized in manner and
habit
Jim: slave on Miss Watson's
plantation who later escapes and
becomes Huck’s friend
Huck’s father: abusive, drunk old man
who is using Huck for his money
More Characters:
• Tom Sawyer: idealist and
hopeless romantic,
constantly pretending and
creating situations in his
head
• Miss Watson: foster mother
who tried to civilize Huck
Themes-
Themes are the fundamental
and often universal ideas explored in a
literary work.
• Friendship
• Racism and
Slavery
• Maturity
• Freedom
• Legality vs.
Morality
• Love
• Hypocrisy of
society
Symbol-
Symbols are objects, characters,
figures, or colors used to represent abstract
ideas or concepts.
• Mississippi River-place of escape
Motifs-
Motifs are recurring structures,
contrasts, or literary devices that can help to
develop and inform the text’s major themes.
• Childhood
• Lies and Cons
• Relationships
Literary Terms
• Dialect- regional or social
variety of a language
distinguished by pronunciation,
grammar, or vocabulary
• Hyperbole- extreme
exaggeration
• Satire- the use of irony,
sarcasm, ridicule in exposing,
denouncing, or deriding
immorality