Literatura en lengua inglesa y su didáctica III – Actividad I
– Unidad I
Segundo Semestre 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.
Name: Razuc Marina Macarena
Date: 15/08/2012
Subject: Literatura en lengua inglesa y su Didáctica III
Unit: 1
Email: maqiii.89@hotmail.com
Task: In an essay of about 400 words, discuss how Twain develops the theme
of freedom in this first part of his work. In your essay, include your opinion on
how the unreliable narrator helps or not to develop the theme.
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a novel written by Mark Twain, and it is a
sequel or a continuation of his previous work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.
The first one is set in the Mississippi River Valley; around 1840, and in this work,
freedom and slavery are two of the main themes developed during the course of the
novel. In the first part of this work, it is possible to detect that freedom is seen from
two different points of view in the characters, literally in Jim and figuratively in
Huckleberry.
On the one hand, Jim, a black slave of Watson family, seeks freedom from slavery. He
runs away from Miss Watson when he hears talking of selling him "down the river",
and this means be away from his family; so he decides to escape. He wants to travel
to Cairo, work and find his lost family and free them. Jim's life is conditioned by slavery
and its social chains. Freedom for Jim means escape escaping from slavery and a
release from the social chains.
On the other hand, Huck, a white and thirteen-year-old boy and son of a local drunk
man of St. Petersburg, figuratively, seeks to be free of being civilized and live without
fear of his father. Huck wants to be far from his father's abandon abandonment and
maltreatment. He wants to live alone, and be able to survive by himself. His fight is to
Literatura en lengua inglesa y su didáctica III – Actividad I
– Unidad I
Segundo Semestre 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.
be free so he runs away, lives wildly and refuses to be civilized by those who try to fix
his rudimentary manners. He runs away from the Widow Douglas because she makes
him go to school, to church and to be well dressed, he feels that he is living in a jail in
the widow´s house. He also runs away from a society that sends him back to a father
that beats and mistreats him. Freedom for Huck means flee fleeing from the civilized
world.
So, it is possible to observe that during the first part of the novel, freedom shows the
different situations that two different characters are living. Although their liberation is
about different aspects, both of them need to be liberated of their prisons.
Also, it is important to take into account the unreliable narrator used in the main
character, Huck. This helps to develop the theme, because as he is the narrator we
can realize about his “prison” and his desire of freedom. However, the author never
manifests his idea in an explicit way; he uses the boy as an unreliable narrator.
Clearly, in the first paragraph of chapter 1 we can observe the unreliable narrator in a
very highlighting way.
Personally, I think that his lack of education and experience makes him an unreliable
narrator. The unreliable narrator is used so as to create some confusion in the reader,
the confusion that main characters feel. Much of the humour in the first chapters
comes from Huck’s incomplete understanding of the adults around him and their
“civilized” ways.
Dear Mariana,
Your assignment is very good!
A hug
Cristina
Literatura en lengua inglesa y su didáctica III – Actividad I
– Unidad I
Segundo Semestre 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.