The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn
Mark Twain
“All American literature
comes from one book by
Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn… it’s the
best book we’ve had.”
- Earnest Hemingway
Summary
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Written in 1885 but takes place in the
1840s - Huckleberry Finn, 14, grows up
in St. Petersburg, Missouri with no
mother and an alcoholic father who has
skipped town. Huck is being cared for by
two women: Widow Douglas and her
sister Miss Watson. Huck likes to skip
school and hang out with his best friend,
Tom Sawyer.
Summary – Part Two
Huck’s dad, Pap, returns and imprisons
Huck in a cabin outside of town. Huck
escapes and runs into Jim, a black
slave, who is also trying to escape.
 The bulk of the story chronicles Huck
and Jim’s travels down the Mississippi
River and the continued trouble they
seem to get themselves into.
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Who was Mark Twain?
Actually, he was Samuel Clemens.
b. 1835 d. 1910
Who grew up in Hannibal, Missouri
- the town that St. Petersburg is
heavily based on.
Mark Twain = 2 fathoms or 12 ft.
“safe water” riverboat term
Believed strongly that the problem
of race had to be solved.
Controversy
Huck Finn was banned from many libraries because the
content was thought to be too dark, distasteful, and
unsuitable for children.
Typical Review:
“Rough, coarse and inelegant, dealing with a series of
experiences not elevating, the whole book being
more suited to the slums than to intelligent,
respectable people.”
People didn’t get the irony or satire.
So, what’s the big deal?
The problem was that readers took Twain literally and
believed he was serious! The key to understanding
Twain’s novel is by realizing that it’s a satire.
What is Satire?
Satire - using sarcasm to denounce or expose
something foolish
So what is Twain trying to denounce? Racism.
Irony - Opposite of literal meaning:
I have a ton of homework - how nice! (this is also sarcasm)
Or the opposite of what is expected to happen:
Twain creates a racist protagonist to prove his
point that racism is wrong.
So basically, we need to take everything that Twain
says, flip it around, and that’s what he really means!
Twain’s Writing Style
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Episodic structure – series of mini stories
1st person unreliable narrative (like Holden) Huck
Finn: literal, realistic, practical
Satiric Novel (Fiction) - A work that uses humor,
irony, and extreme exaggeration to ridicule society in
order to bring about change
Setting /Time: Before the Civil War; roughly 1835–
1845
Place • The Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg,
Missouri. The adventure continues down the
Mississippi into Arkansas
Colloquial Language – dialects & the “N” word.
Quotes
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Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on
de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed.
It don’t make no difference how foolish it is, it’s the right way –
and it’s the regular way.
All right then, I’ll go to hell.
You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.
People would call me a low doen Ablitionist and despise me for
keeping mum – but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t going to
tell.
I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks
does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.
What! And not sell out the rest o’ the property?
Human being can be awful cruel to one another.
Jim won’t ever forgit you, Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever
had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now.
Topics of Twain’s Novel (Ideas
to Find THEMES)
Racism & Slavery
 Education
 The Hypocrisy of “Civilized” Society
 Religion and Superstition
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Racism
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Although written 20 years after the Emancipation
Proclamation, America – especially the South – was
still struggling with racism and the aftereffects of
slavery.
Insidious racism arose near the end of
Reconstruction that oppressed blacks for illogical and
hypocritical reasons.
Twain exposes the hypocrisy of slavery and
demonstrates how racism distorts the oppressors as
much as the oppressed.
The result is a world of moral confusion.
Education
Huck is an uneducated boy.
 He distrusts the morals and precepts of
the society that treats him as an outcast
and fails to protect him from abuse.
 Huck questions his teachings,
especially regarding race and slavery.
 In many instances, Huck chooses to “go
to hell” rather than go along with the
rules of society.
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Hypocrisy
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“Civilized” to Huck means . . Regular baths,
uncomfortable clothes; Mandatory school attendance;
Degraded rules that defy logic
Huck’s drunkard, abusive father gets to keep custody
of Huck because he is his natural father
The injustice of slavery that keeps Jim from his family
Seemingly good people are prejudiced slave- owners
Terrible acts go unpunished, while lesser crimes lead
to severe punishment
Chronology of Events
1840 – Time when novel takes place
1861-1865 - Civil War: Southern confederate states wanted to form
their own United States. Northern Union states fought to keep the country
unified
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation: Pres. Abraham Lincoln
signed this document declaring all slaves in Confederate states t be free.
1866 - 13th Amendment: Amendment to the U.S. constitution
abolishing slavery.
1883 - Tom Sawyer was written
1885 - Huck Finn was written
Chronology of Events cont’d.
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1964 - Civil Rights Act: President Lyndon Johnson
signed a law prohibiting discrimination in public
places.