"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn"
Ernest Hemingway

• written after Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery, but time period of story set during slavery
• during Reconstruction , a less institutionalized form of slavery existed in the South ( Jim Crow laws )
• allegorical portrayal of conditions of
“Blacks” in U.S. after end of slavery

• Society’s laws (Miss Watson and
Widow Douglas) vs. higher moral values (Huck and Jim)
• Rules and precepts that reflect faulty logic
• Civilized vs. Natural
• A “just” society that condones slavery
• Unsteady justice is blinded by cowardice, prejudice, and a lack of common sense
• Seemingly good and just characters are slave-owners
• Hypocrisy of “civilized” society which values morality, but condones slavery

• importance of individual thinking and ideas
• escaping an illogical and oppressive society
• Mississippi River as a safe haven
• slavery vs. liberty
• outcasts labeled by citizens ( mob mentality ) are arguably the only truly free characters

• Food plays a prominent role in the novel.
• In Huck's childhood, he often fights pigs for food, and eats out of "a barrel of odds and ends."
• *Thus, providing Huck with food becomes a symbol of people caring for and protecting him.
– For example, in the first chapter, the Widow
Douglas feeds Huck, and later on Jim becomes his symbolic caretaker, feeding and watching over him on Jackson's Island.

• A theme Twain focuses on quite heavily on in this novel is the mockery of religion.
• Throughout his life, Twain was known for his attacks on organized religion.
• Huck Finn's sarcastic character perfectly situates him to deride religion, representing Twain's personal views.
– In the first chapter, Huck indicates that hell sounds far more fun than heaven.

• Superstition appears throughout the novel.
• Generally, both Huck and Jim are very rational characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes over.
• The power superstition holds over the two demonstrates that Huck and Jim are child-like despite their apparent maturity.
• In addition, superstition foreshadows the plot at several key junctions.
– For instance, when Huck spills salt, Pap returns, and when Huck touches a snakeskin with his bare hands, a rattlesnake bites Jim.

• Bildungsroman
– A moral coming of age story.
• being open-minded is a quality that Huck represents, as a child, which allows for his development and maturation
• Huck’s relationship with Jim assists his progression throughout the novel
• Huck’s experiences and apprehension about society help lead to his maturity

• The Mississippi River
– a source of freedom; a safe haven
– Life
– confluence of all currents of
American life in the first half of the nineteenth century
• The Land
– Real vs. Ideal (the river)
• Raft
– tool for escape
– safe place
• Money
– separates the civilized from the
“outcasts”

• Emancipation
Proclamation
• Reconstruction
• Jim Crow Laws
• allegory
• superstition
• mob mentality
• Bildungsroman
• hypocrisy
• irony
• dialect
• parody