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Introduction to Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn�

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Mark Twain

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  • Born Samuel Clemens in 1835, he worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River.
  • When he started his writing career, Samuel Clemens adopted the name “Mark Twain,” which meant two fathoms, a safe depth for a riverboat.

Life and Times of Mark Twain

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  • In 1861, Samuel Clemens avoided the brewing Civil War by going west. He took his first writing job as reporter at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.
  • Serious news was often mixed with “reports” that had to be taken with a grain of salt. Soon, he began using the name Mark Twain and affixing it to sketches, reportage, and an occasional hoax. It was a time when he first discovered his talent, his calling, and his voice.

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Life and Times of Mark Twain cont.

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“I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market. Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.”– Mark Twain

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  • Although his most famous novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is criticized for being racist, Mark Twain never expected nor intended the controversy that arose with the publication of Huckleberry Finn.
  • Mark Twain depicted life in his times.

Life and Times of Mark Twain cont.

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"I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse."

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Pictures from www.pbs.org

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The Adventures of �Huckleberry Finn

  • Twain’s most famous novel is about the relationship between a young white boy, Huck, and a black slave, Jim as they travel along the Mississippi River
  • The novel is set in the mid 1800’s in the South in a fictional town called St. Petersburg
  • During this time, about half of the country was considered “free” and half still supported slavery

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Free vs. Slave States in America in the mid 1800’s

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Path of the Mississippi River

The path that Huck and Jim take along the Mississippi River is ironic; as they attempt to reach freedom, they actually travel further and further into slave territory.

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Themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

  • Racism and Slavery
    • In Huck Finn, Twain exposes the hypocrisy of slavery. It does not support slavery.
  • Intellectual vs. Moral Education
    • Huck is forced to make a decision between education and moral correctness
  • Mocks or pokes fun at “Sivilized” Society
    • Twain shows the ways in which society of his time did not act in a civilized manner

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Satire

  • Uses ridicule of wit to attack human faults, vices, shortcomings and follies with the intent to bring about improvement
  • Usually meant to be humorous, but is also an attack on something of which the author/speaker strongly disapproves

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American Realism

revised from http://faculty.bucks.edu/docarmos/RealismNaturalism.html

Realism became a dominant literary style in the U.S. around the 1870s. Mark Twain is one of the movement's most famous practitioners. Following are the main characteristics of the genre:

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American Realism

  • Realism attempts to present the world as it really is.
  • Everyday life is an important concept in realist works. Realists, generally speaking, don't write about extraordinary people in fantastic situations. They write about plain, normal, everyday folks dealing with the trials and tribulations of plain, normal, everyday life.

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American Realism

  • Setting their works in specific places leads realist writers to make use of specific dialects, or speech patterns that are particular to certain locales. A white man in rural Missouri doesn't, of course, speak like an English gentleman, so it wouldn't be factual and "truthful" to make him sound that way. Similarly, a black woman from rural Missouri may not speak the same way a white woman from the same place does, so it wouldn't be factual and truthful to make her speak in anything other than her dialect.

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American Realism

  • Realism generally celebrates the individual. Most realist works feature a central character who has to deal with some moral struggle, hopefully to arrive at an important moral victory or realization before the story's over.

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Controversy Surrounding �The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn