Twains Criticisms

The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter I: Being sivilized

Quote:
The Widow Douglas, she took
me for her son, and allowed she
would sivilize me...The widow
rung a bell for supper, and you
had to come to time. When you
got to the table you couldnt go
right to eating, but you had to
wait for the widow to tuck down
her head and grumble over the
victuals, though there warnt
really anything the matter with
them.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter I: Being sivilized

Significance:
Huck displays one of the classic themes in literature:
nature versus nurture. As a child who has largely
grown up without adult intervention, much less such
highly socialized manners as represented by the
Widow Douglas, Huck sees little need for the
trappings of society (i.e., saying grace or meal-time
manners). Twains satiric tone is strong here; Hucks
assertion that there warnt really anything the matter
with them [the food] is comical in its innocent
rendering of common social graces. However, there is
real critique here: Twain, through Huck, underscores
the sometimes absurd habits of civilized people.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter I: Hypocrisy
Quote:
She [Widow Douglas] said it
was a mean practice [smoking]
and wasnt clean, and I must try
to not do it any more...And she
took snuff too; of course that
was all right, because she done
it herself.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter I: Hypocrisy
Significance:
Twain again uses Huck to display some of the uglier
realities of civilized society, namely its hypocrisy.
The widow certainly takes a do as I say, not as I do
approach to breaking Huck of his admittedly bad
habits. Such behavior connotes a strong doublestandard: adults wish to control others but dont
want to be controlled themselves. Hucks respect for
the widow certainly takes a hit here as hes able to
draw conclusions and make wry, sarcastic
observations of his own, of course that was all
right, because she done it herself.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter II: Toms games

Quote:
Tom whispered to me and wanted to
tie Jim to the tree for fun; but I said
no; he might wake and make a
disturbance...but nothing would do
Tom but he must crawl to where Jim
was, on his hands and knees, and
play something on him.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter II: Toms games

Significance:
More than the uncivilized Huck, Tom embodies
childish, reckless charm. However, there is a subtle
dark side to Tom, specifically his inhumane
treatment of Jim. Tom thinks nothing of cruelly tying
Jim to a tree simply for his own amusement. Huck,
as a foil to Tom, opposes such behavior not on
moral grounds, but because it would simply be
impractical. The interchange between the two boys
surely shows Tom to be the leader though Huck
often disagrees with Toms romanticized versions of
events.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter II: Twains critique of

Romanticism

Quote:
On the subject of kidnapping as part of
a gangs activities, Tom says, That aint
no sort of style...Some authorities think
different, but mostly its considered best
to kill them. Except some that you
bring to the cave and keep them till
theyre ransomed. To which Huck
responds, Well keep them till theyre
ransomed to death--and a bothersome
lot theyll be, too, eating up everything
and always trying to get loose.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter II: Twains critique of

Romanticism
Significance:
Twains satiric tone takes center stage in this episode as
Tom insists the boys follow the rules if they want to be
a real gang. Toms romanticized version of things, which
he gets from books, just isnt practical to the other boys .
However, it makes for humorous, boyish exchanges as
the boys discuss the pros and cons of their intended life
of crime. The scene also highlights Toms immaturity
and ignorance and his adherence to rules and a belief
that there is a tried-and-true way to do things. This
conflict between custom and common sense best
epitomizes the difference between Huck and Tom.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter III: Hucks problems with

religion
Quote:
Sometimes the widow would take me one
side and talk about Providence in a way to
make a bodys mouth water; but maybe
next day Miss Watson would take hold and
knock it all down again. I judged I could
see that there was two Providences, and a
poor chap would stand considerable show
with the widows Providence, but if Miss
Watsons got him there warnt no help for
him any more.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter III: Hucks problems with

religion
Quote:
In this excerpt the reader can sense Hucks ambivalence
toward society and religion. In the hands of some
practitioners (Widow Douglas), religion can be a calming,
redemptive force forgiving of intrinsic human faults. In the
hands of others (Miss Watson), religion can be threatening
and awful in its vengeful tone and promise of searing pain
and punishment for ones innate iniquities. Huck questions
the value of such a cynical, harsh outlook as Miss Watson
has and wishes to ally himself with what he conceives as
the Widow Douglass Providence. However, the guilt and
shame of Miss Watsons has infected Huck as he refers to
himself as ignorant and so kind of low-down and ornery.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter III: Hucks waning belief

in Tom
Quote:
I didnt see no dimonds, and I told
Tom Sawyer so. He said there was
loads of them there, anyway; and he
said there was A-rabs there, too, and
elephants and things...I reckoned he
believed in the A-rabs and
elephants, but as for me I think
different. It had all the marks of a
Sunday school.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter III: Hucks waning belief

in Tom
Significance:
Previously their relationship had been subject to
disagreements, but this instance marks Hucks major
break from Tom. Tom goes so far as to call Huck a
sap-head and suggest hes ignorant for not reading
books. Hucks common sense tells him Toms overly
pedantic approach to elephants and A-rabs is false.
For Huck, such an assertion signifies the growth of his
character as he learns to trust his instincts over the
sometimes absurd suggestions of others. Such selftrust is important as Huck later learns to see the
humanity in Jim.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter IV: Hucks antimaterialism

Quote:
No sir, I says; I dont want to spend
it. I dont want it at all--nor the six
thousand, nuther. I want you to take
it; I want to give it to you--the six
thousand and all.
He looked surprised. He couldnt
seem to make it out. He says:
Why, what can you mean, my boy?
I says, Dont you ask me no questions
about it, please. Youll take it--wont
you?
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter IV: Hucks antimaterialism

Significance:
In this exchange with Judge Thatcher we see Huck as a scared
little boy. Having noticed Paps boot-mark, Huck wishes to
distance himself from the money he had previously earned in
an effort to avoid the wrath of Pap. Huck associates money
with greed and evil, which he rightly assumes will make their
way to his doorstep. To Huck, the ends which he has seen
money bring about--drunkenness, violence, hatred--are not
worth the means of keeping or maintaining it. Besides, what
worth is money to a boy who is just as happy drifting lazily
down a river? Huck truly has no use or need for money; what
he needs he can find for free in Nature.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter IV: Superstition

Quote:
One morning I happened to turn over
the salt-cellar at breakfast. I reached
for some of it as quick as I could, to
throw over my left shoulder and keep
off the bad luck, but Miss Watson was
in ahead of me, and crossed me off.
She says, Take your hands away,
Huckleberry--what a mess you are
always making. The widow put in a
good word for me, but that warnt
going to keep off the bad luck, I
knowed that well enough.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter IV: Superstition

Significance:
One of the more comical aspects of Hucks nature is his
sometimes foolish belief in superstition. Hucks
ontological view (a branch of metaphysics concerned
with the nature and relations of being or the existence of
things) is that the world is made up of an interaction
between highly controlled entities (some supernatural).
Some critics believe Hucks adherence to superstition is
evidence of his immaturity; others regard Hucks
superstition as symptomatic of a sophisticated world-view
in which the individual is keenly aware of the
relationship between causes and effects--thus paving a
way for Hucks very moral conscience.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter V: Pap

Quote:
Ill learn people to bring up a boy to put on
airs over his own father and let on to be
bettern what he is. You lemme catch you
fooling around that school again, you hear?
Your mother couldnt read, and she couldnt
write, nuther, before she died. None of the
family couldnt, before they died. I cant;
and here youre a-swelling yourself up like
this. I aint the man to stand it--you hear?
Say--lemme hear you read.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter V: Pap
Significance:
Pap finally appears and his persona proves to be just as
pathetic and despicable as Hucks fears had alluded.
As Hucks only living blood relative, Paps personality
helps clarify Hucks general distrust of civilized society:
as an abused child whose father rails constantly against
the shortcomings of society as he sees them, Huck has
developed a certain disdain for society. However, such
disdain is rivaled only by the aversion he has to his
father. As such, Huck deems it acceptable to put on
frills as Pap puts it because it helps create a gap and a
distance between the two--a distance Huck only hopes
to increase with time.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter VI: Hucks rejection of

civilization
Quote:
Two months or more run along, and my
clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I
didnt see how Id ever got to like it so well
at the widows, where you had to wash, and
eat on a plate, and comb up, and go to bed
and get up regular, and be forever bothering
over a book and have old Miss Watson
pecking at you all the time. I didnt want to
go back no more.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter VI: Hucks rejection of

civilization
Significance:
Twain uses Paps kidnapping of Huck to reiterate one of the
major themes of the novel: nature versus nurture. As Huck
becomes distanced from civilization (nurture) and the widow, he
reverts to his old ways: smoking, cussing, and lazing about
(nature). This helps to underscore Paps ineffectiveness as a
father; after all, the statement, pap hadnt no objections could
apply to any of Hucks vices. This separation helps also to
suggest what will happen if nature (human nature, that is, which
Twain sees as base) takes over: you end up a drunken, rambling
maniac like Pap. Hucks decision then is to reject both extremes
of civilized life and uncivilized life and to attempt to synthesize
the best parts of each to form his own philosophy.
Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter VI: Abuse

Quote:
By-and-by he rolled out and jumped up
on his feet looking wild, and he see me
and went for me. He chase me round
and round the place, with a clasp-knife,
calling me Angel of Death and saying he
would kill me and then I couldnt come
for him no more. I begged, and told
him I was only Huck, but he laughed
such a screechy laugh, and roared and
cussed, and kept on chasing me up.

Wednesday, December 31, 14

Chapter VI: Abuse

Significance:
In one of the more harrowing and truly frightening episodes in the
novel, Paps drunken hallucinations and attempted murder help to
sober the reader to Hucks very real plight. Huck is trapped in a
situation not of his own making, and though he finds a freedom
that eluded him with the Widow Douglas, he realizes he cannot
abide such treatment and survive--his only method, of recourse, is
escape. He cannot go back to the widows; hes already
determined a sivilized life is not for him. Hucks decision to
strike out on his own is uniquely individualistic and highly
American. Huck represents the American spirit in his rejection of
absurd, staid values as well as his refusal to be totally anarchistic.
His assertion of self is at once dangerous, possibly foolish, but
admirable; Hucks value as a distinctly American character is that
he appeals to our ideology of what it means to be American.
Wednesday, December 31, 14