The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

“All American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn… it’s the best book we’ve had.”

- Ernest Hemingway

Born 1835- Died 1910

Background Informationon

Huck Finn• Published in 1885 –

– Emancipation Proclamation signed in 1863

• Setting1830-1840Mississippi RiverSt. Petersburg, Missouri

• Wrote the book over a period of 10 years– First twelve chapters are a “story”– Rest of the novel is very episodic

• At the time, slavery was permitted in Missouri but not held as “highly” as the more southern states. (The beginnings of an anti-slavery sentiment)

More Background Information on

Huck Finn• Sequel to The Adventures of Tom

Sawyer• Focus on slavery and the South• Novel banned in Southern states

due to its critical take on slavery and southern institutions

• Novel banned in other areas for being considered vulgar and racist

• Moral and racial tensions

Huck Finn : Context of the Novel

• SATIRE: humorous with a serious message - mocking

• Both a work of humor and serious social commentary

• Amusement and enjoyment for the reader

• Picaresque Novel • DIALECT and realism

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

Huckleberry Finn• PROTAGANIST – Main Character• Narrator of the story – First person point of view “I”• An adolescent who is resourceful, clever, and wary

of “sivilization”• Thoughtful, intelligent and willing to go against the

norms of society• Fourteen year-old• Son of the town drunk• Social outcast• Believes in superstitions• Runs away • Travels down the Mississippi River on a raft with a

runaway slave, Jim, as his companion • Uses his skills as a mimic, actor, and teller of tales to escape from danger

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

• Widow Douglas- – She is an older distinguished woman. – Widow of the Justice of the Peace of

St. Petersburg (the village story takes place in)

– Huck likes her, she’s kind to him, feeds him

– Wants to ‘sivilize’ him – tries to adopt him

• Miss Watson -  – The Widow Douglas’s sister. – who lives with her sister, the widow – Her favorite subject is the Bible– Owns Jim

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

Tom Sawyer - 

• Huck’s stubborn and rebellious friend

• Younger than Huck• Serves as a FOIL to Huck.

(Mirror Opposite)• Imaginative, dominating and full

of wild, adventurous plans, • Often acts stupidly and cruelly

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

Jim

•  A Slave• Owned by Miss Watson • Superstitious & Sentimental• Intelligent & Practical• Selfless • Huck’s best friend• Father figure to Huck• Ultimately more of an adult than anyone else in the novel• Has a wife and children

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

Pap • Huck’s father• The town drunk and ne’er-do-well• Abusive to Huck –

– neglects and beats Huck

• Ragged, dirty, foul• Racist, ignorant bigot

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

• Judge Thatcher- – In charge of Huck’s money and partly

responsible for Huck– Kind, intelligent man– A judge – duh.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

• The Grangerford Family- – Family who takes Huck in after the steamboat accident– Meant to be examples of the old Southern families – Wealthy - but ridiculous and empty– Engaged in a longstanding feud with the Shepherdsons – The youngest Grangerford is Buck…becomes a good friend to Huck– Sophia Grangerford runs off with Harney Shepardson – ala Romeo

and Juliet

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

The King and the Duke  • Two con men •Take over Jim and Huck’s raft•Pretend to be royalty•Duke

•younger of the two •invents the Royal Nonesuch •later tarred and feathered in Pikesville.

•King (Dauphin) •The elder of the two •sells Jim as a runaway slave. •later tarred and feathered along with the Duke.

•The duke and the king pretend to be the Wilk’s girls’ uncles from London in an attempt to get the dead father’s money

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

The Wilks Girls•Three daughters

•Joanna Wilks: The youngest, has a harelip.•Susan Wilks: The middle sister •Mary Jane Wilks: The eldest sister, whom Huck starts to fall in love with.

•Father has died•The duke and the king pretend to be the girls’ uncles from London in an attempt to get the dead father’s money

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

The Phelpses• Silas and Sally Phelps - 

– Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle, – Huck coincidentally

encounters them in his search for Jim after the con men have sold him.

– They bought Jim for $40.00– They have custody of Jim and

try to return him to his owner – They think Huck is Tom

Sawyer– They are a good, intact family-

albiet slave owners…

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Central Characters:

• Aunt Polly –– Tom's aunt – Shows up at the end – Finds out tricks Tom has been playing on her kinfolk. – Reveals the true identities of Tom and Huck to her

sister and spoils their attempt to steal Jim out of slavery by explaining he is already free.

•Sid Sawyer- •Tom Sawyer's brother. •Huck pretends to be Tom while living with

Sally Phelps – Tom pretends to be Sid

Point of View• First person, told by Huck• Huck is a semi-literate Missouri boy that serves as a

wry and observant narrator• Twain uses a number of devices to make the

reader feel that Huck is actually telling the story in his own words

1. The frequent use of incorrect grammar and grammatical constructions

2. the use of dialect 3. the use of unorthodox spellings both to suggest

Huck’s brief exposure to formal education and to represent Huck’s nonstandard pronunciation of certain words.

Summary

• 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.