The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• By Mark Twain
• Published in 1884

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Mark Twain

• Real name was
• Samuel Clemmens
• Very political
• Wrote about social
• issues and how he
• felt about slavery,
• racism, and war
• Grew up in Missouri and was a river boat pilot
• His experience on the river is what inspired a
  lot of his stories

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Mark Twain cont.

• Twain wrote novels, articles, essays, and poems
• He wrote of happy times
• His wit turned a bit darker when he wrote the
  novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  published in 1884

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Realism

• a theory of writing in which the ordinary,
  familiar, or mundane aspects of life are
  represented in a straightforward or
  matter-of-fact manner that is presumed to reflect
  life as it actually is.

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Huckleberry Finn

• The novel occasionally has been banned in
  Southern states because of its steadfastly
  critical take on the South and the hypocrisies of
  slavery. Others have dismissed Huckleberry Finn
  as vulgar or racist because it uses the word
  n, a term whose connotations obscure the
  novels deeper themeswhich are unequivocally
  antislaveryand even prevent some from reading
  and enjoying it altogether. The fact that the
  historical context in which Twain wrote made his
  use of the word insignificantand, indeed, part
  of the realism he wanted to createoffers little
  solace to some modern readers.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• A story of a boys journey to finding himself in
  an imperfect world
• Bildungsroman-self discovery

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Background Information

• Huck is friends with Tom Sawyer
• Huck lives with Miss Watson
• Hucks mom died when he was young and his dad is
  an abusive alcoholic
• Huck seeks to run away from Miss Watson and be
  able to live on his own and take care of himself

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Major Characters
Huck Finn young boy that seeks to run away from
home smart and efficient uncivilized in manner
and habit Jim slave on Miss Watson's plantation
who later escapes and becomes Hucks
friend Hucks father abusive, drunk old man who
is using Huck for his money
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More Characters

• Tom Sawyer idealist and hopeless romantic,
  constantly pretending and creating situations in
  his head
• Miss Watson foster mother who tried to civilize
  Huck

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Themes- Themes are the fundamental and often
universal ideas explored in a literary work.

• Friendship
• Racism and Slavery
• Maturity
• Freedom
• Legality vs. Morality
• Love
• Hypocrisy of society

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Symbol- Symbols are objects, characters, figures,
or colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.

• Mississippi River-place of escape

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Motifs- Motifs are recurring structures,
contrasts, or literary devices that can help to
develop and inform the texts major themes.

• Childhood
• Lies and Cons
• Relationships

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Literary Terms

• Dialect- regional or social variety of a language
  distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or
  vocabulary
• Hyperbole- extreme exaggeration
• Satire- the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule in
  exposing, denouncing, or deriding immorality