Gender in "Huckleberry Finn"

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at how Mark Twain in "Huckleberry Finn" shows Huck to be one who tells the truth as he knows it, without much concern for consequences. The paper contrasts Huck to Tom Sawyer, the more devious character who tries to live up to an ideal found in books. The paper examines these characters' ideas about gender and explains the many different and sometimes controversial interpretations of this theme.

From the Paper:

"Gerald Graff and James Phelan in introducing a piece by Nancy Walker note that few are surprised when racial controversy is found in the pages of this novel, for those issues are also more up front. They also find that much of what the critics find in the novel may be imposed by them and not inherent in the text, and this is one of the reasons why there are so many ongoing arguments about these matters. They cite an argument by Myra Jehlen about the Judith Loftus scene in which Huck dresses as a girl and is discovered by Judith, and Jehlen finds that this "works to dramatize the way in which conventional male and female identities are a product of nurture not nature" (Graff and Phelan 473). As the editors note, other critics see this as an imposition by Jehlen of her own political views and cannot find the same idea in the text."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Graff, Gerald and James Phelan. A case study in critical controversy: 2nd edition. Provided.
• Mensh, Elaine and Harry Mensh. Black, White, and Huckleberry Finn: Re-Imagining the American Dream. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 2000.
• Nichols, Charles H. "'A True Book--With Some Stretchers': Huck Finn Today." In Satire or Evasion?, James S. Leonard, Thomas A. Tenney, and Thadious M. Davis (eds.). Durham: Duke University Press, 1992. 208-215.
• Sloane, Tom. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boston: Twayne, 1988.
• Trilling, Lionel. The Liberal Imagination. New York: Viking Press, 1950.

More papers on Gender in "Huckleberry Finn":

• Analytical Essay # 133547 : "Huckleberry Finn"
• Essay # 43227 : "Race and Bias in Fiction"
• Analytical Essay # 32630 : "A Critical Analysis of Racial Bias in Children's Literature"

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