Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the ways that Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" captures the social and economic conflicts within the South, which helped bring America on its path to the Civil War. Huck is a figure whose natural impulses made him a conduit for protest. However, the author points out that Twain sentimentality also is creating an uneasy sympathy in the reader for the waning prospects of the South. The paper relates that critic L. Marx believes that there seems to be a core rejection of the romantic aspects of the work, which ultimately does a grave disservice to its primary moral argument. The author concludes that regardless of this ethical debate, this book boldly tackled the racial issues with nuance and fairness.

From the Paper:

"As to the moral insight of Huck Finn, he argues that lamentably its commitment does not proceed to the fullest extent necessitated by the ambition of Huck's racial innocence. Such is to say that upon the arrival of Tom Sawyer to the proceedings, according to Marx, Twain reaches a creative diversion from the power of the novel's primary plot narrative of escape. By returning to the farce and silliness of Sawyer's inane games, Twain reduces his heroes and, in particular, renders the previously established intellect and sensitivity of Jim to "a flat stereotype'.

Sample of Sources Used:

• Time Magazine. (1950). A Boy & A River. Time Magazine.
• Marx, L. (1953). Mr. Eliot, Mr. Triling, and Huckleberry Finn. American Scholar 22(4), 423-440.

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