"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" follows the epic tradition in that it is journey--a series of events, some fortunate and some unfortunate.
Twain is working something here, as usual, with his title and characters and language (that's the nature of being an author.) We have Tom, who reads and takes the adventures of his books and plays them out. He speaks seriously about them, but the violence and foul practices that make these adventures so exciting never turn up in his play. (This is a good thing.) For Huck, life is a little different. Adventures are not make-believe. Huck's life would be an adventure that Tom would try to play if he were to read about it. Huck's life has all the necessary elements for "adventure:" robbery, violence, escape, disguise, etc. A gun to Huck is a practical tool for survival. To Tom, it is a novel-ty.
This is Twain's Realism. He is revealing the true nature of "adventure." The ordinary life is an adventure. Social underdogs--insignificant boys and run-away slaves--meandering down the Mississippi are the true characters of adventures. The situations are imaginable and real, retold in the epic-structured novel.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I love how you point out that Huck's real life would be quintessential for Tom's fictional adventures. I never thought of the idea that Huck's real life story is the type of thing that Tom is trying to create through his schemes. That's a really good idea that I never thought about.
Post a Comment