Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Daniel J. Travanti
ENG 598
Spring 1976
Our distinguished author, who has made his reputation with previous works of travel, fable and adventure, here delivers us an admirable allegory which bravely combines the charms of all three in one narrative. The following is the notice prefixed to this noble work:
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative
Will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral
In it will be banished; persons attempting to find a
Plot in it will be shot.
This apparently caustic caution is representative of the humorous tint with which Mr. Twain, with the skill of a painter, washes his landscapes. He has the need to gainsay any moral in his tale, yet its entire trend is to draw in detail a lesson of the troubles a young man is to draw in detail a lesson of the troubles a young man is bound to encounter when he attempts to abandon the rules and regulations of a civilized and ordered life for the cavalier truancy of directionless adventure. The author’s humorous cast is calculated to disarm the reader, appealing to his softer nature while it colors harder truths.
Dealing entirely among the familiar scenes of life, the narrative brings to view characters which we see every day in nature. There is the central figure of the titled, who is always on the foreground, as in a Gainsborough portrait, living and moving against a backdrop of villages, river banks, fields and parlors. As our principal figure is simple, unstudied, and unadorned, so is his scenery. So is his speech, and each figure’s in turn, suited in simplicity to his station.
As Dr. Johnson observes of Shakespeare in his distinguished Preface, Mr. Twain suits his characters’ discourses to their humors. As our author here promises in his Explanatory following his Notice, “a number of dialects are used” and carry patterns of thought peculiar to the speakers alone. Such is the writer’s accuracy in observance of natural forms of speech that he causes us to feel his personages are men and women of flesh, each a true representative of a sort all readers have encountered in life. And the variety Mr. Twain achieves in his endeavor, from the most light-hearted portraits to pernicious drawings of ruffians and rascals, bespeaks a fertile imagination.
But though we find here passages of high emotion and detestable actions that threaten to horrify and tear asunder the passions of the reader, these are tempered by genuine touches of humor. Unlike those members of the common herd of novelists, Mr. Twain cares to appeal to our natural virtues, that clarify and help each reader understand better the true way that a light heart carries the good person. Through all of Huckleberry’s adversity, he remains loyal to his ebon friend Jim, demonstrating the stalwart camaraderie of a true friend. In a world seeking stability of thought and moderation in all things, our young adventurer shows himself capable of deep filial love, helping his less privileged companion to find a fuller and free life. It is a Christian duty of the highest rank to aid our oppressed brethren, and he who will go so far as to risk his own life and limb in the cause deserves the laurel. Jim is indeed a Noble Savage, who in his gentility and devotion to his protector proves the sublimity of the natural man. With exemplary tact, Mr. Twain, you have shown us the possibility of equality between two very disparate creatures of God, in a sometimes perilous, but ultimately benevolent world.
There is more to recommend this tale which, though simple in narration, is rich as a tapestry in thought. On the whole, I can confidently assure the curious reader of a satisfying adventure in its reading, which will bring satisfaction to his head; and, what is still better, to his heart.