Huckleberry Finn Narrator and main character of the novel. Jim Runaway slave who joins Huck in his flight down the Mississippi. Tom Sawyer Huck's civilized best friend who enjoys extravagant stories and schemes. Pap Finn Huck's abusive, drunken father who plots to steal his son's reward money. The King River con man who claims to be the disappeared heir to the French throne and takes control of Huck and Jim's raft. Widow Douglas Town widow who tries to civilize Huck through kindness and religion.
Miss Watson Widow Douglas's sister who tries to civilize Huck through manners and religion. Judge Thatcher Kindly town judge who watches over Huck's reward money.
Up until that point, Huck and Jim have developed a friendship bound by their mutual plight as runaways. We believe Huck cares about Jim and has learned to see his humanity.
But when Tom Sawyer comes into the novel, Huck changes. Essentially, Huck and Jim have been running away from nothing. Many critics, including American novelist Jane Smiley , believe that by slapping on a happy ending, Twain was ignoring the complex questions his book raises. The objections are usually over the n-word, which occurs over times in the book. Others say that the portrayal of African Americans is stereotypical, racially insensitive, or racist.
In , Stephen Railton, a professor at the University of Virginia, published a version of the book that replaced that offending word with slave. Soon after appeared The Hipster Huckleberry Finn , where the word was replaced with hipster. I wrote Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for adults exclusively, and it always distresses me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean; I know this by my own experience, and to this day I cherish an unappeasable bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old.
None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again this side of the grave. Ask that young lady—she will tell you so. Most honestly do I wish I could say a softening word or two in defense of Huck's character, since you wish it, but really in my opinion it is no better than those of Solomon, David, Satan, and the rest of the sacred brotherhood.
Two wealthy sisters who live together in a large house in St. Petersburg and who adopt Huck. The gaunt and severe Miss Watson is the most prominent representative of the hypocritical religious and ethical values Twain criticizes in the novel. The Widow Douglas is somewhat gentler in her beliefs and has more patience with the mischievous Huck. When Huck acts in a manner contrary to societal expectations, it is the Widow Douglas whom he fears disappointing. The local judge who shares responsibility for Huck with the Widow Douglas and is in charge of safeguarding the money that Huck and Tom found at the end of Tom Sawyer.
A family that takes Huck in after a steamboat hits his raft, separating him from Jim. The kindhearted Grangerfords, who offer Huck a place to stay in their tacky country home, are locked in a long-standing feud with another local family, the Shepherdsons. Twain uses the two families to engage in some rollicking humor and to mock a overly romanticizes ideas about family honor.
At one point during their travels, the duke and the dauphin encounter a man who tells them of the death of a local named Peter Wilks, who has left behind a rich estate. Essentially good people, the Phelpses nevertheless hold Jim in custody and try to return him to his rightful owner. Aunt Polly appears at the end of the novel and properly identifies Huck, who has pretended to be Tom, and Tom, who has pretended to be his own younger brother, Sid.
Ace your assignments with our guide to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why does Jim run away?
0コメント