Bicol University GUBAT CAMPUS Gubat, Sorsogon

Adventures of Huckleberr y Finn

A Literary Analysis
Submitted by:

Leny Dolot
BSED-II Submitted to:

Prof. Yolanda M. Belbes

February 13, 2011

LITERARY ANALYSIS I. TITLE: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn AUTHOR: Mark Twain NO. OF PAGES: 366 LITERARY MOVEMENT The novel could be considered to be under the literary movement Realism as the novel focuses on the life of the primary character Huck. III. SETTING 1. The time was after the civil war. 2. The adventures happened in the Mississippi River. IV. CHARACTERS Huckleberry Finn - The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Huck is the thirteen-year-old son of the local drunk of St. Petersburg, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River. Frequently forced to survive on his own wits and always a bit of an outcast, Huck is thoughtful, intelligent (though formally uneducated), and willing to come to his own conclusions about important matters, even if these conclusions contradict societys norms. Nevertheless, Huck is still a boy, and is influenced by others, particularly by his imaginative friend, Tom. Tom Sawyer - Hucks friend, and the protagonist of Tom Sawyer, the novel to which Huckleberry Finn is ostensibly the sequel. In Huckleberry Finn, Tom serves as a foil to Huck: imaginative, dominating, and given to wild plans taken from the plots of adventure novels, Tom is everything that Huck is not. Toms stubborn reliance on the authorities of romance novels leads him to acts of incredible stupidity and startling cruelty. His rigid adherence to societys conventions aligns Tom with the sivilizing forces that Huck learns to see through and gradually abandons. Widow Douglas and Miss Watson - 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

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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. Jim - One of Miss Watsons household slaves. Jim is superstitious and occasionally sentimental, but he is also intelligent, practical, and ultimately more of an adult than anyone else in the novel. Jims frequent acts of selflessness, his longing for his family, and his friendship with both Huck and Tom demonstrate to Huck that humanity has nothing to do with race. Because Jim is a black man and a runaway slave, he is at the mercy of almost all the other characters in the novel and is often forced into ridiculous and degrading situations. Pap - Hucks father, the town drunk and neer-do-well. Pap is a wreck when he appears at the beginning of the novel, with disgusting, ghostlike white skin and tattered clothes. The illiterate Pap disapproves of Hucks education and beats him frequently. Pap represents both the general debasement of white society and the failure of family structures in the novel. The duke and the dauphin - A pair of con men whom Huck and Jim rescue as they are being run out of a river town. The older man, who appears to be about seventy, claims to be the dauphin, the son of King Louis XVI and heir to the French throne. The younger man, who is about thirty, claims to be the usurped Duke of Bridgewater. Although Huck quickly realizes the men are frauds, he and Jim remain at their mercy, as Huck is only a child and Jim is a runaway slave. The duke and the dauphin carry out a number of increasingly disturbing swindles as they travel down the river on the raft. Judge Thatcher - 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. When Huck discovers that Pap has returned to town, he wisely signs his fortune over to the Judge, who doesnt really accept the money, but tries to comfort Huck. Judge Thatcher has a daughter, Becky, who was Toms girlfriend in Tom Sawyer and whom Huck calls Bessie in this novel. The Grangerfords - 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. Ultimately, the families sensationalized feud gets many of them killed. The Wilks family - 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. The man inadvertently gives the con

men enough information to allow them to pretend to be Wilkss two brothers from England, who are the recipients of much of the inheritance. The duke and the dauphins subsequent conning of the good-hearted and vulnerable Wilks sisters is the first step in the con mens increasingly cruel series of scams, which culminate in the sale of Jim. Silas and Sally Phelps - Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle, whom Huck coincidentally encounters in his search for Jim after the con men have sold him. Sally is the sister of Toms aunt, Polly. Essentially good people, the Phelpses nevertheless hold Jim in custody and try to return him to his rightful owner. Silas and Sally are the unknowing victims of many of Tom and Hucks preparations as they try to free Jim. The Phelpses are the only intact and functional family in this novel, yet they are too much for Huck, who longs to escape their sivilizing influence. Aunt Polly - Tom Sawyers aunt and guardian and Sally Phelpss sister. 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. V. PLOT Huck finds Paps distinctive footprints in the snow and realizes his abusive father has returned. Huck sells his treasure to Judge Thatcher so that Pap cant get it. Judge Thatcher and the widow try to get custody of Huck. 1. Kind: Linear Plot 2. Parts 2.1 Exposition At the start of the story, Huck tells the reader what has happened since the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He describes the treasure found by the boys and how it was invested for them. Huck spends some time complaining about being cared for by the widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. 2.2 Crisis Pap kidnaps Huck and imprisons him. When Pap goes to town to drink, Huck fakes his own death and hides out on Jacksons island. 2.3 Complication Huck reaches shore and is taken by the Grangerfords, a family involved in a feud with another family, the Sheperdsons. Huck finds Jim hiding in a swamp. After the feud erupts and the men are killed, Huck and Jim take off. 2.4 Climax

Huck finds two scam artists, the Duke and the King. The scam artists invent a con to trick the three orphaned girls out of their inheritance. They pretend to be the girls uncle and trick a large bag of gold from them. 2.5 Denouement Huck steals the gold from the King and hides it in the girls fathers coffin. When the real uncle arrives, the Duke and the King are challenged to prove their identities by describing a tattoo in the dead fathers chest. The Duke and King turn Jim in as a runaway slave. 3. Literary Device 3.1 Flashback (Exposition) 3.2 Foreshadowing (Plot) VI. POINT OF VIEW Hucks buddy during his adventures is Jim a runaway slave. The two shape friendship and adventures as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft. VII. THEME Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is Mark Twains masterpiece. Through him the readers judge society on its faults and strengths. VIII. VOCABULARIES o Humorous - a : full of or characterized by humor : funny b : indicating or expressive of a sense of humor o Distinctive - a : serving to distinguish <the distinctive flight of the crane> b : having or giving style or distinction <a distinctive table setting> o Feud - a mutual enmity or quarrel that is often prolonged or inveterate; especially : blood feud o Exhumed - to bring back from neglect or obscurity <exhumed a great deal of information from the archives> o Adopt - to take by choice into a relationship; especially : to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) as one's own child IX. QUESTIONS o Who is the main character in the story? o Where did the story happen?

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What happen to Huck when he found his Pap? What is the name of the city which is a free state? Who are the two scam artists that Huck found? Who adopted Huck? PART OF THE STORY I LIKE MOST The part of the story I appreciate the most was when the two boys found the treasure in the cave.

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RECOMMENDATION Based on the story that I read, it is about what a father can do for his son. The father has the responsibility to give love and care for his children. The children in return must respect and love their father.