Which paradox is inherent in huck finns character

The straightest forward of these approaches is the division of good and bad through protagonist and antagonist.

Which calls to question that intended target audience of this novel. While Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has traditionally been pegged as a novel written for children, the very construction of the novel implies that it was never intended for a young adult audience. Twain was aware that the topics discussed in the novel were far too weighty for a child to process.

Twain intended to make some very grown up statements, and in order to convey these concepts, while being mindful of the times, he conceived a sophisticated dichotomy between two characters. This dichotomy allowed Twain to employ a paradoxical metaphor which served to carefully illuminate his disdain for slavery. As explained by William F.

Where Tom represents romanticism and imagination, Huck represents reality. Tom Sawyer is invested in play, Huck is motivated by facts.

Yet, Huck Finn looks to Tom Sawyer and envies his education and flare for the dramatic. But at the same time, Tom remains committed to middle-American life. Tom imagines a life of adventure, but wants to live within the constraints of society, while Huck lives a life of adventure and wants to live a simple life. This is a striking statement. A foreshadowing of what would become when Tom Sawyer appears at the end of the novel, spinning his wild plan of escape for Jim, despite his knowledge that Jim had been freed from slavery.

Tom, the moral, church going, upstanding young man, becomes the deceiver, playing a deadly game. Yet, Huck, the outcast, the morally questionable, holds a higher moral ground.

Huck Finn represents reality. In , while in the middle of penning Huckleberry Finn, Twain returned to the Mississippi River for the first time since he was a child. What he found there broke apart his idealized version of the South. Huck Finn, however, gives a voice to reality. What has developed through the balance between reality and romanticism is a powerful metaphor, which relies heavily on the return of Tom Sawyer to the novel.

In chapters one through three, the metaphor is established. Tom is contriving stories of danger, meanwhile Huck is living them. Again in Chapter 12 when Huck is talking Jim into boarding the wreck Huck says:. Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? Huck admires Tom. He measures his own acts to those of his friends. Huck looks up to Tom and desires to mirror his imaginative antics. Yet, the metaphor reveals that these actions lead to high-risk and careless actions.

Twain has carefully created a warning to his readers that a life lived in pursuit of romanticized thoughts leads to reckless actions. Just as Twain himself realized in his journey back to his boyhood stomping ground, continuing to live life through an idealized lens is an impossibility when you face the facts of reality.

Twain wrote:. But I went to bed a hundred years old, every night—for meantime I had been seeing those faces as they are now Twain, qtd in Martin. In this reality, he crafted a carefully staged message to his readers about the dangerous of romantic idealism.

A fact that becomes increasing prominent as we approach the conclusion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In order to make his point clear, Mark Twain created these two characters, Huck and Tom, with intent to juxtapose them in terms of their world views.

Huck and Tom define the causality of Southern ideology. As is explained by W. Wimsatt, Jr. In essence, despite the intent of the author, the development of characters creates concrete truths that are not reliant on authorship, but rather by the development of the character themselves.

As Wimsatt explains,. What is so successful about the development of this concrete universal in Huckleberry Finn is that these characters have realized a complex struggle. The characters themselves have revealed concepts that are universally true in humanity. Thus, Huck needs Tom to provide the structure for the overall relationship not only between the characters, but within the characters.

Huck will participate in a battle between the two metaphors, between romanticism and reality. As explained by Professor Judy C Foster, these binary situations that are continually in conflict with one another provide strength to the novel.

Acknowledging that these human experiences are true and intended, it is clear that the ending of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn does not deviate from its intention. Despite this, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has endured a vast amount of criticism for the circumstances surrounding the conclusion of the novel.

Most of the discussion revolves around the characterization of Jim, Huck, and Tom at the end of the novel. George C. Carrington explored the myriad of criticism, citing:. Much of the trouble in examining Huckleberry Finn comes from demanding rigid consistency. Carrington xii. Each of these criticisms of the novel can be specifically addressed.

Again, Twain uses Huck as the vehicle for revealing the truth to his audience. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Huck Finn by Mark Twain.

Remember me. Forgot your password? Buy Study Guide. King Solomon. Miss Watson is there. Jim is there. Pa is there. George Peters. Sarah Williams. In Chapter 35, what does Tom instruct Huck to do?

How do they all make good their escape from the villagers in Chapter 23? How much do Tom and Huck each receive when they found the money the robbers hid in the cave? Jim and Huck are trying to reach which town during their trip downriver? Why does Huck go along with Tom Sawyer?

Huck is still impressed by what Tom represents of "society. In Chapter 31, Huck's decision about whether or not to turn in Jim means Huck decides to go to hell rather than turn his friend in to Miss Watson.. What happens in the fog at Cairo, Illinois? Huck makes fun of Jim's dreaminterpretation of the "trash" on the raft, but later apologizes b.

Jim and Huck get separated. The story Jim tells Huck about Elizabeth shows that a. Jim misses his family and has feelings identical to those of white fathers. Jim is a good father. A central narrative pattern in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn involves Huck's lying.

When Huck sees the Duke and the King tarred and feathered, he says, "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race. Who says that you can "rub an old tin lamp or an iron ring, and then the genies come tearing in, with the thunder and lightning a-ripping around and the smoke a-rolling, and everything they're told to do they up and do it.

They don't think nothing of. Tom Sawyer. When Huck meets Aunt Sally for the first time, he makes up what excuse for his being late? The boat he was on "went aground. The boat he was on blew out a cylinder-head. A black man was killed. The climax of Huck's adventures occurs when Jim is freed and Huck finds out his father is dead. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been criticized and censored for a.

In response to Huck's comment that a black man was killed, Aunt Sally comments, "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can best be described as social commentary b. He is afraid Pap will kill him.. Judging from all of his narrative puzzles, Twain may be viewed as a Trickster.

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