Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

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Anita Bensoussane
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Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I recently re-read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and was struck anew by how different it is from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The latter has some dark and macabre elements but is still essentially a children's book, with Tom and his friends getting into one scrape after another. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is much more of a commentary on the society of the time, looking at harshness, violence, duplicity, prejudices and slavery through the eyes of a boy whose gut instincts are against the prevailing views of the era, but who considers that his feelings and actions make him irredeemably sinful. It's not that Huck has a moral code by which he abides - far from it - but his heart is in the right place. Journeying with Huck and Jim along the river of life, symbolised by the Mississippi River which brings them a degree of freedom but also many dangers, is time well spent. Not an easy read as Mark Twain represents the dialects of various characters and the subject-matter is often grim (though there is humour in Huck's narration), but a satisfying read.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

Gah!! I've scoured my shelves and I can't find my copy of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn anywhere!! :evil: I keep drawing a big blank :?: !! I'm sure I haven't loaned it to anyone - and I know I definitely have a copy, because I've dipped into it a couple of times!! Very frustrating!

Thanks for your post, Anita - it's really got me wanting to read the book. I'm going to have to content myself with some online browsing and the introduction to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer though (which contains a comparison of the two books, as well as a short biography of Mark Twain so that isn't quite as strange as it sounds!!)
Anita Bensoussane wrote:Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is much more of a commentary on the society of the time, looking at harshness, violence, duplicity, prejudices and slavery through the eyes of a boy whose gut instincts are against the prevailing views of the era, but who considers that his feelings and actions make him irredeemably sinful. It's not that Huck has a moral code by which he abides - far from it - but his heart is in the right place.
He sounds as though he's a very sympathetic character for a reader to respond to. I'm looking forward to it, but also slightly nervous as well, as I'm a real coward when it comes to facing up to the horrible behaviours of human beings, both past and present, as well as the other harsh realities of this world. I understand that Huck is older, so I suppose that is reflected in his how he views and responds to the world. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of himself, too, as there is clearly some self-reflection going on, judging by your post.

:)
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Carlotta King »

I don't know if it's any help, Sarah, but it's available for free at the Project Gutenberg site, where you can download ebooks for free. If you have a Kindle you can get it for that, or read it online or download it as a txt file to read in Word or something. Not the same as a proper book but if you have a craving to read it, it's better than nothing. :D

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76?msg=welcome_stranger" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by Carlotta King on 03 Mar 2014, 23:21, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Spitfire wrote:He sounds as though he's a very sympathetic character for a reader to respond to.
Huck is sympathetic overall but he's a complex character, and of course he has been shaped to some extent by the society with which he feels at odds.

There are some shocking episodes but they're not too graphically described. I felt very tense reading a part near the end of the book which is really rather surreal (I can't say any more without giving away plot points!)
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Katharine »

I'm finding this very interesting. We read one (or possibly both) the books at high school, but I have virtually no recollection of the story at all. Normally anything with 'shocking episodes' in it would have left a mental scar on me, but the only bit I seem to remember is something about a fence being painted. However I can't even remember why the fence is painted, or who is painting it.

I've thought about getting hold of the books to re-read them, but after the comments on here, I'm going to steer well clear of them. Thanks for the warning folks. :D
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Yes Anita, the first book and the second are different, but number three is really different! If I have it right in my mind. It is the first Detective Story with Kids. Tom Sawyer made his work like a real Sherlock and Huck like Watson. A great book! But all books are great. But I have never read number 4, so I will see when I will celebrate it ...
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I have Tom Sawyer, Detective sitting on the shelf, Soenke, but I've never read it. I'll have to give it a try! I haven't got Tom Sawyer Abroad but I believe it parodies travel tales written by authors like Jules Verne. Mark Twain obviously enjoyed experimenting and thought nothing of lifting his characters out of one genre and placing them in another.
Katharine wrote:...the only bit I seem to remember is something about a fence being painted. However I can't even remember why the fence is painted, or who is painting it.
That's in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It's a humorous episode and Enid Blyton has used a similar scenario in one or two of her stories.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Francis »

I still remember 'Tom Sawyer' with its' great scenes - the whitewashing of the fence, the murder in the cemetery during a body snatching, having a knife thrown at Tom by 'Indian Joe', getting lost in the caves and coming across Indian Joe and seeing his own commemoration service as his aunt things he's dead.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Katharine »

Ah, I always had an image of a white fence, and wasn't sure why. I remember the name Indian Joe, and the bit about the commemoration service also rings a bell. Thankfully I don't recall a murder or body snatching. Definitely don't think I'll be revisiting the book. :?
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Wolfgang »

My brother had two Vinyl records of the adventures of Tom Sayer and Huckleberry Finn. I think though that they're only about first book though. I started to read the book once, but I found Enid Blyton more interesting. Maybe I should get out the old records and listen to them again.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

If you had books rather than records, an ideal place to read them would be sitting on a riverbank on a summer's day, with a picnic.

Has anyone else read Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, about a prince (the young Edward VI) and a peasant boy who resemble one another? One day they swap clothes and end up living each other's lives. Enid Blyton wrote several similar (though short) stories, such as 'The Princess and the Cottage-Girl' in which a princess and a poor girl who resemble one another swap places. As I once said in another post, stories like that may perhaps have been inspired by Mark Twain's classic - though not necessarily. The idea of royalty living as commoners is a traditional theme and there are a number of old fairy-tales in which kings disguise as peasants so they can mingle with their subjects and learn about the concerns of their people.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Wolfgang wrote:My brother had two Vinyl records of the adventures of Tom Sayer and Huckleberry Finn. I think though that they're only about first book though. I started to read the book once, but I found Enid Blyton more interesting. Maybe I should get out the old records and listen to them again.
I suppose the Europa record version. :-) The two records are only of book one. My favorite scene was how Indiana Jones walked the stairs up and than the terrible sound. :-) But the Kiosk Version was better - 5 MCs. :-)

My favorite chapter of the book is the chapter with the teacher, the angling rod and the cat. :evil: :D
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

Carlotta King wrote:I don't know if it's any help, Sarah, but it's available for free at the Project Gutenberg site, where you can download ebooks for free. If you have a Kindle you can get it for that, or read it online or download it as a txt file to read in Word or something. Not the same as a proper book but if you have a craving to read it, it's better than nothing. :D

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76?msg=welcome_stranger" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ooh, thanks very much indeed, Cathy - I've bookmarked the link. :D :D
Anita Bensoussane wrote:Has anyone else read Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, about a prince (the young Edward VI) and a peasant boy who resemble one another? One day they swap clothes and end up living each other's lives. Enid Blyton wrote several similar (though short) stories, such as 'The Princess and the Cottage-Girl' in which a princess and a poor girl who resemble one another swap places. As I once said in another post, stories like that may perhaps have been inspired by Mark Twain's classic - though not necessarily. The idea of royalty living as commoners is a traditional theme and there are a number of old fairy-tales in which kings disguise as peasants so they can mingle with their subjects and learn about the concerns of their people.
I haven't read it, but there must have been a film/TV adaptation as I've just realised from your description that I've watched some of it!! I had no idea it was a Mark Twain novel and have just added it to my to-read list. (I also had no idea that Tom Sawyer, Detective and Tom Sawyer Abroad existed; I've never seen the books or heard of them before.)

The plots of and ideas behind fairy tales and allegories/fables do indeed reproduce themselves again and again over the years by different writers. I haven't got 'The Princess and the Cottage Girl', but I have got 'In the King's Shoes' which is based on the same sort of idea. Enid was great at making each story seem fresh even if she was re-working old ideas, and as her short stories usually contain a moral they stand up to a great deal of re-telling - it's just like seeing loads of short extracts of other people's lives!! I particularly like her use of animals and plants/flowers/trees in these short stories, which extend the rules of right and wrong and common-sense to the natural world - very appealing to children. It would be really interesting to know if Enid had ever read The Prince and the Pauper (or perhaps both she and Mark Twain were influenced by the same source - we'll never know!!)
Francis wrote:I still remember 'Tom Sawyer' with its' great scenes - the whitewashing of the fence, the murder in the cemetery during a body snatching, having a knife thrown at Tom by 'Indian Joe', getting lost in the caves and coming across Indian Joe and seeing his own commemoration service as his aunt things he's dead.
Despite the seriousness of some of the things that Tom gets mixed up in, the book is just a great lark from beginning to end as he tumbles straight from one scrape to another - I do love this book!

I like Mark Twain's strong, humorous and distinctive narrative voice too. Addressing the reader directly is considered an old-fashioned device now (the 'Dear Reader' thing is considered patronising, and in how-to-write books that I have it is even sneered at), but it really works in a story like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where the reader can sense the author's enjoyment of his creations, and has the benefit of the author's commentary - for example, when he remarks to the reader that the 'compositions' he uses (in chapter twenty-two) are taken from life and are therefore 'much happier than any imitations could be'. The same 'how-to-write books' insist that it is better to 'show' readers the story rather than 'tell' them, but while I agree in general, it ignores the pure enjoyment that a skilled, strong narrative voice can provide. Twain gives us both showing and telling... and when such a talented writer frames the action and dialogue with their own narrative, it's like having the icing and the cherry on the cake!!
Katharine wrote:Ah, I always had an image of a white fence, and wasn't sure why. I remember the name Indian Joe, and the bit about the commemoration service also rings a bell. Thankfully I don't recall a murder or body snatching. Definitely don't think I'll be revisiting the book. :?
It's not too gruesome, really - mostly just boyish pranks and adventures, and nothing unpleasant is described in any detail - the unpleasant things that the boys witness are only parts of what is, overall, a light-hearted series of adventures. There is also a moral tone to the events. Injun Joe gets his comeuppance in quite a horrible way, but it is dealt with in a grave manner - and the reader only learns about it after it's over. The details given are sparse - though vivid, I found. There's also a strong sense of community throughout the book, and it's a fascinating insight into American society at that time... though I gather from what Anita says that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains much more social observation and commentary than The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It seems that the two books are completely different. (Not that I'm trying to persuade you to read either of them, Katharine! :) )
Soenke Rahn wrote:My favorite chapter of the book is the chapter with the teacher, the angling rod and the cat.


Yes, that's hilarious... not sure what mine would be. I like the church service, with the dog and tick as visiting members of the congregation, the oh-so-innocent love-affair between Tom and Becky, and the part where Huck follows the men and then subsequently works up courage to get help for Widow Douglas... but my favourite part is in Chapter Twenty, when Aunt Polly learns that Tom kissed her while she was sleeping. :)
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Spitfire wrote:I haven't got 'The Princess and the Cottage Girl', but I have got 'In the King's Shoes' which is based on the same sort of idea.
Ah yes - I've read that one too.
Spitfire wrote:Despite the seriousness of some of the things that Tom gets mixed up in, the book is just a great lark from beginning to end as he tumbles straight from one scrape to another - I do love this book!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a lighter read than Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though some of my favourite moments are the darker parts such as the boys turning up at their own funeral service, and Tom and Becky getting lost in the underground passages.
Spitfire wrote:I like Mark Twain's strong, humorous and distinctive narrative voice too. Addressing the reader directly is considered an old-fashioned device now (the 'Dear Reader' thing is considered patronising, and in how-to-write books that I have it is even sneered at), but it really works in a story like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where the reader can sense the author's enjoyment of his creations, and has the benefit of the author's commentary - for example, when he remarks to the reader that the 'compositions' he uses (in chapter twenty-two) are taken from life and are therefore 'much happier than any imitations could be'.
I don't find that device patronising at all. In my opinion it feels friendly and intimate, as though the author is reaching out to me and sharing jokes and secrets with me. It's used by many of my favourite children's writers including E. Nesbit, Enid Blyton and C. S. Lewis.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is quite different because the story is told in Huck's inimitable style and we see everything through his eyes.

To digress a little, authors come in for some rum criticism at times. I once read a snooty newspaper article which criticised J. K. Rowling for using "too many adverbs" in her Harry Potter books, but I've read the series twice and I can't say I found her use of adverbs overdone or intrusive. To know that a character did something "hastily", "cautiously" or in some other manner surely adds to the story.
Spitfire wrote:There's also a strong sense of community throughout the book, and it's a fascinating insight into American society at that time... though I gather from what Anita says that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains much more social observation and commentary than The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The reader actually gets a closer look at a settled community in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck is constantly on the move so we come to know families or small groups of people at each place - and these glimpses of people's lives give us an overview of the society of the time.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I don't find that device patronising at all. In my opinion it feels friendly and intimate, as though the author is reaching out to me and sharing jokes and secrets with me. It's used by many of my favourite children's writers including E. Nesbit, Enid Blyton and C. S. Lewis.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is quite different because the story is told in Huck's inimitable style and we see everything through his eyes.
I don't find it patronising either, and agree (thinking of Enid Blyton particularly) that it creates a 'friendly and intimate' tone, and builds a rapport directly between author and reader. It is just as valid and enjoyable, as far as reader experience goes, as 'identifying' with characters - something that is often considered by people criticizing and commenting on children's books. Many of the books I grew up reading used the 'omniscient viewpoint', some simply (like Enid Blyton) some with a grand flourish (like Dickens), while Twain, in my opinion, strikes quite a conversational note in his narrative. About five years ago I decided to do a writer's course, and I was struck by how dismissive many of the text books I had were of this device. I can't find as quickly as I need to to quote here the particular comments that I remember... but in Writing a Children's Book Pamela Cleaver remarks 'don't do as the Victorians did, address the reader over the character's heads [...] the advantage of the omniscient viewpoint is that the reader sees everything; the disadvantage is that it is hard to get close to the main character.' This seemed to be the consensus of the authors of the 'how to write' books that I read at the time, but I remember some comments as being much more dismissive. (I don't agree that it makes it harder to get close to the characters!)

Even in the introduction to my copy of TAoTS, John Seelye (no idea who he is!) remarks '...the point of view in Tom Sawyer is that of an adult who can at times be caught talking condescendingly to the reader over his little hero's head.' It seems odd that he then goes on to admire Twain's 'theatrical' and 'melodramatic' style - I would have thought that the point-of-view would be considered an important part of the overall effect. I don't find Twain condescending at all; he's a powerful, humorous narrator.

I know we're slightly off-topic here, but I'd be really interested to know if anyone can think of modern children's stories that use the 'omniscient viewpoint' device. I can't think of any myself, but I don't think I've read as much really modern children's literature as some others on the forums.
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