Hemingway said, "“All modern American literature comes
from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel
because it addresses America's greatest wrong (slavery) using a hilariously irreverent
and iconic narrator (Huck). Although it satirizes America, the novel is very
American.
It's a classic because it's a bridge from Old
World (The Odyssey) to New World, because it's written with such a
youthful voice, and because it is the synthesis of rogue and
rebellion:
- The novel is a
picaresque (a novel told by a rogue, rascal). Huck, even though he
lies and ditches his dad and school, is morally superior to everyone in the book, except
maybe Jim. Huck becomes the biggest winner by being an outsider (the biggest loser).
- The novel is anti-European: Huck dupes the Duke and the
King (symbols of Europe)
1. most European
characters define themselves in context of family
2. Huck
is saying that he doesn’t define himself with others or the past (birth of the American
rebel)
a. Not defined by
family
b. Not defined by
society
c. Not defined by old world
values
d. Not defined by old
literature
- The novel is very
antinomian (rebellious), and
it is descended from the great American spirit of moral, artistic, and political
rebellion
1. Antinomian definition: “through
faith or experience of God’s grace, you live outside the
law”
2. Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence: a list of complaints
3. Melville’s
(Moby Dick) “No in Thunder”
4. Henry
David Thoreau’s Walden, Civil Disobedience:
chose to live outside pro-war (Mexican War) society
5.
Hester Prynne (Scarlet Letter) as adulteress, forced to live
outside Puritanical society
6. Huckleberry
Finn: chose to live outside pro-slavery
society
a. Huck says, “I’m so lonesome I could
die”
b. Twain’s intro: “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
will be shot.”
He's calling out proponents of slavery, the
North, the South, Republicans, Democrats, Christians, parents, schools, whites,
Europeans, and critics of the book. As such, he's going after nearly
everybody.
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