So far, 3 for 3, being pregnant makes me read a lot! After reading Connecticut Yankee, I decided I must sample some more Twain, and I decided on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
First off, I think I read this before, or at least read an excerpt. Although I never felt like I knew what was going to happen, a lot of the story seemed familiar. The copy I had quoted several modern writers basically describing this story as utter perfection - and it is good. It is so full and yet easy to read.
As a preface, Twain explains the difference in dialect used by the characters - he says, "The shadings have not been done in a hap-hazard fashion, or by guess-work; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech." That part in itself is fascinating, particularly to me because parts of the story were set in Arkansas.
Of course in a book like this, you can't get around the "n" word, which seems to be used on almost every page. It's important because Huck has to decide what is right in regards to Jim - a runaway slave. Is it immoral to not return him to his owner (who is a kind and gentle woman) or to not assist him in his escape. Yet, the "n" word is never viewed as a slur - Obviously it refers to the color of Jim's skin, but it's also used as interchangeable with slave or servant. It is perfectly balanced because you know that is how people talked back then, a real novel about those times, not some modern historical novel dancing around trying to make it seem like the main character has a modern, unoffensive sense of right and wrong. Not that I believe morality is relative, but that Huck's thought process is consistent with someone who had been brought up knowing black people only as slaves.
Three minor characters stood out to me:
1. Tom Sawyer, I guess now I need to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! He is an interesting character to compare with Huck. Huck lives out these incredible adventures, but Tom is this utterly romantic character - extremely well read and somehow able to see all his fantastical ideas as real without ever doing anything real at all.
2. Colonel Sherburn - a small town Arkansas lawman who shoots a drunken farmer named Boggs. Boggs routinely had come to town hopelessly drunk and threatening Sherburn and Sherburn was fed up with him. He gives him an ultimatum to leave town, Boggs doesn't so he shoots him. The townspeople had been critical of Boggs, but upon his death gang up on Sherburn intending to lynch him. Sherburn is unmoved, "I know the average all around. The average man is a coward...You didn't want to come. The average man don't like trouble and danger. You don't like trouble and danger...Now leave..." and the crowd disperses.
3. Dr. Robinson - a discerning man who sees through the scam of the "king" and "duke" instantly. The contrast is similar as with Colonel Sherburn - he is totally unlike all the other people in town.
Particularly the 2nd two seem interesting characters for Huck to observe. He is a sort of backwards boy with a haphazard upbringing, but actively sorting out morality at the same time. Although he makes no judgment in the case of Boggs, I think both of these stories go along with the overall theme of trying to choose what is right.
Words tend to change in their meaning as they are applied to things they were never intended to mean. While the "n" word has evolved into bad connotations, so do other words have more than one meaning--like gay, which used to mean only that one was happy and carefree.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to go back and read this book. For your next Twain, try Pudd'nhead Wilson if you haven't already. Nick and I listened to it on tape and had a lot of laughs!
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