Critical torn from his family. This is another

Critical torn from his family. This is another

Critical Analysis of Huckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain describes thejourney of a young boy and a runaway slave, Jim, up the MississippiRiver. One of the most important themes of the book is that society iscruel.

The book’s tone also changes. Sometimes its serious, othertimes its funny, even silly. The book is classic because the tonesurprises and intrigues the reader while the themes teach the readermoral lessons.While Huck is on his journey he realizes that society is cruel. Anexample of this would be when Buck tells Huck, “A man has a quarrelwith another man, and kills him; then that other man’s brother killshim; then the other brothers on both sides goes for one another..

. andby and by everybody’s killed off, and there ain’t no more feud”(Twain109). Pap, Huck’s father, was very mean to everyone, but especiallyHuck. Pap cannot read and does not want his son to be better thanhimself.

Pap doesn’t like the fact that Widow Douglas is trying to”civilize” him. Pap comes home every night and physically abusesHuck. During the day Pap would lock Huck in the cabin until hereturned in order to keep Huck from escaping.

Nothing can harm achild more than neglect and abuse.The two ladies that take Huck in off the streets are Mrs. Watson and the Widow Douglas. Mrs. Watson has several slaves, one ofwhom was Jim.

It gets to the point where she had no more use forJim, so she decides to sell him to New Orleans. Her actions are goingto separate and destroy a family. Jim decides that he would rather runaway than be torn from his family. This is another example of societybeing cruel. Mrs.

Watson doesn’t have any use for Jim anymore soshe decides to sell him like he is a piece of property.During the journey, Huck and Jim run into the King and the Duke.The King and the Duke aren’t anything but two “rapscallions” whoclaim to be royalty so that they can get special treatment.

One daythey come upon a religious camp meeting, and the King and the Dukemake up a story about being reformed pirates. He tells thecongregation that every time he reforms a pirate he says to them,”Don’t you thank me, don’t you give me no credit; it all belongs to themdear people in Pokeville camp meeting, natural brothers andbenefactors of the race, and that dear preacher up there, the truestfriend a pirate ever had”(Twain 133). Then he explodes into tears andthe people of the camp meeting do, too. The King uses people’sfeelings in order to gain wealth.

They go through towns and put on such plays as the RoyalNonesuch, Richard III, and some others. Usually they are booed offthe stage and warned never to return again. The King, Duke, Huck,and Jim come upon a town where a wealthy man has just passed away. The King and the Duke see an opportunity to steal people blindso they take it. They claim to be Peter Wilkes’s English brothers sothat they can acquire his inheritance.

While the imposters are still intown, the real brothers show up, and catch them red-handed. Furtheron down the river they stop at another small town where the King sellsJim to Silas Phelps for forty dollars. The people that Jim are sold tojust happen to be Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle. Huck tells them thathe is Tom so that he can stay there to help Jim escape. Mark Twain isattempting to show that society is cruel in several aspects. Thosebeing child abuse, prejudice, and slavery.Tone is also important in this literary work.

It changes frombeginning to end in order to surprise and intrigue the reader.Sometimes the tone is serious, at other times its fun and exciting.While Huck and Jim are having adventures on the river, that tone isexciting. While Huck is staying with the Grangerfords, he and Buckhave some adventures of their own. The tone quickly changes whenBuck is fatally shot in the feud.

It becomes more serious. An exampleis, “I cried a little when I was covering up Buck’s face, for he wasmighty good to me”(Twain 117).Jim tells Huck about his deaf and dumb daughter after a fun-filledday on the river. He explains that after his four-year-old daughter hadthe scarlet fever, he told her to shut the door and she didn’t. Heknocked her to the ground and she didn’t say a word. She just smiledat him.

Then suddenly the door slammed and she didn’t flinch. ThenJim went behind her and screamed. After this he realized that hisdaughter had lost her hearing and that he was sorry he had hit her.This is another example of how tone changes.When Huck meets up with Tom Sawyer towards the end of thebook, the tone becomes silly. They are trying to rescue Jim.

Tomwants to do it the hard way and Huck wants to do it the easy way, buthe never says anything about Tom’s plan, except to himself. Hucksays, “I never said nothing, because I warn’t expecting nothingdifferent; but I knowed mighty well that whenever he got his plan readyit wouldn’t have none of them objections to it”(Twain 225). Tom justwants excitement and he wants everything they do to resemble thebooks that he has read. Huck thinks that Tom is educated and knowsbest, so he goes along with it.In conclusion, the timeless themes and the different tones makethis book still very popular today.

Mark Twain is trying to confirm thatsociety is wicked. He uses tone changes to keep the reader interestedand for suspense purposes. In my opinion the novel is a great child’sbook and a great book for older people to fashion their lives after.