The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Essay Preview: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Chapter 1 Summary:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins where the The Adventures of Tom Sawyer leaves off. At the end of the previous novel, Huck and Tom find a treasure of twelve thousand dollars which they divide. Judge Thatcher takes their money and invests it in the bank at six percent interest, so that each boy earns a dollar a day on their money. Huck Finn moves in with the Widow Douglas, who has agreed to care for him.
Huckleberry Finn is the narrator of this story, and he starts off by describing his life to the reader. After moving in with the Widow Douglas, he soon runs away because she tries to “civilize” him: she buys him new clothes and begins teaching him the Bible. Tom Sawyer goes after Huck and convinces him to return after promising that they will start a band of robbers together. Huck, even though he returns, still complains about the fact that he must wear new clothes and eat only when the dinner bell rings, something he was not used to while growing up.
The Widow Douglas is careful to teach Huck the Bible and to forbid him from smoking. Her attentions towards him are complemented by her sister, Miss Watson, who also lives in the house. Miss Watson is a spinster who decides that Huck must get an education. She tries to teach him spelling and she also lectures him on behaving well so that he will go to heaven. Miss Watson warns Huck that if he does not start behaving he will go to hell. However, Huck is more impressed by her description of hell which he thinks sounds like a lot more fun than the lessons she keeps trying to teach him.
Huck goes to and lights a candle. He starts to feel extremely lonesome and whenever he hears a night sound, such as an owl, a dog or a whippowill, he equates the sound with death. At one point he flicks a spider and accidentally causes the spider to burn up in the candle flame, which he takes to be a very bad omen. Huck waits until midnight, and at that time a soft meow comes from outside his window. Huck replies and then climbs out of the window and drops to the ground where he meets Tom Sawyer.
Chapter 1 Analysis:
The first sentence introduces Huck in a colloquial, friendly manner: “You dont know about me.” This is important because it sets up Huck as the narrator right from the first words. This is clearly going to be a book told from his point of view. In addition, Twain is careful to add the comment that not knowing about Hucks adventures in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer “aint no matter.” This comment is meant to assure Twains readers that they can read this book without any prior knowledge of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Living with the Widow Douglas is a form of nurture for Huck Finn; she wants to raise him as a civilized child. This immediately sets up the main theme of the novel, the conflict between civilization and freedom. Twain tends to follow the beliefs of Jen-Jacques Rousseau in suggesting that civilization corrupts rather than improves human beings. For example, right in this first chapter, Huck is forced to change his natural character into what the Widow Douglas demands him to become. He feels cramped in new clothes, and he hates having to eat dinner when a dinner bell rings. This new lifestyle is simultaneously cleverly contrasted to his old lifestyle. For example, the “barrel of odds and ends” implies a pigs slop bucket; Twain originally meant to indicate that Huck had to compete for food with pigs. Thus, he also creates a sub-theme to the conflict between civilization and nature: namely Hucks obsession with food which is pronounced throughout the book, such as later on Jacksons Island, on the raft, or in the various households he visits.
A key literary element in this novel is irony. Huck is among the most ironic characters ever created, and he frequently expresses his irony via sarcasm. For example, Huck states, “I wanted to smokeÐ* But she wouldnt [let me]Ð* And she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself.” In this passage Huck is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Widow Douglas; although she forbids him to smoke, she still uses snuff (a form of tobacco) for herself.
The scene where Miss Watson tries to warn Huck about hell is made comic through the juxtaposition of hell with her horrible lessons. Huck has such a hard time learning spelling from her that he remarks that hell sounds like a lot more fun. This is an important scene because it is meant to introduce the reader to Hucks youth; only a young child would rationally choose hell over heaven.
A major theme that permeates the rest of the book is that of superstition. The first chapter provides several examples of Hucks superstitious side, both in terms of how he interprets the night sounds (as death) and in terms of the spider he kills. His response to the dead spider is to immediately attempt a counter-charm, even though he is aware that there is no way of undoing the bad luck.
The theme of superstition stands in contrast to Hucks typical character features. Up until the end of chapter one, Huck has come across as extremely rational and logical. Even his response to Miss Watson that he would prefer hell over heaven is grounded in logical terms that the readers can understand. Superstition, on the other hand, is completely irrational. Throughout the novel, whenever Huck is confronted by superstition he will act in a manner that is contrary to his usual manner.
The use of superstition is two-fold. It primarily serves to give the reader insight into Hucks character by showing him to be somewhat naive and gullible. Within this context, however, superstition symbolizes the fear of the unknown; Huck is most superstitious whenever he is extremely worried about his future, such as in this opening chapter and later when he is on Jacksons Island. Second, superstition also serves to foreshadow events throughout the novel. Thus, killing a spider in this chapter, and later spilling the salt, does in fact lead to bad luck, in the form of Pa returning home.
Chapter 2 Summary:
While the boys are sneaking away, Huck trips over a root and makes noise when he falls. Miss Watsons slave Jim hears the sound and comes outside to look around. Jim sits down right between where Huck and Tom are hiding and decides to wait until he catches them. However, he soon gets tired and falls asleep against a tree.
Tom then wants to play a trick on Jim. He and Huck climb into the house and steal three candles, for which they leaves a nickel as “pay”. Then Tom