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In the introductary part, the author Tom Quirk compared the work Adventures of Huckleberry Finn of Mark Twain with the work Moby-Dick of Herman Melville. While comparison and discussion, he found out that Moby-Dick falling into the category of romanticism and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn into realism distinguishing from each other “between motive and action”, “between quest and escape--- between the pursuit (all defiant of necessity and contingency, fixed upon some insane object and driven by some overruling passion) and the ‘scrape’ (the unanticipated event somehow managed, eluded, or negotiated).”(P139) Huck’s story told the community of misfortune applying the vernacular realism; Melville’s is a throwaway line. Huck is the receptacle of impressions filtered through a distinctively adolescent consciousness---quick to perceive, slow to comprehend, and Huck takes the world on its terms; while Ahab in Moby-Dick takes the world on his own, and is driven by his interior impulses.
As far as the narrative voice is concerned, “Huck’s voice functions much like Whiteman’s multivalent ‘I’ in ‘Song of Myself’”.(P140) Huck’s considerable experience and his way of observing give force to the narration. Twain lets Huck speak and intentionally lets him take control of the development of the story. Yet, Twain didn’t give up his right to narrate totally. Instead, he reasserted his authorial presence and made up for some of Huck’s literary failings. Although it is true that Huck is a character coined by the author, this technique enables the author to establish a kind of authoriy canningly and attracts readers’ attention without being criticised as wishful thought from the author. It might be even clearer judging from this quotation, “ It is enough to say, perhaps, that Huck Finn, as character and voice, was a metaphor for Twain’s mind: through his identification with the boy, he might indulge nostalgically in vagrant thoughts and happy recollections, and particularly in the early stages of composition, he might satisfy his own desire to escape the cares of a world that was too much with him.”(P146)
Huck as a character in the narrative is ruled by feelings. He conceived that human beings can be awfully cruel to one another. He ran into internal struggle whether to give away Jim or not and at last his conscience suffered defeat. As a boy of his age, he was admirable of those things he was incapable of, no matter it is bully or cheaty. Rather than resoluting to abide by some higher moral authority, he accepted the world’s judgment upon him. What’s more, “Huck is caught between stern rebuke and enforced social acceptance… but he remained the same boy… Huck never fully accepts the world’s corrections or refusals of him. And this same realistic disclosure of a young boy’s self-consciousness, in the hands of Mark Twain, becomes a satirical vehicle as well.”(P144) As to the plot, it subverts the same high drama that promotes its episodes, and Huck’s pranks are defined less by youthful motive than by the terms of the adventure. “Huck’s story as novel is impossibility followed by implausibility and linked together by unlikelihood.”(P148) Tom Quirk offered some examples to show the narrative loopholes in the novel which didn’t hinder the goodness of the narrative owning to the enchantment and the atmosphere of mind conveyed by Huck. The two principal plot devices turned out to be false leads. Number one is the purpose to flee from Pap, whom proved to be dead already; number two is the action to help Jim escape, whom had been already set free by Miss Watson. Apart from the plot, discernible mythic, structural, and satirical patterns can be found throughout the novel and multiple themes and issues as well.
Twain’s imaginative reach was at times blind groping. It seemed that he kept the plot moving on by the inspired narrative twists. In order to seek realism from realistic subjects, he gave no rein to his imagination or the arrangement of the story. Nevertheless, he did seem to have tried to coordinate the several correspondences and others as well, which “mark with deadly satirical effect the difference between realistic urgency and contrived hoax.”(P151)
Tom Quirk ends his explanation with the result of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Why Twain chose to end the story in this way which “damaged Huck’s integrity and credibility, subjected Jim to a series of unnecessary degradations, subverted the terms of Huck an Jim’s friendship he had so patiently developed,, and ultimately betrayed his readers’ confidence.” It might be pleasing to the author, like Mark Twain or Herman Melville, who used to say that “ I have written a wicked book, and feel spotless as a lamb.”, but this type of ending will be annoying to readers. However, it is just this that gives the novel life.
As far as the narrative voice is concerned, “Huck’s voice functions much like Whiteman’s multivalent ‘I’ in ‘Song of Myself’”.(P140) Huck’s considerable experience and his way of observing give force to the narration. Twain lets Huck speak and intentionally lets him take control of the development of the story. Yet, Twain didn’t give up his right to narrate totally. Instead, he reasserted his authorial presence and made up for some of Huck’s literary failings. Although it is true that Huck is a character coined by the author, this technique enables the author to establish a kind of authoriy canningly and attracts readers’ attention without being criticised as wishful thought from the author. It might be even clearer judging from this quotation, “ It is enough to say, perhaps, that Huck Finn, as character and voice, was a metaphor for Twain’s mind: through his identification with the boy, he might indulge nostalgically in vagrant thoughts and happy recollections, and particularly in the early stages of composition, he might satisfy his own desire to escape the cares of a world that was too much with him.”(P146)
Huck as a character in the narrative is ruled by feelings. He conceived that human beings can be awfully cruel to one another. He ran into internal struggle whether to give away Jim or not and at last his conscience suffered defeat. As a boy of his age, he was admirable of those things he was incapable of, no matter it is bully or cheaty. Rather than resoluting to abide by some higher moral authority, he accepted the world’s judgment upon him. What’s more, “Huck is caught between stern rebuke and enforced social acceptance… but he remained the same boy… Huck never fully accepts the world’s corrections or refusals of him. And this same realistic disclosure of a young boy’s self-consciousness, in the hands of Mark Twain, becomes a satirical vehicle as well.”(P144) As to the plot, it subverts the same high drama that promotes its episodes, and Huck’s pranks are defined less by youthful motive than by the terms of the adventure. “Huck’s story as novel is impossibility followed by implausibility and linked together by unlikelihood.”(P148) Tom Quirk offered some examples to show the narrative loopholes in the novel which didn’t hinder the goodness of the narrative owning to the enchantment and the atmosphere of mind conveyed by Huck. The two principal plot devices turned out to be false leads. Number one is the purpose to flee from Pap, whom proved to be dead already; number two is the action to help Jim escape, whom had been already set free by Miss Watson. Apart from the plot, discernible mythic, structural, and satirical patterns can be found throughout the novel and multiple themes and issues as well.
Twain’s imaginative reach was at times blind groping. It seemed that he kept the plot moving on by the inspired narrative twists. In order to seek realism from realistic subjects, he gave no rein to his imagination or the arrangement of the story. Nevertheless, he did seem to have tried to coordinate the several correspondences and others as well, which “mark with deadly satirical effect the difference between realistic urgency and contrived hoax.”(P151)
Tom Quirk ends his explanation with the result of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Why Twain chose to end the story in this way which “damaged Huck’s integrity and credibility, subjected Jim to a series of unnecessary degradations, subverted the terms of Huck an Jim’s friendship he had so patiently developed,, and ultimately betrayed his readers’ confidence.” It might be pleasing to the author, like Mark Twain or Herman Melville, who used to say that “ I have written a wicked book, and feel spotless as a lamb.”, but this type of ending will be annoying to readers. However, it is just this that gives the novel life.