In the final story arc of Huck Finn, Huck and Jim revert to their former selves in the presence of Huck's old friend Tom. Up until the final episode, Huck seems to have grown as a person, learning from his experiences and developing his own set of moral guidelines. From his friendship with Jim to his revulsion of the Prince and Duke, Huck shows signs of significant character development leading into one of the biggest plot turns: Jim has been captured and is going to be sold back into slavery. However, when Tom Sawyer enters the picture, all of Huck's defining characteristics vanish as he allows himself to play a much more subservient role: "I never said nothing, because I warn't expecting nothing different; but I knowed mighty well that whenever he got his plan ready it wouldn't have none of them objections to it." Rather than sticking with his safe, logical plan, Huck deffered to Tom's "judgement," which was solely focused on prolonging and complicating the rescue for the sake of adventure.
As we've said many times in class before, this really complicates the entire message of the book, as our hero who has grown so much over the entirety of the novel just backs down and plays along with Tom at the expense of Jim, who has constantly looked out for Huck the entire novel. From filling the hut with snakes and bugs to stealing things from the house and blaming the slaves, Tom's plan completely inconveniences and hurts all the black people around them. Whereas we tried so hard to fish for an anti-slavery message in the book, the last 20% of the novel is completely focused on making the audience laugh at hurting black people. Huck's friendship with Jim isn't even worth enough for him to argue with Tom, and he never once even thinks about who their actions are really affecting. Much like the fog incident, Jim is once again the butt of a nasty joke, although this one lasts for weeks before Tom finally reveals that Jim was actually free and he was just using him for adventure.
So what do we take away from this book? Is Mark Twain a racist who just wanted to fool readers into believing that he really cared about blacks before crushing that idea with the last episode? Did he get lazy and just wrap things up with a story completely detached from the rest of the book? Is Twain actually satirizing the readers, fooling them for the last time as they realize that all the little reveals and seemingly meaningful plot points were actually completely amoral, aimed at goading analysis out of critics while he laughed at them trying to discern a meaning of his work? Or was it something else, something that we haven't talked about yet? Dismissing the last episode as laziness, racism, or anything so simple is a very easy trap to fall into, but I think that Twain was after something more complex. From his opening notice to the very deliberate dialect, I don't think that Twain would have wrapped up his novel without any real meaning, but I don't think that we've reached an answer yet. This last episode forces us to look deeper into the text, reexamining Huck's growth and relationships to see if we were truly grasping at straws for some moral to take away, or if he really does want us to search for a deeper message.
There are so many plausible interpretations, I almost don't know how to begin. First, I'd like to reiterate what was already said in class today: this episode with Tom closely mirrors Huck's first experiences with Jim, albeit in a more obvious way. Just as Tom is more focused on his experience rather than Jim's freedom, Huck also pursued expectations of adventure as he and Jim sailed down the Mississippi (rather than simply cross it to the free state. I mean, how much lower does the damn fruit get?). We can see this reflected in Tom, who also wants the "prisoner experience" rather than the "do what's best for Jim experience." So there's that, which is pretty important to seeing Huck's development, since towards the end he at least tries to persuade Tom to pursue the more rational path. However, I don't believe this is all Twain intended for this large chunk. I'd like to go along with the belief that Twain's pulling a massive prank on us (referencing his notice in the beginning, which in a way foreshadows the novel's distinctly lame ending. He pretty much tells us not to look for a plot. Seems clear enough.). I'm curious as to what the critics, the critics who laud "Huckleberry Finn" as the most prominent piece of American literature ever, think of this episode. Someone want to look it up on the Googlewebs (I'd do it myself, but eh)?
ReplyDeleteSure, Liam. You state a lot of facts, but I'm not really sure how to respond to this. You provide us with a summary of what happens in the last few chapters. Then, ask a few rhetorical questions, and say "I'm not sure what it is, but there must be something deeper." There is no warrant in your post as to why there must be something deeper, other than your dissatisfaction with the plot. Why can't it be as simple as Twain is a racist or he gets lazy? Even if you are right, that there is a "deeper meaning," (which we will probably create since this is a literature class), you haven't provided any direction as to what that meaning is. I agree with your observations of inconsistencies in Huck's behavior in the presence of Tom, but I am not satisfied with your conclusion.
ReplyDelete:O :O :O JIMMY!!!!!!
DeleteGotta love JZ!
DeleteFunny how the one who attacks my post for not containing anything of substance is guilty of the same crime. What I'm saying is that there are so many different ways to interpret the last episode, from Nicky and Anisha's cop-out of just calling him a racist to Janna's remark about it being a commentary on the audience. Just saying, if you're going to attack a post on the basis of it not having any conclusive points, I think it's hilarious that you're post is so hypocritical
DeleteI think you guys have successfully rustled each other's jimmies.... ha ha... get it????
DeleteAddressing Henry's point, I agree with most of his assertions. I definitely agree that the way Tom treats Jim is supposed to mirror, albeit hyperbolically, how Huck treats Jim at the beginning of the text. I also agree that the joke is on us, as we realize that we have typecast Jim into the same roles that people such as Huck, the Duke and the King, and pretty much society at large have. However, I also think it is important to note that although Tom completely abuses Jim over the course of Tom's plan to free him, Tom does end the book with a firm belief in Jim's humanity and the sanctity of his freedom (which parallels Huck own realizations about Jim earlier in the novel). This novel sense of right and wrong within Tom is clearly demonstrated when Tom indignantly says to aunt Sally, "'They hain't no right to shut him up! Shove! - and don't you lose a minute. Turn him loose! he ain't no slave, he's as free as any cretur that walks this earth!'" (Twain 291).
ReplyDeleteI hate to be THAT person who tries to explain a book by comparing it to another book, but I feel like this character development arc parallels very closely that of Alex in A Clockwork Orange (the early editions that didn't have the last chapter/the ending that's in the movie). I don't want to go too deeply into that book, but basically, there's a whole struggle about violence as a nature-or-nurture thing, and in the end, his original nature wins and he reverts back to his original self. A big part of that book book was a satire of (a lot of things, but for our purposes here, of) how earnestly society tries to mold people into being moral human beings even when, in the end, nothing will ever come of it.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, I wonder if Twain is trying to make a similar point here. We considered in class the idea that this book is really just about personal development. With this in mind, we see Huck as a character that had the beginning of some great character development and then just fell back to what it was before. In addition, when we look at Jim, probably the second-most dynamic character in the text, we see him as a runaway slave that will soon have to come to terms with his legal status when he returns home, just to realize that he was in fact free the whole time. I wonder if Twain is using these anticlimaxes to satrize us (yep! there it is!) and our expectations for a round ending and for moral development. Twain may be trying to make the point that we're so desperate to find meaning in things--as in, there must be something good to come out of Huck and Jim's adventure, seeing as they went geographically in pretty much a full circle-- but, the truth is, not everything neatly leads to a better, improved self.
I think there are so many possible, plausible interpretations that we can gleam from the text, which makes it impossible to tie everything into a neat little bow with our own definite meaning. The novel simply has too many contradictory ideas and themes for that to be true. The novel seems racist and anti-slavery at different times, or preachy and confusing at others. At its heart, I feel the novel is still just about a young boy becoming an adult in the real world. Even if he fails to assert his new found morality in the episodes with Tom, we see glimpses of a mature Huck during his crisis of conscience and at other points down the raft.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ending changes everything... It really altered my perception of what I think twains main message is. With the way the book ends, with aunt Sally declaring to want to civilize Huck, just like Miss Watson did, and with him swearing to run away, just as he did before, we seem to have come full circle, meaning that despite all of the lessons Huck has learned and all of the experiences he has had, he is right back where he started. Now what exactly could be Twain's point with all of this? The only significant difference from the beginning of the book is that Jim is a free man. Is he possibly trying to say that the white man's life would carry on, normally as is, even if all black men were free? Or did Twain simply set Jim free in an attempt to satisfy his readers that sought an anti-slavery book? Before reading the end, I thought I understood Huck Finn and more or less its message, but I am, as other people have stated, similarly stumped as to what Twain's main motive through all of this is.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ending changes everything... It really altered my perception of what I think twains main message is. With the way the book ends, with aunt Sally declaring to want to civilize Huck, just like Miss Watson did, and with him swearing to run away, just as he did before, we seem to have come full circle, meaning that despite all of the lessons Huck has learned and all of the experiences he has had, he is right back where he started. Now what exactly could be Twain's point with all of this? The only significant difference from the beginning of the book is that Jim is a free man. Is he possibly trying to say that the white man's life would carry on, normally as is, even if all black men were free? Or did Twain simply set Jim free in an attempt to satisfy his readers that sought an anti-slavery book? Before reading the end, I thought I understood Huck Finn and more or less its message, but I am, as other people have stated, similarly stumped as to what Twain's main motive through all of this is.
ReplyDeleteBefore I get to my actual comments on the book, I think its important that we don't criticize each other in a non-constructive manor. Each of us has to participate in these round ups, and I don't think its appropriate for anyone to say that another person's work isn't good enough. That's for a teacher to judge. I also think Liam did a fine job posting. He set up the context and presented us with questions for us to discuss. He doesn't have to answer them because that's not really the point of this exercise. These posts are supposed to inspire discussion and don't necessarily have to come a conclusion. I just think it's important that this remains a healthy learning environment and a place for solid discussion and analysis.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that during my reading of this last fifth of the book I was very confused, as it seemed that a different author (one only interested in finishing the story) had completed the novel. We see Huck reintroduced to mainstream society, and we bear witness to his reversion to an older Huck, throwing away much of the character development we had seen throughout the novel. Huck leaves his moral code, one that is based on sentiment and how he feels about actions, and goes back to a more tradition-based moral code, where he defers to Tom and doesn't seem to care as much about Jim. So perhaps Twain wrote a cautionary tale, that shows how easy it is to lose your morals within society. Or maybe Twain is just making a fool of us all, giving us this unprecedented ending that screws up all we were trying to read into the novel (which he did tell us not to read into too much). Either way, the ending certainly provides a lot of fodder for conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think Liam brings up a good point. We don't really know what Twain was thinking when he reverted Huck and Jim back to their original. I enjoyed listening to all the theories in class today and every one of them sounded reasonable. Of course this leaves us with the predicament that we don't know which one is it. Personally, I thought the most interesting analysis (I think by Lisa) that both Huck and Jim are stock characters and reflect how society can view them. It's interesting how we automatically assume Huck is a multi-dimensional character because he's white and his name's in the title. I think its really cool to view him in a different light and it really changes one's perspective of the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering about Huck and the dynamic v. static debate about his character. One one hand, he could have stayed in the same place. On the other hand, he could have changed but then finished in the same place that he started. With his relationship with Tom Sawyer, he seems to see through his act at the end; then again, he also called his bluff at the beginning of the book. Because Huck gave into Tom at the end of the story, he doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency about the situation; therefore, he really doesn't see himself as helping a slave more than as helping Jim.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time believing that Mark Twain is a racist, though. We're reading the book as satire, so he must be making the choices that he makes in order to inform his readers and make improvements.
One thing that I thought was interesting in the last few chapters is Huck is also a victim of Tom's desire to create adventures; while Huck is kept in the loop with Tom's extravagant plans, he is as surprised as Jim or us as readers when Tom reveals that Jim has been free for the past month or so. And if I recall correctly, Huck gets over this reveal rather quickly; he isn't upset that his month has basically been wasted (seeing as how his goal was already accomplished), he doesn't mourn all of the trouble that he got into (physical danger, threats, crisis of conscience)... Maybe this ties in with what Josh is saying about losing your morality within a society; it's easy to lose your morality within a society because it's easy to lose your identity within a society and just emulate your neighbors and embody the ideas of the masses,
ReplyDeleteI feel that Twain develops the story in the anti-slavery direction and then totally contradicts his former development because he is trying to antagonize and satirize the efforts of white people to accept African Americans as free and equal. Huck is always the one to have Jim's back and stick up for him, but once an influential white figure like Tom steps into the scene, Huck changes the way he treats Jim. Twain is satirizing the efforts of so many in the post Civil War Era, and this book has remained so popular because it continues to satirize the way that people are today. We all claim to be for some unpopular cause or movement because it makes ourselves feel righteous, however when a more influential force gets involved, we seem to shy away from this unpopular cause and join the majority.
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