ASSIGNMENT 3:
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (pt. 3)
For a century and more readers and scholars of all kinds have puzzled over the concluding eleven chapters of Twain's novel,
set at the Phelps' Plantation in northern Louisiana. Praising Huck Finn as the greatest American novel of all time,
Ernest Hemingway nevertheless advised readers to forget these last chapters. Other scholars have heatedly debated why Twain
even included them, and what they mean-that is, how they function in relation to what precedes them. These remain key questions
for any student of Twain's story.
Consider, first of all, some of the details involved. At this point in the novel Huck and Jim have drifted about 500 miles
south of (fictional) "St. Petersburg," Missouri. They are in the Deep South, slavery's greatest bastion. Taken captive, a
runaway slave held for the reward, Jim is being held by a family that just happens to be related to Tom Sawyer's family;
moreover, Tom Sawyer himself just happens to be on his way down to the Phelps' place; and finally, coincidence of coincidence!,
Huck will just happen to get wind of this fact and use it to pass himself off as Tom; until finally, coincidence on top of
coincidences!!, Huck and Tom will just happen to run into each other, so that Tom will be able to pass himself off as a
cousin, Sid Sawyer. Such coincidences will strain the credulity of any reader who thought he or she was reading a realistic
novel.
But then maybe that's the point. If Twain has left realism behind, it will be apparent in other details of his story,
and it will be for reasons that ought to be fairly clear, to discerning readers.
One approach to The Adventures of Huckleberrv Finn is to read it, not as a realistic, but rather as an allegorical
fiction. In allegory, the writer uses fictional detail, often detail of the most fantastic sort (such as a dragon), to
represent actual figures, or aspects, of the real world (so that the dragon may represent the reigning King, or the sin of
gluttony). Allegorical narration thus posits a referential, or one-to-one relationship between story-world figures and real-world
actualities. Interpreting such a story, the reader's function is to discover the "key" (like the key to a map) which can
unlock understanding. Beast fables are exemplary allegories; and George Orwell's Animal Farm presents readers with an
elaborately constructed allegory in which every barnyard creature stands for a socio-political type within the system of
modern totalitarianism. Thus Orwell uses the narrative to make socio-political commentary.
In this light, consider the potential for reading Twain's novel as an allegory of the Civil War and Reconstruction. In such
a reading, we would understand Twain's plot as one revolving-as we've noted in earlier assignments-around a twofold problem:
Huck's escape from a brutal patriarchy, and Jim's quest for freedom. Certainly the need to free Jim stands foremost in that
plot; but students can well ask what roles are played in that action by (for example) Huck and Jim's folk wisdom, by the
pretentious and hypocritical aristocratic people they encounter in the South, by Tom, and finally by Huck himself.
Twain's eleven concluding chapters, set at the Phelps plantation, clearly bring this allegory to a crisis. Now the critical
thing, in Huck's opinion, is to free Jim. Yet why does it take so long, and become so complicated? Why doesn't Huck just have
Jim lift up the leg of the bed, slip his chains free, and make a run for it? Why does Jim have to be tormented so before his
freedom is recognized? And how might Huck and Tom's complicated "adventure" be understood as Twain's satirical allegory of
the War and the Reconstruction period from which he was writing? Good questions, all. Time to begin reading.
Reading Assignment
- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (pp. 171-216).
Writing Assignment
- What are Huck's initial plans for freeing Jim?
- Why does Huck agree to go along with Tom's plans for freeing Jim? Do you see Huck's assent to Tom's plans as a
regression, as if Huck hadn't learned anything from his adventures with Jim? Why is or is it not, regressive of
Huck? Discuss in several well written paragraphs.
- Try your hand at an allegorical reading of the details pertaining to Jim's escape. For example, what does it
signify that Jim is supposed to escape from slavery by such complicated means, after so much painful effort? (For
instance, there are the messages in his own blood, an arduously dug tunnel through which he's supposed to exit with
a millstone on his back.) Discuss in several paragraphs.
- The boy's elaborate plot does, finally, turn bloody: Tom is accidentally shot. What does Tom do with the bullet?
How is he treated? What secrets has Tom been keeping from Huck (and Jim) all along? Again, if we read these events
allegorically, what might they signify? For instance, how do you interpret the fact that Jim was already free?
Discuss in several paragraphs.
- Huck's concluding remarks, that he will reject being "sivilized" and "light out for the Territory ahead of the rest,"
are among the most memorable in American literature. Write several paragraphs discussing how, in your view, they
make an effective conclusion to Twain's novel.
Other Sites of Interest
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