简析《哈克贝利费恩历险记》中马克吐温的观点 -毕业论文

1、【标题】简析哈克贝利?费恩历险记中马克?吐温的观点 【作者】李晓霞 【关键词】马克?吐温；哈克；现实主义观；道德观和政治观；种族主义观 【指导老师】张亚军 【专业】英语 【正文】i. introductionmark twain（18351910) is a great literary giant of america, whom h.l.menckon considered as“the true father of national literature.” he shows great artistic talents and has completed many famous wor

2、ks, which have left literary legacy to posterity. his works have an enduring appeal to the readers. he begins with the bourgeoisdemocratic ideas，uses the humor and satire as a weapon to reflect the americans opposing the racial discrimination and requesting humanism, equality and freedom. he makes g

3、reat contributions to the american literature.with works like the adventures of huckleberry finn(1884), twain shapes the worlds view of america and make a more extensive combination of american folk humor and serious literature than previous writers have ever done. the adventures of huckleberry finn

4、 is a novel of high quality that has profound thoughts and shows important social task. it depicts the peoples life in the middlewest of america during the 19th century, exposes and satires the evils of american“civilized” society. description of huck adequately reflected the authors views.this pape

5、r intends to explore mark twains morality, political attitude, racial concern and artistic view presented in the adventures of huckleberry finn by analyzing hucks morals, hucks attitude to slave and hucks language so that we can get further understanding of mark twain and the american society in the

6、 19th century.ii. the background of the adventures of huckleberry finna. the social backgroundas the stories were based on twains childhood experience, their settings covered a period from the early 1840s to the end of the 19th century. it was the time when the great mississippi valley was still bei

7、ng settled. the american society after the civil war provided rich soil for the rise. the civil war affected both the social and the value system of the country. america had transformed itself from a jeffersonian agrarian community into an industrialized and commercialized society. wilderness gave w

8、ay to civilization. the war also brought some noticeable changes to the american economy. it had stimulated the technological development and new methods of organization and management were tested to adapt to industrial modernization on a large scale.however, the changes were not all for the better.

9、 the industrialization and the urbanization were accompanied by the incalculable suffering of the laboring people. in the countryside, increasing numbers of farmers were squeezed off the land to become city jobseekers, causing an oversupply of labor, which kept wages down and allowed the industriali

10、sts to maintain working conditions of notorious danger and discomfort for men, women and children. therefore, polarization of the well-being started to show up, with the poor poorer and the rich richer. america with its great national faults was full of violence and even cruelty. various contradicti

11、ons such as the conflict between modern civilization and customs were exposed and became increasingly intense. people, especially the black were longing for freedom and a happy life. the appeal for abolishing the slavery was raised.as a son of this great people, mark twain saw the rising steps of hi

12、s nation. he personally experienced an important period of the american history, which was well reflected in his works.b. the cultural backgroundthe literary scene after the civil war proved to be quite different a picture. the harsh realities of life as well as the disillusion of heroism resulting

13、from the dark memories of the civil war had set the nation against the romance. the americans began to be tired of the sentimental feelings of romanticism. a new generation of writers, dissatisfied with the romantic ideas in the older generation, came up with a new inspiration. this new attitude was

14、 characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. it aimed at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, peoples attention was

15、 now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class struggle. since the end of the civil war, the critics had been searching for the“great american novel”, calling upon american writers to stop imitating english and french

16、 authors and look into american life and history for their setting. here at last in twain, they found what they had been looking for.tom and huck, the heroes in twains novels, lived in typical american environmenton the mississippi, where mark twain was most familiar. twains knowledge of them came f

17、rom two ways: he had spent his childhood and earned his living as a pilot on the river.the mississippi, which floated across from the north to the south of the county, had flourished innumerous american cities and towns. it was, as many critics had said, the symbol of america, and its roaring waves

18、represent the power of american nation.iii. mark twains viewpoints in the adventures of huckleberry finnthe adventures of huckleberry finn was the most important works of mark twain, the prominent realist writer in american and world literature. it vividly depicted the adventurous life of huck and t

19、he runaway negro slave jim and revealed profoundly the cruelty of the socalled american civilization and thus showed twains earnest yearning for the ideal spiritual world.a. moral outlookmark twain was a serious writer who was concerned about morality by this or that way. in his moral criterion, lov

20、e, humanity, loyalty, obedience, responsibility and diligence are the extremely high virtues. he not only described these virtues, but also chose the critical juncture of the conflict of morality to test the characters in his novel. huck was a typical example. twain put huck in a moral dilemma shoul

21、d huck expose the runaway slave jim to his master and make jim become a slave again, or should help jim run away to obtain freedom?in the foreword to the adventures of huckleberry finn, twain wrote:“persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find

22、a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”1 this brief statement had attracted peoples attention to the moral-question. as an important record of american society, this novel reported mark twains strong interest in moral issues. based on the detailed analy

23、sis of the novel, the author believed that the middle-aged mark twain abandoned the calvinist morality, which had the dominant position in american society during the 19th century and took in the utilitarian morality.utilitarianism which was known as the ethical basis of modern western culture origi

24、nated from the end of 18th century. the utilitarian emphasized that peoples pursuing happiness and avoiding pain were an inherent desire. judging all moral behaviors should be based on the personal experience. utilitarianism emphasized that experiences and practice had profound influence on the 19th

25、 century american society. but in hannibal, a small deserted town where mark twain grew up existed the phenomenon that the moral slavery occupied the dominant position. people were bellicose, conceited, and extreme; various calvinism dominated peoples faith. utilitarian stressed peoples subjective f

26、eelings, regarded the usefulness as the standard to act and convey that pursuit of personal happiness could bring the benefit to the whole human society.the harsh calvinism was the center of peoples spiritual life in the twains childhood. twain suspected the religion had rooted in an unsuccessful pr

27、ayer at his childhood. he continued to resist the god and the day school and finally became a navigator on the mississippi river after leaving the town.the golden age of america was displayed before this young navigator. the civil war just ended, economy developed rapidly and society changed over ti

28、me. the moral degeneration engenders the concept of the supremacy of money: corruption, fraud, wasting and rampant opportunism. mark twain had satirized this phenomenon pungently: what is the most important goal in life?to become rich. how to become rich? we should use the deceptive methods as far a

29、s possible unless be compelled to take an honest means. when he was a probationary navigator, he began to know the deism masterpiece“age of reason”. views of this book made him change his thoughts quickly and then he was planning to build up a set of his own philosophy of life. on the one hand, afte

30、r experiencing turbulent life, twain became increasingly pessimistic; on the other hand, the early years of humanitarianism influence on him was difficult to wear away.being in utilitarian morality philosophy, twain had found the optimistic idealism and the pessimistic mechanism unified in perfect h

31、armony on the stage. through the adventures of huckleberry finn, he had returned to his beloved mississippi river and lived a happy life on the raft.generally speaking, hucks loose morality contained the core of utilitarianism. the moral choice was closely linked to the source of his troubles; he ho

32、ped to make the right choices to order to obtain happiness. in hucks own opinion happiness was a good, favorableness and comfortable thing; miseries made people feel sorry, disgusted and sad, which he wanted to avoid.mississippi river was the source of hucks happiness. twain used many words to descr

33、ibe the graceful rivers scenery, the leisurely life on the raft and leading characters joyful mood. all of these descriptions had shown his desire for the happiness. after getting away from the feud, huck returned to the embrace of the mississippi. he recalled the life on the raft with each word sho

34、wing his happiness. he said:“there warnt no home like a raft, after all. other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft dont. you feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.”2 however, life was not always filled with joy. through changing the calls to the king and the duck, we

35、knew huck had longed for happiness and hated misery. soon huck found their true face, but he decided not to expose, because he felt:“its the best way; then you dont have no quarrels, and dont get into no trouble.”3 this great utilitarianism just hoped everyone felt satisfied.hucks another goal was t

36、rying his best to reduce displeasure. his ingenious lies and his attitude to religion had clearly testified this point. when he came across the religion-related issues, he always put the usefulness as the first standard to judge. he prayed but just in order to let him feel comfortable and thought it

37、 was a special way to avoid pain. he tried to pray but at once realized:“i was playing double. i was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me i was holding on to the biggest one of all.”4 in order to relieve his guilt, he decided to write a letter to miss watson, jims master. after finished

38、the letter, he said“ i felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time i had ever felt so in my life,”5 but then he recalled the life on the raft with jim:“talking, singing and laughing; jim standing my watch on top of hisn,stead of calling me, and jim how glad he was when i come back out o

39、f the fog; and i saved him by telling the men we had small-pox aboard, and he was so grateful,”6 he thought it was more important than the illusory religious emotion. after taking it into serious consideration, huck tore up the letter and decided to try his best to rescue jim.generally speaking, wor

40、ks always reflect the authors personal views to a certain extent. so in the adventures of huckleberry finn, hucks morality reflects twains morality.b. political attitudethe north had consolidated its status in the national political and economic life after the civil war in 1861. the poverty-stricken

41、 white people and free slaves poured into northern cities to seek job and fortune, mark twain also had the similar experience. he had ever believed progress and industrialization because it could let this young country enter the modernization, and all the time the american people were well-known for

42、 this spirit of enterprise. however, the material wealth did not improve peoples morality; on the contrary, it brought the corruption and injustice in society. therefore, twain started to query the progress and shake the belief in human nature.1. mark twains anti-convention and anti-hypocrisymark tw

43、ains anti-conventional viewpoint, as conveyed in his humor and satire, played an important role in his novels. one of features of twains works was his revelation of the sharp contrast between the past and the present, europe and america, despotism and democracy. mark twain always estimated the exped

44、ition of the ordinary people, and made a scathing satire in the exploiting class. with the development of the economy in america, there also appeared a large number of rich men who imitated european aristocrats in their life style and manners. they longed for marrying with european nobles and dreame

45、d someday their american girls would become queens. this trend was in the sharp contrast with the rising movement of the nation and against the aspirations of american people. hucks escape from widow douglas, in fact, denoted the america separated from european tradition.“the american present and eu

46、ropean past is one which expresses a powerful feeling in american literature.”7 mark twain was intensely keen on europe and history, and yet, what he wanted to say in his own country is a new culture free from shack of old continent, a culture that allowed greater democracy and freedom for the peopl

47、e.with strong sympathy for the children, seeking for freedom, mark twain reminded adults of what“they once were themselves; and of how they fell and thought.”8 thus, mark twain actually expressed his support for the american people who were shaking off the yoke of european conventional conception be

48、cause it was unavoidable.mark twain was also against hypocrisy. in the adventures of huckleberry finn, as huck and jims adventure went on, the so-called king and duke intruded their life. huck regarded them as men with conscience. he was sympathetic to them and warned them against danger, but he was

49、 often exploited and manipulated by the“king” and“duck”. they pretended to perform shakespeares tragedy to grab money from innocent audience. huck came to realize that they were neither king nor duck, but just“low-down homburgs and frauds”. to get money, they tried every possible means. huck had see

50、n their greedy desire for money by unscrupulous means and he said that:“i have never seen a man who was so greedy that wanted to swallow everything.”9 and finally, huck had bravely stolen the money from the two swindlers and returned it to miss mary and told the truth to her. the two swindlers were

51、punished.the grangerford and the shepherdson were two wealthy and influenced families. the families were well-educated, and they did everything by rule in the internal part of their family. when huck experienced the feud and the wrestling between the two families, he could not understand and express

52、ed his disgust to this sham society. twain lashed out at the hypocritical society.2. racial concernamerican negroes took up a large portion of american population; they fought and worked side by side with the white people for american independence and prosperity. yet, the conflicts between the white

53、 and the black remained unsolved for a long time, until it finally led to the breaking of the civil war, which ended in destruction of the slavery. and after the war, the contradiction between the races still existed. as a realistic writer, twain faithfully depicted the contradiction and he placed h

54、is hope on both races.mark twain was a great realistic writer of america. he thought it was duty to expose social corruption and care about the common peoples difficulties. in the adventures of huckleberry finn, he described the friendship between a white boy of 13 and an adult negro slave. this fri

55、endship seemed to be so unusual, but it was very valuable in that society. it together with hucks inner conflict helped to deepen the theme of the novel. it was necessary for americans to fight against racial discrimination. it was an urgent thing to maintain negros freedom as well as their human ri

56、ghts and dignities. meanwhile, mark twain highly praised the goodness of human nature. mark twain was a courageous anti-slavery fighter. huck admitted black people was noble and loyal and even said to an escaped black slave:“it made me feel so mean i could almost kissed his foot to get him to take i

57、t back.”10 this remark coming from a white people was absolutely unimaginable for most of white people in the pre-civil war in america. it showed that twain became an enemy of the slavery. otherwise, through the friendship between huck and jim, twain also implied that not only black people should ha

58、ve a good sense of independence, but also they must unite white people to fight against slavery during the anti-slavery war.as a caucasian child who grew up in the social environment which the slavery was in vogue, huck accepted the traditional concepts that white people were born higher in the soci

59、al position than black people and they could arbitrarily dominate the destiny of blacks. he was taught that slavery was good and correct. if white people discovered black people who escaped from their white master, he should accuse; if a man helped black slaves flee, he wouldgo to hell.on the raft floating down the river, a white boy huck and a black slave jim, shared a hard and adventure