Adventures-of-Huckleberry-Finn

1、Author Mark Twain Mark Twain Page 2Page 3Introduction Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book by Mark Twain. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry Huck Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels. The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places al

2、ong the Mississippi River. Page 4contentSummarySettingMap of Huckleberry FinnMajor themePage 5Summaryn The novel opens with Huck telling his story. Briefly, he describes what he has experienced since, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which preceded this novel. n Huckleberry Finn is the main character,

3、and through his eyes, the reader sees and judges the South, its faults, and its redeeming qualities. Hucks companion Jim, a runaway slave, provides friendship and protection while the two journey along the Mississippi on their raft.Page 6重点了解重点了解 SettingThe Mississippi River along Missouri, Illinois

4、, and Arkansas sometime in the 1830s-40s. n The adventures takes place roughly twenty years before the U.S. Civil War. Slavery is still legal, common, and socially accepted in the South. This is why Huck struggles so much with helping Jim escape everything he knows tells him this is wrong legally, m

5、orally, and socially. Its enough to drive a kid to three maybe even four moral crises en route. As far as the geographical setting goes, youre looking at river towns and the simple folk that live there. The people Huck encounters are for the most part uneducated, superstitious, kind, and hospitable,

6、 but thats just the novels environment.Page 7Page 8Major Theme1. Conflict between civilization and natural life2. Honor3. Food4. Mockery of Religion5. Superstition6. Slavery7. Money8. Mississippi RiverPage 9重点分析重点分析Conflict between civilization and natural lifen The primary themeprimary theme:Confli

7、ct between civilization and natural lifen Huck represents natural life through his freedom of spirit, uncivilized ways, and desire to escape from civilization. He was raised without any rules or discipline and has a strong resistance to anything that might sivilize him. This conflict is introduced i

8、n the first chapter through the efforts of the Widow Douglas: she tries to force Huck to wear new clothes, give up smoking, and learn the Bible. Page 10 Throughout the novel, Twain seems to suggest that the uncivilized way of life is more desirable and morally superior. Drawing on the ideas of Jean-

9、Jacques Rousseau, Twain suggests that civilization corrupts, rather than improves, human beings. Page 11Honorn The theme of honor permeates the novel after first being introduced in the second chapter, where Tom Sawyer expresses his belief that there is a great deal of honor associated with thieving

10、.n Toms original robber band is paralleled later in the novel when Tom and Huck become true thieves, but honorable ones, at the end of the novel. They resolve to steal Jim, freeing him from the bonds of slavery, which is an honorable act. Thus, the concept of honor and acting to earn it becomes a ce

11、ntral theme in Hucks adventures. Page 12Foodn Food plays a prominent role in the novel. In Hucks childhood, he often fights pigs for food, and eats out of a barrel of odds and ends. Thus, providing Huck with food becomes a symbol of people caring for and protecting him. n For example, in the first c

12、hapter, the Widow Douglas feeds Huck, and later on Jim becomes his symbolic caretaker, feeding and watching over him on Jacksons Island. Food is again discussed fairly prominently when Huck lives with the Grangerfords and the Wilkss. Page 13Superstitionn Superstition appears throughout the novel. Ge

13、nerally, both Huck and Jim are very rational characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes over. The power superstition holds over the two demonstrates that Huck and Jim are child-like despite their apparent maturity. In addition, superstition foreshadows t

14、he plot at several key junctions. Page 14Mockery of Religionn A theme Twain focuses on quite heavily on in this novel is the mockery of religion. Throughout his life, Twain was known for his attacks on organized religion. Huck Finns sarcastic character perfectly situates him to deride religion, repr

15、esenting Twains personal views.Page 15Slaveryn The theme of slavery is perhaps the most well known aspect of this novel.n Considering this information, it is easy to see that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn provides an allegory to explain how and why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a main chara

16、cter and a slave, to demonstrate the humanity of slaves. Jim expresses the complicated human emotions and struggles with the path of his life.Page 16Moneyn The concept of wealth or lack thereof is threaded throughout the novel, and highlights the disparity between the rich and poor. n Huck demonstra

17、tes a relaxed attitude towards wealth, and because he has so much of it, does not view money as a necessity, but rather as a luxury.n Hucks views regarding wealth clearly contrast with Jims. For Jim, who is on a quest to buy his family out of slavery, money is equivalent to freedom.n In addition, we

18、alth would allow him to raise his status in society. Thus, Jim is on a constant quest for wealth, whereas Huck remains apathetic. Page 17Mississippi Rivern The majority of the plot takes place on the river or its banks. For Huck and Jim, the river represents freedom. On the raft, they are completely

19、 independent and determine their own courses of action.n Jim looks forward to reaching the free states, and Huck is eager to escape his abusive, drunkard of a father and the civilization of Miss Watson.n Originally, the river is a safe place for the two travelers, but it becomes increasingly dangero

20、us as the realities of their runaway lives set in on Huck and Jim. Page 18重要性分析重要性分析The significance of the novel The book marks the climax of Twains literary creativity. Hemingway once described the novel the one book from which “all modern American literature comes.” The book is significant in man

21、y ways. Page 19n First of all, the novel is written in a language that is totally different from the rhetorical language used by Emerson, Poe, and Melville. It is not grand, pompous, but simple, direct, lucid（浅显易懂的）（浅显易懂的）, and faithful to the colloquial speech. n This unpretentious style of colloqu

22、ialism is best described as “vernacular”. Speaking in vernacular, a wild and uneducated Huck, running away from civilization for his freedom, is vividly brought to life. Page 20nSecondly, the great strength of the book also comes from the shape given to it by the course of the rafts journey down the

23、 Mississippi as Huck and Jim seek their different kinds of freedom. Twain, who knew the river intimately, uses it here both realistically and symbolically. Page 21Thirdly, the profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of American literature. The no

24、vel begins with a description of how Widow Douglas attempts to civilize Huck and ends with him deciding not to let it happen again at the hands of Aunt Sally.Page 22人物特色分析人物特色分析CharacterizationAdventures of Huckleberry Finn is best known for Mark Twains wonderful characterization of “Huck,” a typica

25、l American boy described as a boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience,” and remarkable for the rafts journey down the Mississippi river, which Twain used both realistically and symbolically to shape his book into an organic whole. Page 23nThrough the eyes of Huck, the innocent and reluctan

26、t rebel, we see the pre-Civil War American society fully exposed and at the same time we are deeply impressed by Mark Twains thematic contrasts between innocence and experience, nature and culture, wilderness and civilization. Page 24Writing Stylen The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told from the

27、 first person point of view an only-partly-educated thirteen-year-old southern boy in the 1830s or 40s. As narrator, Huck describes the story in his natural, everyday voice, and he addresses his readers directly during his storytelling with a friendly, trusting attitude. Taking that into considerati

28、on along with Hucks age, education level, and social background Twains choice of a colloquial style makes perfect sense.Page 25Page 26分析分析 picaresque novel 流浪汉小说流浪汉小说n The picaresque novel is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. As indicated by its name, this style of novel originated in Spain, where it was possibly influenced by Arabi