The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Critique

Biography

     Mark Twain, the pseudonym of Samuel Clemens, was, as a literary writer,
a genius. His use of numerous literary devices throughout the novel are quite
unique. Examples of them would be, irony;
     "Here was a nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming
     right out and saying that he would steal his children - children that
belonged to someone that had done me no harm." p. 88; and colloquial
enunciation;
I ast 'm if dey 'uz gwyne to grab a young white genlman's propaty,
     en git a hidin for it?" p. 112
     Samuel Clemens was a very controversial writer in his time. Although he
was fiercely criticized, he was among the first writers to incorporate views
other than that of a reverential main character into his stories, and he was
also a primary user of colloquial enunciation.

Plot Synopsis

The plot is, as the title suggests, about the adventures of an unruly and
carefree boy named Huckleberry Finn. The novel depicts the 1900's southern
social climate in a manner that is not only satirical, but psychoanalytically
intuitive. In it, Huck, as he is commonly known, runs away with a slave named
Jim. As they travel along the Mississippi river, in the southern region of the
United States, they undergo many extraordinary adventures.

Analysis

     One of the most predominant themes in this novel is that of deception.
Deception, in one form or another, is used with an avid consistency throughout
the story. Two personifications of deception were the characters, King and Duke.
They were "entrepreneurs" of deception (which is a polite way of saying
hustlers). Samuel Clemens writes about them so ingeniously, that after a while
the reader is able to understand the true nature of these tricksters, and that
most of what they utter is either fabrication or a twisted truth.
"I'd been selling an article to take tartar of the teeth-and it does take
it off,
     too, and generally the enamel along with it." p. 121
     Samuel Clemens is contradictory in the way in which he utilizes
deception. He makes Huckleberry Finn deceive everybody into thinking that Huck
was killed in a fire. This is an example in which deception is brought out as a
good thing.