2. MARK TWAIN: LIFE AND WORK
Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen
name Mark Twain was born in Florida on 30
November 1835. He was the sixth of seven children
but only three of his siblings survived childhood, his
brother Orion, Henry, who died in a
riverboat explosion,and Pamela.His sister Margaret
died when he was three,and his brother Benjamin
three years later another brother Pleasant died at six
month. When he was four, Twain's family moved
to Hannibal Missouri, a port town on the Mississippi
River that inspired the fictional town of St.Petersburg
in “THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” and
“ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN”. Missouri
was a slave state and young Twain became familiar
with the istitution of slavery, a theme he would later
explore in his writing.When he was 11 his father died
of pneumonia.
3. The next year he became a printer's apprentice. Twain began his career as a
writer of humorous verse for the “hannibal journal”,a newspapaer owned by his brother
Onion.But then he left “hannibal journal” and worked as a printer in New York
City,Philadelphia and St.Louis. Then he became a steamboat pilot. Samuel convinced his
younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed in 1858. Twain had foreseen this
death in a dream, which inspired his interest in parapsychology.Twain's journey ended in the
silver-mining town of Virginia City, where he became a miner. But he failed as a miner and
worked at a Virginia City newspaper, the territorial enterprise. His first success was “The
Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County“ that it brought him national attention. Twain
married Olivia Langdon they had three daughters:Susy,Clara and Jean they lived in Buffalo
but then they moved to Quarry Farm the home of Olivia's sister, here Twain wrote many of
his classic novels such us:”The adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “the Prince and the
Pauper”,“Life on the Mississippi” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.Twain was
fascinated with science and technology in fact in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court” he used his knowledge of science to introduce modern technology
to Arthurian England. He was ostracized for his criticism to American imperialism, in fact
he was an active member of the Anti-Imperialist League, founded in 1898.For his anti-
imperialist positions, Mark Twain suffered a real marginalization in the last years, in fact
many of his anti-imperialist writings were totally ignored and were not republished after
his death.Twain was a Presbyterian and he was irreverent toward conventional religion; he
wrote for example:“If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be-a Christian.
"His own experiences and suffering of his family made him particularly critical of "faith
healing". Twain passed through a period of deep depression, which began in 1896 when his
daughter Susy died, Olivia's death in 1904 and Jean's in 1909.He died on April 21, 1910.
4. The plotThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), talks about a young boy, Huck, in
search of freedom and adventures. The shores of the Mississippi River provide
the backdrop for the entire book. The novel opens with Huck telling his story.
In ”The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, which preceded this novel., Huck and Tom
discovered sixth thousand dollars in treasure, and Judge Thatcher invested the
money for them. Huck was adopted by the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson,
they try to civilize him, Dissatisfied with his new life, because he is a rebellious
boy, Huck runs away. Tom Sawyer convinces him to return home. But then
Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he
wants Huck's $6000. Judge Thatcher and the Widow Douglas try to obtain the
custody of Huck, but a new judge in town refuses to separate Huck from his
father. Pap steals Huck away from the Widow's house and takes him to a log
cabin. At first Huck enjoys the cabin life, but after receiving frequent beatings,
he decides to escape. When Pap goes into town, Huck seizes the opportunity.
He kills a pig, spreads the blood as if it were his own, takes a canoe and hides
in the island of Jackson where he finds Jim the black slave of Miss Watson that
After overhearing the Widow's plan to sell him to a slave trader,he ran
away. Jim is happy to see Huck because everyone think he is dead.
5. At one point, an entire house floats near them. Huck and Jim climb aboard to see what they can
salvage and find a dead man, Jim inspects the body and realizes it is Pap, Huck's father. Jim keeps
this information a secret. Then Huck returns to the town disguised as a girl to gather some news.
While talking with a woman, he learns that both Jim and Pap are suspects in his murder so they
decide to leave the island.. Their goal is to reach Cairo, where they can take a steamship up the
Ohio River and into the free states. However, during a dense fog, they are separated. When they
find each other in the morning, they realize that they have passed Cairo. A steamboat crashes into
their raft and Jim and Huck are separated again .Huck finds the shore and is immediately
surrounded by dogs. After managing to escape, he is invited to live with a family called the
Grangerford's. At the Grangerford home, Huck is treated well and discovers that Jim is hiding in a
nearby swamp. Everything is peaceful until an old family feud between the Grangerford's and the
Shepherdson's is rekindled. Within one day all the men in the Grangerford family are killed,
including Huck's new friend, Buck..Huck runs back to Jim, and together they start downriver again.
Then they met two humbugs known as the Duke and the King, the two men learn about a large
inheritance meant for three recently orphaned girls. To steal the money, the men pretend to be the
girls' British uncles. But the girls are very nice so Huck decide to help girls to discover the truth,
their deception was discovered but they escape before they are caught. Farther down the river, the
King and Duke sell Jim into slavery, Huck decides to rescue Jim, and goes to the house where Jim
is being kept. Luckily, the house is owned by Tom Sawyer's Aunt : Sally. Tom and Huck manage to
rescue Jim. Finally Jim is really a free men because the Widow is dead and freed him in her will.
Jim tells Huck to stop worrying about his Pap and reveals that the dead man in the floating house
was in fact Huck's father. Aunt Sally offers to adopt Huck, but he refuses because is not his way of
life.
6. The characters
Huckleberry Finn: Main
character of the book. He is an
illegitimate child who runs away
from his adopted family to be
free from society and
civilization. Huck is Tom
Sawyer's sidekick, and Tom is
Huck's best friend. Through
spending so much time with
Jim, and some of his other
experiences along the river,
Huck reveals a strong sense of
humanity even with the Duke
and King.
7. He is irresponsible, playful,
and crude. He wants things
must to be exactly as they are
in the adventure books, he
reads. Tom is not physically
present for most of the tale,
but Huck refers to him
frequently. Huck is much more
sensible and
mature than Tom: Also he
considers Jim a friend instead
of a runaway slave, Tom has
little concern for others.
8. Miss Watson's slave. He
runs away and journeys
down the Mississippi River
with Huck. Together, they
have many adventures, and
Huck becomes best friends
with Jim. He is
superstitious,
sentimental, fatherly, kind
and protective. His clothes
are tattered and his
appearance is not very good
because he is a runaway
slave without many
clothes. His purpose is to
cause Huck to see slaves as
people.
9. Huck's drunkard father. He
kidnaps Huck because he
wants his money for
alcohol, but Huck escapes.
The illiterate Pap
disapproves of Huck’s
education and beats him
frequently. Pap represents
both the general
debasement of white
society and the failure of
family structures in the
novel.
10. Two wealthy sisters who live together in a
big house in St. Petersburg and adopt Huck.
The severe Miss Watson is the most
religious in fact she tries to teach Huck
religion and how to spell, Twain criticizes
this aspect in the novel. The Widow Douglas
is more kind than her sister and has more
patience with Huck. In fact Huck respects
Widow Douglas and wants to please her.
Even after he’s run away, he often considers
her opinion before acting.
11. The king is the older of the two
con artists that Jim and Huck take
on their raft. When they steal
inheritance money of Peter Wilks
the King takes the active role while
the Duke acts the part of a deaf-
mute. Both the King and the Duke
are important characters in Huck’s
moral growth. As Huck observes
them, he is able to judge that what
they do is wrong, and learn
accordingly by negative example.
12. The smallest son of the Grangerford
family. Huck becomes good friends
with Buck. He and Huck have similar
adventurous natures and imaginative
minds, but Buck is used to having
slaves wait on him, while Huck is
more self-sufficient. Buck gets killed
in the battle with the Shepardsons.
Huck is especially devastated by
Buck’s death.
13. The themes :
1. There is an emphasis on the river as a haven from
society and a source for adventure. Huck travels
down the river and is provided tools such as the raft.
Huck is separate from the surrounding areas and
separate from civilization.
2. There is a theme of growth and rebirth in Huck
throughout the story. After each adventure, Huck
learns something new and become a new person.
3. Another theme in the story is that society is wrong.
As Huck travels down the river, he learns and does
many things that are contrary to the beliefs of society
such as helping the slave escape. He also learns the
idea that black people are people, too, despite the
teachings of society.
14. The Language and
styleTwain’s style is simple, informal and conveys his ideas in
a boyish mood. He gives his complex observations on
society through the eyes and through the speech of a
young boy out for adventure So his diction is typical of
the southern speech. He also pays close attention to the
diction of the speech of the various people from the
various areas down the river.
Twain wrote the novel twenty years later the abolition of
slavery but he set the story in that period, perhaps to show
that if blacks are no longer slaves their condition of life has
not changed
