either inner crisis or canny improvisation. What is certain is that Huck’s interpretation of his actions is decidedly negative, using the language of spiritual crisis and failed white to brace up and out with it [to turn Jim manliness. “I tried in], but I the spunk of a (83). warn’t man enough—hadn’t rabbit” Huck’s portrait here is tragically more traumatic than Mark simple opposition Twain’s between health and corruption, his Huck’s “sound heart” vs. “deformed In formula, which aided the canonization as an icon conscience.” Twain’s novel’s of American literature in the 1950s, conscience definitively Huck’s “suffers and the Huck wins out, though where this moral Gettysburg in the defeat” “good” novel occurs Twain did not say. Despite bouts of self-loathing, after his small-pox trick works Huck Huck’s resolves in the future to whichever come commitment “do handiest” (85). Huck’s to Jim seems at least temporarily settled through the rest of chapter 16: Huck speaks of plans to escape to freedom using the first-personal plural Jim’s unselfconsciously and repeatedly. Perhaps because Huck has given up making a for himself as a white person, he can temporarily be at peace with “show” aligning his freedom-quest with we have any doubts, we should Jim’s. If consider description of the steamboat that knocks them Huck’s a steamboat heading upriver just like the one on which they had hoped to buy deck passage. The boat suggests not only the mouth of Hell as it usually appeared in illustrated Bibles such as Huck might have seen, but also as an of a sudden she bulged out, big and scary, industrial machine: “all with a long row of wide-open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and her monstrous bows and guards hanging right over us” (87; cf. Robinson 197-98). There is no stronger image in Huckleberry Finn for the nightmarish world Huck fears will swallow him when his bond with Jim is broken. The Hell that actually engulfs Huck, though, comes from another, unexpected direction.
either inner crisis or canny improvisation. What is certain is that Huck’s interpretation of his actions is decidedly negative, using the language of spiritual crisis and failed white manliness. “I tried to brace up and out with it [to turn Jim in], but I warn’t man enough—hadn’t the spunk of a rabbit” (83). Huck’s here is tragically more traumatic than Mark Twain’s simple opposition between health and corruption, Huck’s “sound heart” vs. his “deformed conscience.” In Twain’s formula, which aided the novel’s canonization as an icon of American literature in the 1950s, Huck’s conscience definitively “suffers defeat” and the “good” Huck wins out, though where this moral Gettysburg in the novel occurs Twain did not say. Despite Huck’s bouts of self-loathing, after his small-pox trick works Huck resolves in the future to “do whichever come handiest” (85). Huck’s commitment to Jim seems at least temporarily settled through the rest of chapter 16: Huck speaks of Jim’s plans to escape to freedom using the first-personal plural unselfconsciously and repeatedly. Perhaps because Huck has given up making a “show” for himself as a white person, he can temporarily be at peace with aligning his freedom-quest with Jim’s. If we have any doubts, we should consider Huck’s description of the steamboat that knocks them a steamboat heading upriver just like the one on which they had hoped to buy deck passage. The boat suggests not only the mouth of Hell as it usually appeared in illustrated Bibles such as Huck might have seen, but also as an industrial machine: “all of a sudden she bulged out, big and scary, with a long row of wide-open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and her monstrous bows and guards hanging right over us” (87; cf. Robinson 197-98). There is no stronger image in Huckleberry Finn for the nightmarish world Huck fears will swallow him when his bond with Jim is broken. The Hell that actually engulfs Huck, though, comes from another, unexpected direction. portrait
Huck-Finn.docx