Literary Analysis

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain tells the story of a young boy named Huck. Huck lives in the south along the Mississippi river and leads a rather unsual life. Abandoned by his drunk father, he lives with a widow who tries to force the mannerisms of proper society that Huck dislikes so much onto him. But when Huck's father Pap finds out that Huck is heir to a large fortune he discovered with his friend Tom, Pap comes looking for Huck to get his money. Huck then runs away from His father, fakes his death and is finally free to roam the river as he pleases. He later teams up with Jim, a run away slave he is wrongly believed to be Huck's killer. Together they travel the river trying to get Jim to freedom and getting a trouble on many occasions along the way. 2. A possible theme of this novel is the difference of things from the perspective of a child. There are many instances where Huck challenges the ideas of society with his ideas of his own because of his youth. He finds Jim to be a good man so he befriends him despite being told it would send him to hell for helping a black slave. Twain challenges the values of southern society at the time by using Huck's young age. 3. Twains tone is challenging, almost sarcastically mocking of the things he disagrees with in society. He writes with Huck seeing the wrong things in society, such as the discrimination against Jim, and makes it obvious and how wrong they are through Huck's innocent eyes. He writes with a tone that has the intent of fixing what he sees. 4. 1-Setting. Twain setting is crucial to the societal problems he feels are present. 2-tone. Twain's tone helps establish what he feels is wrong with society. 3-diction.Helps establish the characters status, black slave versus rich white folk versus river rat versus white scum. 4-syntax. Also helps establish the characters. 5-Point of View-Having the story seen through the eyes of a youth is very important to Twain's theme. 6-Symbolism. There are many symbols in this novel, such as The free river symbolizes Huck's free spirit. 7-Direct characterization. Twain often describes exacltly what character are like so the reader will know if they are good or bad.