Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Twain establishes the tone of the book in his two preliminary notes from the author. The first humorously warns the reader against any attempt to locate motive, moral, or plot in the narrative. The second, more seriously, advises the reader that the dialects in the book "have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guess-work; but pains-takingly" on the basis of his familiarity with the varieties of speech he employs (620). But this author disappears as soon as the book begins. Huck starts by addressing the audience directly, "You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' but that ain't no matter," and he allows that while Twain's book was mostly truthful it did contain some "stretchers" (623). Thus, despite his poor grammar and colloquialisms Huck immedia

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a-standing about all I can stand, now--so don't gimme no sass. I've been in town two days, and I hain't heard nothing but about you bein' rich" (644). Twain subtly develops the similarities between father and son--both, after all, prefer an unfettered life--and shows how quickly Pap's presence exerts an invisible influence over Huck by means of a subtle shift in Huck's response to this speech. Huck, who previously employed "ain't" as his negative now responds to Pap's tirade with "I hain't got no money" (645). And each time he engages in these adversarial conversations with his father small tokens of the old man's influence come through in this fashion. But if Huck clearly sees his father as the enemy he also understands that the Widow is his friend--without, however, being entirely willing to concede everything she wants from him in matters of education and behavior. Yet his willingness to engage her--no matter how comical his reflections about the Widow's "bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone"--is entirely different from his engagements with his father (626). Huck is on the defensive in both cases, but questioning the Widow's teaching clearly stimulates his power of reasoning
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Huck's I'm, Tom Sawyer, Colonel Grangerford, Chapter XIX, Mark Twain, King Duke, Widow Douglas, Tom Sawyer', Uncle Silas', Tom Tom's, outward signs, tom sawyer, regional accent, moral distinctions, widow douglas, book huck, moral sense, uncle silas', huckleberry finn, characters book,
Approximate Word count = 2216
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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