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Passage from Huckleberry Finn: Analysis chapter VI Pap Struggles with the Death Angel

The passage selected for analysis is taken from Chapter VI: "Pap Struggles with the Death Angel." It is a passage in which Huck Finn's attitude toward life is established. In brief, this attitude is one of lethargy and laziness, a determination to be free of social conventions and their restrictions and to live a life unhampered by the necessity of adhering to others' expectations (See attached passage).

The attached passage reflects the attitude that Huck Finn truly has toward what is valuable about life, a life that is "lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day" without the necessity of reading, studying, bathing, combing your hair, or following the rules of society (Twain 457). Huck is expressing what Twain appears to believe is the most delightful ways that a young person can live. Such a life is without the necessity of going to school or moderating one's language.

To emphasize this, Twain (457) uses stereotypical images of conformity to social norms such as bathing, going to bed at a regular time, and listening to the admonitions of adults. Huck's language suggests that obeying Miss Watson is a result of her "pecking at you all the time" (Twain 457). The implication is that being forced to conform to requirements for daily or regular bathing and proper table manners is a form of "pecking" or nagging. Indeed, Huck acknowledges that while he had conformed by stopping "cussing because the widow didn't like it," he took it up again because "Pap hadn't no objections" (Twain 457).

Even in the use of a phrase like "no objections" and other extremely casual and incorrect language, Huck's rejection of society is being affirmed. He is contending that a life in which there are no rules of any significance must be automatically a better and more satisfying life than one in which there are rules which must be followed. As he puts it, "I didn't see how I'd ever got to like it so well at the widow's" (Twain 457...

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Passage from Huckleberry Finn: Analysis chapter VI Pap Struggles with the Death Angel. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:04, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2001321.html