“ALL MODERN LITERATURE COMES FROM ONE BOOK BY MARK TWAIN CALLED HUCKLEBERRY FINN. IT’S THE BEST BOOK WE’VE EVER HAD. ALL AMERICAN

WRITING COMES FROM THAT. THERE WAS NOTHING BEFORE. THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING GOOD SINCE.”

-HEMINGWAY

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Mark Twain

The original cover on the novel

Huck and Jim floating down the Mississippi River

Mark Twain

Often called “eye witness to history” Watched a young United States evolve from nation

torn apart by internal conflicts to one of international power

Experienced country's growth and change - from westward expansion to industrialization, end of slavery, advancements in technology, big government and foreign wars.

Included historical issues into all of his plots

Twain Continued…

Birth name= Samuel ClemensBorn on November 30, 1835Died April 21, 1910 at the age of 74Sixth of seven childrenAt four, he and his family moved to

Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River

Father owned one slave and his uncle owned several

On his uncle's farm Sam spent summers playing in the slave quarters

Continued

Worked on several newspapers & and hadcareer as a riverboat pilot on MississippiRiver

Began writing for a newspaper and used pen name, Mark Twain

Saw a picture of his friend’s sister, Olivia, and fell in love at first sight (married in 1870) First child, Langdon Clemens (died at 2 from

diphtheria) First daughter Susy was born, Clara (1874), Jean

(1880)

Continued…

Most famous work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) Satirized the institution of slavery and the continued poor

treatment of African-Americans overallEnjoyed financial success, but continually made

bad investments which brought him to bankruptcyIn 1900, his finances were restoredFrom 1901 until his death he served as the vice

president of the Anti-Imperialist League  In these later years, writings turned dark

Began to focus on human greed, cruelty and questioned the humanity of the human race

Huckleberry Finn

Published in Jan. 1885 Follow-up story to Tom Sawyer Characters, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were loosely based on

Twain’s childhood friends In March 1885, book was banned

Due to its abolitionist tone (parts of the South were still struggling with slavery even though the book was written after the end of slavery)

Best publicity for this novel It is still banned in some places!

Use of the “N” word (appears 213 times in the novel) However, the way Twain and Huck used and understood this word was not

derogatory Critics say that Jim (the African-American character) actually shows the most

humanity People today are fighting to get this word deleted from the novel (VERY

CONTROVERRSIAL)

Considered an “American Classic” Many famous authors have mirrored Twain’s writing techniques, plot

development, use of literary elements

Themes

Slavery and Racism Inhumanity of slavery and racism Moral conscious

The contrast between civilization and the wild What nature offers and what towns offer

The contrast between social norms and honest morality Do social norms always fit in with your

own morality?

Literary Terms

1. Ab ovo: The technique of beginning a story at the earliest possible point.

2. Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds is called alliteration. In other words, consonant clusters coming closely cramped and compressed-no coincidence.

3. Allusion: A reference to another work or famous figure is an allusion. A classical allusion is a reference to Greek and Roman Mythology such as, The Iliad. Allusions can be topical or popular as well. A topical allusion refers to a current event. A popular allusion refers to something from popular culture, such as a reference to a television show or a hit movie.

4. Analogy: An analogy is a comparison. Usually analogies involve two or more symbolic parts, and are employed to clarify an action or a relationship. Just as the mother eagle shelters her young from the storm by spreading her great wing above their heads, so does the Acme Insurers of America spread an umbrella of coverage to protect its policy-holders from the storms of life.

Literary Terms Continued…

5. Assonance: The repeated use of vowel sounds, as in, “Old king Cole was a merry old soul.”

6. Ballad: A long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme. A ballad typically has a naïve folksy quality, a characteristic that distinguishes it from epic poetry.

7. Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, which is alliteration). A flock of sick, black-checkered, ducks.

  8. Denotation: the literal meaning of a word. 

Continued…

9. Dialect: A variety of language that is distinguished by grammar and vocabulary and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially

10. Diction, syntax: The author’s choice of word. Whether to use wept or cried is a question of diction. Syntax refers to the ordering and structuring. Whether to say, The pizza was smothered in cheese and pepperoni. I devoured it greedily, or Greedily, I devoured the cheese and pepperoni smothered pizza, is a question of syntax.

  11. Farce: Today we use this word to refer to extremely broad

humor. Writers of earlier times used farce as a more neutral term, meaning simply a funny play; a comedy. (And you should know that for writers of centuries past, comedy was the generic term for any play; it did not imply humor.)

12. Flashback: a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time.