THE UNDISCOVERED "TERRITORY": MARK TWAIN'S LATER HUCK AND TOM STORIES by HENRY CARR PHELPS B.A., The University of Toronto, 1972 M.A., The University of Calgary, 1974 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of English) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1982 (c) Henry Carr Phelps, 1982 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of LA The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 Date DE-6 (3/81) ABSTRACT This dissertation looks at all works of Mark Twain' s. concerning the boys Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, partic• ularly those written after the completion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). These include the two published narra• tives, Tom Sawyer Abroad (1893) and "Tom Sawyer, Detective" (1896), and five fragments unpublished in Twain's lifetime, but recently issued by the University of California Press in the volumes of the Mark Twain Papers Mark Twain's Hannibal, Huck &^ Tom (ed. Walter Blair) and Mark Twain' s Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (ed. William M. Gibson). These five fragments are "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians" (1884), "Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy" (1897-1899), "Doughface" (c. 1897), "Schoolhouse Hill" (1898), and "Tom Sawyer's Gang Plans a Naval Battle" (c. 1900). After completing Huckleberry Finn, Twain wrote or tried to write many more stories about Tom and Huck, continuing their adventures. Most of these were never finished, and the two that were completed and published are generally considered to be greatly inferior to the earlier novels about the boys. Despite their flaws, though, these later narratives do possess hitherto undetected significance and value. A major aspect of the later stories about the boys is Twain's deliberate and persistent attempt over a period of thirty years to have Tom Sawyer grow up from a thoughtless boy to a responsible adult. Twain's efforts to do this are visible in most of the later works, and the prominence of this attempted development demonstrates that Twain was vitally interested in the problems of maturity and becoming an adult. For him, childhood was not merely a nostalgic refuge from the problems and complexities of life, as scholars have tended to assume; rather, it was a time of often painful testing in preparation for the difficulties of adult life. In addition, the later Tom and Huck stories contain ele• ments that both parallel and supplement Twain's better known works from this time. The differences and similarities between the narratives about the boys and his other works help to en• hance our understanding of Twain's thinking on a number of subjects. Among these subjects are the Transcendent Figure, the "Matter of Hannibal," and the folly of romanticism. This dissertation, then, casts new light on hitherto obscure writings by Twain; it attempts to assess their value and illuminate aspects of Twain's thought that have not yet been the subject of close scrutiny. In particular, the willing• ness of Twain to grapple with issues of profound complexity is revealed in these works more clearly perhaps than anywhere else in his canon. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Introduction 1 Chapter I: Critical Perceptions 11 Chapter II: History 39 Chapter III: The Theme of Maturity 91 Chapter IV: Other Themes 153 Conclusion 199 Bibliography 207 INTRODUCTION The long and persistent interest with which Mark Twain regarded his most famous characters, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, is a surprisingly little known and critically under• valued aspect of the author's career. Despite the vast amounts written about him, and particularly about his masterpiece, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it is not generally known that for virtually the entire span of Twain's life as a writer of fiction--from roughly 1870 to well into the 1900's--he created two novels, two1 novellas, a story, five lengthy unfinished narratives, at least two brief fragments, a play, and extensive notes, synopses, and outlines concerning the boys. This is a far greater amount, and written over a much longer period, than the material Twain wrote about two other characters who intrigued him, Colonel Sellers (of The Gilded Age [1873], "Colonel Sellers as a Scientist" [1884], and The American Claimant [1892]) and Simon Wheeler (of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" [1867] and an unpublished novel and play, "Simon Wheeler, Detective" [1877- 1879]). The great mass of material and the number of years over which the boys continued to interest him indicate the strong hold that Huck and Tom had on Mark Twain's imagination. There are several significant aspects of these works that have not been recognized by the relatively few scholars who have noticed the various unpublished pieces. First, despite the com• position of these works over such a long period and in the varying 1 2 circumstances of Twain's life, they possess a surprising con• sistency and coherence as a unit. In fact, they might almost be considered a continuing saga of the two boys. Secondly, these stories—particularly the later ones—show Twain grappling seriously with a number of ideas and themes through approaches that often are unique to these works. Consideration of these Huck and Tom stories, therefore, illuminates characteristics of Twain's thought that are not revealed in the better known sources. The intention of this dissertation is to provide such a consideration. The form of the dissertation will be thus: Following the introduction will be a chapter focussing on previous criticism of the later Huck and Tom narratives, covering some of the prob• lems Twain scholars have encountered in dealing with these stories and attempting to correct several misconceptions and errors. Then I will discuss the history of the composition of the stories over more than thirty years of Twain's life. This will be followed by extensive commentary on the major themes and concepts of these works, including the theme of maturation, the workings of fate, the "Matter of Hannibal," the Transcendent Figure, and Twain's attack on romanticism. Included in this discussion will be relationships between these stories and other works by Twain from the same periods in his life. As I hope to demonstrate, the ideas explored in these stories provide their value not only for Twain scholars, but for general readers as well. 3 The material that will be covered in this dissertation in• cludes, first and foremost, all the surviving narratives about the boys written after Huckleberry Finn. They include the frag• ments "Huck and Tom among the Indians" (1884), "Doughface" (c. 1897), "Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy" (1897-99), "Schoolhouse Hill" (1898), "Tom Sawyer's Gang Plans a Naval Battle" (c. 1900), and a play based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written 1884- 85. None of these works were published during Twain's life• time, and were not generally available to scholars until they were published in 1969 in volumes of the Mark Twain Papers issued by the University of California Press.^ As well, there are the two published narratives written by Twain in the 1890's, and now held for the most part in critical ill-repute, Tom Sawyer Abroad (1893) and "Tom Sawyer, Detective" 2 (1896). Attention will also be paid to a much earlier fragment, a tentative version of Tom Sawyer dating from the early 1870's, called the "Boy's Manuscript." This work was published by 3 Bernard DeVoto in Mark Twain at Work in 1942. These works cover a fascinating range of plot and theme, as a brief description of each one illustrates. The "Boy's Manuscript" is humorous and satirical, concerning the puppy-love affair between the hero (here called Billy Rogers) and a little girl. The work can be considered a draft of Tom Sawyer, for many of its scenes and dialogue reappear virtually unchanged in the later novel. Unlike the latter, the "Manuscript" is written in the first person, however. 4 "Huck and Tom among the Indians" is Twain's first attempt to write a sequel to Huckleberry Finn. Written soon after he finished that novel, the fragment is an account of the journey the two boys and Jim make out west into the Indian territory immediately after their return from the Phelps farm in Arkansas to St. Petersburg. A grim piece, the plot centres on the kid• napping of Jim and two daughters of a pioneer family by a band of bloodthirsty Indians. Huck, Tom and the fiance of the elder daughter are in pursuit when the fragment breaks off. Tom Sawyer Abroad is also an account of a journey, a voyage by the trio aboard a mysteriously powered balloon. Built by a half-crazed scientist who falls overboard shortly after the voyage begins, the balloon drifts eastward across the Atlantic and eventually to Egypt. There the narrative abruptly ends when the boys are ordered home by Aunt Polly. "Tom Sawyer, Detective" returns the boys (this time without Jim) to the Phelps farm in Arkansas, where Uncle Silas is arrested for the murder of the brother of a rich landowner, Brace Dunlap.