DOCSLIB.ORG

Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain's Novels Kay L

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain's Novels Kay L Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1979 From Selflessness to Selfishness: Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain's Novels Kay L. Smith Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Smith, Kay L., "From Selflessness to Selfishness: Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain's Novels" (1979). Masters Theses. 3171. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3171 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PAPJ<:R CERTIFICATE #2 TO: Gradua.te Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. I The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permis.sion to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. �c311r1f Author I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because Date Author pdm From Selflessness to Selfishness: - Various Types of Decept ion in Four of Twain 's Novels (TITLE) BY Kay L. Smith - - THESIS SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Ma ster of Arts in English IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1979 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE ADVISER DEIARit'Ml'lT HBIU> From Selflessness to Selfishness : Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain 's Novels Thes is Abstract An interes�ing feature of �ark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, The Ad ventures of Huckleberry Finn , A Connecticut Yan­ . kee in King Arthur 's Court , and Th e Tragedy of Pudd 'nhead 1,·/ilson is the use of disguise and deception. The basis of much of the novels' act ions concerns people who , for varied reasons , set out to fool other people. Other individuals or groups of people 2re self-deceived . Mot ivations for the decept ion vary. Some ent2il selfl ess concerns of protecting a loved one. Some illustrate des ires to maintain one 's own safety and wel l-being. Still others in­ volve negative , base qualities such as greed , lust for power or glory , revenge, or a false sense of tradit ion. In Tw ain's earl iest novel , The Prince and the Pauoer, the main deception occurs when two boys , curious about each other's lifestyles and desirous to be rid of their seemingly confining existences , change places . Though neither c�n completely ad­ just to his new mode of life, because of the reversal-deception the prince becomes initiated into the injust ices thrust upon the poor. So when he is reinstated as royalty, he demonstrates a humane kindness to such unfortun�te victims. The pauper lea rns of the burdens of power. Thus , the deception serves to enlighten :!8l!.:]8<) the participants and render them more cApable of understanding their fellow men. Other decept ions in the novel include a greed-based one · perpetrated by Hugh Hendon and a self-preser­ vative one, deal ing with thieves forced to wear foreign garments so . they will not be detected and impri·soned for their poverty. In Huckleberry Finn deceit can be seen in Huck , who wears various disguises 2nd dons different names in order to protect either himself or Jim. Decept ion is depicted in the pseudo­ royal duke and king , who swindle townsfolk and ultimately sell the black man for forty dollars. A striking deception is dis­ played by the Grangerfords 2nd Shepherdsons. The ir outward gentility masks an inner corruption and brutality based on an irrational be1ief in trad ition.· Huck 's companion, Tom Sawyer , exemplifies a .person self-deceived. His unfeeling attitude toward Jim , whose life he playful ly puts in danger, comes from a glory-seeking mind which can no longer distinguish fact from fiction. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur 's Court Hank Mor­ gan 's personal ity contains a mixture of deceptions. First he prevaricates and produces the eclipse "miracle" in order to preserve his own life. As time passes , he. becomes more inter­ ested in maintaining the deception of being "Boss" in order to heighten his power. Ultimately in conceiving that his nineteenth­ century technology will overrule the Arthurians ' superstitions , he is self-deceived. Other deceptions in the work include the facade of the knights in shining armor and Arthur 's wearing of peasant attire. In the latter the king , unlike the prince and the pauper, seems relatively unaffected by the plight of the poor. In the last novel examined , Pudd 'nhead Wilson , there is a reversal in identities between Tom Driscoll and Valet de Chambre. But unlike the switch in The Prince and the Pauper, this reversal is long-termed and is done without the knowledge of the ones involved . No insightful awareness or und erstand ing comes as a result of the revelation of the two young men 's true identities. Rather, a totally negative sense of injustice reigns. Roxy, the instigator of the deception , acts mainly out of selfless motives but is finally self-deceived nonetheless. Her son employs various disguises to hide his greed. Like the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons , the townsfolk of Dawson 's Landing wear a giant mask of respectability under which lurks corruption. Pudd 'nhead Wilson must suffer from the denizens ' plac ing of a "disguise" upon him as the town dunce. But unfor- tunately he lives up to the rol e. In the first three novels there seems to be some wee small cry of hope for man to escape from the negative dis- guises 2nd deceptions which surround him. In the last novel , however, no candle lights the way to human und erstand ing and sympathy. Kay L. Smith Engl ish Department August 3, 1979 Table of Contents • • • • • • • 1 Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Chapter I. Decept ion in The Prince and the PauEer • • • • • • • 12 II. Decept ion in The Ad ventures of Huckleberry Finn • • 27 III. Deception in A Connecticut Yankee in ' King Arthur s Court • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41 IV. Deception in The Tragedy of Pudd 'nhead Wilson • • • 53 Conclusion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 73 Bibliography • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 77 From Selflessness to Selfishness : Various Types of Deception in Four of Twain's Novels Introduction An interesting feature of Mark Twain's The Prince and � Pauper, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee 1n King Arthur's Court, and The Trage dy of Pudd 'nhead Wilson is the use of disguise and deception. The basis of much of the novels' actions concerns people who, for varied reasons, set out to fool other people. Some of the deceit takes on the form of pretended identities in which the deceiver acts and/or dresses the role of someone he is not. In The Prince and the Pauper two boys, curious about each other's lifestyles and desirous to be rid of their confining exis­ tences, change clothing and before they know it are whisked into worlds of which they are totally unaccustomed. Neither is aware of what far-reaching consequences their transaction will bring. Though neither can completely adjust to his new mode of life, the prince becomes initiated into the injustices thrust upon the poor and when reinstated as royalty, he demon­ strates a humane kindness to such unfortunate victims. The pauper, though he enjoys being waited upon, dislikes the "more 1 formidable requirements of his royal office11 and sees no 2 significance to the Royal Seal other than its use as a tool with which to crack nuts. �oth boys end up attesting to their true identities and are rel ieved to rel inquish their pre- tended ones . A similar reversal of characters ' lifestyles occurs in Pudd 'nhead Wilson with a different twist. In this novel the two children , Tom Driscoll and Valet de Chambre , are purposely switched by Roxana , the nurse, when the youngsters are infants too young to be aware of the consequences of the act. The difference between this deception and that instigated by the prince and the paupe� is that the babies have no way of knowing about Roxy 's deception and thus grow up bel ieving they are of the social class Roxy pretends they are. Her motivation has little to do with curiosity or boredom but rather is based upon a motherly instinct to save the one she loves. Having 2 been threatened with being "sold down the river ,11 she is willing to do anything to keep her child from this awful fate. So, this primary desire to protect her child coupled with a sense of the injustice of one infant 's receiving all of life's advantages just because he is white and wealthy, Roxy places the false identities upon the children. Little does she know that her own son , who will be given all the advantages accorded to one of the upper class, will ultimately murder his "uncle" and betray his mother. The prince and the pauper 's disguises are temporary and short lived. However, the disguises of the two boys in the 3 second novel are almost permanent and long l �ved.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mark Twain's the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the Contemporary English Classroom
    Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the Contemporary English Classroom Senior Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For a Degree Bachelor of Arts with A Major in Literature at The University of North Carolina at Asheville Fall 2009 By HOGAN CARRINGER _____________________ Thesis Director Dr. Blake Hobby _____________________ Thesis Advisor Dr. Merritt Moseley Carringer 2 When choosing a narrator for a work, why does an author decide that a child’s voice would suit the narrative best? Is it the child’s unsullied and unvarnished perspective because of his age? Could it be a child’s lack of experience with life in general which help to explain characters’ mistakes and plot complications? These are all important questions to ponder while analyzing Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In fact, by placing critics of the novel in a dialogue, we can see both why the work has been and will continue to be controversial and why this work should remain a part of the American literary canon. The connection between the two ideas is that readers who find the novel unacceptable often do so because they do not read it in a sophisticated way that acknowledges Huck's unreliability, instead thinking that he speaks for the novel's values, even in his offhand racist comments. To establish his unreliability is to separate the novel's racial attitudes from those of its narrator. A Bildungsroman set in the pre-slavery days of America, the work follows the travails of a ten year old boy named Huckleberry Finn and his runaway slave friend Jim as they journey down the Mississippi River in search of freedom from a restrictive and hostile society.
    [Show full text]
  • Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn As Anti Racist Novel
    Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8435 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.46, 2018 Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn as Anti Racist Novel Ass.Lecturer Fahmi Salim Hameed Imam Kadhim college for Islamic science university, Baghdad , Iraq "Man is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves in bondage under him in one way or another.” - Mark Twain Abstract Mark Twain, the American author and satirist well known for his novels Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , grew up in Missouri, which is a slave state and which later provided the setting for a couple of his novels. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are the two most well-known characters among American readers that Mark Twain created. As a matter of fact, they are the most renowned pair in all of American literature. Twain’s father worked as a judge by profession, but he also worked in slave-trade sometimes. His uncle, John Quarles, owned 20 slaves; so from quite an early age, Twain grew up witnessing the practice of slave-trade whenever he spent summer vacations at his uncle's house. Many of his readers and critics have argued on his being a racist. Some call him an “Unexcusebale racist” and some say that Twain is no where even close to being a racist. Growing up in the times of slave trade, Twain had witnessed a lot of brutality and violence towards the African slaves.
    [Show full text]
  • Huckleberry Finn's Cure for Warts
    HUCKLEBERRY FINN’S CURE FOR WARTS A Humorous Reading by Mark Twain Wetmore Declamation Bureau Box 2695 Sioux City, IA 51106 www.wetmoredeclamation.com Email: [email protected] CAUTION: Wetmore Declamation Bureau material is protected by United States copyright law and conventions. None of our material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-without prior permission. No trademark, copyright or other notice may be removed or changed. All rights reserved. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. HUCKLEBERRY FINN’S CURE FOR WARTS A Humorous Reading Mark Twain From “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” ISBN 1-60045-088-1 Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard, was dreaded by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle and lawless—and because all their children admired him so, and wished they dared to be like him. Tom Sawyer, like the rest of the respectable boys, was under strict orders not to play with him. So he played with him every time he got a chance. Huckleberry did not have to go to school or to church; he could go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he was always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash, nor put on clean clothes. In a word, everything that goes to make life precious, that boy had.
    [Show full text]
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    T HE G LENCOE L ITERATURE L IBRARY Study Guide for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain A i Meet Mark Twain Hannibal to work as a printer’s assistant. He held printing jobs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. Then, when he was twenty-one, he returned to the Mississippi River to train for the job he wanted above all others: steamboat pilot. A few years later, he became a licensed pilot, but his time as a pilot was cut short by the start of the Civil War, in 1861. After a two-week stint in the Confederate army, Clemens joined his brother in Carson City, Nevada. There, Clemens began to write humorous sketches and tall tales for the local newspaper. In February 1863, he first used the pseudonym, or pen I was born the 30th of November, 1835, in the name, that would later be known by readers almost invisible village of Florida, Monroe County, throughout the world. It was a riverboating term Missouri. The village contained a hundred for water two fathoms, or twelve feet, deep: “Mark people and I increased the population by Twain.” 1 percent. It is more than many of the best men Clemens next worked as a miner near San in history could have done for a town. Francisco. In 1865 he published in a national magazine a tall tale he had heard in the mine- —The Autobiography of Mark Twain fields—“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” It was an instant success. ark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Later, he traveled to Hawaii, Europe, and the M Clemens, was in many ways a self-made Middle East.
    [Show full text]
  • Critics' Views of the Character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn Elizabeth J
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1977 Critics' views of the character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn Elizabeth J. Gifford Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Gifford, Elizabeth J., "Critics' views of the character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn " (1977). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 6965. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/6965 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Critics' views of the character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn by Elizabeth J. Gifford A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major; English Signatures have been redacted for privacy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1977 One hundred years have passed since Samuel Clemens began creating his masterpiece. Huckleberry Finn. The main charac ters in this novel are a homeless rebel of a boy who is (or believes he is) running away from his murderous father/ and a frightened slave who is running away from a greedy old woman owner who was about to sell him and separate him from his family. Much has been written about this work—ranging from the highest praise to scathing criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • Mark Twain, the Dialogic Imagination, and the American Classroom Drew
    Kansas English, Vol. 98, No. 1 (2017) Mark Twain, the Dialogic Imagination, and the American Classroom Drew Clifton Colcher Abstract Mark Twain is often read as a provincial realist or naturalist whose works are disseminated in simplified versions as children’s stories or seen as humorous social criticism of the southern United States and its dialects. This article focuses on two of Twain’s novels—A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) and No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger (published posthumously with various titles)—in order to focus on the more modern, less provincial, novelistic aspects of Twain’s writing. The theories of Mikhail Bakhtin provide the background for a characterization of the novelistic nature of these works in an effort to re-focus Twain criticism away from realist or naturalist analysis and toward semiotic and structural considerations. This essay functions as an introductory-level presentation of Bakhtinian analysis and Twain criticism, as well as a reimagining of the role of Twain’s writings in the classroom, especially in light of recent controversies surrounding the language used in works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Of paramount importance to this argument are the temporal, spatial, formal and thematic coordinates of the two books, and the assertion that they conform to Bakhtin’s conception of the novel and how it radically differs from other forms. Keywords Mark Twain, Mikhail Bakhtin, semiotics, novelism, American literature, literary theory, pedagogy, literary criticism, modernism, realism, structuralism Novels like A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court and No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger raise problematic questions for Twain scholars because they directly approach more philosophical human concerns while, at times, casting off the sarcastically humorous facade that characterizes Twain’s work in general.
    [Show full text]
  • Plot Structure in Tie Novels of Mark Tnain
    Net PLOT STRUCTURE IN TIE NOVELS OF MARK TNAIN THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State College in Partial Ful- fillment of the Requirements For the Degree of iSTER OF ARTS By Zelma Ruth Odle, B. A. Gordonville, Texas August, 1949 TABIE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTIU CTION........... Purposes of the Study Mark Twain's Literary Beginnings Mark Twain's Statements of His Limitations in Plot Structure Mark Twain's Method in Plot Structure Criticisms of Mark Twain's Methods II. A COMPArJSCN OF TIE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAI2ER AND TM ADVETTJRES 07 HU=TBTRRY7IN . 8 Structure of Tom Sawyer Structure of uckler Finn III. THRED NOVELS OF HISTORICAL INTEEST: TIE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, A CONNICTICUT YAhKtE f7IING ARTHUR' S~COURT, AND PERSONAL17ECTL ACTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC . 20 Structure of The Prince and the Pauper Structure of A~onne ticut~Ya~-nkee nfj Arthurts Court Structure ofPersonal Recollections of Joan of Arc IV. A COMPARISON OF PUDD'NHEAD WILSON AND THOSE EXTRACODINAH T iSINS............ 42 Structure of PuddInhead Wilson Structure of Those E traordinary Twins V. A COMPAISON OF THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER AND THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBRUG. 56 Structure of The Mysterious Stranger Structure of M'E3 Mttan tVt orrupte Hadleybur VI *CONCLUSION . * . * 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 81 iii CHAPTER I IN TRODUCTITK Mark Twain was not only a wit but a literary man. He could paint a scene and he could make a character live, but could he plot a novel? It is the purpose of this study to anaylze his methods and his products, with emphasis upon the building of plots.
    [Show full text]
  • Huckleberry Finn and the Picaresque As Lens Against Debt Peonage
    University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Annual Graduate Student Symposium 2016 Annual Graduate Student Symposium Apr 6th, 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM Huckleberry Finn and the Picaresque as Lens Against Debt Peonage Cory Dahlstrom University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright © 2016 Cory Dahlstrom Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/agss Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons Dahlstrom, Cory, "Huckleberry Finn and the Picaresque as Lens Against Debt Peonage" (2016). Annual Graduate Student Symposium. 32. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/agss/2016/all/32 This Open Access Oral Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Annual Graduate Student Symposium by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dahlstrom 1 Cory James Dahlstrom 9th Annual Graduate Symposium University of Northern Iowa 6 April 2016 Huckleberry Finn and the Picaresque as Lens Against Debt Peonage ​ The following presentation is a brief overview of one chapter of my graduate thesis, which is an explorative undertaking of the American picaresque, and very much a current work in progress. The chapter I’ve chosen to share with you, analyses America’s most well­known picaresque novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The novel has a long ​ ​ history of controversy and censorship that earns it the title of all­time­most­banned­book. Most of modernday controversy centers around the prolific use of the n­word, and it has been both praised and denigrated for its depiction of race from both white and black critics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scarlet Letter Is No Huck Finn! 1Day High School English
    The Scarlet Letter is no Huck Finn! 1day High School English DESIRED RESULTS: What are the “big ideas” that drive this lesson? Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a groundbreaking work because it was the first American book which did not adhere to British literary standards, instead using a distinctly American vernacular intended for an American audience and dealing with American subjects and issues. What are the “essential questions” that students must answer in order to understand the “big ideas”? How does the style and content of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn differ from an earlier American masterpiece such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter? In particular, how does the “voice” of Huck compare to the voice of the narrator of The Scarlet Letter? CORE UNDERSTANDINGS: Identify what the students will know and/or be able to do. Through close reading of text excerpts, students will be able to compare and contrast works of literature and identify key characteristics of differences in tone, voice, and context. SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT(S): Annotation of texts, completion of worksheet with partner (think-pair-share) LEARNING EXPERIENCES: Use the WHERETO acronym to consider key design elements: 1. W – Where is it going? Students generally do not enjoy reading The Scarlet Letter on account of its style. Help them to build a bridge from Hester to Huck by really focusing on the differences in tone and language between the two books. (Note: You might preface this lesson with a class that introduces students to the ongoing controversy surrounding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s use of the “n” word and its controversial treatment of race.) Students need to notice the stark contrast between the voice of Hawthorne's distant narrator and Huck's first-person point-of-view.
    [Show full text]
  • Huckleberry Finn in the Modern Classroom
    University of Florida Levin College of Law UF Law Scholarship Repository UF Law Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2003 Emotional Segregation: Huckleberry Finn in the Modern Classroom Sharon E. Rush University of Florida Levin College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Education Law Commons, and the Juvenile Law Commons Recommended Citation Sharon E. Rush, Emotional Segregation: Huckleberry Finn in the Modern Classroom, 36 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 306 (2003), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/171 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UF Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EMOTIONAL SEGREGATION: HUCKLEBERRY FINN IN THE MODERN CLASSROOMt Sharon E. Rush* In this article, I explore emotional segregation and how it junctions in the context of Huckleberry Finn for both personal and academic reasons. Recently, I read Huckleberry Finn because it had been assigned to my daughter's middle school class. I was concerned for her welfare because she is Black and worried how the book would affect her. To understand her reactions, I had to understand the con­ troversy surrounding the book, particularly as a White mother. I have reflected quite deeply on the question whether the book is racist. I define "racism" as a belief in the myth of White superiority and Black inferiority, also known as the race pre­ cept.1 I conclude that Huckleberry Finn is racist.
    [Show full text]
  • {Download PDF} the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Mark Twain,Darren Shan | 480 pages | 01 Apr 2008 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141321097 | English | London, United Kingdom Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Wikipedia In , the missing first half turned up in a steamer trunk owned by descendants of Gluck's. The library successfully claimed possession and, in , opened the Mark Twain Room to showcase the treasure. In relation to the literary climate at the time of the book's publication in , Henry Nash Smith describes the importance of Mark Twain's already established reputation as a "professional humorist", having already published over a dozen other works. Smith suggests that while the "dismantling of the decadent Romanticism of the later nineteenth century was a necessary operation," Adventures of Huckleberry Finn illustrated "previously inaccessible resources of imaginative power, but also made vernacular language, with its new sources of pleasure and new energy, available for American prose and poetry in the twentieth century. While it is clear that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was controversial from the outset, Norman Mailer , writing in The New York Times in , concluded that Twain's novel was not initially "too unpleasantly regarded. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway 's encomiums 50 years later," reviews that would remain longstanding in the American consciousness. Alberti suggests that the academic establishment responded to the book's challenges both dismissively and with confusion. Upon issue of the American edition in several libraries banned it from their shelves. One incident was recounted in the newspaper the Boston Transcript :. The Concord Mass. Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library.
    [Show full text]
  • Huckleberry Finn
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn p A Few Words to Begin Most of the adventures in this book really happened. One or two were my own experiences. The others were experiences of boys in my school. Huck Finn really lived. My book is for boys and girls, but I hope that men and women also will read it. I hope that it will help them to remember pleasantly the days when they were boys and girls, and how they felt and thought and talked, what they believed, and what strange things they some- times did. Mark Twain Hartford, Connecticut 1876 i The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn p Educating Huck OU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME UNLESS YOU HAVE read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. That book was writtenY by Mark Twain, and he holds the truths mainly. Not all parts of the story are true, but most of it is. I don’t know anyone who tells the truth all the time, except perhaps Aunt Polly or the Widow Douglas or Tom Sawyer’s sister, Mary. These people are written about in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. That book ends like this: Tom and I find money that was stolen and we are allowed to keep it. We become rich. We each have 6,000 dollars in gold. Judge Thatcher put the money in a bank for us, and we can have a dollar a day. That is more money than a person can know how to spend. 1 M a r k T w a i n The Widow Douglas took me into her home to live, but I did not enjoy living in a nice house.
    [Show full text]