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| Cover of the 1st edition |
So, I finished reading Huckleberry Finn almost a week ago now, and if I'm totally honest, I still have no clue what I think about it exactly. To be clear: there are a lot of bits which I really loved, and I'm going to show some of them to you later on. Equally though, there was quite a bit of stuff that I did not enjoy at all - first and foremost the glaring use of the n-word throughout the book. So let's get right to that to have it out of the way.
Racism in Huckleberry Finn
So, I get that this book was written at a very specific point in time and that Mark Twain probably chose to include the n-word for authenticity reasons, among others ... but that didn't and doesn't make it any easier for me to read it. And that's on the one hand because I only recently saw Selma, and on the other because of reports by students such as this one:
I can still recall the anger I felt as my white classmates read aloud the word "nigger". In fact, as I write this letter I am getting angry all over again. I wanted to sink into my seat. Some of the whites snickered, others giggled. I can recall nothing of the literary merits of this work that you term "the greatest of all American novels". I only recall the sense of relief I felt when I would flip ahead a few pages and see the word "nigger" would not be read that hour. - Allen B. Ballard (Letter to the Editor, NYT, 1982)
It's just such a painful, nasty term - and encountering it in this novel which is supposed to be one of the greats obviously hurts and makes me feel uncomfortable.
So, I really had no clue how to deal with this until I found this segment of The Daily Show in which Larry Wilmore makes some truly excellent points about the use of the n-word and why it needs to stay in the book, despite attempts to have it removed:
For me, the most important point that Larry Wilmore makes (and it's almost drowned out) is this: the word is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. I think all evidence points to the fact that Mark Twain chose to use the n-word for a reason, which was to contrast the savagery of the white people who would use it with the loyalty, intelligence and good-heartedness of Jim and other black people. This comes through most clearly in the drunken tirade of Huck's father, in which he truly reveals himself to be the mean-spirited, evil person that he is:
There was a free nigger there from Ohio - a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too .... They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin .... And to see the cool way of that nigger - why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't shoved him out o' the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold? - that's what I want to know. And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in the State six months. - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Ch. 6
It's ironic, isn't it? A drunk failure of a man who has no pleasure in life except to make his own son's existence miserable has the audacity to slur against another, obviously well-educated man, just because of his skin colour. It's the epitome of superficiality and only emphasises the stupidity of Huck's father.
So, even though I still feel hugely uncomfortable reading this word, I've now sort of come to terms with why it's important that it stays in the book. I suppose, in the end, it's like a mirror to the past: it shows us what we once were and what we must never return to. And with that in mind it would be wrong to cleanse the book of it and thereby change history just because it offends our sensibilities now.
With regard to Huck Finn documenting the history of slavery, there are a couple of other interesting things hidden away in the novel, such as this picture by the official illustrator of the novel:
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| Jim and Huck (E. W. Kemble) |
What's interesting about this picture, as the people working on the Mark Twain Project have pointed out, is that it directly quotes another picture, which was used in the campaign to abolish slavery:
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| (c) New York Public Library |
Apparently, in order to raise awareness about the evil of slavery, this image was printed onto pamphlets, stationary and even goods such as pottery. I don't know about you, but I have to admit I find stuff like that fascinating - and I'm glad there are people out there researching this, because I would've had no clue otherwise.
Superstition in Huckleberry Finn
What's also fascinating, historically speaking, are all the different superstitions that are infused into the novel: like the belief that you can cure a rattle-snake bite by drinking lots of whisky. This happens near the beginning of the book when poor Jim is bitten by one of these snakes (because of Huck's stupidity, frankly) and the first thing he does is grab a jug of whisky. He also asks Huck to cut off the dead snake's rattles and tie them around his wrists, since that is supposed to help too. There are loads of other superstitions in the novel too - about spiders and witches and hairballs, funnily enough. It's a lot of fun, really!
Regarding the thing about the snake, again with the help of the Mark Twain Project I found out that this was in all actuality the sort of advice you would get from doctors at the time:
Internally, give the patient all the Whisky he can drink. From a quart to a gallon should be drunk in six or eight hours. No fears need be entertained of making the patient drunk. You may fill him with Whisky, then let him swim in it, and it will not make him drunk, so long as the poison of the snake remains in the system. - Gunn's New Family Physician (1867).
... Let him swim in it? ... Alright ...
Selling Huckleberry Finn
There's this webpage called Mark Twain in his Times, which I absolutely adore, as it gives profound insight into the way Mark Twain lived, how he published his books, what his contemporaries thought about him, etc. One of the things it necessarily has a lot of interesting information about is the publication and promotion of Huckleberry Finn - I've picked out two interesting details for this post, but you can always go and browse around for yourself at this address.
1) Sales Prospectus Poster of 1884
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| (c) Clifton Waller Barrett Collection |
So this was one of the posters they would use to sell the new book - I find some of the phrasing truly
"Not a sentence of this book has ever before appeared in print in any form."
I suppose they were sad that they couldn't claim the same thing about every word ...
That's lovely but ... who IS this author you speak of? Unless ... is this Hemingway speaking from the future? >___>"This book is simply irresistible, and is pronounced by an author OF WORLD-WIDE Reputation and HIGH AUTHORITY, who has read the manuscript: 'The brightest and most humorous book that Mark Twain has ever written.'"
2) Defacing the sales prospectus
Apparently, they had a bit of a prankster working at the printers' where the sales prospectus came into being. It was never found out who did it, but it seems that one of the illustrations that were meant to accompany the prospectus was altered in a ... let's say indecent way. It concerns the illustration of Uncle Silas near the end of the book. You can look at it here, but be careful since it's not safe for work!
Jim and Huck's friendship - or "Why I love this book"
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| Jim and Huck (E. W. Kemble) |
And now we finally get to the part in which this post turns into somewhat of a review, at last. If you've made it this far I applaud you.
So, the most interesting part of the book for me was the relationship between Jim and Huck. A) Because it's lovely how Jim treats him almost like a son and B) because Huck's emotional and moral development with regard to Jim is fascinating. I think we all know how hard it is to go against all the rules of the society you've been brought up in, even if your gut is telling you that those rules are wrong. And that's exactly why Huck's actions are so fascinating: even though he is torn between protecting Jim and telling on him numerous times, he always chooses the right course of action in the end, going by his gut feeling instead of what he has been taught all his life - and I admire him so much for that.
Equally though, I admire Jim for his wisdom and his kindness, and the way he manages to set Huck right when he does something stupid or mean. The most memorable moment (to me) in that regard happens after Huck has decided to play a rather cruel trick on Jim, who had believed his young friend to be dead. This is what Jim says:
“[...] When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin’ for you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’ k’yer no’ mo’ what become er me en de raf’. En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun’, de tears come, en I could a got down on my knees en kiss yo’ foot, I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed.”
Then he got up slow and walked to the wigwam, and went in there without saying anything but that. But that was enough. It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back. - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Ch. 15I love this passage so much. I love how confident Jim is, and how honest and straightforward - and I love how much of an effect his words have on Huck. It really shows the budding depth of their friendship - I only wish there could've been more moments like this in the book than there actually were.
So, to sum it up, how much did I enjoy this book? I think I'd give it four rafts out of five - just because I really could not stand the episodes about the two conmen, and the ending of the book was a bit of a letdown (even if it does make perfect sense psychologically speaking, as is explained in detail here). I'm sure as hell going to pick this one up again!
Links & References
Ballard, AB 1982, 'What Huck Finn Says to a Black Child', The New York Times 9 May. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/09/opinion/l-what-huck-finn-says-to-a-black-child-123132.html. [10 March 2015].
Gunn, JC 1876 Gunn’s New Family Physician: or, Home Book of Health. 100th ed. Cincinnati, New York: Moore, Wilstach and Baldwin.
Mark Twain Project Online 2015. Available from: http://www.marktwainproject.org/.
Railton, S 2012, Mark Twain in His Times. Available from: http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/index2.html.
The Daily Show 2011, Mark Twain Controversy (video file) 11 January 2011, Available from: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/9ez59y/mark-twain-controversy.
Twain, M 1885 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Charles L Webster.
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