The_Adventures_of_Huck_Finn_and_Related_Material

The radical novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain is an exceptional perception of the life of a boy, Huck, and a black slave, Jim, in the Post American Civil War in the Southern Society. It explores the ideas of slavery, inner discrepancies within ones self and the idea of nature and its ability to provide the means of escape and freedom and safety for a person. Through various devices of highly descriptive language, satire and symbolism of the Mississippi river the reader is able to comprehend sympathy towards both characters and to rienforce the idea of equality. In relation to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the two texts, This is the Sea by The Waterboys (Ensign records 1985) a song about the challenges of life and the difficulties that are to be over come to achieve the happiness you desire, and the poem The Journey of the Magi written by Thomas Sterns Eliot which is a poem about what life is really about Birth or Death and through this we are able to see life through a different perspective. We are confronted with the different levels of the idea of the human conditon through all of these texts and the modern reader is challenged to see the world through a new light and evaluate their understaniding of right and worng. Therefore these texts shed a new light on the different aspects of life from the twentieth century times to now tims in the twentfirst century and how times have changed for the better of humaity. The prejudice of slavery is one of the most significant targets of Mark Twain’s satire and the Mississippi River is an important structural and symbolic tool used by Twain to exercise this issue. In the literal sense, the Mississippi river is a means of travel, but it also used as a symbol of freedom for our two main characters, Huck and Jim. For Jim it represents freedom from slavery and the enforced separation from his family. For Huck it represents freedom from the boundaries of civilisation and the hypocrisies of the Southern Society. The river also symbolises the restorative powers of nature. The river provides both a physical journey, in which the two characters must maynover their way down the river towards the free states, but also an inner journey for which Huck must decipher the inner challenges of what is morally right and what was thought to be socially correct of the times. Even though Huck and Jim are free on the river, they soon realise that they are not completely free from all the evils and bad influences of the towns on the rivers banks. Throughout the journey Huck and Jim encounter many new and interesting people who all play an important part in Huck’s decisive rejection of appropriate social rule and morality to follow his own heart in the belief that Jim’s friendship and worth as a human being are as equal as that of a white person and that he would rather go to hell then betray his friend back into slavery. “ Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on; s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up would you felt better than what you do now' No, says I, I’d feel bad - I’d feel just the same way I do now. Well then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same' I was stuck. I couldn’t answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn’t bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time ” – Huck chapter 16 page 116. Twain uses humour, and predominantly the devices of irony, sarcasm and degrees of exaggeration to expose the many flaws of the old Southern Society, in particular its concept of, the respectability of civilisation and that of its religious hypocrisies. The chapters regarding the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons feud ingeniously satirises all of these three aspects with it ending Huck’s repulsion of the many behaviours and “ traditions ” of society. “ As soon as I was in the old gentleman he locked the door and barred it and bolted it, and told the young men to come in with their guns. ” – Huck chapter 17 page 123. Exaggeration is used to highlight the false thinking of culture the Grangerfords have about themselves. The description of their sentimental and some what cheesy interior of their home, “ There was some books, too, piled up perfectly exact, on each corner of the table. One was a big family Bible full of pictures. ” – Huck chapter 17 page 128. This quote also allows us to see that even with the Grangerfords violent background they are still quite a religious family, which contradicts their beliefs. This is the Sea by British band The Waterboys (Ensign Records 1985) is a song, that like, Huckleberry Finn uses the motif of a river representing life as a journey. In this song, the river is used to represent the challenges and unpredictability of life, and the sea, in which, all rivers finally unravel to, is used to represent an understanding of ones self and their freedom. The song suggests to the listener the in spite of all the hardships and moral dilemmas, if you are true to yourself and trust yourself can are able to find a way through your problems, which echoes Twain’s use of the river by the ability of which Huck is able to reflect personally on his attitudes towards Jim and society. Through this both texts implement the idea of eternal symbolism of the water as life. Through the use of acoustic guitars, string sounds, crescendo, minor keys and strong imagery to express these ideas. At the beginning of the song, the gentle sound of the acoustic guitar and string sounds, such as the violin, are combined with the minor chords of the song to create a depressed, bittersweet tone in conjunction with the lead vocalist, Mike Scott’s voice, produce the thought of the inner turmoil and deep struggles of life, while the rhythm of the song keeps at a moderate and steady pace, which in contrast conveys the idea of hope in life, even through the hard times when it feels as though you will never get back up, if you pick yourself up and work through it you will obtain a much better life. Using various techniques including metaphors such as “ Once you were tethered, now you are free ” and also “ You’ve got a war in your head and its tearing you up inside ” effectively demonstrate the personal struggles that we come across throughout our lives, but that they can be overcome. The book of Huck Finn, Huck struggled with the moral consequence of his promises to, “ nigger ” Jim, and as a result Huck begins an internal war between socially accepted beliefs and his own sense of decency towards his friend. Also the inspiration of freedom is most certainly one of the most important issues for the both of these characters within Twain’s text. In the song This is the Sea each individual verse describes a different problem, with the exception of the chorus “ That was the river, this is the sea ”. With the use of repetition “ You’ve been scouring your conscience, raking through your memory, scouring your conscience, raking through your memory ” and the use of past and present tense, once again reminds the listener that all problems can be overcome. At the very end of the song the acoustic guitar builds to a crescendo, and then slows down to emphasise the last line of the song “ Behold the sea! ” this presents the listener with the idea the end of the journey has brought a sense of hope, freedom and understanding with the use of symbolism of freedom and of life that is represented by water, and in the songs case, the sea. The poem, The Journey of the Magi written by Thomas Sterns Eliot 1927 is a poem about the Wise Men (the Magi) to witness the birth of Jesus Christ. This is perceived as a long demanding journey against the discouragements of nature and the hostility of man. ‘A hard time we had of it’. As the reader further deciphers the poem they are confronted with a statement of the purpose of a journey or embarking on a journey isn’t always obvious. We have to evaluate the differences is has made to us as an individual before we can asses it purpose and importance. “ Were we lead all that way for Birth or Death' ” The use of this retorical question it helps us better understand the Magi’s confusion in which he was suppost to relate his journey and allows the reader to understand the Magi’s interlectual thinking about the ways of which he sees the world. In Eliot’s poem the water symbolises both life and death. His characters wait for water to quench their thirst, watch rivers overflow their banks, cry for rain to quench the dry earth, and pass by fetid pools of standing water. Although water has the regenerative possibility of restoring life and fertility, it can also lead to drowning and death. Eliot draws upon the traditional meanings of the water: water cleanses, water provides solace, and water brings relief. In Twain’s novel the river is a represtation of an escape and freedom, which is a contrast of the very things that this poem is presenting. Like many modernist writers, Eliot wanted his poetry to express the fragile psychological state of humanity in the twentieth century. Modernist writers wanted to capture their transformed world, which they perceived as fractured, alienated, and denigrated. So through Eliots poem the responder can feel that it is the journey itself that is the reward not the end result where as in Twains novel it is the journey that gets the two characters to the fixation they have been wanting, which is freedom. The journey of this poem was a difficult one but as the reader is shown, the writer did not make his life better, and so instead he did the opposite and made death the thing he longed for most. Through the use of descriptive, emotive language and the use of imagery we are able to visualise the story of the Magi and better understand his means of his words “ And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. ” So, through these three texts The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, This is the Sea, and The Journey of the Magi, the contemporary reader is enabled to understand the value of freedom in definance of the social context, social integrety and the satire of social hypocracy. The reader is forced to see that these texts, more so the novel and poem were written in a time of great hardship and inequality. It is not the world that we knoe today. The reader’s of these texts perspectives are challenged of life back then and the song, is helpful as an ‘ eye opener ’ to the reader that although life is unpredictable and at times un-nerving, you are able to pick your own path to travel. Every journey begins with a single step.