While reading “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, we can establish right away just by reading the title that this book relates to the picaresque genre. It’s indeed a fiction novel and we can determine that Huckleberry is the boy that goes on his “adventure” throughout the story. In picaresque genres, there’s always someone that takes upon a voyage or a new journey. In this case, that person is Huckleberry Finn. Also, it’s safe to say that although Huck is a young boy, he has gone through a rough and hard life since he’s an orphanage. It relates to the picaresque genre because there is always a character that goes through some sort of rough path and eventually, they turn out to be a hero in the end. In all aspects of the book, the main focus is the character, Huckleberry Finn himself. All of his problems and uncertainties that he comes across are all mentioned in the original book in which it focuses only on Huck, which also relates to the picaresque genre.
It’s obvious that Huck has a mind of his own and Miss Watson and the Widow are indeed trying to mold him to be a “good boy”. While reading some parts of this passage, I found Huckleberry to be a very hilarious character in the way he responds and views certain situations that the Widow and Miss Watson address to him. For example, on page 626, he mentions, “…she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time ago; so then I didn’t care no more about him; because I don’t take no stock in dead people”. I found this statement by Huck to be very comical because we’re talking about a young boy who speaks like an adult in addition to having an adults mentality. In other words, he’s very straight forward. It’s not normal to hear a child speak in this matter or to have such strong opinions and thoughts. I enjoy reading about Hucks character because it shows his independency of having a mind of his own and having his own voice. I really liked how Twain compared Miss Watson preaching about Moses as opposed to her preaching about smoking. He made a good point when he mentioned that Moses was already dead so there was no point in talking about him anymore since it had no relation to her, but yet smoking had some good in it since it eased his mind. Yet, he was told not to do so because according to society, it was considered to be “wrong”.
Living with Miss Watson and the Widow, Huck was forced to do things he originally didn’t want to do. He wasn’t able to be independent and have his own opinion because everything about him was being forced to change. They were trying to mold him into something he was not. They were constantly trying to place him in the “good place”. When you actually put thought into it, what exactly is the good place”? He was basically being forced to live under norms, rules, and strict guidelines, which didn’t enable him to be free and to be his own person. This idea made me relate to the world we live in today because we were taught to be forced to go to school in order to have a good job, women were taught to compete with each other to win a guy over, men were taught to label women, etc. Depending on where we are, expectations are placed on our behavior. It’s as if, everything we live by are expectations that we HAVE to live by which also occurs in this passage. Huck is obviously being forced to live by what Miss Watson and the Widow wants him to be. Although, they are forcing him to be that way, I admire that he still stands by the true person he is.
Huck is superstitious. There are parts in this passage on page 627, where he mentions about signs of the wind telling him something. There’s also another part in that same page where the spider started crawling on his hand and he had a superstitious thought because when he flicked it off his hand, it fell in the candle and burned. Huck thought of it to be a bad sign, in which it was proven that he is superstitious. Huck often repeats that he wishes he were dead. He says that because he’s lonely most of the time. He kept wishing that Tom Sawyer was with him being that that’s his only friend. In the end of the passage Huck is excited because Tom was waiting for him. Huck enjoys being around Tom Sawyer because he is able to be himself around him. I find Huck to be a strong little boy because although he has gone through a rough path, he still hasn’t gave up.
Questions:
What are some other norms that we have to live by and why are we expected to live by them?
What is the significance of Tom Sawyers character?
I believe the “good place” Miss Watson is referring too would be heaven. Given how many different versions of religion and interpretations of what the afterlife is, Heaven for Christians, 72 Virgins for Islamic suicide bombers etc, what it is that ensures ones entry to any particular afterlife is entirely dependent on what one believes.
To this extent I believe that Twain is highlighting the Hypocrisy of some Christian beliefs. Miss Watson is convinced that smoking is evil, yet takes snuff herself, is a perfect example of rules being stretched to fit ones own agenda.