The Royal Nonesuch scene is more than just a con; rather, it serves as the basis for many themes that exist in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Masculinity, and the dominance of the male role in society as an overarching theme prevalent in the novel. In the Royal Nonesuch play, masculinity is associated with hubris. The men of the town are conned into watching a terribly organized play. And although they’ve been conned, they end up convincing everyone else in the town to watch the play – just because they want to save the rest of their dignity.
Masculinity seems to be shown in a negative light throughout the entirety of the novel. Although Huck never talks about his mother, it seems as if Huck goes through his life looking for that mother figure he has been missing since birth. Miss. Watson, Aunt Sally, and the Widow Douglas are examples of a few female influences because they provide that feminine comfort that Huck secretly longs for. One could argue that because he is missing that mother figure, he acts the way he does and has the thoughts he does. If he had a true mother figure to look up to and guild him, Huck would be a totally different person and have more structure and guidance in his life. They are the only people who actually put in effort to try to reform and improve Huck as a human being.
On the other hand, most, if not all male influences have been negative. For example, Huck’s father kidnapped Huck and demanded his money. Jim, who is depicted as Huck’s companion, spews racist comments at times. It should be noted that at first, women and children were not present at the Royal Nonesuch play.
Megan, Saphira, Jay, Anthony
Masculinity can be guided by Femininity to a right or civilized direction. They pointed out that masculinity is ” in a negative light” , because some characters ,such as Huch, Pap, the King, the Duck, and the men of the conned town, always live on cons or lies. And they reject women involve into their “business”.
After reading this, I come up with questions, how to prove Feminility will guided Masculinity to a different way? This group assume that Huck will action differently if he has a mother alive. But in the novel, even though he doesn’t, the widow and miss Watson still play a role to guide him, and he doesn’t like that. These women seems to put more pressure on Huck, which becomes a reason for him to run away. Will Huck change if he has a mother? Other example involed F and M will be the family of Aunt Sally. Aunt Sally seems like the queen in her family, nobody can avoid her strong Femininy, however, her husband doesn’t seems like a masculinity man, but more like a “coward” who scared his wife.
The effect from Feminility may not make a big different, it is hard to tell. But discussing about this topic “Masculity and Feminility” is very interesting. It also remind me other sexual questions, why Huck disguises as a girl when he is looking for news. It looks like a young girl is week and easily to let people believe “her” experience. Then, how can a group of week women can affect these “strong” men?