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Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

#93: Jan. - Feb. 2011 (Fiction)
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giselle

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Re: Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

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Luis Saunders wrote:The ending of Huckleberry Finn may leave you feeling dissatisfied because Twain never takes himself or his writing too seriously, and this book is no exception. The end suggests that Huck has learned absolutely nothing through the entire book, but that’s because he is a kid, and the book is a satire so they both are allowed to be flippant and a little bit silly, especially after such a long, loaded, awesome adventure. As explained by Shmoop, while Huck doesn’t emerge from his journey as a completely moral, perfect individual, he definitely has changed, evolved and grown. For him to have transformed completely would have been overkill, in my opinion.
I did not expect Huck to be transformed but I'm curious about your statement that he learned nothing because he is a kid. I think he did learn from his adventures, as any normally intelligent child would, although I don't think Twain gives us much measure of this, perhaps because he wasn't focused on outcomes for Huck. Also, don't kids spend most of their time learning so why would we think that Huck did not learn? I think the more likely explanation is that Huck was not a strong enough or forceful enough personality to overcome the influence of Tom Sawyer and some of the others around him. Despite his adventures, Huck is a follower by nature, in my view, but that does not mean he didn't learn. My overall feeling about why Twain included this ending is that it demonstrated human absurdity, a thread throughout the book, to the point of being laughable, which lightened the story but also increased the impact of the story.
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Re: Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

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Twain had a great deal of difficulty writing the book, taking 7 years to do it, and we don't know the reasons, since Twain didn't say anything about his creative process. What I assume, though, is that as he wrote he simply didn't know what the novel was supposed to be, what his central intent in it was. It was ostensibly a follow-up to the book about Tom Sawyer, a fact made very obvious in the title, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And give us adventures he does, as with the Shepherdsons and the Duke/Dauphin escapades. Yet from the beginning, we can see themes creeping in, which may have surprised even the author, who in general was not a thematic writer. It could have been that choosing the lowly, outcast boy Huck naturally led Twain into the regions of both class and race that have made the book so famous, as if unintentionally Twain tapped into the truth that runs as mighty as the Mississippi just below the surface of American life. Yet Twain was no Harriet Beecher Stowe, no earnest moralizer, and he abhorred being seen as a crusader. He was a commercial writer, very much needing, due to the flamboyance of his lifestyle, to have each book be a commercial success. My feeling about the ending is that it is partially a retraction of the book's moral themes, as Twain plays with and makes light of the problem of slavery in order to get right with his reading public, which expected to be entertained.

As to what Huck learns, we have to infer this. Whatever Twain's reasons for not giving us Huck's ideas about the morality of slavery, his decision was artistically sound. The book would have been diminished if Huck, a boy of only 13 from the lowest strata of white society, had taken a stand against the institution. He never has the thought that it's wrong for a human being to own another, and why would we expect him to? The most powerful current in the book is the irony of Huck's acceptance of damnation for being so wicked as to interfere with another white's property rights.
Last edited by DWill on Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

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Amen to that last paragraph - well said!
moonriver
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Re: Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

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I see Huck and the Mississippi as trickster figure. That's why he sometimes rises to the role of culture hero, but then subsides back down into his Hucksterism. I write about this in my book River, Raft, and Shore. Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/River-Raft-Shore ... ore+powell
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Re: Huckleberry Finn/ Last chapter and final thoughts

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moonriver wrote:I see Huck and the Mississippi as trickster figure. That's why he sometimes rises to the role of culture hero, but then subsides back down into his Hucksterism. I write about this in my book River, Raft, and Shore. Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/River-Raft-Shore ... ore+powell
Thanks for sharing your book. I have read Huckleberry Finn story many years ago and I am sure your book would be great. I will place my order tonight.
Academic writer, university lecturer and blogger based in London
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