Mark Twain, Satire,

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Mark Twain, Satire, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
The Rise of Realism
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Before we begin

• You already know that Romanticism ended with the
  Civil War
• What followed? Realism. 1850 to 1900
• Photography allowed people to see the truth of
  the Civil War, a war they thought would only last
  a short time.
• The horror of the war caused people to lose their
  idealistic nature gain a realistic view of the
  sadness of life.

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The Civil War

• Authors gained a first hand view of the war. Walt
  Whitman worked as a military nurse helping the
  wounded
• Realists were a new group of writers who wanted
  to capture the reality of the world. (poverty,
  war, sickness, and tragedy)
• This was anti-Romantic because they were no
  longer inspired by intuition and nature, but
  rather by the REAL world as it presented itself.

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Characteristics of Realism

• Common, ordinary people
• Set in the present
• Examined the difficulties of life
• Highly detailed and descriptive (especially of
  grotesque images of war)
• Regionalism Sub category of realism emphasized
  a specific location, their people and dialect
  (ie. The Deep South)

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Continued
A person is shaped by heredity and environment.

• Naturalism scientific view experimented with
  psychology and sociology studied human behaviors
• Naturalists were characteristically grim and
  pessimistic they didnt believe in God

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Jot down your answers

• Why should a school recommend that all American
  Literature students read a book that has been
  called crude, racist, and irrelevant for the
  modern age?
• Why should an American classic that has been read
  by millions and that Ernest Hemingway called the
  "one book" from which "all modern American
  literature" came be declared unnecessary for 21st
  Century education?
• These conflicting questions are at the center of
  the controversy over Mark Twain's Huckleberry
  Finn that we confront today.

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Meet the Author

• Given name Samuel Clemens
• 1835 to 1910 (Witness to the shift between
  Romanticism Realism)
• Pen Name Mark Twain
• Father of American Satire
• Worked on a steamboat
• Born in Missouri (setting for many of his
  stories)
• Famous for his humor, wit and charm

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The beginnings of a classic

• Twain began to write The Adventures of
  Huckleberry Finn as a sequel to his comedy Tom
  Sawyer.
• This new book was a serious and dark satire of
  slavery in the deep South.
• He was forced to shelve the book, until well
  after the Civil War (Reconstruction).
• His personal life began to collapse
• His wife was sickly
• His young son passed away
• He made several poor financial choices
• He continued to write and finished Huck Finn
• Since its publication, the novel has been the
  center of intense controversy
• It has been considered vulgar and racist by those
  who refuse to see Twains satirical views.

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Major Characters

• Huckleberry Finn adventurous, young, kind (a
  bit of a hooligan)
• Tom Sawyer Hucks best friend and foil
  character
• Jim
• Pap
• The Widow Ms. Douglass
• The Duke and the Dauphin
• The Grangerfords
• Sally and Silas Phelps
• Aunt Polly

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• Plot While traveling down the Mississippi with a
  runaway slave, an adolescent boy learns to decide
  for himself what really matters.
• Setting 19th Century, small town, Mississippi
  River

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What was happening in history

• Written 20 years after the Civil War
• Slavery had been abolished
• Extremely race oriented controversial
• Twain wanted to show the reality of racism
  human nature

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Thematic Ideas(Look for these as you read!)

• Racism and Slavery ( The reality of how people
  acted)
• Intellectual vs. Moral Education (Are the school
  educated smarter or more aware than those who
  understand morality?)
• Hypocrisy in civilized society
• The quest for freedom
• Twains satirical view of superstition (a very
  Romantic ideal)

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Things you should know as you read

• The goal of the novel is to explore the racial
  and moral controversies that continue to surround
  society.
• The material in Huck Finn is sensitive and
  shockingly open. It is important to understand
  that Twain uses this method to show readers that
  we must not exhibit the same immoral tendencies
  as the characters.