As mentioned (or rather hotly debated) in class, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seems to be either loved or hated by students. Personally, I had never read it in high school, a fact that most of my friends seemed appalled about. So when given the opportunity to read it for 372, I was excited and had high expectations. Unfortunately, the novel did not live up to those expectations.
First off, I could not move past the dialect. I never like it when authors write the way the person speaks; it makes me focus too hard on trying to decipher what the character is saying rather than what it actually means. I end up having to reread it a few times and end up getting frustrated with it. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starts out with that Huck's dialect, so I became apprehensive right away, and it did not improve.
Second, the racism aspect affected me. I understand that Twain was trying to convey the feeling of the time period which he did accurately, but it was a bit too much for me, and the nonchalant way many characters talked and acted was degrading and bugged me. The characters, especially Pap Finn were too over the top and almost not believable, and at times I just wanted to slap them, although that obviously not happen.
Most importantly though, I honestly just was not that intrigued by the story itself. Like someone mentioned in class, it was "perfectly fine," which may be a big reason why I was so disappointed by it. I had high expectations because it is such a well-known and widely taught book, that I was underwhelmed. I am glad that I have read it now though, so I can say that I have, but I would not choose to read it again. I agree that it has aspects which could be discussed at length, but I am just fine with only talking about the novel for a week. There are so many books I have read in high school as well as in classes at WSU that I would eagerly read again, yet Huckleberry Finn is not one of them. To me, it just seemed like a story of the wanderings of a runaway boy, and did not impress me.
I agree with so much of this. I was highly disappointed, as well. When reading the book, though, you have to take in the context of the time period. In that time, the n-word was normal, especially in the south where the novel takes place. The oppression of race was apparent and the word degrading, but it was meant to keep the social classes in the same order as they had been for so long. The south tried to hold onto this idea even more when the north begun to abolish slavery. I do agree that the wording got in the way though. I know Twain was trying to convey how Jim and Huck talked, but it made reading the book so difficult!
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to remember that Twain is a satirist and that what he writes, especially in this novel, needs to be seen as that. The racist parts of the book are meant to be unsettling. In class, I got the feeling that we felt that racism was irrelevant but I would argue that modern racism has simply taken a different form. I think that class discussion reflects how we as a society are dealing with such issues. Instead of looking at the issues we as a society are faces, we discount them as outdated.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of this novel is that it's meant to be a lens through which we reflect on our own lives. The issues within them are still relevant in society and that's part of what makes this novel such a classic. Prejudice and disconnects in societal pressures will always be relative. I consider myself a religious person and something that really stood out to me when reading the book is how easily Huck dismissed religion. I don't see that as an theme lost in modern conversation. I think that a lot of people that claim to be religious preach more than they practice and the dissonance between that makes religion, as a reflection of these people, untrustworthy. Though I don't really enjoy reading this novel because of the dialects and adventure based plot, I do think that it is a relevant piece to teach and that there is merit this specific book in a college level course like this.
I'd agree with you and with the commenters, Colleen. The discussion we had about the significance of the book rather than the themes of the book itself raised some important issues.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you may want to try to read the dialect aloud; the dialect in the Chesnutt story for next week is much thicker than Twain's dialect. Reading aloud will help.
I personally loved Huck Finn and that is what I will write my final paper about. People seem to hate the dialect that Twain uses and it is very difficult to read but that is what makes it genius. Twain came from a poor background (that has a great impact on his writing) and wrote for both lower class and higher class. Elevated language was difficult for the poor man to read, but Twain flips this idea and has created a dialect that "educated" readers find hard to read. That's I like the slang so much, at first it is hard but after you keep reading it, you can start to understand it. It is a hidden language. As for the issues with race, if we look at the story as a wandering slave (and focus on Jim's narrative) then we can see all the ways in which Twain redefines racial perceptions.
ReplyDelete