Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Mark Twain II
Katja
ENGL 48 B
Journal # 11, Twain II
31 January, 2007
"Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark—which was a candle in a cabin window—and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two—on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It’s lovely to live on a raft." (Mark Twain 301)
Mark Twain describes the slow-moving life on Huck and Jim’s raft on the Mississippi River in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain’s loving portrait of the Mississippi River is unforgettable. Providing life, transportation and beauty the Mississippi lulls the reader with its quiet rhythms. The beautiful description ends with Huck (redundantly) musing over what he seems fortunate to be experiencing: a life in near solitude no faster than the speed of a current. The river serves as a peaceful foil for the turmoil and uncertainty—and sometimes violence—of Huck and Jim’s lives. Additionally, he river’s pace seems to heighten some of Huck’s attributes: his reasoning, his sensitivity, his vulnerability and purity.
Of course the Mississippi can be seen as a metaphor for Huck’s life, but also Mark Twain’s own life as well as the life of the nation. It is important to see these three ersatz river-lives as snapshots, seemingly idyllic and pastoral, but under the surface of each lurks chaos, grief and doubt.
Twain must have confronted his personal demons when crafting this novel. If his aim was to create a people’s parable with a weighty moral message he succeeded, however at great cost to himself. The Norton Anthology states that his writing—and his persona—was forever altered after Huck Finn was published, increasing "the depth of his disillusionment" (215). Perhaps letting Huck take him down the Mississippi River was too much of a catharsis for Twain, who struggled with his own responses to socio-political issues such as slavery and personal issues such as sudden fame and fortune.
The tumultuous events taking place in the nation at this time are reflected in the river’s surface, as well as in the circumstances of the novel. Mark Twain leaves his readers with a lot of contemplative work, inviting them to consider life from the vantagepoint of a raft on the great river.
ENGL 48 B
Journal # 11, Twain II
31 January, 2007
"Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark—which was a candle in a cabin window—and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two—on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It’s lovely to live on a raft." (Mark Twain 301)
Mark Twain describes the slow-moving life on Huck and Jim’s raft on the Mississippi River in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain’s loving portrait of the Mississippi River is unforgettable. Providing life, transportation and beauty the Mississippi lulls the reader with its quiet rhythms. The beautiful description ends with Huck (redundantly) musing over what he seems fortunate to be experiencing: a life in near solitude no faster than the speed of a current. The river serves as a peaceful foil for the turmoil and uncertainty—and sometimes violence—of Huck and Jim’s lives. Additionally, he river’s pace seems to heighten some of Huck’s attributes: his reasoning, his sensitivity, his vulnerability and purity.
Of course the Mississippi can be seen as a metaphor for Huck’s life, but also Mark Twain’s own life as well as the life of the nation. It is important to see these three ersatz river-lives as snapshots, seemingly idyllic and pastoral, but under the surface of each lurks chaos, grief and doubt.
Twain must have confronted his personal demons when crafting this novel. If his aim was to create a people’s parable with a weighty moral message he succeeded, however at great cost to himself. The Norton Anthology states that his writing—and his persona—was forever altered after Huck Finn was published, increasing "the depth of his disillusionment" (215). Perhaps letting Huck take him down the Mississippi River was too much of a catharsis for Twain, who struggled with his own responses to socio-political issues such as slavery and personal issues such as sudden fame and fortune.
The tumultuous events taking place in the nation at this time are reflected in the river’s surface, as well as in the circumstances of the novel. Mark Twain leaves his readers with a lot of contemplative work, inviting them to consider life from the vantagepoint of a raft on the great river.
# posted by Katja @ 6:24 PM 
