Adventures Of Huck Finn Examination Essay Research

Adventures Of Huck Finn Examination Essay, Research Paper

Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain.s novel, and his

honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the different

levels of the Grangerfords. world. Huck is without a family: neither the

drunken attention of Pap nor the pious ministrations of Widow Douglas were

desirable allegiance. He stumbles upon the Grangerfords in darkness, lost from

Jim and the raft. The family, after some initial cross-examination, welcomes,

feeds and rooms Huck with an amiable boy his age. With the light of the next

morning, Huck estimates "it was a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice

house, too"(1335). This is the first of many compliments Huck bestows on

the Grangerfords and their possessions. Huck is impressed by all of the

Grangerfords. belongings and liberally offers compliments. The books are piled

on the table "perfectly exact"(1335), the table had a cover made from

"beautiful oilcloth"(1335), and a book was filled with "beautiful

stuff and poetry"(1335). He even appraises the chairs, noting they are

"nice split-bottom chairs, and perfectly sound, too–not bagged down in the

middle and busted, like an old basket"(1335). It is apparent Huck is more

familiar with busted chairs than sound ones, and he appreciates the distinction.

Huck is also more familiar with flawed families than loving, virtuous ones, and

he is happy to sing the praises of the people who took him in. Col. Grangerford

"was a gentleman all over; and so was his family"(1338). The Colonel

was kind, well-mannered, quiet and far from frivolous. Everyone wanted to be

around him, and he gave Huck confidence. Unlike the drunken Pap, the Colonel

dressed well, was clean-shaven and his face had "not a sign of red in it

anywheres" (1338). Huck admired how the Colonel gently ruled his family

with hints of a submerged temper. The same temper exists in one of his

daughters: "she had a look that would make you wilt in your tracks, like

her father. She was beautiful"(1339). Huck does not think negatively of the

hints of iron in the people he is happy to care for and let care for him. He

does not ask how three of the Colonels. sons died, or why the family brings

guns to family picnics. He sees these as small facets of a family with "a

handsome lot of quality" (1339). He thinks no more about Jim or the raft,

but knows he has found a new home, one where he doesn.t have to go to school,

is surrounded by interior and exterior beauty, and most importantly, where he

feels safe. Huck "liked that family, dead ones and all, and warn’t going to

let anything come between us"(1340). Huck is a very personable narrator. He

tells his story in plain language, whether describing the Grangerford’s clock or

his hunting expedition with Buck. It is through his precise, trusting eyes that

the reader sees the world of the novel. Because Huck is so literal, and does not

exaggerate experiences like Jim or see a grand, false version of reality like

Tom Sawyer, the reader gains an understanding of the world Mark Twain created,

the reader is able to catch Twain.s jokes and hear his skepticism. The

Grangerford’s furniture, much admired by Huck, is actually comically tacky. You

can almost hear Mark Twain laughing over the parrot-flanked clock and the

curtains with cows and castles painted on them even as Huck oohs and ahhs. And

Twain pokes fun at the young dead daughter Huck is so drawn to. Twain mocks

Emmeline as an amateur writer: "She warn’t particular, she could write

about anything you choose to give her to write about, just so it was sadful"(1337).

Yet Twain allows the images of Emmeline and the silly clock to deepen in meaning

as the chapter progresses. Emmeline is realized as an early portent of the

destruction of Huck.s adopted family. The mantel clock was admired by Huck not

only for its beauty, but because the Grangerfords properly valued beauty and

"wouldn.t took any money for her"(1337). Huck admired the

Grangerfords. principles, and the stake they placed in good manners, delicious

food, and attractive possessions. But Huck realizes in Chapter 18 that whereas

the Grangerfords may value a hand-painted clock more than money, they put little

value on human life. Buck Grangerford provides the third view of the

Grangerford.s world. He is the same age as Huck; he has grown up in a world of

feuding, family picnics, and Sunday sermon that are appreciated but rarely

followed. Buck, from when he meets Huck until he is brutally murdered, never

questions the ways of his family. For the rest of the chapter, Buck provides a

foil for Huck, showing the more mature Huck questioning and judging the world

around him. In fact it seems Buck does not have the imagination to concei

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