Category: Mark Twain

Throughout this book, Mark Twain both reinforces and disputes racial stereotypes of this period of time through the depiction of Jim as the noble character. Jim is portrayed as a true yet naive character. Twain presents Jim as the selfless, fatherly figure that is able to find right from wrong and preserves his honesty as being one of the only honest characters of this book. Twain contrasts the level with stereotypes typical of the ignorant slave during the American slave period. Though he is the unemotional role, Jim is able to extend this whole book as the parent figure who protects Huck both physically and psychologically. Twain uses the setting in which Jim is raised to show the reader that Jim is not just a simple boy but also an intelligent man.

This topic of slavery is elaborated far beyond Twain’s purpose by the party of his audiences to his depiction of dark characters. Some critics talk about this book as if Huckleberry Finn were the accurate depiction of slavery and as if Jim were the exact portrait of a “slave”, fugitive slave, and free man. Twain him self gave no such claims. Jim is a much more attractive and honest character than Huck’s Pap.

Huck and Jim’s fight of the hypocrisy of the community is this real obstacle that causes them to create the relationship. Even though the moment that Mark Twain wrote the Adventures to Huckleberry Finn slavery was abolished, and even the meaning of this terrible period even was. Jim’s highly noble world shines even more when he is under the complete power of the “white community”. Through Jim is Huck able to understand his surroundings and see world in existence. That is one of the reasons he was so well influenced by black. The fact that Huck is so young only expresses his true nature as one individual.

Mark Twain did not want Jim to be some bad man, who ran against the ways of society, who rejected labor; does this make the news worse? No it does not, Twain published Jim as he was because this was what he was represented with within this period of labor. Forrest Robinson agrees that Jim’s portrayal is deeply true to the worlds of his content in this book; but it is culturally real, too at this obvious inconsistency that it has seemed, in the eyes of the audience, To deceive. The bad effect that labor has upon his life is much on the forefront of this narrative. As the consequence of his position as a runaway slave, Jim also left behind, , e.g., when he must be in the raft rather than get at Huck’s head.

As for Jim, Twain has at him the most significant virtuous act in the book’s point. Far from the racial depiction of Jim. Twain is frequently accused of getting slipped into at the end, the last scenes involving Jim rather set him aside from all the other characters who, during the ending, Are ruled completely by self-interest. The completely selfless act, ending in Jim’s recapture, emphasized his bravery and selflessness, two characteristics entirely not in connection with racial portrayals of blacks in the region.The novel when Jim is found guilty that we see the true meaning of friendship.

Though Silas and Sally are slave owners, and Jim is the runaway worker that they get caught, they are really good to him, as they exist with their different slaves. Twain’s depiction pf slaves owners is much kinder than figure described by abolitionist. That is understandable, as Twain is the white person who will identify with slave owners, and Douglass is the worker, who will distinguish with all the different enslaved africans of his time. While both Twain and Douglass write of this classical Africans-endlaved-to-white-men story, their depictions of labor are very different. Douglass discovers that vicious force committed upon slaves, while Twain writes of no force against slaves. Abolitionist also depicts labor as harmful to upon slaves and slave owners, and once more, Twain does not. It is clear that there is the good line between realism and fiction when it comes to this depiction of labor. Never again will this human beings commit much sins against one of their own. Twain’s use of irony in his writing is very effective. He uses a lot of irony throughout the book to show how slavery was wrong and unjust when it came to the African-American community.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sophisticated novel written by Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows several uses of written styles to portray the society back then as accurately as possible. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses humour, satire, and his characters in order to create an accurate portrayal and condemnation of religion, education, and freedom in his society.

Mark Twain was able to use humour correctly in his book. The book opens with the use of humour- and it was clearly shown in the novel, as it opens with humour. Mark Twain decided to make one of the opening characters Christian- but also made her own a slave- which is against the bible. This portrayal of humour is likely to portray how hypocritic the society was back then- and how it was done effectively through humour. Just a minute later, Huck asks the Widow to smoke but the widow condemns him from smoking since it wasn’t good for him- “she said it was a mean practice and it wasn’t clean”. However, Huck points out that the widow herself smokes and Later on in the book, Twain was able to throw in the Grangerfords’ and the Shepherdsons’ feud and how ridiculous it was. Back in the day, it was known that a feud was supposed to cause a lot of trouble. Twain decides to show this in a way that makes the reader think, “This is ridiculous, they’re Christian- this is supposed to be worshipping time, not time to worry about a feud that nobody probably remembers.” The Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons show that they go as far as bringing guns into the church just to settle their obnoxious feud. Later in the book, Aunt Sally mistakes Huck for a relative. In this scheme, Huck tells Aunt Sally (Mrs. Phelps) that there was a steamboat accident and a black man died because of it. Mrs. Phelps later responds with, “lucky, that no one got hurt.” This shows racism in the society by showing that black lives didn’t really matter back in the 1800s. Such obnoxious and hypocritic actions shows how society was back then, and Twain can show this effectively through just those small events here and there.

Twain also uses satire effectively to show society in the past. A big example of this is how superstition is used (shown through Jim). Superstition is used through Jim by giving his character a lot of belief in superstitions- one of them being the hairball superstition. Jim believes that if you give him a quarter, he is able to talk to the hairball. He also believed that if you had a hairy chest, you would be blessed with good luck and fortune later. These small actions show how society was back then- people used to believe these small superstitions and fall for them frequently. There are also examples of religious superstition in the novel- Miss Watson was supposed to be religious and tried to teach Huck about religion throughout the early part of the novel; she also attempted to school Huck and teach him how to behave. However, this was ironic since Miss Watson owned a slave. This goes against Christian belief- it is against the religion to own a slave. An example towards the end of the book was about the feud- both parties decided to bring guns into church. In church, they’re supposed to be worshipping, not worrying about a feud that nobody knows the origin of.

Twain finally uses his characters to portray an accurate representation of society in the past. Huck was the main character of this novel and everyone can see what the society was like through Huck’s point of view. This was shown through several things- but this was mainly shown through Huck’s travels. Through these adventures, Huck encounters several things that show how society was back then. A big event was where Huck/the duke/the king had to make Jim look different so that he doesn’t get captured as a runaway slave. Being captured as a runaway slave was always at stake for Jim, so he had to continuously hide himself/disguise himself so that he doesn’t get captured. Jim can show how free the society is back in the day. This is shown several times throughout the novel- such as when Jim ran away as a slave and had to disguise himself to prevent getting caught. If a white person decided to run away, such precautions wouldn’t be necessary.

Overall, Twain was able to portray the religion, education, and freedom in his society by using humour, satire, and his characters. This was done through several occasions and small events that showed hints throughout the novel. However, Twain was successfully able to portray these traits shown- they were shown clearly in the end.

Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American author. He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. He worked as a pilot, and then as a journalist. He was a noted abolitionist and women’s rights activist. His early writings can be classified as “tall tale” tradition, such as “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865). He is representative of the “Gilded Age” and the world of the new industrial and urban frontier. Some of his main works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).

Mark Twain’s works belongs to the Regionalism movement. It started in the years post-civil war, and its purpose was to display how large and diverse was the United States. It focused on specific features of rural communities in the South and in the West, portraying the dialects, sayings, customs, topography, history, and landscape of the region. The use of vernacular and dialect emphasized “local colour”, adding authenticity to the narrative and its characters. Spellings, the frontier tall tale and frontier humour were used for humours effect. This movement gave expression to the unvoiced and radical new aspects of American life such as the immigrant experience, the black experience, and women’s voices. Other authors that contribute to this movement were Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus), and Kate Chopin (The Awakening).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written in 1885 and it is considered to be the greatest American novel. The book describes the journey running south the Mississippi of two fugitives and their journey towards finding a moral identity. The fugitives are Huck, a kid that pretends his death to scape his abusive father, and Jim, a runaway slave. The fact the Jim is running south has implication within the novel both at in plot and in an ideological level. As Huck said at the beginning of chapter 20, answering to the suspicions of the Duke and the King with the following: “For Goodness sakes, would a runaway nigger run south?”.

Firstly, Mark Twain make his main characters miss the point where they have to leave the river to continue their journey towards the north for purpose of the plot. When Mark Twain was writing this book, at this point, he stopped writing through a year to think about these characters. With this decision, he gives his characters the opportunity to grow up as human being and form a friendship. Now their journey is longer, and they can live more adventures. Thanks to these experiences they can develop a sort of surrogate father-son relationship with each other.

In addition, Huck learns that all the cultural system in which she grew up is based in white-supremacy, and that black people are as human as white people. In an ideological level, continuing to the south clearly will be problematic for Jim because slavery was more powerful there than in the north. Huck is going to see how people will treat Jim as an object. He will begin to realize that nobody should be a slave and understand Jim’s feelings. He develops a conscience and unlearns society rules to achieve a new moral code according of his own criteria.

With The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain makes an analysis of the society, in specific South society, at the time. He criticizes the small communities that live along Mississippi river. He uses the perspective of a young boy in a journey to the South to show us the corruption that govern the South. From his eyes we see the group of “white-trash” people, slave patrols, family feuds, “educated” people using nonscientific methods, swindlers, false Christianity for appearances, the inefficient justice system, the lack of democracy, slave plantations, ect. Mark Twain shows the reader the frontier way of life to make the reader understand all his flaws.

Moreover, Twain puts his main character, Huck, in a place where he questions of the beliefs of the time. His journey makes him realize that slavery is bad. A key element is the development of his relationship with Jim. They start as a little boy and slave, and little by little they become friends. Jim takes care of Huck in a paternal way and tries to protect him from suffering. He is showing sensibility as a surrogate father. Huck, on the other hand, is taking care of Jim hiding him from slave patrols, breaking the law. This causes him a dilemma because now he does not know what is right and what is wrong.

“Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck. I couldn’t answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn’t bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time.” (Twain, Chapter 16)

Huck begins to question the world and to take decisions according of his own criteria. He is disobeying the establishment and rejecting the moral code society wants him to have. This a slow process that culminate when Jim is sent to a plantation, making Huck face the moral dilemma. He sees the corrupt society which he lives in and the has institutionalized slavery. Huck feels guilty. Huck instinctively knows the right thing to do, but his conscience dictates the conventional morality of the South. Huck writes a letter for Widow Douglas to be free of sin and go for Jim but he tears up the letter and resolves to help Jim escape saying to himself “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.” (Twain, Chapter 31)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a lot of criticism nowadays because of its use of the n-word. “Twain’s use of the term “nigger” has provoked some reader to reject the novel” (Smith, p. 92) Mark Twain ridicules racial discourse and racism. He wants to expose people to the shameful use of the n-word which was normally use back them. Mark Twain could not violate the reality at that time even if abolitionist said that it was an offensive word. The general public believed, at the time of this text is set, was that black people were no human, so they did not care if they die. Mark Twain makes fun of Southerners at the time and he uses the n-word so much for the reader to realize the n-word is not for general use and condoms white people that use it.

Mark Twain also subverts the trope of the superstitious black man. In nineteenth-century racial discourse, black people were always defined as inherently superstitious. Jim invents stories about having been hexed and ridden by witches to attract people. Jim is a smart man and uses these stories to become more a celebrity and less a “servant”. With his stories Jim wins in humanity breaking the believe that black people lack imagination, sensibility for art and can’t create any sort of art piece. In addition, his superstitious knowledge gives him strength and helps him to survive, to protect himself, and stay attach to his roots. He resists objectification claiming his African believes. Mark Twain introduce this type of black character at the time where white people were not ready.

Nevertheless, this book is considered a classic, and the problem with classics is that people believe that what they told happened long time ago and nowadays everything is fine, and people are all equal. This way of thinking is a proof of white privilege. Technically, if you look at it historically, there has never been a time in the United States where the law and the order did not directly go against the freedom, the options, and the opportunities of the black community. A lot of people are starting to realize that with the massive mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement all around the glove, protesting against anti-blackness, white supremacy and police brutality, that is happening in right now. Racism is not a conscious hate; it is a complex social and political system that works thoughts generations to continue to help white people at the expense of other people and it does not stop whether they know it or not.

Being anti-racist is a conscious work that we have to do everyday in all whole life, and in order to stop racism we need to talk about race. School curriculums require books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee –now in editions that substitute the n-word with the word “slave”– to have a conversation about race with students. However, these books offer a white gaze narrative. It is imperative to listen, uplift and amplify black voices. If we want to expose racial issues, then we should try works of diverse voices. A rounder conversation can happen if we combine ‘teachable moments’ from classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with narratives from the black experience like the ones of Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God), James Baldwin (Notes of a Native Son) or Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye).

To sum up, Mark Twain wrote a coming-of-age story of a young boy living in the South so portray the local culture and criticize the flaws of society at that time. He made Huck and Jim to go South to develop their relationship and make a change of mind on Huck, who rejects society norms to make his own moral code. As an activist, Mark Twain wanted white readers to understand black people were as human as they are. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn creates a great discussion about race, although it is a narrative from a white gaze. Amplify black voices and their stories, combining its reading with classic like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will start conversations about the racial issues of our society and wake the impulse of make the world a better place up.

The Novel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, by Mark Twain is about a boy named Huck, and a slave named Jim’s adventure to find freedom the story is centered in Missouri. Both Huck and Jim are looking for freedom from different things. Huck is looking for freedom from the grips of society, while Jim is looking for freedom from physical enslavement. In the end they find freedom, but not in the way they were expecting. Mark Twain wrote this book, not only to tell a story but to criticize both society and racism. While Mark Twain tries to depict Huck and Jim as similar because they have both been victimized by society, he fails to account for their differences as we still see a division between them with the large amount of racism that is used throughout the book.

The theme of racism is present throughout this whole novel. It is used in both language and actions, committed by all characters. Even though Huck was just a boy he also constantly uses racial slurs. An example of this is in chapter 16 when Huck is talking to Jim at night while they are drifting down the river, and he says, “Conscience says to me, ‘What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word?”(Twain 175). Mark Twain’s constant use of racism really questions the fact that Jim really escaped the grip of racism and slavery that he was aiming to escape throughout the book. It would make sense that the closer he got to “freedom” to less he would be restrained to these types of things, but this is not the case. This question is confirmed in an article by Cassander Smith, a professor with a PhD in English from the University of Alabama, called; “’Nigger’ or ‘slave’: why labels matter for Jim (and Twain) in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. In this article she writes that, “The irony of Jim’s moral growth is that he remains subjected to the dehumanizing label of ‘nigger,’ which expresses a permanent state of (non) being. Some critics complain that the ending of the novel shows Jim has essentially been running in place, having achieved no progress”(Smith). Although in the book, Jim does end up escaping slavery and gaining his physical freedom, as he was freed in his masters will, it cannot be said that he actually escaped the grips of racism and the mindset of many people during this time due to the ideas still present in society.

In the novel Mark Twain makes Huck Finn seem like he is sick of society, the way they act, how they treat people, and he wants to get away from society completely. Throughout the story in many instances it can be seen that Huck despises society based on what he says about it. An example of this is right at the beginning of the book in chapter one when he says, ““That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it” (Twain 121). He says this because he is aggravated at Widow Douglas because she did not want him smoking. It can be seen that this is part of the reason he despises society because does not like to be told what to do whether it is right or wrong. Ironically although Huck is portrayed to hate society’s views and how they treat people it can be seen that he shares some of their views specifically when it comes to race and slavery. He still constantly says things that society would say such as in chapter 14 when he says, “Well, he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head, for a nigger” (Twain 167). Although it could be said that Huck was just wrongly influenced by his father to believe stuff like this such as when his father said, “Thinks I, what is this country a-coming to? It was ’lection day, and I was just about to go and vote, myself, if I warn’t too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote agin” (Twain 137). It can be seen that by growing up around Pap Huck’s views on things were influenced by him, whether he wants to believe those things or not. This idea is supported in a crtitical essay by Katherine Egerton, she writes, “ For these Huck Finns, Pap may sometimes be an unreliable sot, but he is not without affection. Far from local color, these tales are as old as human telling and as universal as story itself” (Egerton). Although Huck hates society for their views and what they tell him to do his life has been greatly influenced by society. No matter how much he tries to escape it he will always be influenced by society.

Mark Twain portrays both Huck and Jim trying to escape society for different reasons but as united in the cause. While it can be seen that most if not all of society during this time period had similar ideas about race and slavery specifically about Jim, it can’t really be said that Huck has reasons to escape society as a whole he just has had bad encounters with a few people. Jim is not capable of fitting in to society in his current state due to the widespread mindset of a white patriarchal society. In an Article written by Richard Godden a professor at the University of California Irvine states, “In each of these texts the potential complexity of black/white relations appears to be reduced” (Godden). In this book it seems like the relationship has been brought down to seem like society as a whole has the same mindset about racism and slavery, there are not many outliers when it comes to Jim’s case. On the other hand, Huck could fit in to society and be accepted if he chose too, he just feels like society is against him due to what has happened to him throughout his childhood, such as him being abused by his father and felt like he was restrained by Widow Douglas. This is part of what unites him and Jim, that fact that they have both never felt accepted into society. Huck was raised to believe that he did not belong in society by his father, because of how he was raised he hated society because he believed everyone just let it happen to him. It can be seen that he is reflecting on his own experience in chapter 33 when he sees the Duke and the Dauphin being punished and he says, “Humans can be awfully cruel to one another” (Twain 264). Huck has seen a lot of cruelty due to his father and is assuming this of society as a whole. The harm of the abuse Pap inflicts on Huck can be seen in an essay written by Jenifer Elmore and C. Dale Girardi called, “Reversing the curse: slavery, child abuse, and Huckleberry Finn”. They write, “Perhaps the most harmful of these abuses is the corruption he inflicts upon Huck, for, as a cognitively developing young boy, Huck does not have enough mental stability and self-knowledge to counteract Pap’s insidious intent to ruin his son and render him unfit for civilized society”(Elmore). In reality the only person society is truly against in this story is Jim, who cannot have freedom in this current state, but Huck could be accepted into society if he wanted to be but due to his traumatic childhood he has developed misconceptions that make him want to stay away from society.

Mark Twain’s Novel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is about more than Huck and Jim achieving freedoms from slavery and captivity of society. It was written to show the dangers of following society and the mindset or racism during the time it was written. Although the story shows that Jim’s physical enslavement is not the only form of captivity such as Huck feeling enslaved to society. It fails to account for the fact that during this time period neither Huck or Jim could completely escape from both slavery and society due to the mindset of the people during this society and the previous influences on their lives. Throughout the course of the story it can be seen that while Huck and Jim are both united in the cause to achieve freedom, they still share many differences which can be seen through the dialect in the story.

Works Cited

1. Egerton, Katherine. ”When You Were a Man’: Pinckney Benedict’s Fathers and Sons.’ Appalachian Heritage, vol. 38, no. 1, 2010, p. 44. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A222678800/LitRC?u=tel_a_etsul&sid=LitRC&xid=d606f054. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
2. Elmore, Jenifer, and C. Dale Girardi. ‘Reversing the curse: slavery, child abuse, and Huckleberry Finn.’ American Literary Realism, vol. 49, no. 1, 2016, p. 1+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A472370438/LitRC?u=tel_a_etsul&sid=LitRC&xid=a1f76acb. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
3. Godden, Richard, and Mary A. Mccay. ‘Say it again, Sam[bo]: race and speech in Huckleberry Finn and Casablanca.’ The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 4, 1996, p. 657+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A168292073/LitRC?u=tel_a_etsul&sid=LitRC&xid=dfb7e3d5. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
4. Smith, Cassander L. ”Nigger’ or ‘slave’: why labels matter for Jim (and Twain) in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 50, no. 2, 2014, p. 182. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A373887360/LitRC?u=tel_a_etsul&sid=LitRC&xid=fc761b62. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
5. Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The Norton Anthology American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine, Ninth Edition, Volume C, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2017, pp. 120-302.

Revealing conscience that hooks readers throughout the story, Huckleberry Finn regretfully remarks, “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another,” as he witnesses the tar and feathering of the conmen which made his journey so much harder. The story’s focus on a runaway boy and a fugitive slave’s travels on the Mississippi River delivers the crucial meaning of freedom. Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, should be celebrated as a powerful attack on racism as it condemns the institutionalized prejudice of the old South.

Mark Twain tasks his character with delivering his attack on racism. Mark Twain’s characterization of Pap Finn makes it clear he is against racism and slavery. Twain characterizes Pat Finn to be hated as he is depicted as a violent alcoholic who constantly diminishes Huck’s potential and abuses him mentally and physically. Pap Finn’s ugly character is shown through his sloppy attitude and ignorant prejudice. Enraged by the government’s decision to allow a free black man to vote, Pap Finn seethed, “…But when they told me there was a state in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote again as long as I live” (Twain 00). Twain is attacking society’s racism by speaking of it through a ridiculous drunk, thus demonstrating how absurd the behavior is.

As the story continues, readers realize that Twain tasks Huckleberry Finn as another attack on racism. At the start of the novel, Huck Finn is your stereotypical young boy pre-civil War. He has had a racism instilled in him from the start by a relentless and prejudiced society. As the story continues readers witness as Huck and his companion, Jim, start to communicate and understand each other. Their developing friendship helps to improve Huck’s moral character and learn a true sense of right and wrong. By the end of the novel Huckleberry Finn has truly connected with Jim and ultimately decides to stand by his friend. At the story’s conclusion, Huck concludes, “ but I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally, she’s going to adopt me and civilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before” (Twain 00).

Twain combats racism by having Huck ultimately rejects society and the hate it is infected with. Additionally, Twain leads a charge against racism by showing equality and excellence through the character Jim. As he embarks on a journey against the law, Jim changes and reveals positive aspects of his character. Jim shows how much he cares for Huck and allows readers to grasp that he is a deeply emotional human being. After the flooding of the river, Jim and Huck discover a dead body floating along in a house, creeping inside, Jim warns, “It’s a dead man, Yes, indeedy; naked too. He’s ben shot in de back. I reck’n he’s ben dead two er three days. Come, in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face—it’s too gashly” (Twain 00). Protecting his young friend, Jim acts as almost a father figure and doesn’t want to hurt Huck by letting him discover his own father’s corpse.

The author stands against racism with Jim’s character because Twain portrays African Americans as deeply real and passionate. Twain is demonstrating emotional capability and sympathy. He is not racist himself because he is showing that there is no difference between races. On the other hand, individuals may believe that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be denounced as a racist work because it uses offensive language; however, Mark Twain was embodying the truth of the times. During the 1830-40s, people would use offensive terms to address African Americans free or not and it was considered normal. While Mark Twain uses this language, he is staying accurate.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be celebrated as a powerful attack on racism as Twain criticizes the deep-rooted hate clouding the pre-civil war south. Using characters Huckleberry Finn, Jim, and Pap Finn, Twain provides an intellectual strike against the wrond-doings of racism.

Despite all the progress society has made, racism is still a prevalent issue. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a novel that, even in its own time, was already controversial due to the lack of censorship and the brutal comparisons between races. Shelley Fishkin’s idea that Mark Twain’s work was a call to action against racism is accurate because, in many occurrences, it puts black men on a better spotlight than white men, and because it uses the demonstration of racism in the past to help people in the present have a better perspective and understanding on it.

First of all, Fishkin’s opinion is proven to be correct when Mark Twain, a renowned American writer, writes about the defects in the white men and the deep empathy of an African American man which helps portray equality, between those two. An example of this occurring would be when Huck Finn sees the Duke and the King bamboozle a grieving family by pretending to be sad about a man’s death just to try to steal his belongings, Huck expresses his disgust and shame by saying “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race”(Twain 165). Huck has been really racist in some part of the books, but as the story goes on, he is beginning to see the truth. To him the human race is the white race, which explains his comparison to being “a n*gger” if he had ever “struck anything like it”(Twain 165). The Duke and the King are starting to appear as monsters to Huckleberry even if they are white, this comes to Huck as a surprise and perhaps even a reality check. Huck is beginning to realize that perhaps Jim, a black man, is better than those two white pieces of trash. Huck doesn’t have any white parental figure left with him to brainwash him into racism, and now, his logic is starting to take effect. Leslie Gregory wrote about Twain’s portrayal of Jim’s humanity in detail in her article: “Finding Jim Behind the Mask: The Revelation of African American Humanity in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” . She describes a specific even in the book where Jim showed his selflessness and humanity by expounding on how “nowhere in the novel is Jim’s humanity more apparent than when he offers the ultimate sacrifice–his freedom–to save Tom’s life”(Gregory). When Jim tried to save Tom’s life even though he could’ve been put back into slavery for trying to do so, it helped Huck see even deeper into Jim’s humanity. Jim was the most selfless, altruistic, and human character in this novel. There are many examples to help support this statement; and another one in Mark Twain’s masterpiece is when he writes about Jim having hit his daughter because she wasn’t listening to him when in reality she had become deaf. When Jim came to realize that was the case he “bust out a-cryin’ en grab[bed] her up in [his] arms, en sa[id], ‘Oh, de po’ little thing! De Lord God Amighty fogive po’ ole Jim, kaze he never gwyne to fogive hisself as long’s he live!’”(Twain 159) This regretful aspect of Jim that is being illustrated by Twain’s masterful writing is an amazing example of Jim’s humanity and his ability to feel emotions, pain, and remorse, unlike an object or some property would. Jim is human. And Huckleberry Finn, “de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had”(Twain 92), is becoming more understanding of that fact.

Secondly, racism still being a daunting issue in the twenty-first century, Fishkin’s argument is supported by the fact that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gives its readers a better understanding and perspective on past racism to help the present issue that is present racism. Many people tend to think that racism is only a problem that existed many years ago or that only older people are racist. However, according to Sean McElwee, a writer for PBS News Hour, “Age doesn’t matter”(McElwee), racism is still in many young people’s heart. Statistics McElwee showed prove that people between the ages of 17 and 34 years old agreed to the racist assertion: “It’s really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder, they would just as well off as whites”(McElwee) almost just as much as older generations. That comment would imply that African Americans are naturally not as good as white people and need to try harder than whites to have the same success. Racism is still an issue. Twain wrote some very racist things in his novel that show an even deeper racist perspective in the past such as when Huck played a mean trick on Jim and Jim got very offended, feeling treasoned by a friend. Huck’s character took “fifteen minutes before [he] could work [him]self up to go and humble [him]self to a n*gger”(Twain 89). Not only did Huckleberry think he should make Jim think he had only dreamt about a horrible experience where they both had lost each other, but he also took “fifteen minutes” to be able to apologize to Jim just because he was a “n*gger”. As this passage was toward the beginning of the book, Huck was still quite racist in his actions and thoughts, but again, that changed as he got to know Jim better and come to terms with his humanity. This relates to today’s racism, even though it is of course not as bad, Sean McElwee talks about many examples of inequality between races, and get ready, there’s a lot of them: “ Age tells us far less about an individual’s likelihood of expressing racist sentiments than factors like education, geography and race. It is beyond dispute that the United States contains deep structural racial issues.

These racial disparities are perpetuated not only through explicit discrimination, but through the power of history. For instance, black and Latino children are far more likely to grow up in poor neighborhoods, stinting upward mobility. Black and Latino men are disproportionately caught up in mass incarceration, which affects their families and their earning for a lifetime. A new report by Demos and Brandeis University finds that equalizing college graduation rates between whites and people of color would close the wealth gap by 1 percent for blacks and 3 percent for Latinos. A recent study helps explain why: Michael Gaddis finds blacks who graduated from elite universities have the same chance in the job market as whites who graduated from less selective schools. In addition, black graduates are offered lower starting salary and less prestigious starting jobs”(McElwee). Yes, this is a big quote, but a big quotation is necessary to demonstrate a big problem. Racism is not something that was solved and many people from all over the world suffer from it to the point where their life will be harder for them than for a white privileged person until he day they die. These statistics reveal the necessity for change.

Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one way to help that, as students are still developing their brains, especially in high school, it is important for them to realize how bad things had been and how bad things still are as for as racism go. Not only that, but anyone studying that book will usually make other research about things related to the book, just like this essay proves. This all underlines one fact, Twain’s book is not a racist book and it will help future generations get better with racism. After all, that is what literature is for, learning and sharing ideas. Mark Twain was obviously ahead of his time, he even “pa[id] for the education of several black students”(Fishkin). His masterpiece will always be relevant and a call to action against racism, not for it.

Works Cited

1. PDF version of book used: Twain, Mark. Content Server Adobe, contentserver.adobe.com/store/books/HuckFinn.pdf

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses many different elements to get his point across. For example, he uses satire through the character’s dialect to illustrate his opinion. The characters morals also play an important role to help the reader understand Twain’s motive. Through the characters Huck and Jim, Mark Twain presents a contrast to the ridicule of slavery and people’s views of society at the time. He accomplishes this through dialect, intelligence, and morals of the characters.

During this time period, slavery was an accepted normal. In the connections part of the novel where Mark Twain’s life story is, the writer refers to the time in which the book was written as, ”grim realities of a slaveholding society. (Twain 345)” Around 1835, society had received substantial moral support to begin to “free states”, however, the south wasn’t ready to cooperate. In the story, Jim runs away from Mrs. Watson, in hopes of finding a free state in order to gain money and buy back his family, who were still in slavery. “He was thinking about his wife and his children, away up yonder, and he was low and homesick; because he had never been away from home before in his life; and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. (Twain 157)” This illustrates how people viewed slaves as less than human and how slavery played an important and crucial role in everyone’s life at the time in different ways.

The institution of slavery is one of the biggest themes in the novel. Mark Twain made his feelings of disgust towards slavery very prominent. For example, “He was often moaning and mourning that way, nights, when he judged I was asleep, and saying, Po’ little ‘Lizabeth! po’ little Johnny! it’s mighty hard; I spec’ I ain’t ever gwayne to see you no mo’, no mo’!” He was a mighty good nigger, Jim was. (Twain 157)” The heartbreak that slaves experienced caused by being ripped away from their family was saddening. This is illustrated when Jim is thinking about his family miles away and homesick, “…he was sitting there with his head down betwixt his knees moaning and mourning to himself. (Twain 157)” Twain made it clear that he felt there was a problem between what society was doing and what they should be doing with slavery. One of the biggest issues in the book is the excessive use of the word ‘nigger,’ inferring that Africans are ignorant and unintelligent. However, Twain meant to portray life as it really was during this time, not to show that slavery or racism should be acceptable aspects of society. He took the opportunity to write the novel to illustrate his opinion and the hypocrisy of the institution of slavery.

Throughout the novel the characters display and exhibit many satirical behaviors. In the beginning of the novel Jim tells Huck he is rich because his slave owner, (Mrs. Watson) could sell him for eight hundred dollars, “Yes—en I’m rich now, come look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn’ want no mo’. (Twain 47)” Jim believes that since he owns himself now, he is rich. He thinks this due to the fact that Mrs. Watson said that she could sell him for eight hundred dollars. This is satirical because Jim doesn’t have eight hundred dollars and can’t sell himself for that money. Huck realizes this and responds by saying, “Well, it’s all right, anyway, Jim, long as you’re going to be rich again some time or other. (Twain 47)” This situation is full of irony between characters.

Twain also used characters to mock the practice of slavery. Twain satirizes characters to make his point. Pap should be Huck’s supporter, but that is not a role he can play because he is a drunk. This is illustrated here, “I borrowed three dollars from Judge Thatcher, and Pap took it and got drunk and went a-blowing around and cussing and whooping and carrying on; and he kept it up all over town, and next day they had him before court; and jailed him for a week. But he said he was satisfied; and he was boss of his son, and he’d make it warm for him.(Twain 21)” Jim, plays the role of a protector to Huck. He provides guidance for Huck, helping him develop his morals. Due to the social norms of the day, even though Pap is a horrible character, it is Jim who is accused of Huck’s murder. Pap’s personality is shown here, “every time he got money he got drunk; every time he got drunk he raised Cain around town; and every time he raised Cain he got jailed. (Twain 23)” Twain exposes people’s beliefs at the time. He supports the idea that slaves are less than human. Jim shows us that this is not the case.

Mark Twain satirizes the hypocrisy of the civilized adults in the story that Huck interacts with. For instance, Miss Watson tries to teach honesty to Huck, but her promise to Jim to not sell him South is broken. This situation is shown here when Jim explains why he ran away to Huck, “Well you see, it ‘uz dis way. Ole Missus- dat’s miss Watson- she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awiuz said she wouldn’ sell me down to Oreleens. But I noticed day wuz a nigger trader roun’ de place considerable, lately, en I begin to git oneasy. (Twain 43)” Reverend Phelps purchases Jim in the hope of receiving a reward. Others in the books society are hypocritical. Another example is when the king and duke decide to turn in Jim for a reward which is shown here, “After all this long journey, and after all we’d done for them scoundrels, here was it all come to nothing, everything all busted up and ruined, because they could have the heart to serve Jim such a trick as that, and make him a slave again all his life, and among strangers, too, for forty dirty dollars. (Twain 213)” When two slave-hunters approach Huck and Jim. Huck keeps them away by telling them that he and his family have smallpox. Rather than being kind and offering help, the men try to send the pair elsewhere.

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses different elements to get his opinions across. For example, he uses satire through the character’s dialects to make his point. The characters morals also play an important role to help the readers understand Twain’s opinions. Twain’s writing style is used to influence the readers opinions. The direct textual evidence that I’ve found shows how Twain’s opinions influence the story and it’s characters.

The N word, a racist, frivolous word by today’s standards, but was is always like this? Mark Twain explores this idea in his novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In his novel, Huck Finn and Jim go on an adventure together to freedom. On their way, Mark Twain uses the N word 219 different times to show how much people used it in the 1800’s. Mark Twain’s use of the N word in his novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be kept because it was meant to be satirical, it meant a different thing during the time period, and it is part of our culture and should be explained.

Although the book is a classic, many schools are banning it because of its lack in temperance, the harsh language, and how the N word is thought of by today’s standards. Hurwitz explains parents and students thoughts on the language as, “Throughout the…But this factor is of no concern to the would-be book-banners; it is the ‘n’ word that distresses them.” The N word offends students and parents and makes them feel uncomfortable. Even though this is how people talked in the 1800’s, the N word has been thrown away as a part of our past and a word that is hurtful and racist by today’s standards. Although this is a valid point, Twain did not mean for this word to be offensive instead, he meant for it to be more satirical. Peter Salwen defends Twain’s use of the word in his article by stating, “Anyone who imagines that Mark Twain meant this literally is missing the point.” Mark Twain did not mean for this word to be so offensive, instead, he made it to be more satirical. The word is an exaggeration and meant to be funny. Mark Twain satirized the word when Huck was talking to Aunt Sally about his trip. Aunt Sally asked if anyone was hurt on the steamboat and Huck replied, “No’m. Killed a nigger” (Twain 240). Twain satirized the fact of people not seeing slaves as human beings as well. He did this to add some comedic relief to an otherwise boring scene.

While the books’ language is relevant to the time period, many people find the word to be crude and hurtful. Moore explains the distaste of the word by parents and students, “Teachers have told him that they cannot use the book in class … ‘At public readings, he has routinely substituted ‘slave,’ he says, and hears ‘an audible sigh of relief’ from the audience.” Parents and students do not like the use of the word and are relieved when it is replaced with slave. This fact is true, but the word teaches students how to think critically about offensive ideas. Hentoff proves this by stating a judge’s words, “Words can hurt, particularly racist epithets,’ Reinhardt wrote, ‘but a necessary component of any education is learning to think critically about offensive ideas.” Although the language is harsh, it will teach students how to think critically about offensive ideas. The N word should not be a matter of offense but rather a matter of learning about our past. Rawls furthers this idea by sharing how many times the word shows up in the novel. Rawls explains just how many time Twain’s uses the N word in his novel, “I want to provide an option for teachers and other people not comfortable with 219 instances of that word.’ The word was used so often back then that Twain found 219 different uses for it. The N word is a part of our past and how people talked.

Even though the word is a part of our past and how people talked, parents and students still do not accept Mark Twain’s use of it. Marc Shultz and many other experts explain this rejection as, ‘This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind… ‘Race matters in these books. It’s a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.’ In the 1800’s, the N word was thrown around by everyone who was anyone and was never thought of as racist. By today’s standards however, the N word is seen and racist and unnecessary. While this is a valid point, scholars do not like the change of a literature classic. Philip Rawls and other scholars prove why this change is bad, “Gribben was well respected, but called the new version ‘a terrible idea.’ The language depicts America’s past, Railton said, and the revised book was not being true to the period in which Twain was writing.” The language that Twain used, was relevant to the time period and should be taught, not scrutinized. Salwen also defends this by explaining that the use of one word should not define whether the novel is taught or not. Philip Salwen defends the word by stating, ‘It’s such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvelous reading experience and a lot of readers,’ Gribben said.” Although the word is hurtful, it is how the people talked in the early 1800’s and is a part of our history that should never be forgotten.

In conclusion, the N word in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be taken out because it was meant to be satirical, it did not mean the same thing back then, and it is a part of our history and should be explained, not changed. One word should not be the defining factor between learning about our past and covering it up. Books like the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools to explain what life was like in the 1800’s.

Works Cited

1. Hentoff, Nat. ‘Expelling Huck Finn.’ Washington Post. The Washington Post, 27 Nov. 1999.
2. Hurwitz, Howard L. “PC Crowd Bans Huckleberry Finn Because Mark Twain Used `N’ Word.” Human Events, vol. 51, no. 35, Sept. 1995, p. 19. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9509234281&authtype=geo&geocustid=s8475741&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
3. Martha T. Moore. “‘Huck Finn’ Navigating Choppy Waters Again.” USA Today. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=J0E199015344711&authtype=geo&geocustid=s8475741&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.
4. Rawls, Phillip. “Huck Finn: Controversy Over Removing the ‘N Word’ from Mark Twain Novel. The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Jan. 2011, www.csmonitor.com/Books/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0105/Huck-Finn-Controversy-over-removing-the-N-word-from-Mark-Twain-novel.
5. Salwen, Peter. “Is Huck Finn Racist?” www.salwen.com/mtrace.html.
6. Schultz, Marc. “Upcoming NewSouth ‘Huck Finn’ Eliminate The ‘N’ Word.” Publishers Weekly, vol. 258, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 6–8. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=57235805&authtype=geo&geocustid=s8475741&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
7. Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Barnes and Noble, 2003

Mark Twain, in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, captures the relationship of people from all levels of society and gives the reader a lesson in being human. Drawing on his own experiences, Twain introduces the reader to a variety of characters: Miss Watson, an elderly women who is kind to others, but owns slaves; Pap, an angry drunken father who abuses his son; Huck and Tom, two young boys who are imaginative and adventurous; the Duke and the King, men who will break any rule for their own benefit; and Jim, a slave. Although Twain titles his novel Huckleberry Finn and presents the development and growth of the main character, Huck, the novel’s most important message comes from the development of the character Jim. Jim is called a slave, but he is not enslaved by his owner, Miss Watson, or society: Jim in enslaved by his own integrity. Jim could have escaped to freedom several times in the novel, but he loses the opportunity when he unselfishly comes to the aid of two young boys. Twain presents the integrity and humanity of Jim through his common sense approach to problems and his devotion and self-sacrifice in his relationship to Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Jim first appears in the novel in Chapter 2, and his style of speech and his discussion of witches and the devil present him as uneducated. Tom Sawyer slips Jim’s hat off when he is sleeping and hangs the hat on a limb. Mark Twain describes Jim’s reaction: “Afterward Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rode him all over the state, and then set him under the tree again, and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it” (18). Every time Jim tells the story about the hat it changes and other slaves “would come for miles to hear Jim talk about it” (18). This superstitious story telling presents Jim as a person without common sense, but his common sense is obvious when he and Huck face difficulties on the Mississippi River. Jim reads signs in nature and reads the nature of people they meet. When “Some young birds come along, flying a yard or two at a time and lighting. Jim said it was a sign it was going to rain,” a sign that he learned from watching chickens (53). Later, Huck reports that “soon it darkened up, and began to thunder and lighten; so the birds was right about it” (58). This is the beginning of Huck recognizing that Jim has learned many helpful common sense signs and solutions to problems.

Jim’s common sense is also evident in Chapter 19 and the following chapters that concern the Duke and the King. Jim, along with Huck, recognize that the two men sharing their boat and insisting that Huck and Jim bow and serve them are liars and con men. Jim has learned to use common sense in judging the actions of their new acquaintances. Jim also shows common sense when he discovers the body of Huck’s father and advises Huck “but doan’ look at his face–it’s too gashly” (59). Jim knows that Huck does not need to see his father naked or the shot wound in his back. He protects Huck from the shock and loss.

The protection and devotion to Huck continues throughout the novel. Jim could have escaped many times, but stays out of concern for Huck. In Chapter 15, Huck is in a canoe and Jim is on the raft when they become separated in a dense fog. It would be reasonable for Jim to make his escape to freedom at this point, but he pulls the raft to the shore and waits for Huck. He is both surprised and excited to see his adventurous partner:

“Goodness gracious is dat you, Huck? En you ain’ dead–you ain’ drowned–you’s back ag’in? It’s too good to be true, honey, it’s too good for true. Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o’ you. No, you ain’ dead! you’s back ag’in, ‘live en soun’, jis de same ole Huck–de same ole Huck, thanks to goodness! (89)

On page 91 of the same chapter, Jim adds, “When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin’ for you en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’t k’yer no’ mo’ what become er me ende raf.” Later in the novel, Huck decides to turn Jim in to the authorities because he feels guilty about helping a runaway slave. He leaves Jim with the raft, providing another opportunity for Jim to escape. Jim, loyal to Huck, waits and, when Huck returns, “grabbed [him] and hugged [him]” and declares “Lawsy, I’s mighty glad to git you back ag’in, honey” (117). Jim remains free and devoted to Huck as the two continue down the river together.

Jim’s integrity and humanity are once again demonstrated in his self-sacrifice in Chapter 40. Although Jim allows Tom to make a complicated escape plan and follows the drama that Tom creates, Jim does not escape to freedom. He is concerned about Tom Sawyer who was shot during the escape. Jim knows that he and Huck cannot find freedom down the river without attending to Tom’s injury. He protests Huck’s plan to move on without Tom: “No, sah–I doan’ budge a step out’n dis place ‘dout a doctor; not if it’s forty year!” (261) Jim stays with Tom until Huck can find a doctor, once again demonstrating self-sacrifice.

At this point in the novel, Huck pays Jim the greatest of compliments. He says, “I knowed he was white inside” (261). Before his adventures with Jim, Huck did not recognize the humanity of slaves. Huck recognizes it in Jim at the end of the novel; he no longer sees Jim as different than white people. Early in the novel when Huck discovers Jim on the island, Huck judges the runaway slave as superstitious and ignorant. The long trip down the Mississippi River and the encounters with people along the way have changed Huck’s judgment of Jim. Once seen as a superstitious slave, Jim is seen by both Huck and the reader as person of integrity and loyalty.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens— better known as Mark Twain—, when he began studying the 16th-century history for writing The Prince and the Pauper (1881), he was immediately fascinated with the indelicacies in old English speech and court languages. That is why he decided to write 1601, to experiment with Elizabethan dialogue and to entertain his friend Joseph Twitchell1. In this essay, I am going to analyze the ways in which Mark Twain portrays the time in which his work, 1601, allegedly takes place; to do so, I will analyze his choice of language: why did Twain choose to write 1601 as an extract from the Diary of Samuel Pepys? or what is the line Twain can not cross when talking vulgar?; after that, I am going to move on to presenting the characters in the novel and to commenting on what do they tell us about the society of the time.

Written in 1876, 1601 was supposed to be read as an extract of the Diary of Samuel Pepys of that date as we are said on the introduction of this brief satirical piece of writing; but, why? According to Pepys in the History of Reading, by E. Jajdelska (2007), ‘the reader of a comedy expects wit and perhaps something out of the ordinary kind of language used’; and, this is one of Twain’s strategies when writing. He is copying the way Samel Pepys wrote his entries of the diary; according to Mark S. Dawson’s Refiguring the Diary of Pepys, the diary is described as a ‘textual analog’ and, Pepys used scpecific language to ‘represent’, tell’, ‘measure’, or ‘record’ time.

Like many others writers, Mark was captivated by Pepys’ style and spirit; Albert Bigelow Paine in his Mark Twain, A Biography says that he determined to try his hand on an imaginary record of conversation and court manners of a bygone day, written in the phrase of the period. The result was ‘Fireside Conversation in the Time of Queen Elizabeth’, or as he later called it, ‘1601’. The ‘conversation’ recorded by a supposed Pepys of that period, was written with all the outspoken coarseness and nakedness of that rank day, when fireside sociabilities were limited only to the loosened fancy, vocabulary, and physical performance, and not by any bounds of convention. It is very important to take into account that it was written as a letter to his friend Rev. Joseph Twichell; he was described as devout Christian, ‘with an exuberant sense of humor and a wide understanding of the frailties of humankind’2; however, Twain knew he ‘who had no special scruples concerning Shakespearian parlance and customs’3.

When reading this piece, one might consider how is it that Mark Twain was able to publish it using this kind language; especially, when the story deals with Queen Elizabeth I. And, the answer may be because in 1601, words such as ‘piss,’ ‘bollocks,’ ‘shit,’ or ‘fart’ were all considered Standard English; and, it was not until the nineteeth century that they were considered ‘dirty words.’ However, it is inconclusive if Mark Twain knew about the etymology of the words or not; because, as I said earlier, this text was written for Rev. Twichell’s and his own amusement. Another interesting fact, is that he tried to anonymously submit it to a magazine— which was interested in a modern-day Rabelais—, but it got rejected. Furthermore, although Clemens did not actually acknowledge it to the public until 1906, it did streak the marked in 1880; mostly because of Lt. Charles Erskine Scott Wood (1852-1944), who aletered spellings to get a greater sense of the language used in the 16th-century. He also set the text in antiquated type, and printed it on artificial aged linen to give it a legitimate appearance; and, since then, dozen of copies have been printed. However, it continued to be unprintable, and only circulated clandestnely, because it was more ‘ribaldry than pornography; its content was more in the nature of the irreverent and vulgar comedic shock than of ‘obscene’ erotica.’4 All together, Mark Twain presents us with a vivid illustration of his sensitivy to the language; the importance of language has been a major concern of Twain expetise from the author’s time to our own, notably his ‘innovative use of regional, racial, and class dialects.’4

Now, I am going to move on to talk about the characters that appear in the story; because it is very important to know who these people are to understand the time in which the satire takes place; and, because Mark Twain was very much interested in history and in the description of historical periods and characters. To begin with, there is the queen’s cupbearer— the narrator; this character was created from the author’s research for The Prince and the Pauper (1881), where a cupbearer is one of the ‘silk-and-velvet discomforters’ who embarass Tom Chanty (chapters 6-7). Plus, Mark Twain, many years after writing 1601, referred to him as a ‘stupid old nobleman.’

Next, there is Raleigh, Sir Walter, Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite; he explored the Americas during the Queen’s reign and was, later on, beheaded by King James I for insubortination. He is described by the cupbearer as a ‘bloody swashbuckler’ and a ‘damned windmill’; moreover, the narrator puts him as the queen’s former lover— as he was said to be rewarded by the Queen with a ‘large state in Ireland, monopolies, trade privileges, knighthood, and the right to colonize North America’5. An interesting fact about his personal life is that he betrayed the queen’s trust, when he married one of her maids-of-honor; and in the moment the queen discovered that, she flew into rage and imprisioned him in the Tower of London for two years.

Another character in the story is Sir Francis Bacon, ‘an English lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual reformer, philosopher, and champion of modern sciene.’6 Which can not be explain without taking into account another character, Shakespeare— or Shaxpur in 1601.Twain was particularly atttracted to the Shakespeare-Bacon problem; he too, did not believe that Shakespeare had written those great plays, he asserted that there was ‘not a single proofe to show that Sakespeare had written one of them.’7 Twain refers to Shakespeare by mocking him; for example, when presenting the characters, Clemens leaves Shakespeare as an afterthought and presents him has ‘ye famous Shaxpur,’ (3) which is clearly a joke. Then, the cupbearer comments again on him with a metaphor: ‘A righte straunge mixing of mighty blode with meane, ye more in especial since ye queenes grace was present;’ mixing genders and language. Another way in which Clemens makes fun of Shakespeare is by using his language style and embelishing it: ‘ In the great hand of God I stand and so proclaim mine innocence.’

Now, let’s talk about ‘Ye Queene.’ Queen Elizabeth’s reaction and questions are interesting in that she sees the matter in terms of gender: ‘Verily in mine eight and sixty yeres have I not heard the fellow to this fart. Meseemeth, by ye grete sound and clamour of it, it was male.’ The Queen also uses a metaphor that links the fart to the act of writing, ‘yet ye belly it did lurk behinde should now fall lean and flat against ye spine of him yt hath bene delivered of so stately and so vaste bulk, whereas ye guts of them yt doe quiff-splitters bear, stand comely still and rounde. Prithee let ye author confess ye offspring.’ Being almost all characters writers, her inquiry to find the ‘author’ of the fart is suitable, but also interesting when we think of the author of the account and his relationship to his writings and his profession.

To sum up, this satirical piece of writing is a clear example of Mark’s interest on depicting history. From his use of the language to his character choice, we are presented with an amazing text. Who would have thought we would be reading about ‘farts’ and ‘bollocks’ in a conversation with the Queen present; yet Mark Twain astonishes us again.