A couple of thoughts about the ending of Huckleberry Finn...
Dissatisfaction with the ending seems to be a relatively modern complaint
(ie, after Twain's lifetime), although I may have missed earlier complaints.
I don't recall early critics or reviewers whining about it. Could it be
possible that modern readers have expectations about how the story should
end that earlier readers did not share for some reason? Would Huck have been
justified in his desire to light out for the territories if the hijinks and
humiliations of the "evasion" chapters had not been included?
The most convincing argument I've seen in favor of the last chapters is that
what happened to Jim after he was freed parallel the nonsense that freed
slaves had to endure during Reconstruction. Maybe early readers did not need
to be reminded of this.
Another thing I have not seen --but I don't read a lot of Twainian criticism
so I may have missed it-- is the possible origin of Tom's name and how it
provides a clue to his character and the events of the evasion chapters.
Although a couple of actual people named "Tom Sawyer" have proposed
themselves or been proposed over the years as the origin for his name (both
easily disproven), I wonder if the steamboat term "sawyer" is not a more
likely source for his name. A "sawyer" was the worst kind of snag a
steamboat pilot could encounter. Unlike a "planter" that lay just below the
surface and gave itself away to an alert pilot who could "read" the waters,
a "sawyer" bobbed up and down because it was neither wholly waterlogged nor
wholly buoyant, and for that reason could pop up without warning at any time
and reek havoc for any steamboat. Tom Sawyer certainly shares that quality,
the way he spreads havoc, especially when he pops up at the beginning of the
evasion chapters.
I find Tom Sawyer an annoying kid, the way a pilot might regard a sawyer,
but I think those chapters serve a purpose.
Problems for slaves did not vanish just because they became former slaves.
There were still plenty of snags that night pop up at any time. How
"post-racial" do you think America is even now, or do you think there could
be some sawyers lurking up ahead?
If this possible origin has been argued before, my apologies to whoever made
that observation. If not, anyone is free to explore it further so long as
they credit this little posting in the Mark Twain Forum.
Kevin
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-----Original Message-----
From: Hal Bush
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 7:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: American Literary Scholarship 2013 Mark Twain
it's irony, Steve. i.e. a joke, or perhaps failed humor. I believe most
folks on the LIST are pretty familiar with those arguments...
ps: if you really want to see a scathing review of the flaws of AHF, check
out Jane Smiley's notorious review in Harper's, circa 1996.
-hb
On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 12:09 AM, Steve Hoffman
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> What's so shocking about that?
>
> Many readers of Huck Finn would argue the last
> section of the book (once Tom Sawyer comes in and
> starts running the show) is quite flawed, for a
> variety of reasons!!!!!!
> And I count myself among them.
>
> Many an astute reader of that great novel have
> been disappointed by the turns the story takes
> once Tom Sawyer sort of takes over from Huck Finn.
>
> -Steve Hoffman
> (no academic credentials, just a lay-person
> Twainiac in Takoma Park MD)
>
> On 5/6/2014 12:10 PM, Hal Bush wrote:
> > Tom: "The Flawed Greatness of Huckleberry Finn"?? "Flawed"? ? ? -- you
> > must be joking here ... -hb
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 11:01 AM, Quirk, Thomas V. <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
> >
> >> John, I did have one essay: =B3The Flawed Greatness of Huckleberry
> Finn.=
> >> =B2
> >> American Literary Realism 45:1 (Fall 2013) 2: 38-48. I don't know the
> >> electronic link.
> >>
> >>
> >> On 5/5/14 3:39 PM, "John Bird" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Once again, I will be writing the chapter on Mark Twain for American
> =3D
> >>> Literary Scholarship, reviewing all the Twain scholarship for the year
> =
> >> =3D
> >>> 2013. If you had an article or book published in 2013, please send me
> =3D
> >>> links to articles, copies of articles, or have the publisher send me
> =3D
> >>> book copies. Email and mailing address below. Thanks! (I will most =3D
> >>> likely do this again for 2014, so if you have something this year,
> send =
> >> =3D
> >>> along!)
> >>> =20
> >>> [log in to unmask] or
> >>> [log in to unmask]
> >>> =20
> >>> Department of English
> >>> 250 Bancroft
> >>> Winthrop University
> >>> Rock Hill, SC 29733
> >>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >>> John Bird
> >>> [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
>
--
Prof. Harold K. Bush
Professor of English
3800 Lindell
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>
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