Carolyn:  I will risk casting my swine before the
pearls once akin.  Until   scholars familiarize
themselves with the "words" Twain relished in rather
than theories of what he meant, it will be near
impossible to find the real Twain.  I think you are at
that entry point with your question. The first chapter
of HF gives up the ghost.  After Huck is told Tom
won't be in heaven either, he breaths a sigh of relief
and rejoices, "I wanted him and me to be together." 
He then hears the owls "who-whooing" [who are you?].
Then, a ghost telling him "something  that's on its
mind and can't make itself understood."   The chapter
ends with both he and Tom echoing "me-yow! me-yow!" 
Twain puts it in parenthesis, quotation marks, and
exclamation points as though it should be attended to?
"Yow" is a version of "you."  Yes, both acknowledging
each as the other.   In-deed, new beginnings!  Good
writing.  Randy 
--- Carolyn Leutzinger Richey <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Dan,
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the kind remarks.? And don't say you are
> a "mere" high school teacher.? I used to be one and
> find it much more difficult than college teaching.?
> Before I earned my MA, I was substitute teaching and
> I called it combat duty, especially in the junior
> highs.? For me, it was heaven to teach the
> university students.? 
> 
> Regarding the twins and Twain, I wrote my Master's
> thesis on this (called it Extraordinary Twins) and
> have mainly looked at the idea of the boy characters
> being mirrored images of the two sides of the
> author.? And I do go into the fact that Thomas means
> twin, and you have Twain, etc.? In nearly all of his
> texts, Twain provides doubled characters, usually
> boys.? In my thesis I looked at Tom and Huck (and
> each of their books)as the prototypes and then I
> looked at Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Prince and the
> Pauper, and The Mysterious Stranger.? I also
> included some short stories.? I like your idea of
> the father figures.? When I teach Huck Finn, I
> always have the students explore Pap and Jim as
> father figures.? This ties in nicely with the race
> aspect and the verification of Jim's humanity and
> Pap's lack of humanity.? 
> 
> Any way, I need to work on that review, which should
> be ready in a couple of weeks.? I also have some
> other reviews on the forum, mainly regarding
> children's lit.? I'd love for you to send me your
> paper.? I really am looking for sources to
> coroborate my ideas about Twain shaping the
> character(s) of the American boy.? 
> 
> Carolyn 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: L. Dan Walker <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 7:30 am
> Subject: Re: New directions
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
>  
> Ms. Richey:
> As mere high school teacher, I'm fascinated by your
> idea of Huck and Tom as 
> twin Twains (interesting name he picked!)  For what
> it's worth I found MT's 
> treatment of the father and mother figures in Huck
> very interesting.  The 
> respectable ones, like Judge Thatcher and
> Col.Grangerford, seem not subjected to 
> 
> ridicule (I detect no subtext of mockery in
> descriptions of the Colonel, even 
> the 
> morning toast, but instead ultimately a tragic
> effect). But the ones he IS 
> close to--Pap and the Duke and King--are much less
> gently treated. Maybe that's 
> the sort of bifurcation you were talking about?  The
> mother-figure women 
> (except Miss Watson, who is mostly harmless, at
> least to Tom and Huck) are 
> uniformly 
> respectable and benevolent--the Widow, Aunt Sally,
> Mrs. Loftus--as are a 
> whole slew (slough? sloo? slue?) of Beautiful and
> Proud Young Women, like Mary 
> Jane Wilkes and the Grangerford girl, on whom Huck
> seems to have innocent 
> crushes.  
> Anyway I can't wait to read something by you. I once
> wrote an essay on Huck 
> Finn and America's Symbolic Landscape" for Virginia
> English Bulletin, Winter 
> 1986--I'd be happy to send it to you. I'm not sure
> if I still agree with 
> everything I said there. I was young and
> irresponsible...
> Dan Walker
> Commonwealth Governor's School
> 
>  
> In a message dated 3/22/2008 8:45:12 AM Eastern
> Standard Time, 
> [log in to unmask] writes:
> 
> Sharon,?thanks for the warm wishes and support.? I
> completely agree with you 
> that mine and others' lack of participation may be
> from those insecure 
> feelings, and I often think that Twain himself was
> like-minded in his 
> insecurities.? 
> I call it "Imposter Phenomenon" and think that?many
> of us?try not to be found 
> out.? I think I may?once again hop off my fence
> occasionally to post a query 
> or answer one.? 
> 
> Ultimately, I think all of this "raucus" has been a
> cathartic experience for 
> me, and I hope for many others.? I very much admire
> all the Twain scholars 
> and?lay people (like myself) on this List and would
> hope to continue to 
> participate in the discussions and sharing of our
> love and knowledge of Twain.? 
> 
> That being said, I'm working on an idea regarding
> Twain and boyhood.? I'm 
> basically, besides a Twain scholar, a children's
> literature scholar and have 
> viewed Twain's writing from that point of view.? The
> focus of much of my studies 
> 
> has been?the idea regarding Twain and twins
> (Pudd'nhead Wilson's twins and then 
> Tom and Huck) and?how they are basically reflective
> of the author's own 
> dualistic feelings of identity as an American man.?I
> have an idea about 
> Huck,?Tom,?and Twain, not only as Hemingway
> said,?that?Huck Finn?is the "best 
> book we've 
> had . . . [and] all American writing comes from
> that," but also that Twain 
> shaped our American view of boyhood and manhood.? My
> study has begun with a look 
> 
> at Twain's "Story of a Bad Little Boy" and compare
> his prototype with the 
> Victorian view of boyhood and manhood.? Tom and
> Huck, I would say, are twins of 
> Twain and reflect his two sided persona and that
> two-sided American male 
> (the?socialite or the rebel; the intellect?or the
> "he-man").?!
> ?If any of you have any ideas supporting or
> questioning this, I'd appreciate 
> your thoughts. Or if you've written, or others have
> written, something related 
> closely, or not so closely, I thank you for any
> input.
> 
> So, now that I've officially hopped off my
> fencepost, I hope that other 
> "lurkers" (as my teenage daughter would call us)
> will come out of the shadows 
> and 
> participate.
> 
> Thank you ,Sharon, again for your kind words and
> proverbial kick in the pants.
> 
> Carolyn Leutzinger Richey
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 8:47 pm
> Subject: Re: Humble Observations
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Carolyn,
> I'm not up to the Forum right now (sitting on my own
> fencepost) but I 
> couldn't let this pass.? It breaks my heart to hear
> you say that you have chosen 
> not 
> to speak sometimes because of the elitism or the
> sniping on the forum.? I 
> don't know if you find my own postings "scholarly
> enough"--not really sure what 
> that means--but if you ever think that I'd be a help
> to you in your research, or 
> 
> it you just have some neat ideas you'd like to
> bounce around, on the forum or 
> off, I hope that you will write. ? 
> 
> When I joined the forum, I was quiet for a very long
> time, and it took a lot 
> of courage to make that first posting--it was like a
> bibliography 
=== message truncated ===



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