Paul Jones

Mrs. Yard

AP English

14 March 2010

Huckleberry Finn Journal Entries

Huck's Search for Identity -

I CREPT to their doors and listened; they was snoring. So I tiptoed along, and got down stairs

all right. There warn’t a sound anywheres. I peeped through a crack of the dining-room door,

and see the men that was watching the corpse all sound asleep on their chairs. The door was

open into the parlor, where the corpse was laying, and there was a candle in both rooms. I

passed along, and the parlor door was open; but I see there warn’t nobody in there but the

remainders of Peter; so I shoved on by; but the front door was locked, and the key wasn’t there.

Just then I heard somebody coming down the stairs, back behind me. I run in the parlor and

took a swift look around, and the only place I see to hide the bag was in the coffin. The lid was

shoved along about a foot, showing the dead man’s face down in there, with a wet cloth over it,

and his shroud on. I tucked the money-bag in under the lid, just down beyond where his hands

was crossed, which made me creep, they was so cold, and then I run back across the room and

in behind the door. (pg. 177)

This quote is significant to Huckleberry's search for identity because it marks a change of pace

as per Huckleberry's actions and development. A general trend of Huckleberry's was inaction – this

changes with this direct action and defiance of the supposed “royalty.” An example of such inaction is

when Huckleberry claims to be “ashamed” to be of the human race as the “duke and the dauphin” con

the Wilks sisters and continually chooses not to turn them in as frauds. Huckleberry's “theft” of the

“duke and the dauphin's” $6000 in gold was not only his first direct action against their cruelty, but his

conscience's first tangible influence on his actions. This is relevant to Huckleberry's search for identity
because it means he is developing a sense of self, and an idea of his own “right and wrong.”

Huck as Unreliable Narrator -

“So he went to marching up and down, thinking, and frowning horrible every now and then;

then he would hoist up his eyebrows; next he would squeeze his hand on his forehead and

stagger back and kind of moan; next he would sigh, and next he’d let on to drop a tear. It was

beautiful to see him. By and by he got it. He told us to give attention. Then he strikes a most

noble attitude, with one leg shoved forwards, and his arms stretched away up, and his head

tilted back, looking up at the sky; and then he begins to rip and rave and grit his teeth; and after

that, all through his speech, he howled, and spread around, and swelled up his chest, and just

knocked the spots out of any acting ever I see before.” (pg. 137)

An early introductory example of Huckleberry as an unreliable narrator is his charging of Mr.

Mark Twain of stretching the truth in the spiritual predecessor of “The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” This is an example of unreliability, dramatic irony , and

“breaching the fourth-wall.” It is an example of unreliability and dramatic irony because the reader

clearly knows that the story is a work of fiction, and thus the author cannot be wrong, and thus

Huckleberry's accusation is false. It is “breaching the fourth-wall” because Twain put himself in his

own piece.

But as per this particular passage, it is an example of both the ignorance and naivety of

Huckleberry Finn. He, at at least some level, is aware that the duke and dauphin are frauds, but he is

still captivated by their production and genuinely mistakes their work as veritable. This is significant to

the theme of “Huck as a Unreliable Narrator” because it undoubtedly proves his lack of education and

childish naivety skew how he interprets stimuli.

As a final note on the subject of Huck as unreliable it should be made aware that Huckleberry is

incredibly superstitious. This is significant to the them because Huck's juvenile beliefs have been and

were debunked, and this is a direct literary tool employed by Twain to convey this unreliability.
Twain's Satire of Mid-Nineteenth Century Society -

“Hold on! Just a word, gentlemen.” They stopped to listen. “We are sold—mighty badly sold.

But we don’t want to be the laughing stock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last

of this thing as long as we live. NO. What we want is to go out of here quiet, and talk this show

up, and sell the REST of the town! Then we’ll all be in the same boat. Ain’t that sensible?”

("You bet it is!—the jedge is right!” everybody sings out.) “All right, then—not a word about

any sell. Go along home, and advise everybody to come and see the tragedy.” (pg. 152)

This excerpt is an example of a satirical take on mid-nineteenth century society because it

shows a selfishness and a vindictiveness in the common townspeople. The con artists were not

successful because of they fooled the townspeople with a “quality” sham act, but rather because of the

townspeople's pride and malevolence. This is an example of satire because the reader can clearly

distinguish a sarcastic from the fashion by which Twain gives a voice to “the jedge.” Particularly “Ain't

that sensible?” because it clearly isn't “sensible.”

This portrayal of “common folk” by Twain is similar to the part of the “plebeian” in

Shakespeare's “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” because their of tendency to be gullible and

impressionable for whomever happens to be currently “swaying” them (the general). This is applied to

this piece because the duke and “dolphin” convince them to buy overpriced tickets, and then “the

jedge” convinces them it's a good idea to manipulate the rest of the town in order not to seem foolish.

Ironically, this is an example of foolish pride and proves their foolishness.