In their classic song "Won't Get Fooled Again", The Who sing the line "...Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Though his version came roughly eighty years prior and spent nearly three hundred pages getting to the point, Mark Twain's "tune" seemingly preaches the same message as that provided by the 1960's rock quartet. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (hereafter Huck Finn), Twain spends two-thirds of the novel insinuating the dynamic change of the protagonist (the arrival of a new "boss") only to leave a carbon copy of the original at the conclusion of his work. This sequence, of progression followed by regression, is particularly evident in Huck's relationship with Jim. Twain suggests an evolution in the boy's understanding of the concepts of slavery and southern society, but he never finishes the thought; in fact, he contradicts his own established proofs. There are inconsistencies in Huck's psychological development as well. Twain illustrates a teen that becomes increasingly aware of some major issues, such as death and dishonesty. The author goes to great lengths, providing chapters and chapters of nearly self-contained stories to describe Huck's transformation from awareness to understanding, and from understanding to action. Despite his apparently strong effort to establish Huck's malleability, Twain ultimately doubles back and gives the reader a glimpse of the original boy: a boy who takes life far too lightly for any teenager, let alone one who has seen murder and deceit with his own eyes. If Mark Twain's intention was that, as his "notice" suggests, one should not find a moral in this book, he has shown either deviousness or ignorance in his craft, while completely embracing the latter in the novel's final third. It is my contention, however, that the book's lack of a moral is a deficiency in the author's ability rather than a clever intention. Huck Finn, through its title character, serves as a prime example of how not to finish a novel: aggravating the audience, rather than satisfying it.
Perhaps the most obvious irritating aspect of this novel is Huck's interaction with Jim. Twain establishes very early on in the book that Huck and friends are part of a society with very prejudiced views about men of African extraction; if only for the frequent use of the word "nigger", one can deduce this. What is more significant than offensive nomenclature, however, is the issue of practical jokes. The tricks that Huck (and sometimes others) plays on Jim and other slaves and, more importantly, Huck's reaction to these tricks, serve as "waypoints" on the road of Huck's moral rise and fall. A real evolution seems to begin in chapter fifteen, when the boy leads Jim to believe that he (Huck) has not been absent from the raft. Huck convinces the Jim that he dreamed the entire fog scenario, Huck's leaving the raft on the canoe, and the subsequent period of worry that Jim endured when he did not know the fate of Huck. When Huck exposes the game, Jim admonishes him. "It was fifteen minutes before I could...humble myself to a nigger, but I done it...I didn't do him no more mean tricks...I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way."(95) This statement is a moral development in itself. Huck sees some sort of problem in humbling himself to a black man. We can assume based on the first portion of the quote that he has never stooped this low before. Something, however, causes him to break convention and apologize.
Chapter fifteen suggests that Huck actually has some sort of respect for Jim. Most would feel that, overall, chapter thirty-one solidifies this view. While I, for the most part, share this opinion, it also seems as though one of Twain's largest faults jumps out in this same chapter. Early in the novel, Huck makes it fairly clear that he puts no weight in the stories of the Bible or in the concept of Providence: "...she let out that Moses had been dead...so then I didn't care...I don't take no stock in dead people"(14-15); "...I...reckoned I would belong to the widow's [Providence] though I couldn't make out how he was agoing to be any better than before..." (23-24). Comments like the previous two also display a general lack of Biblical understanding on Huck's part, and Twain does not provide Huck with a source of enlightenment into this matter throughout the rest of the book. It makes little sense, then, that halfway through chapter thirty-one, Huck recognizes "...the plain hand of
Providence..."(222), sees that "...there's One that's always on the lookout..."(222), or decides that "the Sunday School" might have helped him in some way. Truly, this revelation is necessary to allow for Huck's ensuing moral dilemma, but it does not occur in a very believable manner. Apparently, Twain is using Huck for the purposes of the "nonexistent moral" rather than letting his character behave naturally. If Twain truly has failed in character development at the macro level (the novel as a whole), he has done so because of a lack of understanding at the micro.
The rest of chapter thirty-one may come across as somewhat touching, and I would agree with such an assessment. Huck's (apparent) moral resolution should appeal to the sense of decency (morality) in anyone. In the grand scheme of the novel, however, this climactic moment serves to emphasize Twain's flaws in character dynamics, if only because he not only fails to complete the movement, but reverses it entirely by the conclusion of the work. Huck's decision to "'...go to Hell.'" and try to save Jim is a strong suggestion. This is concrete evidence of some sort of moral development on Huck's part. Some contend that Huck only reacts to his environment, and that he never actually develops. I would counter with this: morality is defined by our interactions with others; moral development can only occur as a result of failure and its related reconciliation. Our moral evolutions are sparked by our emotional response to hurting someone else's feelings. In this light, Huck not only experiences such development, but does so naturally. More importantly, Huck makes his decision to find and free Jim without the slave in his presence. He is not reacting to the external influences of someone trying to make him feel guilty or by the view of Jim in bondage. He reacts to a change within himself. He no longer cares what people may think about his aiding a runaway slave. Huck has evolved as a character.
We have examined Huck's development as it pertains to Jim, but his progression occurs apart from the slave as well, most predominantly in the example of death. In chapter two, Huck and his friends speak about killing as though it were a minor issue. They make murder a part of their club agreement, and Huck even "...offered up Miss Watson..." (21) for sacrifice. Starting in chapter twenty-eight, however, Huck starts to view death in a different light when he witnesses it first-hand: "It made me so sick...it would make me sick again...I wished I hadn't ever...see such things. I ain't ever going to get shut of them."(133-134) Huck later witnesses the senseless killing of Old Boggs, another violent act that must certainly have an effect on the boy, even if not described in the narration. I am not suggesting that Huck should have felt something to support my argument; rather, I see no way that this harsh example of death would not affect him. If the first example catches his attention, it can be assumed that the second does so just as well.
The third serious flaw in Twain's development of Huckleberry Finn lies in Huck's reactions to dishonesty. Throughout the first third of the novel, Huck encounters dishonesty in himself (as per the joke on Jim) and in others, particularly the King and the Duke. His response to his own deceptions has already been discussed; he made a conscious effort not to repeat the unkindness visited upon Jim. After witnessing multiple scams perpetrated by the King and Duke, Huck decides in chapter twenty-six to make a difference: "I says to myself, This is another one that I'm letting him rob her of her money...I says to myself, I'll hive that money for them or bust." (188) Huck has developed unpleasant feelings about those who create deceit, and he makes it a point to thwart them. He has changed from the boy who instigates trouble into one who seeks to end it. Huck has evolved as a character.
If Twain has effectively illustrated Huck's development, then why does Huck Finn ultimately fail in this regard? If the novel had ended in chapter thirty-one, or at least shortly thereafter, Huck's transformation would have, at the very least, made good, though not perfect sense. By this chapter, he has changed from an irresponsible, self-absorbed brat into a caring young man who does not tolerate the intentional mistreatment of others. Unfortunately, Twain chose to prolong the end of the novel, devoting its final portion to a bunch of childish games. More significantly, he destroys, in roughly sixty pages, that which he has spent over two-hundred pages building. In the final several chapters, Huck becomes a complete child again. He and Tom Sawyer subject Jim to pain and unnecessary suspense while cruelly scaring and deceiving Aunt Sally and her family. Huck seems to forget the importance of getting Jim to freedom, and Twain gives us no reason. He only expects us to buy the story that Tom has some sort of hold over Huck: that such a hold is stronger than the influence of hard experience. It almost seems as though these last pages were salvaged from the dregs of the manuscript for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; a book which fought, apparently, to "get serious", has descended into a meaningless, even if somewhat entertaining, boy's tale.
If Mark Twain intended for his book to be void of a moral, as he stated in his "note", he has achieved that intent: to some degree at the very end, and to a greater degree in the whole of the work. Granted, the larger, earlier portion of the novel will undoubtedly stand as a great accomplishment in literature, but the book as a single entity contains far too many flaws in character. Twain's protagonist does not know his own identity, and neither, then, does Huck Finn know its identity: its premise. Readers can accept disappointing events; they can handle a book that ends in tragedy, failure, or grief. What most audiences will not tolerate, however, are books that tell them a lie: books that make promises without keeping them. Huck Finn has done just such a thing. Am I, perhaps, too harsh? Should I cut Mark Twain some slack? Did he not warn us, after all, with his clever "note" in the novel's beginning? To those questions, I say "rubbish". If the author was purposeful in the book's disappointing conclusion, then all the more shame should be heaped upon his head. To paraphrase a classmate: the conclusion of this book makes one feel as though they had just read a long, terrible joke. As a novel, is Huck Finn a success? Not in the slightest. Is it an important part of literary history? Absolutely, it is. Perhaps the strong disappointment in the ending is derived from the strong emotional response to the rest of the work. We want to believe in Huckleberry Finn's ability to change because we want to believe in our own capacity to do just the same. Twain's Huck disappoints us greatly; but then, how often do we ourselves make the same failure? Perhaps Mark Twain has tried to show us that life, that mankind never really changes: that we are doomed to a cycle of repeating the same mistakes. Perhaps that is Twain's hidden premise: meet the new boss; same as the old boss. Can we really change, or are we simply bound to revert back to old behavior: tendencies that have been a part of not only our own lives, but the lives of all men? Maybe we are just that. But at least in regards to Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we won't get fooled again.
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