Local Colorism in Mark Twain's The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

1. Mark Twain

2. Contents Ⅰ. Local Colorism Ⅱ. Mark Twain Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnⅣ. Suggested Further Reading

3. Ⅰ. Local Colorism 1. Background Local colorism as a trend first made its presence felt in the late 1860s and early 1870s. It did not cease to be a dominant fashion until the turn of the 20th century. It formed an important part of the realistic movement. 1. Publishing center moved to New York 2. Growth of communication and transportation 3. Rapid growth of local magazines

4. 2.Definition Local Colorism is defined by Hamlin Garland as having “such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native.” The ultimate aim of the local colorists or Regionalism is to write or present local characters of their regions in truthful depiction distinguished from others, usually a very small part of the world.

5. Ⅱ. Mark Twain 1. Life 2. Literary Achievements

6. 1) Early Life Experience 1. Life • Born in a little town in Mississippi • At 11, he lost his father • At 13, he stopped schooling • Tramp printer • Steamboat pilot on the Mississippi • Confederate guerrilla • Prospector • Reporter on the far western frontier • Traveler abroad

7. 1. Life 2) HisMarriage At 34 years old he married Olivia Langdon Clemens, daughter of a New York coal magnate, a member of the country’s wealthy elite. She would be partner, editor, and fellow traveler in success and failure for the next thirty-five years.

8. 1. Life 3) In His Middle Ages By 1900 Twain had become America’s foremost celebrity. He was invited to attend ship launchings, anniversary gatherings, political conventions, and countless dinners. Reporters met him at every port of call, anxious to print a new quip from the famous humorist. To enhance his image, he took to wearing white suits and loved to stroll down the street and see people staring at him.

9. 1. Life 4) His Later Life There are many tragic events in his later life: the failure of his investments, his fatiguing travels and lectures in order to pay off his debts, and added to this, the death of his wife and two daughters which left him absolutely inconsolable. Some critics link these tragic events with the change of style in his later works, from an optimist and humorist to an almost despairing determinist.

10. 1. Life 5) His Death Mark Twain died of illness on April 21, 1910. When he passed away, newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world is mourning.” By then, Sam Clemens had long since ceased to be a private citizen. He had become Mark Twain, a proud possession of the American nation.

11. 2. Literary Achievements 1) Major Works （1）The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County(1867) 《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》 （2）Roughing It 《艰难岁月》(1872) （3）The Gilded Age (1873) 《镀金年代》written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner （4）The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) 《汤姆索亚历险记》 （5）Life on the Mississippi(1883) 《密西西比河上的生活》 （6）The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) 《哈克贝利.费恩历险记》 （7）A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) 《亚瑟王朝的康涅狄克州的美国佬》

12. 2. Literary Achievements 1) Major Works （8）Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)《傻瓜威尔逊》 （9）The Man That Corrupted Haddleyburry（1900） 《败坏了赫德莱堡的人》 （10）Innocents Abroad 1832《傻子出国记》 （11）The Prince and Pauper 1833《王子与平民》 （12）What Is Man？ 1906《人是什么？》 （13）The $30,000 Bequest 1906《三万元遗产》 （14）The Mysterious of Stranger 1916 《神秘的陌生人》

13. 2. Literary Achievements 2）Writing Characteristics (1) humor and satire. (2) based on the humor of the Western in America. (3) a lot of colloquial idioms and colloquial syntax. (4) innocent, simple, naïve, and ignorant heroes or heroines. (5) hyperbole on the basis of the western traditional humor and full of allegories that lay behind the humor.

14. 1. Brief Introduction 2. Plot 3. Characters 4. Themes Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

15. Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 1. Brief Introduction When:around 1850, before the Civil War Where: along the Mississippi River Who: Huck, Jim etc. What: the process of pursuing freedom and happiness. 2. Plot

16. St. Petersburg, Missouri (where the story begins)

17. Pap’s Cabin (Pap kidnaps Huck and holds him in a cabin across the river.)

18. Jackson’s Island, in the middle of Mississippi (Huck escapes and hides in the Jackson’s Island, where he meets Jim. )

19. Ohio River They have a close encounter with a gang of robbers on a wrecked steamboat.

20. Grangerfords VS. Shepherdsons (Huck and Jim are separated because a steamboat slams into their raft before. When Huck leave there, they meet again.)

21. They rescue two men: the duke and the dauphin.

22. Wilk’s Funeral (The duke and the dauphin pretend to be Wilks’s brothers and want to swindle Peter Wilks’s inheritance.)

23. Phelp’s Farm (Tom Sawyer hatches a wild plan to free Jim with Huck. Finally, Jim become a free man.)

24. Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 3. Characters Tom Pap Widow Douglas Huck Mr.Phelpses Jim Huke & Dauphin

25. I slept in the streets or in the woods, and I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. It was a fine life. Huck dig holes in the wooden wall Prefer free life He pretended to be a girl. He called himself George Jefferson. He cheated Sally that he wasTom. thoughtful intelligent brave It was a hard life because I had to wear new Clothes and be good all the time. hiding a raft liar Like risk but easily influenced by Tom faking his own death

26. “Now, we’ll have this gang of robbers,” he said,” and we’ll call it Tom Sawyer’s Gang.” Tom liking risk very much Imaginative Dominating Giving mild plans “Just rob and kill”, Tom said, We stop people on the road, and we kill them, and take their money and things. ” “It’s a real adventure now, all right” he said,” very excited. Perhaps they’ll come after us, and shoot and we’ll all get killed.”

27. a run-away black slave Jim fell to his knees. “Please don’t hurt me!” he said,“ I’ve always be good to dead people! ” “You say I’m a free man now, and perhaps I am. But old Tom is not going to run away and leave one of his friends with a bullet in his leg!” superstitious but his longing for his family Intelligent, practical and loyal to friends Jim

28. He was almost fifty and he looked old. His hair was long and dirty and his face was a terrible white color. His clothes were old and dirty, too, and two of his toes were coming through his shoe. The towndrunk Huck's Pap Old and dirty Cruel Inhumanity Irresponsibility He began to hit me too much with his stick. He often locked me in the hut and once he was away for three days.

29. the important person in the town In charge of safeguarding money for Huck Judge Thather nice and kind more patience with the mischievous Huck Widow Douglas

30. The dauphin appears to be 70 claims to be the “dauphin”, the son of King Louis XVI and heir to the French throne The duke and the Dauphin a pair of con men • The Duke • about 30 • claims to be the usurped Duke of Bridgewater carrying out a number of increasingly swindles as they travel down the river on the raft.

31. Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 4. Themes 1) Racism and Slavery 2) Freedom 3) Conflict between civilization and “natural life” 4) Intellectual and Moral Education 5) Superstition 6) Mockery of Religion 7) Friendship 8) Love

32. Racism and Slavery After the Emancipation Proclamation (解放黑人奴隶）and the end of the Civil War, America—and especially the South—was still struggling with racism and the aftereffects of slavery . In chapter 6:Pop’s speech against the black man

33. Racism and Slavery Although Twain wrote the novel after slavery was abolished, he set it several decades earlier, when slavery was still a fact of life. Buteven by Twain’s time, things had not necessarily gotten much better for blacks in the South.

34. Freedom

35. Conflict between civilization and “natural life” Huck represents natural life through his freedom of spirit, uncivilized ways,and desires to escape from civilization. He is raised without any rules or discipline and has a strong resistance to anything that might “civilize" him. This conflict is introduced in chapter1 through the efforts of the WidowDouglas

36. Intellectual and Moral Education maturation and development Receive many teachings, regarding race and slavery Distrust the moral and precepts of the society bases these decisions on his experiences, his own sense of logic, and what his developing conscience tells him Apprehend about society Huck Choose to “go to hell” distinguish good, bad, right, wrong, menace, friend. Learn to “read” the world

37. In chapter31 Huck wants to expose Jim. If you were Huck ,what Shall you do? Huck tears the paper and say “Let me go to hell”

38. Superstition Generally, both Huck and Jim are very rational characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes over. The power superstition holds over the two demonstrates that Huck and Jim are child-like despite their apparent maturity. In addition, superstition foreshadows the plot at several key junctions.

39. Ⅳ. Suggested Further Reading The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Major features 1.combination of the vibrant (lively) , loquacious (talkative) storytelling tradition rooted in folk tale etc. with the more calculated literary tradition of satire, irony, and wit. 2. a story-within-a-story framing structure The narrator is the reluctant audience for the storyteller Simon Wheeler, who is distinguished from the protagonist Jim Smiley.

40. 3.Targeting Humor 1)Jim Smiley is the primary target : a trickster who turns out to be too clever for his own good. In addition to Smiley, 2) the narrator is also a target, a victim of the anonymous trickster who sent him to the garrulous Simon Wheeler. 4.Style of the short story 1)vocabulary the author’s narration: standard language, simple language the characters’ language: use of the vernacular 2)syntax: a. standard, formal; b. informal, colloquial and slangy 3)narrative: straightforward

41. Ⅳ. Suggested Further Reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer classic of children’s book, full of good-hearted humor, beautiful descriptions of children’s world, an idyll of boyhood, eternal summer, author’s nostalgic recollections of his own childhood, only occasional encounter with evils.

42. Homework Please read Stephen Crane’s masterpiece The Open Boat and introduce its major themes and artistic features to the class.