of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Introduction
to Theoretical &
Critical Approaches on
Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn
Applied Critical Approaches
For the applied critical approaches I want to pull first from Toni Morrison’s analysis of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn found at the back of the novel. I was drawn to her complex connection and description of Huck’s relationship with his pap and Jim. Huck’s pap isn’t the typical father; Huck isn’t supervised or cared for like a son should be. Both are use to coming and going as they please, until pap gets greedy and possessive of Huck and locks him away in the isolated cabin. This is the relationship Huck has to compare other male adult relationships to. Jim, on the other hand, is loving and doting and genuinely caring toward Huck — like a father should. But because Jim is black, and a slave, the dynamics of their relationship prevent a father-son relationship from developing. As Toni Morrison points out, “because Jim can be controlled, it becomes possible for Huck to feel responsible for and to him — but without the onerous burden of lifelong debt that a real father figure would demand” (390). Another factor for why a father-son relationship can’t develop is the way Huck was raised (or wasn’t raised) by his pap; Huck can’t keep still, he’s too independent, and doesn’t require a father that embodies the characteristics of that typical father he’s never known. When Huck reflects how Jim cares for him, he acknowledges it, and in turn respects him (as much as his mind will let him), but would never engage in a familial relationship with him because of his past relationships and the fact Jim is black.
The second applied approach will be from Hoffman’s analysis of Adventures. Hoffman’s description of Tom’s behavior is one that follows social models, where conversely, Huck’s does not. Tom’s character is a manifestation of what is predictable and conventional based on the rules of society. Tom plays outlandish games and concocts creative adventures which are socially acceptable antics from a boy his age. Huck on the other hand, elaborately fakes his own death, then runs away down an enormous river to god-only-knows where, and to god-only- knows what. The reader, and Huck, will have to wait to see what happens to him because he doesn’t have a stylish, long-term plan prepared — the epitome of unconventionality and unpredictability. Tom has been socialized to follow the “path society has laid out” for boys in this day and age, whereas, Huck has been haphazardly socialized to follow that same path, only, his was full of unexpected detours, short cuts, and self-made trails unique only to Huck. Hoffman sees Tom as “the model” and Huck as the “outcast that no model was made for” — an extension of the hand-selected “haves” and the left-over “have nots” our society arbitrarily separates according to the standards.
© Tammia Madden, 2002
URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/tammiam/master.htm
Last Updated: 02 May 2002