Comparison of Finn and Huck Finn
Kirsten Holsomback
AP Lang period 1
Springer
18 February, 2012
Huck Finn and Finn Compare and Contrast Essay
Though the novels the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, and Finn, by Jon Clinch, both provide their readers with views of the lives of Huckleberry and Pap Finn and life in the racism-ridden South of the late eighteen hundreds, the novels are almost entirely alien from one another in regard to their narration and the storylines they detail. Huck Finn is the account of the extremely naïve Huckleberry Finn, whose recollection of his adventures lends the reader an unbiased understanding of the South, while Finn is a far more mature and shadowed detailing of the life of Huck’s father, Pap Finn, and his struggles with himself and the society that consistently rejects him. Both novels explore complex themes and symbolisms and each author carefully manipulates the elements of perspective and tone in order to create commentaries on human nature and life in a much divided, hateful time period while still maintaining starkly contrasting perspectives on the South, society, and life itself.
Both Twain and Clinch continuously focus on the theme of dysfunctionality within families and the detrimental effects of severely dysfunctional family relations. In Huck Finn, Pap Finn is largely portrayed as a violently angry drunk with concern solely for money and whiskey (“’I hain’t heard nothing but about you bein’ rich. I heard about it away down the river, too. That’s why I come. You git me that money tomorrow- I want it’”) rather than his own son who, while he cannot stand his father, still subconsciously desires any sign of care and attention from the elder Finn, a desire that is evident through Huck’s rapt attention to each detail of his father’s ragged appearance when he appears at the widow Douglas’ house, while in his version of the same scene, Clinch places emphasis on Finn’s almost complete lack of concern for Huck’s
AP Lang period 1
Springer
18 February, 2012
Huck Finn and Finn Compare and Contrast Essay
Though the novels the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, and Finn, by Jon Clinch, both provide their readers with views of the lives of Huckleberry and Pap Finn and life in the racism-ridden South of the late eighteen hundreds, the novels are almost entirely alien from one another in regard to their narration and the storylines they detail. Huck Finn is the account of the extremely naïve Huckleberry Finn, whose recollection of his adventures lends the reader an unbiased understanding of the South, while Finn is a far more mature and shadowed detailing of the life of Huck’s father, Pap Finn, and his struggles with himself and the society that consistently rejects him. Both novels explore complex themes and symbolisms and each author carefully manipulates the elements of perspective and tone in order to create commentaries on human nature and life in a much divided, hateful time period while still maintaining starkly contrasting perspectives on the South, society, and life itself.
Both Twain and Clinch continuously focus on the theme of dysfunctionality within families and the detrimental effects of severely dysfunctional family relations. In Huck Finn, Pap Finn is largely portrayed as a violently angry drunk with concern solely for money and whiskey (“’I hain’t heard nothing but about you bein’ rich. I heard about it away down the river, too. That’s why I come. You git me that money tomorrow- I want it’”) rather than his own son who, while he cannot stand his father, still subconsciously desires any sign of care and attention from the elder Finn, a desire that is evident through Huck’s rapt attention to each detail of his father’s ragged appearance when he appears at the widow Douglas’ house, while in his version of the same scene, Clinch places emphasis on Finn’s almost complete lack of concern for Huck’s