Huckleberry Finn Dialect Analysis
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, takes place in the South approximately twenty years before the Civil War. During this time period slavery was legal. Therefore, African American people were treated unequally by being used for labor work and not given rights, including the right to an education and the right to vote. The story begins at St. Petersburg, Missouri with Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, a thirteen year old boy, that is trying to escape his drunk, abusive father and Widow Douglas who is trying to “sivilize” him. In the process of escaping Huck runs into Widow Douglas’s runaway slave Jim that is trying to escape from being sold. Throughout the book, Huck and Jim have many adventures and ultimately become friends. The
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Dialect “distinguishes” a specific group of people from others; it involves “grammar,” “sound,” and “pronunciation”. . Twain discloses in the explanatory of the book that the “dialects are used to wit” and reveals that “Missouri Negro” dialect and “Pike County” dialect were used for the main characters. He describes the “Missouri Negro” dialect as the “extremest form of backwoods South-Western dialect”. Jim’s dialect demonstrates he is uneducated by his accent and pronunciation of words. For example, Jim questioned, “How you gwyne to git ‘m? You can’t slip up on um en grab um; en how’s a body gwyne to hit um wid a rock?” Consequently the use of dialect exhibits the inequality of education and differentiates the characters and their social classes.
Furthermore, Huckleberry Finn’s use of characterization demonstrates Huck’s rising disapproval of slavery and inequality. Characterization is used to reveal details about a character in a story. Although, Jim takes care of Huck by “petting him” and calling him “honey,” giving him food, and taking Huck’s “watch on top” so he “could go on sleeping.” He struggles with the concept of betraying society and helping Jim escape. Fortunately, Huck recalls the caring things Jim did for him and decides he will go against society, even if that means “going to
Dialect “distinguishes” a specific group of people from others; it involves “grammar,” “sound,” and “pronunciation”. . Twain discloses in the explanatory of the book that the “dialects are used to wit” and reveals that “Missouri Negro” dialect and “Pike County” dialect were used for the main characters. He describes the “Missouri Negro” dialect as the “extremest form of backwoods South-Western dialect”. Jim’s dialect demonstrates he is uneducated by his accent and pronunciation of words. For example, Jim questioned, “How you gwyne to git ‘m? You can’t slip up on um en grab um; en how’s a body gwyne to hit um wid a rock?” Consequently the use of dialect exhibits the inequality of education and differentiates the characters and their social classes.
Furthermore, Huckleberry Finn’s use of characterization demonstrates Huck’s rising disapproval of slavery and inequality. Characterization is used to reveal details about a character in a story. Although, Jim takes care of Huck by “petting him” and calling him “honey,” giving him food, and taking Huck’s “watch on top” so he “could go on sleeping.” He struggles with the concept of betraying society and helping Jim escape. Fortunately, Huck recalls the caring things Jim did for him and decides he will go against society, even if that means “going to