Huckleberry Finn - the Controversial Ending
The Adventures of Huck Finn-The Controversial Ending
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has stirred up much controversy over such topics as racism, prejudice and gender indifference, but the brunt of the criticism has surrounded itself around the ending, most notably with the re-entry of Tom Sawyer. Some people viewed the ending as a bitter disappointment, as shared by people such as Leo Marx. The ending can also be viewed with success, as argued by such people as Lionel Trilling, T.S. Eliot, V. S. Pritchett and James M. Cox in their essays and reviews. I argue that the ending of the novel proves successful in justifying the innocence of childhood through such themes as satire and frivolous behaviour.
One of the underlying aspects of the novel is that it is a novel based mostly around adolescence. Jim and Huck are the two chosen by Twain, to set out on a wild adventure. This adventure saw murder, theft, lies and death, all aspects of life that youth is generally deterred from, deterred in a sense of misguidance and frivolous behaviour that leads them to concern themselves with other matters, matters circulating around innocence and light-hearted activities. For Jim and Huck, their various mishaps and adventures proved childish in a sense that they are taken generally lightly. Take for instance the discovery of the corpse in the floating house (Page 44). With discoveries like this murder, and other various mishaps the boys behave as they should, as boys. None the less, the two are not yet matured and ostracized of their real “boyhoods.” Within just the first few pages, we see that Huck is truly playful at heart, when he is sneaking around in the forest in search of a ghost, and runs into Tom; “Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun” (10). Although Jim is a young adult, his childish antics seem more prevalent then Huck’s. His silly superstitions of bad luck occurred more often then not backing up the notion of youth, “And Jim
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has stirred up much controversy over such topics as racism, prejudice and gender indifference, but the brunt of the criticism has surrounded itself around the ending, most notably with the re-entry of Tom Sawyer. Some people viewed the ending as a bitter disappointment, as shared by people such as Leo Marx. The ending can also be viewed with success, as argued by such people as Lionel Trilling, T.S. Eliot, V. S. Pritchett and James M. Cox in their essays and reviews. I argue that the ending of the novel proves successful in justifying the innocence of childhood through such themes as satire and frivolous behaviour.
One of the underlying aspects of the novel is that it is a novel based mostly around adolescence. Jim and Huck are the two chosen by Twain, to set out on a wild adventure. This adventure saw murder, theft, lies and death, all aspects of life that youth is generally deterred from, deterred in a sense of misguidance and frivolous behaviour that leads them to concern themselves with other matters, matters circulating around innocence and light-hearted activities. For Jim and Huck, their various mishaps and adventures proved childish in a sense that they are taken generally lightly. Take for instance the discovery of the corpse in the floating house (Page 44). With discoveries like this murder, and other various mishaps the boys behave as they should, as boys. None the less, the two are not yet matured and ostracized of their real “boyhoods.” Within just the first few pages, we see that Huck is truly playful at heart, when he is sneaking around in the forest in search of a ghost, and runs into Tom; “Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun” (10). Although Jim is a young adult, his childish antics seem more prevalent then Huck’s. His silly superstitions of bad luck occurred more often then not backing up the notion of youth, “And Jim