1. Mark Twain, Satire, & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Rise of Realism
Mark Twain, Satire, & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2. Before we begin…
You already know that Romanticism ended with the Civil War
What followed? Realism to 1900
Photography allowed people to see the truth of the Civil War, a war they thought would only last a short time.
The horror of the war caused people to lose their idealistic nature & gain a realistic view of the sadness of life.

3. The Civil War
Authors gained a first hand view of the war. Walt Whitman worked as a military nurse helping the wounded
Realists were a new group of writers who wanted to capture the reality of the world. (poverty, war, sickness, and tragedy)
This was anti-Romantic because they were no longer inspired by intuition and nature, but rather by the REAL world as it presented itself.

4. Characteristics of Realism
Common, ordinary people
Set in the present
Examined the difficulties of life
Highly detailed and descriptive (especially of grotesque images of war)
Regionalism: Sub category of realism; emphasized a specific location, their people and dialect (ie. The Deep South)

5. Continued… shaped by heredity A person is and environment.
Naturalism: scientific view; experimented with psychology and sociology; studied human behaviors
Naturalists were characteristically grim and pessimistic; they didn’t believe in God

6. Jot down your answers…
Why should a school recommend that all American Literature students read a book that has been called crude, racist, and irrelevant for the modern age?
Why should an American classic that has been read by millions and that Ernest Hemingway called the "one book" from which "all modern American literature" came be declared unnecessary for 21st Century education?
These conflicting questions are at the center of the controversy over Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn that we confront today.

7. Meet the Author Given name – Samuel Clemens
1835 to 1910 (Witness to the shift between Romanticism & Realism)
Pen Name – Mark Twain
“Father of American Satire”
Worked on a steamboat
Born in Missouri (setting for many of his stories)
Famous for his humor, wit and charm

8. The beginnings of a classic…
Twain began to write The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a sequel to his comedy Tom Sawyer.
This new book was a serious and dark satire of slavery in the deep South.
He was forced to shelve the book, until well after the Civil War (Reconstruction).
His personal life began to collapse:
His wife was sickly
His young son passed away
He made several poor financial choices
He continued to write and finished Huck Finn
Since its publication, the novel has been the center of intense controversy
It has been considered vulgar and racist by those who refuse to see Twain’s satirical views.

9. Major Characters
Huckleberry Finn – adventurous, young, kind (a bit of a hooligan)
Tom Sawyer – Huck’s best friend and foil character
Jim
Pap
The Widow & Ms. Douglass
The Duke and the Dauphin
The Grangerfords
Sally and Silas Phelps
Aunt Polly

10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Plot: While traveling down the Mississippi with a runaway slave, an adolescent boy learns to decide for himself what really matters.
Setting: 19th Century, small town, Mississippi River

11. What was happening in history…
Written 20 years after the Civil War
Slavery had been abolished
Extremely race oriented & controversial
Twain wanted to show the reality of racism & human nature

12. Thematic Ideas (Look for these as you read!)
Racism and Slavery ( The reality of how people acted)
Intellectual vs. Moral Education (Are the school educated smarter or more aware than those who understand morality?)
Hypocrisy in “civilized” society
The quest for freedom
Twain’s satirical view of superstition (a very Romantic ideal)

13. Things you should know as you read…
The goal of the novel is to explore the racial and moral controversies that continue to surround society.
The material in Huck Finn is sensitive and shockingly open. It is important to understand that Twain uses this method to show readers that we must not exhibit the same immoral tendencies as the characters.