Romanticism In Huckleberry Finn Analysis

Given that Mark Twain’s writing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place in a piecewise fashion of two phases, one (from the beginning until chapter 15) starting in 1876 and the later (from chapter 15 onwards) resuming in 1879, readers might perceive a significant formal and thematic shift between these two drafts. More specifically, readers may assume these two drafts to be thematically and formally distinct, in that the earlier drafter appears to be a loosely related series picaresque Romantic episodes and that the later part of the novel seems to be a Realist bildungsroman. Such an interpretation assumes that Huck and Jim escape to the Mississippi River to pursue a greater truth above the arbitrary strictures of a society that promotes slavery and civilization in the first part of this novel, and it assumes that Huck grows to oppose slavery through the decisions he makes in response to the various dilemmas he faces concerning the issues of slavery and morality

By Huck’s admission, he does not want to object to the frauds’ takeover of the raft (even though he knows them to be frauds), but he would rather be obsequious to them to prevent from any further danger to himself and Jim. In this way, Huck’s adherence to what he perceives to be in his best interest prevents him from using the information that would remove the problem (i.e. the arbitrary conventions to which the frauds subject Jim and Huck). As a result, instead of using this damning information against the frauds to free himself from their strictures, Huck forfeits his deliberation and his freedom of action to a peace in subjugation to his problems. Since Huck does not face his problems through action based on his newfound knowledge and deliberation about the true nature of the frauds’ scheme, Huck thus rejects these Realist thematic conventions in a picaresque