Identity in huckleberry finn
1569 mots
7 pages
Problematique: To what extent do Huck’s experience and environment appear as the catalyst of his quest for liberty and identity?Introduction: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain written in 1880. It tells the story of a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, who decided to escape from his legal guardian, the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson, and from his father, by faking his death. During his journey he met Miss Watson’s slave, called Jim, and continued the journey together. The story happened around the forties, in the pre-civil War America.
Mark Twain chose to focus on this period to denounce the society of that time. By playing on the importance of identities, he highlights it's rough reality. Indeed, throughout this novel, we can notice that there’s a huge questionning on the importance of identity, on different levels. Because we're going to follow Huck's advencement in the building of his identity. That is the main point on which we are going to lie on. Namely, to what extent do Huck’s experience and environment appear as the catalyst of his quest for liberty and identity?
First, we are going to focus on the most obvious meaning that is identity as a place in the society. Then we will see that Huck can't find his-self in this wild world of categorization. And finally in a third part we will analyse the rebellion of Huckleberry Finn which can be seen as his first step towards his own identity.
I) Identity as a place in the society
- the black as slave (Jim as property, accent, persecution, inadequate portrait of a slave, research of freedom, runaway black, Jim Crow Laws, parallel between a lost child and a nigger, each abused and threat to lose freedom)
- women as educators (republican motherhood, Miss Watson)
- slave owners (without value of human being, cruelty, Miss Watson)
- language and manners determine education (southern dialect, and black accent)
- respect of the upper class (King and Duke)
II)