Huckleberry Finn: Review
Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain's novel, and
his honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the
different levels of the Grangerfords' world. Huck is without a family:
neither the drunken attention of Pap nor the pious ministrations of Widow
Douglas were desirable allegiance. He stumbles upon the Grangerfords in
darkness, lost from Jim and the raft. The family, after some initial cross-
examination, welcomes, feeds and rooms Huck with an amiable boy his age.
With the light of the next morning, Huck estimates "it was a mighty nice
family, and a mighty nice house, too"(110). This is the first of many
compliments Huck bestows on the Grangerfords ...
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chairs than sound ones, and he
appreciates the distinction.
Huck is also more familiar with flawed families than loving, virtuous ones,
and he is happy to sing the praises of the people who took him in. Col.
Grangerford "was a gentleman all over; and so was his family"(116). The
Colonel was kind, well-mannered, quiet and far from frivolish. Everyone
wanted to be around him, and he gave Huck confidence. Unlike the drunken
Pap, the Colonel dressed well, was clean-shaven and his face had "not a
sign of red in it anywheres"(116). Huck admired how the Colonel gently
ruled his family with hints of a submerged temper. The same temper exists
in one of his daughters: "she had a look that would make you wilt in your
tracks, like her father. She was beautiful"(117). Huck does not think
negatively of the hints of iron in the people he is happy to care for and
let care for him. He does not ask how three of the Colonels's sons died, or
why the family brings guns to family picnics. He sees ...
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to write about, just so
it was sadful"(114). Yet Twain allows the images of Emmeline and the silly
clock to deepen in meaning as the chapter progresses. Emmeline is realized
as an early portent of the destruction of Huck's adopted family. The mantel
clock was admired by Huck not only for its beauty, but because the
Grangerfords properly valued beauty and "wouldn't took any money for
her"(111). Huck admired the Grangerfords' principles, and the stake they
placed in good manners, delicious food, and attractive possessions. But
Huck realizes in Chapter 18 that whereas the Grangerfords may value a hand-
painted clock more than money, they put little value on human life.
The third view of ...
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"Huckleberry Finn: Review." Essayworld.com. March 23, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn-Review/24165.
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