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 and their ...
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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 these as small ...
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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 the Grangerford's ...
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Huckleberry Finn. (2005, June 26). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn/29112
"Huckleberry Finn." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Jun. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn/29112>
"Huckleberry Finn." Essayworld.com. June 26, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn/29112.
"Huckleberry Finn." Essayworld.com. June 26, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn/29112.
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