Huck finn other characters

overview

1. Huck finn : other characters Tom Sawyer; Pap; The Widow Douglass & Miss Watson; The King and the Duke; The Grangerfords; The Phelps, and the Loftus sisters

2. Tom Sawyer - He appears at the beginning of the novel, when Huck is suffering from the civilizing influence of life with the Widow Douglas, and at the end, when Tom arrives at the home of his Aunt Sally Phelps and assumes the identity of his brother, Sid. In both instances Tom exhibits the active imagination and flamboyance readers of the earlier novel were familiar with. His appetite for romantic literature—a frequent target of Twain's satire—is as much in evidence in Huckleberry Finn as it was in Tom Sawyer, though its consequences prove more dire. He is established as an integral, accepted and generally accepting part of the society in which he lived. Huck, who is isolated from society in both books, in his common sense and practicality he contrasts with Tom. Tom's childish romanticism in Huckleberry Finn is considered arrogant, pretentious, and ultimately hurtful

3. More about Tom and the end of the novel Tom's reappearance near the end of Huckleberry Finn has generated a great deal of controversy in the years since the book's publication . Many critics claim his elaborate, ridiculous plan to free Jim, though it may be an entertaining, farcical parody of conventional romantic literature, mars the novel's overall effect. These commentators maintain that the profound themes evoked by Huck's and Jim's quest, and particularly the issue of slavery, are undermined by the burlesque tone of the final chapters . Other scholars, however, contend that Tom's appearance at the end of the novel makes formal sense, providing the story with a circular structure . Tom seems grievously unconcerned about the physical and psychological toll his silly antics might take on Jim, who goes along with the scheme with remarkable patience . Tom's thoughtlessness (some critics even label it cruelty) is compounded by the fact that he knows all along that Miss Watson has already freed Jim. Huck is initially surprised that Tom, whose true conventionality he seems to sense, is willing to go against the law to help him free Jim; when he later learns the reason for Tom's carefree attitude, he understands “how he could help a body set a nigger free with his bringing up.”

4. Pap : Mean, abusive, and resentful, Pap is an inadequate father whose tyranny over Huck provides the immediate motivation for his flight. Pay attention to his monologue on the follies of the “ govment ’ and his tirade addressing the ‘free black man,’ which illuminates his ignorance and inhumanity as well as the attitude of many Southerners toward blacks. Pap begrudges Huck the advantages he has recently acquired, including his education, and accuses his son of “putting on frills” and trying to appear superior to his fathe r. Several critics have identified Pap's role in the novel as illuminating the conditions of Huck's upbringing, the obstacles against which he must struggle, and his need for the surrogate father some say he finds in Jim. Pap symbolizes the uniquely American type of the alienated, frustrated backwoods squatter. His portrayal shows a darker side of isolation from society.

5. Widow Douglass & Miss Watson: Widow Douglas, who took Huck in at the end of Tom Sawyer with the intention of “ sivilizing ” him The pious, highly respectable widow is essentially kindhearted, hospitable, and generous. In taking responsibility for the virtually parentless Huck, she shows her willingness to give her Christian principles tangible expression . Miss Watson , is a strict Calvinist whose concept of Christianity seems harsh and unforgiving. The fact that she owns Jim demonstrates her hypocrisy as well as the type of person Twain had contempt for—those who proclaim their religious convictions while overlooking or even perpetuating injustice and inhumanity. Miss Watson's greed and inability to view Jim as a human being are apparent when she succumbs to a slave trader's offer of eight hundred dollars for Jim.

6. The King and the Duke: Twain uses them to lampoon the pretension to nobility that was one of his favorite satirical targets .  The “ Duke of Bridgewater ,”( Bilgewater) about thirty years old, describes himself as a printer whose royal title was unjustly usurped; he supports himself by bilking hapless small-town residents into buying quack remedies, such as a formula that removes tartar from teeth, as promised, but also the enamel. “ King Looey the Seventeenth” is about seventy years old and adept at a variety of scams, including fake temperance revivals. Used to parody the notion of false aristocracy and the equally reprehensible brutishness of America's lower classes, a cross-section of which is described during the group's travels through several riverside communities. Huck is well aware of these scoundrels' true characters but for a time goes along with them; he exposes them, however, when their scheming threatens the Wilks sisters. Even though the King and Duke are ultimately responsible for Jim's capture, Huck feels sorry for them when they are tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail, for he is also aware of the cruelty in human nature.

7. the Grangerfords, fancy themselves aristocrats and through whom Twain satirizes the kind of Southern romantic tradition he abhorred. The true lack of content beneath the family's adherence to established forms is evident in their tastelessly decorated home, their obviously shallow grief for a deceased daughter, and their exaggerated allegiance to etiquette. One of the book's most comic moments is provided by the poem memorializing “Stephen Dowling Bots,” written by Emmeline Grangerford, who died at fifteen after penning a number of morbidly sentimental poems that Huck, revealing his naiveté, much admires. The most significant aspect of the Grangerfords' lives, however, is their longstanding, senseless feud with the neighboring Shepherdson family. Bound by a rigid and clearly false code of “honor” based on a repeated, primitive pattern of retribution, the two families regularly murder each other in cold blood despite the fact that no one remembers why the feud started. When a young Grangerford girl and a Shepherdson boy fall in love and elope—providing a backwoods American version of “Romeo and Juliet“—the result is a vicious battle in which all of the Grangerford males (including Huck's friend Buck) and all but two or three of the Shepherdsons are killed.

8. The Phelps (Reverend Silas and Sally) - Tom Sawyer's aunt and uncle, though Huck is initially unaware of this when he arrives at their farm, where the captured Jim is being held The Phelpses embody the solidly middle-class values of cleanliness, good manners, and propriety, yet they see nothing wrong with the institution of slavery. Their practice of having their slaves in each evening for Bible readings and prayers provides another example of Twain's distrust of conventional religion. It is Aunt Sally who makes the often-quoted remark, when Huck tells her that no one was hurt in a steamboat accident, though a black person dies “Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get killed.” Aunt Sally's interest in adopting Huck provokes his final comment that he may have to “light out” for the territories in order to avoid her “ sivilizing ” influence.

9. Other characters of some importance Colonel Sherburn, a well-dressed, self-possessed Southern aristocrat of Bricksville , When his considerable pride was injured by an obnoxious but harmless drunk named Boggs, Sherburn coldly kills the man. A mob of Sherburn's fellow townsfolk later arrives at his house with the ostensible intention of lynching him, but he confronts them directly and delivers an acid monologue on the cowardice of the average human being and the mob mentality, scoffing at the idea that such as they are capable of killing him. Judith Loftus, from whom Huck, ineffectually disguised as a girl, derives information about the reaction to his and Jim's disappearance. Sisters Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna Wilks are nearly cheated out of their inheritance by the conniving King and Duke, but Mary Jane so charms Huck with her kindness that he helps the sisters. Aunt Polly, (Tom’s aunt) – sentimental and pious Judge Thatcher, the eminently respectable symbol of justice who safeguards Huck's fortune, managing through legal maneuvers to keep it away from Pap Finn. (Contrast Thatcher to the ‘new’ judge.)