"Huck Finn"

Charles So

English 48B

Feb. 21 2011

Journal for Twain

Author Quote:

"That's just the way: a person does a low down thing, and then he don't want to take no consequences of it. Thinks as long as he can hide it, it ain't no disgrace. That was my fix exactly... It made me shiver... It was because my heart warn't  right;  it was because i warn't square' it was because i was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me i was holding on to the biggest one of all." (245-246)

Internet Quote:

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn..." (In Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway)

"Father of American Literature" (William Faulkner)

Summary:

This quote brings the reader inside Huck Finn's conscious. Through the portion of the story i read, Huck is at a moral conflict with the received values of the society in which he lives, he is at a struggle with his own morals and values, he expresses them through his agonizing decision over Jim future.

Personal Opinion:

Mark Twain lived quite a spectacular life, i found that his life can be a story just on its own. I thought the portion of Huck Finn that i read was very intriguing, with its use of southern speech and its viewpoint through a young gritty american is wonderful. I have personally never read any of Mark Twain's novels but i am familiar with many of his works, sadly to spoofs and imitations but they say imitations is the sincerest form of flattery. As for the critique on Cooper by Mark Twain, i didn't quite understand but i found his rules and comments on writing to be very personal and poignant. Twain's view and dissection of Cooper is very witty and insulting i felt, for Twain to just destroy Cooper and just use Cooper as the pitfall of lower level writing is very bold. I wonder if they knew each other?  Overall i can say that along with many others that i have come across in this class, Twain is a writer that i must read and know about more.