Notes+Twain's+Artistry

Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Artistry
(Logan)

__In Class Notes__
I. Mark Twain as a craftsman
 * 1) Turned oral humor into written satire
 * Satire- holding up human vices and follies to riducule or
 * scorn in hopes of changing the world
 * 1) Colloquial Speech (local dialect/vernacular)
 * 2) Romantic at heart- descriptions of Nature

II. Mythic Images of the Mississippi River
 * 1) MS River is the enduring symbol of the US heartland
 * Gateway to the West- represents population migration
 * Cuts through heartland- life giving
 * 1) Steamboats to rafts
 * Water travel touches nomadic yearning
 * "Go with the flow"- ingrained belief in "fate"
 * 1) Youthful Innocence
 * Desire to run away and be free of problems
 * River provides "Perfect Freedom"
 * 1) Vanishing way of life
 * Comforts us with "who we are" as a nation
 * Proof that we are moving forward/progress


 * Bet Harte once said that "Mark Twain simply could not write a dull sentence"
 * Many writers idolize Twain (Shelby K. )
 * Spoke the voice of the American People (((Parker)))