Morality and Adventures of 'Huckleberry Finn'
Morality and Adventures of "Huckleberry Finn" Author(s): JULIUS LESTER Source: Mark Twain Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, Black Writers on "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" One Hundred Years Later (FALL, 1984), pp. 43-46 Published by: Alan Gribben Stable URL: . Accessed: 24/02/2014 13:25 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. .
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Morality and Adventures
of Huckleberry
Finn
JULIUS LESTER
don't think I'd ever read Adventures of thirdmotelI.twas thekindofsituationblackpeople
HuckleberryFinn. Could that be? Every knowall aboutand whitepeople sayis merelyour
I American child reads it, and a child who imaginations,our hypers-ensitivityo,ur seeing
readas muchas I did musthave.
discriminatiownherenoneexists.AllI knowisthat
As carefullyas I search the ocean floorof no motelintowncouldfinda roomforme,andas I
memoryh, owever,I findno barnacle-encrusted got in the car and drove away fromHannibal,
remnanotfHuckleberryFinn.I mayhavereadTom anotherchildhoodmemoryreturned.It was my
Sawyer, butmaybeI didn'tH. uckleberryFinnand father'vsoiceremindinmg ethat"Hannibalisrough
Tom Sawyer are embedded in the American on Negroes."
collectivememorylikeGeorgeWashington(a,bout Butthat'sthekindofthingthatcan happentoa
whomI knowI haveneverread.)TomandHuckare black personwhentheAmericancollectivemem-
partof our Americanselves, a mythologemwe orysubsumesblack realityw, henyou remember
imbibewithourmother'ms ilk.
Huckshiningbrightlaynd forgetokeepan eyeon
I do have an emotionalmemoryof going to what(orwho)mightbe lurkingin theshadows.
Hannibal,Missouri,withmyparentswhenI was
I am gratefutlhatamong the manyindignities
eightornine,and visitingthetwo-storwyhiteframe inflicteodnmeinchildhoodI,escaped Huckleberry
house whereMarkTwainlived as a boy,where Finn. As a black parent,however,I sympathize
Huck and Tom lived as boys. In the American withthosewho wantthebook banned,or at least
collectivememoryT, wain,Huck and Tommerge removedfromreguiredreadinglistsin schools.
into a paradigm of boyhood,which shines as WhileI amopposedtobookbanningI,knowthatmy
poignantlyas a beacon, beckoning, always children'seducation will be enhanced by not
beckoningtous fromsome paradiselost,albeitno readingHuckleberryFinn.Itisa"well-meantn,oble
paradisewe (northey)everhad.
soundingerro-r that"devalue[s]theworld."
I remembetrhathouse,andI remembetrhewhite Thatmaysoundharshandmoralistibc,utI cannot
picketfencearoundit.Maybeitwas myfathewr ho separateliteraturne,omattehr owwell-writtefnr,om
toldme thestoryaboutTomSawyerpaintingthe moralityB. y moralityI do not mean bourgeois
fence(ifitwasTomSawyerwhodid),and maybehe mores,whichseektogovernthebehaviorofothers
toldmeaboutHuckleberrFyinnt,oo.Butitoccursto inordertocreate(orcoerce)thatconformithyought
me only now to wonderif myfatherever read necessaryforsocial cohension.The trulymoralis
Twain'sbooks,myfatherborninMississippwi hen farbroader,farmoredifficulatn, d less certainof
slaverystillcast a cold shadow at brightesatnd itselfthan bourgeoismoralityb,ecause it is not
hottesntoon.Andifhe had notreadTwain,isthere concernedwiththewhatofbehaviorbutthespirit
any Lesterwho did? Probablynot,and itdoesn't we bringto our living,and, by implicationt,o
matterI.nthecharacterofHuckleberryFinn,Twain literature.
evoked somethingpoignant and real in the JohnGardnerputitthisway:
Americanpsyche,and now,havingreadthenovel,I see that it is somethingdangerously,fatally
Werecognizterueartbyitscarefutl,horoughhlyonest researchforand analysisofvalues.It is notdidactic
seductive.
because,insteadofteachingbyauthoritayndforcei,t
Thesummerof1973 I droveacrosscountryfrom exploreso,pen-mindedtlyol,earnwhatitshouldteach.
New York City,where I was livingthen,and returnedto Hannibalto visitthattwo-storwyhite house forthe firstimesince childhood. It was
Itclarifieasnd confirm.s... moraalrttestsvaluesand rousestrustworfteheylingasboutthebettearndtheworse inhumanaction.1
mid-afternoownhen I drove intoHannibal,plan- It is in thissense, then,thatmoralitycan and
ningtostayina motelthatnightand spendthenext shouldbe one ofthecriterifaorassessingliterature.
morningleisurelygoing throughtheTwainboy- It mustbe, ifa bookis to"serveas theaxe forthe
hood home. As I walkedtowardthe moteldesk, frozensea withinus,"as KafkawroteA. dventureosf
therewas a noticeablehushamongthepeople in HuckleberryFinnis nottheaxe; itis thefrozensea,
the lobbyand I perceiveda tighteningof many immoralin its major premises,one of which
razor-thiwn,hitelips.I was notsurprisedt,herefore, demeansblacksand insultshistory.
whenthemotelclerksaidtherewerenovacancies.
Twainmakesan odiousparallelbetweenHucks'
The same scenariowas repeatedat a second and being "enslaved"by a drunkenfatherwhokeeps
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Moralityand Adventures ofHuckleberryFinn
himlockedina cabinandJim'lsegalenslavement. Ohio and MississippRi iversw, ouldcontinuedown
Regardlessofhowawfuland wrongitisfora boyto theriverandgo deeperand deeperintotheheartof
be heldphysicallycaptivebyhisfathert,hereis a slave countryA. centuryof whitereadershave
profounddifferencbeetweenthisand slavery.By accepted thisas credible,a grimreminderofthe
makingthemparallelismsT,wainappliesa veneer abysmalfeelingsofsuperioritwy ithwhichwhites
toslaverywhichobscuresthefactthatb, ydefinition, are burdened.
slaverywas a horrorS.uch parallelismalso allowed Theleastweexpectofa novelisthatitbe credible,
Twain'scontemporarietso comfortableyvade re- ifnotwhollyinfacttheninemotionf,oritisemotions
sponsibilityand remorseforthe horrortheyhad thatare thetruesubjectmatteroffiction.As Jim
made.
floatsdowntheriverfurthearnd furtheirntoslave
A boyheldcaptivebya drunkenfatheris notin countrywithoutanxietyabout his fate,without thesame categoryofhumanexperienceas a man makingtheleastefforttoreversemattersw, e leave
enslaved. Twain willfullyrefusedto understand therealmoffactualand emotionalcredibilitaynd what it meant to be legally owned by another enterthe all too familiarone ofwhitefantasyin human being and to have thatlegal ownership whichblacks have all the humanityofCabbage supportedby the fullpower of local, stateand Patchdolls. federalgovernmenetnforcementT. waindoes not The novel'sclimaxcomes whenJimis sold and
takeslaverya,nd,thereforbe,lackpeople seriously. Tomand Huckconcocta ridiculouschemetofree
Evenallowingforthefactthatthenoveliswritten him.Duringthecourseoftherescue,TomSawyeris
fromthe limitedfirstperson pointof view of a shot.Hucksendsthedoctorw, hocannotadminister
fourteen-year-obldoy (and at fourteenit is not to Tom alone. Jimcomes out of hiding,aids the
possible to take anythingseriouslyexcept one's doctork, nowinghe willbe recaptured.Thedoctor
self),the author must be held responsiblefor recountsthestorythisway:
choosingtowritefroma particularpointofview.If the novel had been writtenbeforeEmancipation, Huck'sdilemmaand conflictinfgeelingsoverJim's escape would have been moving.But,in 1884,
. . .soI saysI, gottohavehelpsomehowan; dtheminutIe saysitoutcrawlsthisniggerfromsomewhereans dsays he'llhelp,and he doneit,too,and doneitverywell. OfcourseI judgedhe mustbe a runawayniggera,nd
slaverywas legallyover.Huck'salmostHamlet-like therIewas! andtherIehadtostickrighsttraighaltongall
interiormonologueson the rightsand wrongsof therestofthedayandallnigh.t..I neverseea niggetrhat
helpingJimescape are notproofofliberalismor compassion, but evidence of an inabilityto relinquishwhitenessas a badge ofsuperiority".I knowed he was white inside," is Huck's final
assessmentofJim.2 Jimdoes notexistwithan integritoyfhisown. He
isa child-likpeersonwho,inattitudaendcharacter, is morelikeone oftheboysinTomSawyer'sgang
wasa bettenrussorfaitfhuler[E, mphasiasdded]andyet he wasreskinhgisfreedomtodo it,andwasalltiredout, too,andI seeplainenoughhe'dbeenworkemd ainhard lnaitgeglyeIr.lliikkeetdhtahtiesnwigogretrfhaortthhoautI;staenlldyoolula,gre-snatnledmkienand, treatmentoto,. . . therIewas...andtherIehadtosticktill aboutdawnthismornintgh; ensomemenina skifcfome by,asasgoodluckwouldhaveittheniggewr assettinbgy thepalletwithhisheadproppedon hiskneessound
thana grownman witha wifeand children,an asleep;soI motionetdheminquieta,ndtheyslippedup
importanftactwe do notlearnuntilmuchlater.But onhimandgrabbedhimandtiedhimbeforheeknowed
toTwain,slaverywas notan emotionalrealitytobe exploredextensivelyor withlove.
The novel plays withblack realityfromthe momentJimrunsaway and does notimmediately
whathewasabouta,ndweneverhadnotroubl.e. . the niggernevermadetheleastrownorsaida wordfromthe startH.eain'tnobadniggerg,entlemetnh;at'ws hatIthink abouthim(Ch.42).
seek his freedomI.t defieslogic thatJimdid not Thisdepictionofa black"hero"isfamiliabrynow
knowIllinoiswas a freestate.Yet,Twainwantsus sinceithas been repeatedincountlessnovelsand
not only to believe he didn't,but to accept as filmsI.tis a pictureoftheonlykindofblack that
crediblethata runawayslavewouldsailsouthdown whiteshave evertrulyliked- faithfutle,ndingsick
theMississippiRiver,theonlyroutetofreedomhe whites,not speaking,not causing trouble,and
knewbeingatCairo,Illinoisw, heretheOhio River totallypassive.He is thearchetypa"lgoodnigger,"
meetstheMississipplI.fJimknewthattheOhio met who lacks self-respecdt,ignitya,nd a sense ofself
the Mississippiat Cairo, how could he nothave separatefromtheone whiteswanthimtohave. A
knownofthecloserproximitoyffreedomtotheeast centuryof white readers have accepted this
in Illinoisor northin Iowa? If the reader must characterizationbecause it permitstheir own
suspendintelligencteoacceptthisi,ntelligenche as "humanityt"oshinewithmoreluster.
tobe dispensedwithaltogethertobelievethatJim, The depthofTwain'scontemptforblacksis not
havingunknowinglpyassed theconfluenceofthe revealed fully until Tom Sawyer clears up
MARTKWAIJNOURNA22L:,2(Fall1,984)
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JuliusLester
somethingthathad confusedHuck. WhenHuck because ofTwain'sportrayaolfblacksisalmosttoo
firsptroposedfreeingJimh,ewassurprisedthatTom easy, and, some would add sottovoce, to be
agreedreadilyT. he reasonTomdid so is because expected froma black writerB. uta black writer
heknewallthewhilethatMissWatsonhadfreedJim accepts such arrogantdismissalsbeforehe orshe
whenshe died twomonthsbefore.
sitsdowntowriteW. e could notwriteotherwise.
Once again credibilitiysslain.Earlyinthenovel But,letme notbe cynical.Letme allowforthe
Jim'sdisappearancefromthetowncoincideswith possibilittyhatwhatI havewrittemn aybe accepted
Huck's.Huck,havingmanufacture"devidence"of as havingmorethana measureoftruthY.et,doesn't
his "murder"to cover his escape, learnsthatthe HuckleberryFinnstilldeservetobe acknowledged
townspeoplbeelievethatJimkilledhim.Yet,weare as an Americanclassic, eminentlydeservingof
nowtobelievethatan old whiteladywouldfreea beingread?
blackslave suspectedofmurderinga whitechild. The Council on InterraciaBl ooks forChildren,
Whitepeoplemightwanttobelievesuchfairytales whilehighlycriticalofthebook,maintains
aboutthemselvesb, utblacks knowbetter.
thatmuchcanbe learnedfromthisbook-notonlyabout
But thisis not the nadir of Twain'scontempt, thecrafotfwritinangdotheirssuescommonrlyaisedwhen
because whenAuntSallyasksTomwhyhe wanted theworkistaughbt,utalsoaboutracism UnlessHuck
to freeJim,knowinghe was already free,Tom Finn'sracisatndanti-racimstessageasreconsideretdh, e
replies:"Well,thatisa questionI, mustsay;andjust bookcanhaveracistresults.3
likewomen!Why,I wantedtheadventureofit...." (Ch.42). NowHuckunderstandswhyTomwas so eager tohelpJim"escape."
Tomgoes ontoexplainthathisplanwas"forusto run him down the riveron the raft,and have adventuresplumbtothemouthoftheriver."Then he and HuckwouldtellJimhe was freeandtakehim
"back up homeon a steamboati,n style,and pay himforhislosttime."Theywouldtelleveryonethey werecomingand "getoutall theniggersaround, andhavethemwaltzhimintotownwitha torchlight
While it is flatterintghatthe Council goes on to recommendone of mybooks,To Be A Slave, as supplementarryeadingtocorrectTwain'sportrayal of slavery,racismis notthe mostinsidiousand damagingofthebook'sflaws.In itsveryessence, thebookoffendtshatmoralitywhichwouldgive"a nobleimage... tobe inspiredand guidedby."Ifitis thehero'stask"torevealwhatthegodsrequireand love,"whatdo we learn fromtheAdventuresof HuckleberryFinn?
processionanda brass-banda,ndthenhewouldbe a hero,and so wouldwe" ("ChaptertheLast").
Thereis no honorhere;thereis no feelingforor
The novel'smajorpremiseis establishedin the firscthapter.
sense of whatJohnGardnercalls thatwhich"is
necessaryto humanness."Jimis a playthinga,n excusefor"theadventureofit,"tobe used as itsuits thefanciesofthewhitefolkw, hetherthatfancybe a journeyon a raftdownthe riveror a torch-light parade.WhatJimclearlyis notis a humanbeing,
TheWidowDouglasshetookmeforherson,andallowed shewouldsivilizme e;butitwasroughlivinginthehouse allthetimec,onsiderinhgowdismarl egulaarnddecent thewidowwasinallherwayss;owhenI couldn'sttandit nolongerI litout.I gotintomyoldragsandmysugarhoasheadagain,andwasfreeandsatisfie(Cdh.1).
and this is emphasized by the fact that Miss
Watson'swillfreesJimbutmakesno mentionofhis Civilizationis equated witheducation,regularity,
wifeand children. Twain doesn't care about the lives the slaves
actually lived. Because he doesn't care, he devalues the world.
decency,and being"crampedup"(Ch.6),and the representativeosfcivilizationare women.Freedom is oldclothesand doingwhatone wantstodo. AllI wantedwas a change,I warn'tparticular("Ch. 1).
2.
Thefactthatthenovelisregardedas a classictells us muchaboutthepsycheofthewhiteAmerican
Everyhero'sproperfunctioinstoprovidae nobleimage male,because thenovelis a powerfuelvocationof
formentobe inspiredbyandguidedbyintheirown actionst;hatis,thehero'sbusinessis torevealwhatthe godsrequiraendlove. . . thehero'sfunction-tiossetthe standardin action...thbeusinessof the poet (or "memory..").istocelebratteheworkoftheherop, assthe imageon, keep theheroicmodelofbehaviorfresh, generatioonngeneration.
-JohGnardne(r29)
thepuer,theeternalboyforwhomgrowthm, aturity, and responsibilitayre enemies. Thereis no more powerfuel vocationin Americanliteraturoefthe eternaladolescentthanAdventureosfHuckleberry Finn.Itisa fantasyadolescence,however.Notonly isitfreeoftheusualadolescentproblemscaused by awakeningsexualityb, utalso Huck has a verbal
adroitnesasnd clevernessbeyondthecapabilityof
CriticizingAdventures of HuckleberryFinn an actualfourteen-year-olIdn.thepersonofHuck,
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Moralityand Adventures o? HuckleberryFinn
the novel exalts verbal cleverness,lying,and himin contemptA. nd herewe come totheother miseducationT.henovelpresentsw, ithadmiration, paradox,thecrucialonethatwhiteAmericanshave
a modelwhowe(men)wouldand couldbe ifnotfor so assiduouslyresisted:Itis notpossibletoregard
theperniciousinfluenceofcivilizatioanndwomen. blacks with contemptwithouthaving firstso
In itslyricaldescriptionosftheRiverand lifeon regardedyourselves. the raftt, he novel creates an almostprimordial To be moral.Ittakesan enormousefforotfwillto yearningfora lifeoffreedomfromresponsibility: be moral,and that'sanotherparadox. Onlytothe
extentthatwe maketheeffortto be moraldo we
Itwaskindofsolemnd,riftindgownthebig,stillriver, growawayfromadolescentnotionsoffreedomand layingonourbackslookinugpatthestarsa,ndwedidn't begin to see thatthetruenatureand contourof
elavuegnhfee-delolinkleytaallikttinlkeglionudodf,laonwdcihtuwcakrlneW.'otfehteadntmhaitgwhety
freedomdoes notlie in"strikinogutfortheterritory ahead" butresideswhereitalwayshas- theterri-
good weatheras a generalthinga,nd nothingever happenedtousatall.. . . (Ch.12)
torywithin. Onlytheredoes one begintolivewithone'sself
withthatseriousnessfromwhichgenuinehumor
Sometimewse'dhavethatwholerivearlltoourselvefsor thelongestimeY. onderwasthebanksandtheislands, acrossthewatera;ndmaybea spark-whicwhasa candle ina cabinwindowan; dsometimoensthewateyr oucould see a sparkortw-o ona rafotra scow,youknowa;nd maybye oucouldheara fiddloera songcominogverfrom oneofthemcraftIst.'slovelytoliveona raftWehadthe skyuptherea,llspeckledwithstarsa,ndweusedtolayon
and satireare born.Twaincould notexplorethe shadowy realms of slavery and freedomwith integritybecause he did not risk becoming a person.Onlybydoingso couldhe have achieved realcompassionT. hen,Jimwouldhavebeena man and Huck would have been a boy and we, the readers,wouldhave learneda littlme oreaboutthe
ourbacksand lookup and thema,nd discussabout territorayhead whichis alwayswithin.
whethetrheywasmadeoronlyjusthappene-d (Ch.19) Adventuresof HuckleberryFinn is a dismal
portraiotfthewhitemalepsyche,canI reallyexpect
Itis inpassages such as thesethatthebookis most seductivein itsquiet singingofthe"natural"life
whitemalestorecognizethat?Yet,theymustA. llof us suffetrheconsequencesas longas theydo not
overtheone of"sivilizationw,"hichis anotherform
ofslaveryforHuck.Itisherealso thatthenovelfails mostprofoundlays moralliterature.
UniversitoyfMassachusettsat Amherst ? 1984 JuliusLester
Twain'snotionoffreedomis thesimplistiocne of
freedomfromrestrainatnd responsibilityI.tis an Notes
adolescentvisionoflifea,n exerciseinnostalgiafor the paradise that never was. Nowhere is this adolescentvisionmoreclearlyexpressedthanin the often-quotedand much admired closing sentencesofthebook:"ButI reckonI gottolightout fortheterritorahyead oftherestbecause AuntSally she'sgoingtoadoptmeand sivilizeme,andI can't standit.I been therebefore/'
^ohn GardnerO, n MoralFiction(NewYork:Basic Books1, 978),19. 2MarTkwainA, dventuroefsHuckleberFriynn(1885;rpt. NewYorkW: ashingtSoqnuarePress1,973),Ch.40,end. Allcitationins thetextaretothisedition. 3Anon".OnHuckC, riticisman,dCensorshi(pe"ditorial). InterraciBaol oksforChildreBnulletin15, :1/2(1984),3.
That'sjusttheproblemH, uck.You haven't"been
therebefore."Thenagain,neitherhave toomany
otherwhiteAmericanmales,andthat'stheproblem,
too. They persist in clinging to the teat of
adolescence longafteronlyblood oozes fromthe
nipples.Theypersistinbelievingthatfreedomfrom
restrainatnd responsibilitryepresentsparadise.
The eternalparadox is thatthisis a mockeryof
freedoma, void.We expressthedeepestcaringfor
this world and oijrselves only by taking
responsibilitfyorourselvesand whateverportionof
thisworldwe makeours.
Twain'sfailureis thathe does notcare until*t
hurts,and because he doesn't his contempttor
humanitiysdisguisedas satirea,s humorN. omatter
howcharmingand appealingHuckis,Twainholds
MARTKWAIJNOURNA22L:,2(Fall1984)
46
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