Realism and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example

Storytelling takes readers to a whole new world as the goal of the writer is to make the reader forget about the real world for the time that the readers are spending on the books. Mark Twain took a different approach while writing The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. Although the book is fictional, Twain incorporates ideas that occurred in the real world making it different from other books at the time.

Twain uses realism in his depiction of the Civil War. One way Twain’s depiction of the Civil War is realistic is the way English is spoken. Jim uses a form of language known as colloquialism (an informal use of the English language) throughout the book, an example would be whenever Jim talks to Huck: “No, sah—nuffin else” (42). Jim’s form of language represents uneducated slaves who did not speak formal English. Another way Twain incorporates realism is the way people of color were treated during the Civil War. During Huck’s visit to Judith’s house, Judith tells him that Jim is accused of Huck’s “death” and that there is a bounty of three hundred dollars placed on him: “The ****** run off the very night Huck Finn was killed. So there’s a reward out for him—three hundred dollars” (Twain 57). Another example is when Mrs. Watson decides to sell Jim off and separate him from his family: “She gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn’ want to, but she could git eight hund’d dollars for me, en it ‘uz sich a big stack o’ money she couldn’ resis’ ” (Twain 43). These examples depict how Jim was treated in the book and paralleled the idea of slavery during the Civil War as people of color had no choice of being independent and were mistreated by others. In this case, Jim is being accused of something he did not do because he ran away from his owner. Although there are more ideas, the standouts of Twain’s depiction of the Civil War are his use of colloquialism and representation of African Americans.

Along with Twain’s use of realism, he also uses another form of storytelling known as romanticism ( exaggerating a story to make it fictional). Twain uses romanticism as he creates plot lines that would not be feasible in the real world. An example of an unrealistic plot line is when Huck gets away with faking his death as he slaughters a pig to make people believe that it would be his own body: “Some think old Finn done it himself ” (Twain 56). Huck’s fake death is an example of an unrealistic plot line since there would have been many people such as homicide detectives who could have proved that Huck’s “body” was just a pig and proved that his death was a hoax. Twain also uses romanticism in order to make certain parts feel more dramatic. In Chapter 27 Huck takes the gold and decides to hide it in Peter Wilks’s coffin, the next day Mr.Wilks’s funeral occurs, and Huck wonders if the gold is still around the coffin or not as he is worried if the Wilks girls will get their money or not: “Blame it, I says, I might hunted up and jailed; I’d better lay low and keep dark, and not write it all” (182). Huck’s decision to hide the gold builds tension as his motivation is to give the gold to the Wilks sisters but does not want to get caught and as the reader, it builds tension since it is unknown whether or not Huck will be able to recover the gold without getting caught and the gold still being there. Twain’s use of fictional elements and heightened suspense are examples of his use of Romanticism throughout the book.

In the end, Twain uses many elements from the Civil War such as the use of the English language and the representation of African Americans in order to make the book feel more realistic while also making it different than other historical novels by also introducing elements of romanticism like writing in plot lines that are not practical in the real world or even heightening suspense in order to keep the reader engaged.