quinta-feira, 31 de maio de 2012

Refiguring Huckleberry Finn By Esther Lombardi


Refiguring Huckleberry Finn
By  Esther Lombardi, About.com Guide

In Refiguring Huckleberry Finn, Carl Wieck tackles Huck's famous story with a passion, saying: "The following pages have furnished me with the princely privilege of skipping along for a space with the sprightly Mark Twain, and I am grateful to him for sharing so much with us all."
Wieck offers a discussion of how Mark Twain was influenced by the Declaration of Independence, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and others. He then goes further to a chapter on death and the floating house, a discussion of the importance of numbers in the novel, a look at lying, race relations, knowledge, and much more...

 

Between Lines

Drawing from Twain's notes, historical evidence, letters, and more, Wieck provides a whole wealth of details that can only serve to inform a reading of the text. Each time we read through the novel, Twain's humor shines through even more brightly, and it becomes apparent why this novel is considered such a classic.

Mark Twain has already stretched our imaginations with Huck Finn's adventures. However, Wieck writes that "we are furnished no direction for sorting out the seemingly arbitrary paths on which he often takes us." With Refiguring Huckleberry Finn, Wieck pulls us further into a discussion of the novel as he attempts to help the reader "discover ideas, feelings, and perceptions" that will hopefully "kindle enthusiasm for the enlivening experience of Huckleberry Finn."

 

The Ending or Beginning

In the end, Huck is free to make his own choices, as he says, "I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest..." Wieck explains, "The point would appear to be that people need not feel condemned by their background, no matter what it might be, and even if as miserable a rapscallion as pap."

http://classiclit.about.com/cs/productreviews/fr/aa_refighuckfin.htm

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