FREE ESSAY ON HUCKLEBERRY FINN AS A NARRATOR

HUCKLEBERRY FINN AS A NARRATOR

Huckleberry Finn As A Narrator
Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain's novel, and his honest voice
combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the different levels of the
Grangerfords' world. Huck is without a family: neither the drunken attention of Pap nor
the pious ministrations of Widow Douglas were desirable allegiance. He stumbles upon the
Grangerfords in darkness, lost from Jim and the raft. The family, after some initial
cross-examination, welcomes, feeds and rooms Huck with an amiable boy his age. With the
light of the next morning, Huck estimates it was a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice
house, too(110).
This is the first of many compliments Huck bestows on the Grangerfords and their
possessions. Huck is impressed by all of the Grangerfords' belongings and liberally
offers compliments. The books are piled on the table perfectly exact(111), the table had
a cover made from beautiful oilcloth(111), and a book was filled with beautiful stuff and
poetry(111). He even appraises the chairs, noting they are nice split-bottom chairs, and
perfectly sound, too--not bagged down in the middle and busted, like an old basket(111).
It is apparent Huck is more familiar with busted chairs than sound ones, and he
appreciates the distinction. Huck is also more familiar with flawed families than loving,
virtuous ones, and he is happy to sing the praises of the people who took him in. Col.
Grangerford was a gentleman all over, and so was his family(116). The Colonel was kind,
well-mannered, quiet and far from frivolish. Everyone wanted to be around him, and he
gave Huck confidence. Unlike the drunken Pap, the Colonel dressed well, was clean-shaven
and his face had not a sign of red in it anywheres(116). Huck admired how the Colonel
gently ruled his family with hints of a submerged temper. The same temper exists in one
of his daughters: she had a look that would make you wilt in your tracks, like her
father. She was beautiful(117). Huck does not
think negatively of the hints of iron in the people he is happy to care for and let care
for him. He does not ask how three of the Colonel's sons died, or why the family brings
guns to family picnics. He sees these as small facets of a family with a
handsome lot of quality(118). He thinks no more about Jim or the raft, but knows he has
found a new home, one where he doesn't have to go to school, is surrounded by interior
and exterior beauty, and most importantly, where he feels safe. Huck
liked that family, dead ones and all, and warn't going to let anything come between
us(118). Huck is a very personable narrator. He tells his story in plain language,
whether describing the Grangerford's clock or his hunting expedition with Buck. It
is through his precise, trusting eyes that the reader sees the world of the novel.
Because Huck is so literal, and does not exaggerate experiences like Jim or see a grand,
false version of reality like Tom Sawyer, the reader gains an understanding of
the world Mark Twain created, the reader is able to catch Twain's jokes and hear his
skepticism. The Grangerford's furniture, much admired by Huck, is actually comically
tacky. You can almost hear Mark Twain laughing over the parrot-flanked clock
and the curtains with cows and castles painted on them even as Huck oohs and ahhs. And
Twain pokes fun at the young dead daughter Huck is so drawn to. Twain mocks Emmeline as
an amateur writer: She warn't particular, she could write about anything you choose to
give her to write about, just so it was sadful(114). Yet, Twain allows the images of
Emmeline and the silly clock to deepen in meaning as the chapter progresses. Emmeline is
realized as an early portent of the destruction of Huck's adopted family. The mantel
clock was admired by Huck not only for its beauty, but because the Grangerfords properly
valued beauty and wouldn't took any money for her(111). Huck admired the Grangerfords'
principles, and the stake they placed in good manners, delicious food, and attractive
possessions. However, Huck realizes in Chapter 18 that whereas the Grangerfords may value
a hand-painted clock more than money, they put little value on human life. Buck
Grangerford provides the third view of the Grangerford's world. He is the same age as
Huck; he has grown up in a world of feuding, family picnics, and Sunday sermon that are
appreciated but rarely followed. Buck, from when he meets Huck until he is brutally
murdered, never questions the ways of his family. For the rest of the chapter, Buck
provides a foil for Huck, showing the matured Huck questioning and judging the world
around him. In fact it seems Buck does not have the imagination to conceive of
a different world. He is amazed Huck has never heard of a feud, and surprised by Huck's
desire to hear the history and the rationale behind it. In Buck Grangerford's rambling
answers we hear Mark Twain's view of a southern feuding family, and after Buck finishes
his answer, we watch Huck's reaction to the true nature of the Grangerfords. Buck details
Twain's opinion that a feud is not started or continued by thought. The reasons for the
feud have been forgotten, and the Grangerfords do not hate, but in fact respect, their
sworn enemies. They live their lives by tradition, and the fact that the feud is a
tradition justifies its needless, pointless violence. From the dignified Colonel with a
few buck-shot in him(121) to Buck, who is eager for the glory to be gained from shooting
a Shepherdson in the back, the Grangerfords unquestioningly believe in devaluing human
life because it is a civilized tradition. It is interesting that the only compliment Huck
gives to a Grangerford after Buckshot at Harney Shepherdson was to Miss Sophia. He admits
that the young women who denied part in any family feud is powerful pretty(122). However,
the rosy sheen that had spurred Huck to use the word 'beautiful' six times previously in
description of the Grangerfords has evaporated. He attends church with the family and
notices all the Grangerfords keep their guns close by.