安徽三联学院外语学院美国文学课件Chapter 9 Mark Twain.ppt

Ⅲ. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 4. Themes 1) Racism and Slavery 2) Freedom 3) Conflict between civilization and “natural life” 4) Intellectual and Moral Education 5) Superstition 6) Mockery of Religion 7) Friendship 8) Love Racism and Slavery After the Emancipation Proclamation (解放黑人奴隶）and the end of the Civil War, America—and especially the South—was still struggling with racism and the aftereffects of slavery . In chapter 6:Pop’s speech against the black man Although Twain wrote the novel after slavery was abolished, he set it several decades earlier, when slavery was still a fact of life. Racism and Slavery But even by Twain’s time, things had not necessarily gotten much better for blacks in the South. Freedom comparison Physical freedom Moral freedom Huck Escape from the tyranny of his father Disgust bondage of thought and behavior. Jim Escape from the slavery reach the free states. Conflict between civilization and “natural life” Huck represents natural life through his freedom of spirit, uncivilized ways,and desires to escape from civilization. He is raised without any rules or discipline and has a strong resistance to anything that might “civilize him. This conflict is introduced in chapter1 through the efforts of the WidowDouglas Intellectual and Moral Education maturation and development Distrust the moral and precepts of the society Huck Apprehend about society Choose to “go to hell” Learn to “read” the world Receive many teachings, regarding race and slavery bases these decisions on his experiences, his own sense of logic, and what his developing conscience tells him distinguish good, bad, right, wrong, menace, friend. In chapter31 Huck wants to expose Jim. Huck tears the paper and say “Let me go to hell” If you were Huck ,what Shall you do? Superstition Generally, both Huck and Jim are very rational characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes ov