Do you have ideas or insights regarding the portrayals of women in the novel? If so, please share them in a comment. Remember to read the other comments before posting your own so that you can engage with the ideas already put forth. Also, remember to use specific examples from the novel and quotations (with page numbers, of course!) whenever possible.
Here are some questions to get you thinking:
How are women portrayed in Twain’s novel? The book is a resolutely male-oriented novel; the Narrator is a young boy who tells a tale largely devoted to a friendship
between two male characters. Huck’s tale opens with a variety of portrayals of women, but they always appear as obstacles to Huck’s desires and ambitions. Identify the women in the novel, track what they have to say about themselves, and examine what each represents as an underrepresented or marginalized character. After all, the book expresses a major set of issues in American culture, so why/what does it mean that the women are so marginalized in this representation? In what specific ways are they marginalized and what specific roles do they play?
For the most part woman in this novel are seen as obstacles to Huck and Jim's journey. They are very proper, educated, and religious and often want to keep Huck as there own.
ReplyDeleteThere is one woman in this novel that does not share these characteristics. She can easily overlooked as just another pointless character but is found on page sixty-eight. This woman is helpful to Huck and actually encourages the fact that he is running. She says “You're a runaway 'prentice-that's all. It ain't anything. There ain't any harm in it.” (73) In addition she is exceptional at figuring things out. For instance, she figures out that Huck (who has dressed as a girl) is in fact a boy. She does this by taking note of small details such as how he throws, sews, and even how he catches things in his lap. In this story most woman are well educated but unable to solve problems for themselves. It is highly possible that Mark Twain characterized her in the same way he would a man.
I think that their is one other woman who is at least somewhat helpful. Huck tells her the truth about the Duke and the King not being her uncles and plans his own escape and a way for her to blow on the two trouble makers. The plan doesn't work out, but she shows that she is strong willed and wants to help do something about the scandalous rats that are the King and the Duke. She can be found to demonstrate this on page 240 when she says: "The brute! Come-don't wast a minute-not a second-we'll have them tarred and feathered and flung in the river!" (240) Most of the other Women are described a weaklings taken care of by them men and mainly kept sheltered in their homes.
ReplyDeleteAs stated previously, this novel is clearly written from a man’s perspective. The women characters are comparatively small and often portrayed as insignificant, and shallow. I however would like to examine the unintended details of the portrayals in the novel, which hint at the misunderstandings and divergences between the sexes. The fact that the women characters are often in the background denotes a certain amount of uncertainty about women and their roles in this “man’s world.” Women appear to be quiet and naïve (exemplified by the trusting nature of the two sisters pages 216-219 and 225). However, Huck is put of balance and nearly discovered by the probing comments and observation of both Mrs. Judith Loftus (75) and “The Hair Lip” (223). These women continue to test and discern, where as the men who catch Huck in a lie are soon thrown off by Huck’s tale. Huck is both drawn and thrown by the women in the novel and they are the ones that cause Huck the most trouble by their strong morals (the widow), observations (Mrs. Judith), plotting (Miss Sophia) and sharp perception (the “Hair Lip”). There are women, however, that that are naïve or weak (like the two sisters Mary Jane and Susan) who Huck feel obligated to protect, who Huck wishes would be more discerning or proactive. This confusion in Huck demonstrates the struggles of men to understand and pin down the role of women. I believe that women in this novel are under represented or marginalized as characters because the novel is told from the perspective of a young boy who has a confusing multitude of feelings, ranging from threatened to attracted concerning the opposite sex. Perhaps Mark Twain purposely implanted this male adolescent sensation into the novel not as an offense against women, but rather to accentuate the unbalanced and juvenile perspective Huck has as a young male in this society.
ReplyDeletePlease feel free to continue with this line of thought. I am curious to see what others think of Huck's perspective or Twain's intention.
I think that part of Huck's uncertainty over women has to do with his age. He's around thirteen and probably just starting to be interested in girls which makes him a bit awkward around them especially since he grew up without a mother and hasn't really had much of a female figure in his life except the widow who is very old and is more of an authority figure. He doesn't want to admit that he's interested in girls in his writing but, having no other experience with women isn't exactly sure how to describe them otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sophie completely that this book is kinder to men than to women. But I really don’t see why Mark Twain would do this intentionally because from what I’ve heard he was really tolerant and he wouldn’t portray a generalized group in such a negative way. I think that generally most adolescents don’t take kindly to figures of authority, and I think because women were more present at home rather than men, adolescents would direct more of their anger towards the women in their lives. By portraying this in the story, maybe Twain was using this to make the story more relatable to the story’s younger readers.
ReplyDeleteInevitably in our story, Mark Twain runs into a widespread cultural norm concerning women, which combined with his personal biases throws up a double standard in the face of our modern interpretations. Such discrepancies were quite common in the 1870s, even proto-feminist literature like The Portrait of a Lady and Madame Bovary ended with the woman having to submit to their fates. The truth is, unlike the issues of freedom vs. slavery that Mark Twain devoted more effort towards, he didn’t exactly put his female characters in the periphery in order to draw attention to them like we presume today.
ReplyDeleteIn light of his self-proclaimed “Gilded Age” he is merely being realistic with us when he implies that woman get in the way of Hucks freedom. Huck, as it is shown in the first page, doesn’t like being indoors “and so, when I couldn’t stand it no longer, I lit out.”. As everybody knows, he’s used to being a nomadic orphan. Most of the novel is him traveling different places on his journey. Women always keep to their houses in the story because that was expected of them. Women embody the homes that protect and shelter and nurture families. Everyone else appreciates this quality except Huck Finn who is at odds with having a stable family, a place to come home to, or a mother figure. Instead, we can expect him falling into his normal character trait of having little patience for things he doesn’t understand. As far as he’s concerned this endeavor will prove as fruitless as grasping “Moses and the bulrushers” or a genie in a lamp.
While it is true that the female characters in Huckleberry Finn aren’t at the forefront of the readers’ attention, I think that they actually play important parts in the story as a whole. They are definitely minor characters, but some of them represent important aspects of Huck’s journey. Aunt Polly, for example, serves as a deus ex machina at the climax of the story, clarifying all the facts and basically exempting Huck and Tom from any punishment they might have received. (358)
ReplyDeleteThe widow Douglass and Miss Watson present conflict at the beginning of the story, and they also seem to represent religion and morality, two themes that Huck deals with throughout his journey. In fact, he refers to Miss Watson during his final debate on whether or not to turn in Jim: “Here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face…whilst I was stealing a poor old woman’s [Miss Watson’s] nigger that hadn’t even done me no harm...” (269)
Thus, even though the women in the story are somewhat marginalized, they still have important purposes in Huck’s journey. They actually begin and conclude the story, forcing Huck to deal with authority of a moral or religious nature.
The novel excludes women from achieving a main role, although certain women maintain a great significance in Huck’s life. One of these women includes Miss Watson, the maid who lived with Huck before he ran away. Huck saw her as an obstacle to his own freedom because she told him to act more civilized than he was and because he had to abide by her rules. Although Huck was given the opportunity to live with Miss Doulas and Miss Watson, he was soon forced to live with his father, with whom Huck took more of a liking to. Although Huck ran away from his father, the narrative displays that he favors living with his father more than his mother because he could act more like himself. One woman that he was immediately attracted to on his journey, however, was Mary Jane, one of three daughters of the deceased Mr. Wilks. Huck first describes Mary Jane as having a type of beauty he hasn’t seen in any other woman. “Mary Jane was red-headed, but that don’t make no difference, she was most awful beautiful, and her face and her eyes was all lit up like glory” (211). His taste for Mary Jane grows more serious when he threatens to treason the king and the duke and he then takes the stolen money from them so that Mary Jane and her sisters can keep what they deserve. The novel generally marginalizes the women by only giving them roles that relates to Huck and his journey. The women are not portrayed in a light that gives them an independence that would show the readers their potential to flourish as people, as oppose to the progression in the storyline.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mark Twain generalized many of the men in a way that would classify them as being self-reliant and that would classify the women as being naïve about the reality of many of the situations that Huck faces on a daily basis. Although the women are have a certain weakness and co-dependency toward the men, Twain also shows a sense of false strength in some of the men that reads as insecurity. I think that the fact that Huck feels the need to protect someone else such as Mary Jane lies deeper than the fact that he is male, but as a way to gain control that he never had within his own family. This opportunity to protect someone is also shown in a different way than from how he protects Jim. The relationship the two have appears to be equal, but his over-protective feeling toward Mary Jane, who happens to be a woman is anything but coincidental.
This story is written from a masculine point of view, as a result there are not many female characters and when there are they are very small and unimportant. For the most part woman in this novel are seen as obstacles to Huck and Jim's journey. They are very proper, educated, and religious and often want to keep Huck as there own.
ReplyDeleteThere is one woman in this novel that does not share these characteristics. She can easily overlooked as just another pointless character but is found on page sixty-eight. This woman is helpful to Huck and actually encourages the fact that he is running. She says “You're a runaway 'prentice-that's all. It ain't anything. There ain't any harm in it.” (73) In addition she is exceptional at figuring things out. For instance, she figures out that Huck (who has dressed as a girl) is in fact a boy. She does this by taking note of small details such as how he throws, sews, and even how he catches things in his lap. In this story most woman are well educated but unable to solve problems for themselves. It is highly possible that Mark Twain characterized her in the same way he would a man.
I agree with Amado in that most of the women are proper, educated, and religious, but this woman, this one exception, is something that Huck never saw coming. There is clearly a norm set for women, and this specific woman breaks the boundaries. She does not let anything small slide by her. But I disagree with Amado when he says that Twain may have characterized her in the same way as a man. I feel like she could just be the one character in the novel who was meant to notice what Huck was up to. Aunt Sally was never able to figure out what Huck or Tom were up to, but she is still very intelligent. This woman, I believe, was just the strong female character in the novel, even though she had such a brief presence.
ReplyDeleteWomen are rarely of much obvious help to the protagonists in this book. However, they are often clever and very intelligent. This story is definitely written by a man, from the perspective of a man, so the portrayal of female characters reveals a man’s imagination about what a woman thinks, and could be slightly off if not completely false. We don’t really know if this is Mark Twain’s point of view, or if he is trying to portray the point of view of an adolescent boy who grew up without a mother and without many female friends or companions. To say that Twain is kinder to men in the book doesn’t seem accurate, though, as men are portrayed as liars, drunkards, thieves, and scoundrels. Women seem to represent a civilizing influence, one which Huck resists, but which in the long run seems to accept, as he begins to realize what men can become without them. When you think about it, this book would not be the same without women because all of the men would be like the King or the Duke or even Huck’s father. A microcosm of this is found in the death of Boggs. Drunk and disorderly he continues to provoke Sherburn by cussing him out and insulting him. The people of the town send for Boggs’ daughter saying if anybody can persuade him she can. Unfortunately she arrives too late to calm him down and Boggs has been shot by Sherburn. Over and over again, we see women behind the scenes in what look like minor roles but in reality they are more important than is seen at first glance. The two women that Huck runs away from represent two different faces of socialization. One, Ms. Watson, represents a more judgmental side, while widow Douglas represents a more caring and loving, softer side of humanity.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Twain’s novel, women are marginalized, simply due to the content of the book. Huckleberry Finn is a book about males going on adventures, and the developing of friendships between said males. Women are not included, and thus underrepresented, because women would not go on such adventures (at the time). However, women are portrayed in time-accurate positions, often taking care of the family. For instance, in the very first chapter of the book, it is the widow and her sister who house and educate Huck (2-4), turning him into a (somewhat) respectable member of society.
ReplyDeleteWomen are also portrayed as plot-shifting devices. Twain often uses them to alter the current situation. More often then not, Twain uses them when Huck has left the river; all of his encounters with women involve him returning to the river. For example, Huck, dressed as a girl, meets a woman. After a brief encounter, she tells him that her husband believes that Jim is hiding out on the island in the river (69-71), ending the respite that the two of them had been experiencing, and forcing them to move on down the river. Later, when staying with the Grangerford family, Miss Sophia uses Huck to relay messages to a son of the rival family. She makes her escape, and chaos/violence ensues (148-155). Once again, Huck is forced to return to the river. It seems that there is a direct connection between women and the river.
Twain challenges much that was taken for granted in American society, however one of the things he does not seem to challenge as much is the dominance of men over women. Mark Twain shows us the common marginalization of women, but perhaps not with the same critical focus as the treatment of slaves or the immorality of male-perpetrated selfish lying. Twain, in all likelihood, focuses on men in his novel, because he is writing from the experiences of his own life, and the number of close friendships held with men probably exceeds those held with women. Especially at Huck’s age, it is common for American people to hold most friendships within their own gender, perhaps limiting themselves to one perspective on some issues, something that Twain is subtly suggesting with Huck.
ReplyDeleteHuck utilizes most women he meets as tools. Taking the example of Judith Loftus, Huck lies to her as to gain information, and utilizes her to improve his ability to pass as a woman. This section shows us that while Huck may have spent some time observing women, the reality of how differently women in his world live is not entirely appreciated by Huck. With the Grangerford women, he uses them for the shelter, food, and security that their family provides. While Huck relishes the “cold corn-pone , cold corn beef, butter and buttermilk- that is what they had for me down there, and there ain't nothing better that ever I’ve come across yet” when they start him asking him questions he throws forth an elaborate lie about “how papa and (Huck) and all the family was living on a little farm down at the bottom of Arkansaw...”(135) Huck is not remorseful that he has to lie to the Grangerfords, instead he accepts as it has a been a reality of his journey thus far.
Huck softens to women progressively throughout the novel, earlier on being much frustrated with the women in his life, primarily the Widow and Ms.Watson for the impositions they make on his life. After Huck saves a pair of rapscallions from a watery death, he remarks how “I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions because rapscallions and deadbeats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in.”(91) Huck feels that the widow is a good person, and while he might not always want to live like her, there are things about her he tries to emulate.
Throughout the course of the novel, Huck begins to meet women he is attracted to and respects. The younger the women are, the more attracted and respectful Huck is to them, and the more he enjoys their company. With Emmeline and Mary Jane, who are close to Huck’s age, he reserves the most respect for them, perhaps more so for Emmeline. Without having met Emmeline, Huck regards her solely as a person, not an object or a tool. Twain is lending to the idea that Huck, like many men, deals with women in a highly sexualized manner, and Emmeline is the exception. Huck ruminates that “If Emmeline Grangerford could make poetry like that before she was fourteen, there ain’t no telling what she could a done by and by.” (140) Huck respects Emmeline for her talent and ability to write, and does not temper his respect with any facts of her appearance or presentation. Huck is maturing, and perhaps Twain is saying that change as to the way men treat women is a long and slow process
It’s interesting to note that Huck’s mother is entirely absent from the novel. His mother, name unknown, is never mentioned throughout the course of the novel, and who she was and her relationship to Huck or his father is a mystery. Huck must certainly have come from some woman, and perhaps she even helped to raise him. Her absence in the novel is another demonstration of marginalization of women, and perhaps a symbol of something even greater and darker.
Although women mostly remain on the sidelines of the main storyline in Huckleberry Finn, some of them play important roles. Women such as the Widow and Miss Watson (who try to help Huck by providing him with a good home and an education), the Wilks sisters (who help teach Huck the importance of honesty), and Mrs. Phelps (who is as caring for Huck as any mother he might have had) all help shape Huck into the person he is at the end of the novel. However, they do this through sexistly-portrayed methods: the Widow and Miss Watson constantly nag at Huck, like every wife in the known sexist universe; the Wilks sisters are so naïve and innocent they believe all the lies that the king and the duke tell them, and whom Huck, though he is much younger than they are, takes a very protective attitude towards; and Mrs. Phelps, who is also naïve, but this time in a more motherly way, believing until there was no doubt that “Tom” and “Sid” were innocent of any wrongdoing, even though, at least in my opinion, most of the evidence pointed towards their culpability.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, it strikes me as interesting how, even though they are mostly portrayed in a rather sexist light, on several occasions, women are shown to be a lot more perceptive than their male counterparts. For example, the woman Huck visits while dressed as a girl realizes almost immediately that he is not actually a girl, and, later on in the book, Mrs. Phelps is quite aware about the disappearances of all the objects that Huck and Tom take, while Mr. Phelps is so clueless about the whole situation that he doesn’t even no whether or not he personally has lost some of these items; Mrs. Phelps and her friends even piece together some of what happened during the very long process of freeing Jim from the Phelps’ farm. It strikes me as interesting how Twain, who in most other aspects of their characters portrays women as naïve, simple people who need to be cared for and protected by men, makes the women in this novel intelligent and cunning.
I agree with Ryan's practical approach to the symbolism behind the marginalization of women in the book. They're not a large part because they're not a large part of Huck's life. Though when he encounters them, he simply describes them as how he sees them at the time, causing us to get an incomplete picture of the women in Huck's world. Huck portrays many of the women that he meets as weak and needing protection, such as the sisters Mary Jane, Susan and Joanna, " This is another one that I'm letting him rob her of her money... my minds made up: I'll hive that money for them or bust"(225). Huck decides that he's going to save them, portraying the sisters as weak characters that need saving. Any picture of the female characters in the book must be incompletely constructed from what Huck writes about them. Aunt Sally for example is portrayed by Huck as a gullible women, but upon closer observation of what he has to say about her, a strong willed women who fiercely protects her home and family however she can. A good example of this is, "I hope to gracious if I warn't afraid they'd steal some o' the family... I declare to goodness I was so uneasy't I crep' up there and locked 'em in... spos'n I was a boy, and was away up there, and the door ain't locked"(348). Though Aunt Sally isn't very brave, she still cares quite a lot about those she loves, and even goes to the point where she locks Tom and Huck in their room to keep them from getting hurt. In the end, Huck simply doesn't care enough about the women in his life to write down detailed descriptions of who they are and what they're like. After all, he probably doesn't think they have much to do with his story.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel it is very clear that Huck is not the most trusting person. In his situation he can’t afford to be trusting because of the many things he has at stake. He could be sent back to his father or the widow and Jim could be sold down the river. When he meets someone new he is almost always careful and a little suspicious. I’ve noticed that his suspicion is much less when he meets women. They are always who they say they are and they are the few people who take care of him, even if he sometimes see’s it as them getting in his way. For example one of the older Grangerford women sympathizes with Huck while the men only care if he is a Shepherdson or not. She says, “Why bless you, Saul, the poor thing’s as wet as can be; and don’t you reckon it may he’s hungry?”(133). She feeds him and takes care of him just as the widow and Judith Loftus had done before. Huck says that Judith Loftus, “wouldn’t let me go by myself, but her husband would be in by and by, maybe in a hour and a half, and she’d send him along with me”(68). Mrs. Loftus doesn’t realize that she is getting in the way of what Huck needs. She is only trying to help him and protect him. Many of the men that Huck meets on his journey are bad, so having good women in the story gives Huck a break. He doesn’t need to worry about them harming him.
ReplyDeleteHuckleberry Finn makes some very interesting points about women throughout the book. Twain uses subtlety to show that women can and are very clever and smart. we meet many women who have a sort of peace of mind which lets them think with clarity and a level head. The entire conversation with "hare lip" (221-224) shows how much they know and that they aren't moronic.
ReplyDeletea number of women also see more than men see or rather know what to look for. "why i spotted you for a boy when you was threading the needle;and I contrived the other things just to make certain." (75) The women here not only spotted Huck for a guy but also came up with several different tests to make sure of it. Twain used these scenes to create an image for the reader of the fact that women are smarter than most men believed them to at that time in history. Twain really did a very good job of it.
The women that are in Huckleberry's life seem to be like anyone else that doesn't have a relationship with him. He rarely forms a very strong relationship with woman other Miss Watson. Miss Watson serves as a fill in mother for the young Huckleberry. Miss Watson is one of the only women in the novel where Huck has a strong relationship with. She treats Huck as a son teaching him what she feels is important like manners and basic schooling. The other women at come also act like a mother for Huck. They all somehow help him to grow some give him opportunity to become a more truthful person, Miss Mary Jane give Huck this experience with the whole Duke situation. Whether Huck does not let women in his life form real relationships with him on purpose it is not really clear but he seem to treat the women the same. .He seems to uses then for a personal gain. Not that he abuses them in a negative way he is just able to gain knowledge for them more then he is able to from men. Huck does not leave the women in his life in a worse condition then before he meet the.
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ReplyDeleteIn Huckleberry Fin, so far woman are portrayed as dull, boring, authoritative figures. I believe this is due entirely to the perspective used in this book. I don’t think this is truly how Mark Twain feels about woman. From what I’ve heard about him, he seemed like a tolerant, clever, and bright man, thus would not marginalize an entire group of people like that. This book is written through Hucks point of view, and so far the woman in his life have been religious, strict, and authoritative, which to Huck would be dull, and boring, thus the woman are portrayed this way, for the book is entirely through Hucks perspective. Huck throughout the book has been trying to get away from this. He started with the escape fantasy of being a bandit with the other boys, and after that doesn’t work out he really tries to escape in real life, so he goes down the river. So far there has been the big exception of the woman he pretends to be a girl with (pg68). She is very perceptive, interesting, and kind. She helps him out, instead of wanting to hinder his escape.
ReplyDeleteThe one woman with whom Huck has the most prolonged and personal relationship in the novel is Miss Mary Jane. He begins his relationship with her as a liar, watching the king and duke deceive her and taking advantage of her trust to protect him. He sees her trust as something that weakens her and he feels pity for her naivety. After she defends him from the discerning questioning by “the hair lip,” he thinks to himself, “This is a girl that I’m letting that old reptile rob of her money!” (225) The words “I’m letting” show that he feels responsible for her protection, and that her kind show will only get her in deeper trouble with the king and duke.
ReplyDeleteLater his pity deepens. He finds her crying alone for the separation of her slaves, brought about by the fictitious king. Miss Mary Jane’s feeling for her slave’s well being draws a parallel between her and Huck, who has similar if conflicted sentiments for Jim. As a result of this new parallel, Huck feels even more sympathy for Miss Mary Jane, and almost against his will, he reveals the king’s trick. He takes a risk and begins to tell her the whole story telling her to “Just set still and take it like a man” (239), which shows that he is beginning to see her as a worthy equal.
After Huck reveals the truth, his relationship to Miss Mary Jane undergoes another transformation. He reflects on her proclamation to pray for him:
"You may say what you want, but in my opinion she had more sand in her than any girl I ever see… I hain’t ever seen her since then; but reckon I’ve thought of her a many and a many million times. And of her saying she would pray for me; and if I ever though it would do any good for me to pray for her, blamed if I wouldn’t a done it or bust." (244)
He recognizes something in her (“sand”) that he didn’t expect to see in a girl and at the same time, he considers praying for her, something that is against his perceived nature as well. He even judges her above himself, show by the use of italics on the word “She.” Huck states that Mary Jane’s impact on him is long and far-reaching, further understating the change which she stimulates in his opinion of her as a woman.
In the end, Huck has two final interactions with Mary Jane. In the first he wishes she were with him to help him: “As we went by our house I wished I hadn’t send Mary Jane out of town; because if I could tip her the wink, she’d light out and save me, and blow on our dead-beats” (257). This passage not only show Huck’s feelings of connection and camaraderie with Mary Jane (his assuming she would understand his signal and the use of the words “our dead-beats”), but it also demonstrates the power that Mary Jane has. Sense the beginning of Huck’s relationship with her, Mary Jane has transformed in Huck’s eyes from naïve and feeble, to powerful and capable of strength and protecting. Huck has gone from the role protector to the protected. After he manages to escape from the mob, he glimpses a light in her window. He thinks to himself: “She was the best girl I ever see, and had the most sand” (258).
So, I have few specific observations about women in the book. When Huck sneaks onto the large raft with al the men on it, they men he was spying on “got to talking about differences betwixt hogs, and their different kinds of habits; and next about women and their different ways”(112). The subject change from hoggy habits womanly habits pokes fun at the men’s view of women as being very similar to feral pigs(?).
ReplyDeleteAfter Judith revealed her knowledge of Huck’s true sex to him, she offers help in a time of need: “ ‘and if you get into trouble, you send word to Mrs.Judith Loftus, which is me, and I’ll do what I can to get you out of it. Despite using sneaky tricks to determine that Huck really isn’t a girl, Judith is kind. similarly to the other older women in the book (the widow, that lady in the end,) she feels the need to protect Huck. This may be because Huck was “raised” without a mother, the women in the story sense this lack in the traditional upbringing and want to take care of Huck.
Huck was probably effected by Jim’s observation about how much more clever Judith is than the men in her family that have been sent to hunt them. “ Jim said she was a smart one, and if she was to start after us herself she wouldn’t set down and watch a campfire-no, sir, she’d fetch a dog”(78). It’s kind of funny that the reason Jim thinks that Judith is so smart is because she saw through their disguise, which wasn’t very well done.
When Huck stays with the feud family:
Miss Sophia“asked me if I liked her, and I said I did; and she asked me if I would do something for her and not tell anybody, and I said I would”(149). This girl is (to the reader-not really to Huck) clearly very manipulative; she uses the fact that Huck fancies her to send him on a dangerous mission.
Because this novel is about and from the point of view of a 13-14 year old boy, then already the views on women are skewed. In Huckleberry Finn, oftentimes the women are the “bad guys,” in his eyes, as they try to civilize him or expose him for who he is, such as the hare-lip or the widow. Or they are damsels in distress, such as Mary Jane, whom he finds “most awful beautiful”(211). It is his want to protect Mary Jane from the two fakes, the king and the duke, that leads him to stealing the bag of gold and telling her about her “uncle’s” treachery. Mary Jane is also seen as a bit of a coward, for she leaves the house when Huck tells her to and doesn’t seem to ever return, even when Huck needs her again. Even Mrs. Phelps, the woman Tom and Huck stay with throughout the last part of the novel, has some “bad-guy” qualities: Tom and Huck are working to deceive her; she must not find out.
ReplyDeleteI feel that, since this book is a dated novel, any views on women are bound to be different from today’s. In the 1800’s, women were not as independent, or as metaphorically strong as men were. It’s a sad truth, but we live with it.
Therefore, Huck, as a thirteen-year-old boy in the early 19th century, has normal views of women in his time. And through his eyes, that is exactly how they’re portrayed.
-Mari
Most of the Women in Huck Finn follow almost all of the stereotypes of women at that time; they act as if they are very delicate, they rely on men to fix their problems, and they are happy staying home cooking and raising children. The one difference that some of them have is that they are smart and can think very quickly. When Huck was dressed up as a girl the women he was talking to figured out very quickly, only looking at small details, that Huck was actually a boy. Right after she figures out that he is a boy, she gives him a long lecture on how a girl acts: “when you throw at a rat or anything, hitch yourself up a tip-toe, and fetch your hand up over your head, as awkward as you can, and miss your rat by about six or seven foot. Throw stiff-armed, from the shoulder, like there was a pivot for it to turn on…”(75). This woman noticed every detail of every mistake Huck made, knowing instantly how it was wrong. This woman’s knowledge is completely made up of every female stereotype, so while she acts very intelligent and very quick thinking, she still believes stereotypes to be true in every case, just like how all of the other women were portrayed to think.
ReplyDeleteLike Sophie said in her comment, I believe that the women in this story have a strong effect on Huck. Some very interesting points have been made varying from the stereotypes of women and Huck's maturity and view of women. I believe that the many small female characters play one large combined role in Huck's life.
ReplyDeleteIn Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist, Huck, spends most of his time with other men, his best friend, Tom, is a boy, his mother is no longer around and he is raised by his father, and he creates a strong male bond with Jim. Throughout Huck's story there isn't just one major female role that he is greatly affected by, but instead there are many throughout his adventure that all play similar roles in the shaping of Huck's character. One of the first and more important female roles to come up in Huck's story, Miss Watson, tries to teach Huck to be civilized and takes him in when he has no strong parental figures. At first Huck does not appreciate Miss Watson very much and leaves her to go live with his father and return to a uneducated and simple boys life. Later on in the story, Huck thinks about Miss Watson and her lessons. When Huck is faced with the dilemma of wanting to turn Jim in he thinks to himself, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean?” (124) This quote shows how Miss Watson has left a strong impression in Huck. Although Huck abandons civilized life and the teaching of Miss Watson, she still plays an important role in Huck's maturing.
Later on in the story Huck interacts with three more strong female roles (although there are more women roles these three are significant), Each of these three, Miss Sophia, Mary Jane, and Aunt Sally, all have strong impacts on Huck. When Huck interacts with these women he lowers his 'shield' and helps them in one way or another. When Huck assists Miss Sophia and she ends up causing a war between two families, Huck witnesses the violence and says, “ I reckoned I as to blame, somehow” (154). After this event Huck becomes more observant of his actions and shows guilt for the death of his friend Buck, who died in the battle. Later Huck interacts with Mary Jane, who Huck shows a great deal of passion for. When Huck is part of a scam against her he cannot resist her and tells her everything (244). This shows how Huck realizes the wrong in scamming her and makes a conscious decision to help her, later he describes her as “the best girl” (258). Towards the end of the book Huck meets up with Tom and pushes aside many of his new morals and messes around and drives Aunt Sally a little crazy, Huck does realize how kind she is and often does what she asks. Aunt Sally's role is the closest anything Huck has ever had to a mother, and their interactions are similar to that of a mother and son. In the end his morals seem to reset and he decides he does not want to be civilized. Even though Huck stays the boyish character that he is, all of the women teach Huck important lessons.
*Sorry for the length.
Women in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are generally portrayed as insignificant or minor characters with little power and role in the novel. The women sometimes have some authority or power over Finn, but they are always portrayed as inconvenient to Finn and his plans. Occasionally women are an attraction to Finn, and in return Finn cares about them. Women’s roles are relatively small in the arc of the novel, and some times women do not further the plotline at all in the novel.
ReplyDeleteWomen such as the Widow, Mrs. Watson and Aunt Sally are authoritative figures in Finn’s life; they are his caretakers and always seem to restrict Finn. “Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and I asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice that wasn’t clean… (3)”. The widow is getting in the way of Fins mischievous self and his bad habits. She is an obstacle to Finn, and he dislikes her restrictions. Aunt Sally also is an authoritative figure; she keeps Finn in line and tries to make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. In response Finn and Tom gang up on Aunt Sally and attack her senses by messing with her. “…Aunt Sally she come in, and when we got back she was a standing on top of the bed rasing Cain, and the rats was doing what they could to keep off the dull times for her (229)”. Finn and Tom have fun tormenting the poor old lady who only means good for them. Although these ladies appear to have power, Huck gets the better of them proving that he can outwit the women in this novel. Making Huck almost superior to them.
Finn also finds himself attracted to one girl, Mary Jane. He says when she leaves for the last time “I hain’t ever seen her since; but I reckon I’ve thought of her a many and a many a million times, and of her saying she would prey for me; and if ever I’d a thought it would do any good for me to prey for her, blamed if I wouldn’t a done it or bust (244)”. After spending some time with Mary Jane, Huck takes a likening to her. He also tries to warn her of the frauds that are pretending to be her two uncles. Finn tries his very best to help her out expressing how fond he is of her. She is the one woman that he seems to care about in the novel.
Women in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn play small roles reflecting how society thought of women in the 1870’s when this book was written. Huck finds women to be obstacles or things of beauty, but hardly ever more. The women in the book all play relatively minor roles and never are in full power. Huck always rules over them and gets around all of there regulations. Women do play an important role in the novel expressing how a 13-year-old boy thought of women in the 1840’s.
I agree with Haven's comment about the fact that Huck Finn doesn't really understand women as much as he thinks he does because he doesn't spend his time with girls but boys. For example Huck describes Miss Watson as being very straight, demanding and says that she makes him do stuff that he really doesn't normally do. For example:at one point she told him to clean up and brush his hair and he thought it was a stupid thing to do because no one in his life has told him that being clean is important. One reason that Huck doesn't understand women as much is because his mother died early before he could interact with her and learn what women in general like to do and what kind of characteristics they have.
ReplyDeleteI agree that, because the novel is written from the perspective of a male, women are described from that same perspective. They aren’t exactly viewed as inferior, but they aren’t made significant throughout the novel either. There isn’t one female character that has a prominent, established part in the novel. They mostly come and go. Having said that, I do agree with Haven that the women Huck does meet have a lasting impact on him, as a whole, whether of not Huck realizes or is willing to admit this. Although he primarily spends time with and befriends males, he seems to have more of an obligated respect towards women. He feels worse when he is somehow wronging them (i.e. lying to them, letting the King and Duke scam them, etc.). “This is another one that I’m letting him rob her of her money…They all just laid theirselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends, I felt so…low down and mean,”(225). This often makes him rethink his actions and life choices, ultimately causing him to grow into a maturing and potentially respectable person.
ReplyDeleteI also think Huck has different opinions towards different women. He seems to associate older women, like Miss Watson and Aunt Sally, with permanence and being trapped, despite their effort to help him. This could possibly be because he wasn’t raised by his mother, and therefore doesn’t understand motherly care and affection, as other people have previously said. Younger women however, he is very sweet to, with the exception of the hair-lip. He seems especially smitten with Mary Jane and Miss Sophia, and will generally go out of his way to help them. Despite not changing too much as a character from beginning to end, small moments within the novel show Huck’s maturing, largely because of the women he interacts with, and the obligation he feels to treat them well.
The women seem to be viewed in two ways. Huck tends to be drawn to the younger, more attractive women, and they are shown in a very positive light. On the other hand, the older women are shown as suffocating, and like Luci said, although they try and help him he feels like they are trapping him. Huck also seems to have a stronger sense of right and wrong with women, especially women he cares for. He feels bad about lying to Mary Jane and her sisters, although he hasn't had a strong problem with lying or scamming people previously. When Huck is taken in by men, or older women, he sometimes feels bad about lying to them, but for some reason when he lies to a young woman he feels bad for tricking her and not being truthful to her. Huck also definitely sees women as very delicate and much more emotional than men. He is much more cautious of hurting the feelings of the women he meets than the men. I don't think he sees them as inferiors exactly, but he definitely feels the need to protect them more than he would men, especially the younger women. It's possible that that is simply how Twain saw women, and his views are coming through in his writing.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, the main character Huck Finn views the women in his life as boring, mean and frumpy. However, while I was reading the book, I found that the women were quite the opposite and were actually quite nurturing to Huck Finn. For example, Huck Finn views Miss Watson as " a tolerable, slim old maid with goggles" (3) This might be because Huck Finn is a country boy and does not like the clothes Miss Watson gives him. Huck Finn explains, "she put me in them new clothes again and I couldn't do nothing and feel all cramped up" (2) Or maybe Huck does not appreciate Miss Watson because she does not want Huck to join " Tom Sawyers band of robbers"(9). For whatever the reason, to Huck Finn, Miss Watson is negative person in his life. On the contrary, Miss Watson is the exact opposite. In reality, Miss Watson acts as a motherly figure for Huck Finn. Miss Watson makes sure that Huck is properly clothed; she educates and feeds him as well. Regardless of her old fashion life-style, Miss Watson is a positive person in Huck’s life even if Huck does not acknowledge it.
ReplyDeleteIn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, By Mark Twain. Huck sees women as unworthy authority givers. Huck would rather ignore Ms. Watson because she is trying to educate him,"After supper she got out the book and learned me about Moses and the Bullrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him." (2) Huck has no interest in things that don't relate to him, and he doesn't believe that women relate to him so he shouldn't have to deal with them trying to educate him. Huck doesn't communicate well with women because he doesn't feel that he connects with them or can relate to them in any way.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the novel as a whole is not degrading to women. While the characters portray woman as sex-slaves or complete idiots, when real women characters are shown, they are more normal people, whether or not they be protagonists. We can see this contrast by comparing tan example of a real woman, “ ‘Come in’ said the woman, and I did. ‘Take a cheer’(68)” with this tale told by one of the characters, involving a man by the name of Solomon and his thousand wives. “[in relation to Solomon and his Thousand Wives] and if everybody don’t go just so, he whacks their heads off. But mostly they hang round the Harem(94)” While the first one is a moderate and respectable person, doing nothing unusual whatsoever, the second is a large variety of women used specifically for the entertainment of one bizarre male individual. The degradation of women in the second example is brought to new extremities when it is brought up that the man would, on a whim, chop off the heads of the women which he considered his slaves. However, although this is incredibly sexist in itself, I believe it is a cartoonist image of sexism, and seeing as other women in the novel are respected members of society and very empowered, I feel that this is just used to imply that the characters are prejudiced based upon gender, and in no way reflects the personal beliefs of the author, Mark Twain.
ReplyDeleteI think the women in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” are portrayed in different ways. Miss Watson is portrayed as an obstacle to Huck because she tries to keep him from doing the things he would like to do. Miss Watson doesn’t get any power over men, so she tries to impose her beliefs onto Huck. The woman Huck meets when he dresses as a girl is portrayed as a typical housewife. However she turns out to be smart and is the only woman in the story that doesn’t lead Huck into more trouble like how Sophia Grangerford does. She is portrayed as a woman who cares little about what her actions do to the people around her. Whenever a woman is portrayed in the novel, the woman is always incorporated with more obstacles and troubles for Huck and Jim.
ReplyDeleteMark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is undoubtedly male dominated; however the women are a more influential force on Huckleberry than most of the men are. The female characters that Huckleberry interacts with are all older than him and he has a kind of reverence and respect for them. After telling Mary Jane, one of the three orphaned sisters, about his involvement in the deception of the whole town he praises her for her kindness in praying for him and recognizes her strength in dealing with the news.
ReplyDeletePray for me! I reckoned if she knowed me she’d take a job that was more her size. But I bet she done it, just the same- she was just that kind. You may say what you want to, but in my opinion she had more sand in her than any girl I ever see; in my opinion she was just full of sand. (244)
Huck uses the term “full of sand”. In this edition’s glossary this term is entered as “ sand in my craw”, but says that “to have ‘sand in your craw’ is to be able to digest or face something difficult”. (456) Despite women mostly playing the role of wives, widows, orphans, and mostly being older (all roles that are subordinate to male characters) Huck’s reverence, respect, and praise for them shows that they have more value than they are appreciated for.
Over the course of the novel, Twain uses women as positive characters, using them to contrast negative male characters in the book. All of the female characters have strong virtues and moral standards and Huck uses women and their virtues to help himself mature. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain clearly opposes many of his society's views, in particular, the roles of women. Twain finished the book almost forty years before women got the ability to vote in 1920. Women were extremely oppressed during the time the book is set and was written. I think that Twain's depiction of women as the moral height of Huck's life speaks out to the oppression they faced.
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ReplyDeleteWomen tend to be mother figures in the story. I think this comes down to Huck's perspective. Huck is, of course, still a child- when he looks at the world he sees mothers, fathers and playmates. He was raised without a mother, and his father was anything but a moral role model. That's the only parent he has for comparison, and when the moral, polite, religious women adopt him, he sees them as better for his soul but worse for his freedom. At once they are depicted as good, in terms of society, and evil, as they are in every way the opposition to Huck's worldview. They're strongly attached to the law-religion thing in Huck's mind. When he thinks of them he thinks of church, when he thinks of breaking the law he thinks of them.
ReplyDeleteDigressing into that law-religion-women thing, along the story, Huck's main crime is assisting the runaway slave. This reinforces the connection between laws, religion and women as it is a crime against the women who tried to civilize him back at home. The only judge in the book is a man, but it isn't Thatcher sending Huck to school, berating him, or punishing him.
Judge Thatcher's laws are more abstract and far less real, having to do with the vast and omni-non-present government and sums of money large enough to be imaginary to Huck, and the connection is not as strong.
Incidentally, I think Huck tolerates the King and the Duke for so long because they fit his view of what a father is- they're dangerous and scary, but living with them is an adventure.
For me Huck is an observer of women, in the novel Huck didn't seem to take much notice to women except in a detached manner. With the younger women he would look at he would describe them without saying he fancied them or had any urges or feelings towards them. Huck does not seem to care much about women or anyone else for that matter besides himself, he is looking for what comes convenient to him and women do not necessarily fit into his world. It does not seem like women distract Huck yet because he is working on himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree that women take a backseat in the novel partly because of the time period. It seems like Huck doesn't see women as anything but obstacles, or even just something to observe. It seems like Huck sometimes looks up to women as maternal figures of which he never grew up with. So without having a large role in the novel women play a great part in Huck's life and adventure.
Women in this novel create various situations. Miss Watson was a women Huck respected but couldn't stand. It seemed like she brang out the rebellious side in Huck. Miss sophia caused Huck a lot of trouble because she manipulated Huck into doing something for her that led to war between families. Women seemed to have big role for Huck without really being part of the book.
It seems that, although they do not make up the majority of characters in the book, the women in Huck Finn play a dominate role in making the story happen. The story starts with him going to live with his father in the woods, the reason that he does this having a lot to do with the way he is treated at the widow's house and the fact that he does not like living in such a proper and civilized place, an example of how women represent order and stability in the novel and how Huck must learn to live with this. Later on When he is living with the feuding Grangerford family, it is the actions of their daughter Sophia that cause the deaths of many people in the family, including at least two children, and cause Huck and Jim to move down the river again. When he is with the King and the Duke who are coning the Wilks family, Huck intrusts one of the sisters to help expose the two frauds, instead of one of the several men who already suspect them. This is also an example of how women are in a way a conscience for Huck, as this is the first time he has questioned the amoral actions of the con-men, and it is his sympathy for the girls that causes him to do so. Twain seems to contrasting the often unwise and inhumane acts of the men in the book, actions like lynching and stealing from innocents, with the more thoughtful and wise actions and advice of the women.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that Twain’s portrayal of women in this book is very positive. Though Huck has relatively little contact with women over the course of the book, the women that he does meet are always there to serve as a reminder to Huck’s conscience.
ReplyDeleteAll of the cruelest, most deceitful characters that Huck struggles with—Pap, the Duke, and the King—are men. Women, however, are used as a symbol of honesty. Unlike so many of the characters in this book, none of the women are ever seen to lie. They either move Huck to tell the truth out of a desire to protect them or make them happy--Mary Beth (239) or Mrs. Phelps—or, as Sophie pointed out, they discern for themselves. Two examples of such discerning women are Mrs. Judith Loftus and Miss Joanna Wilks. When Huck comes to Mrs. Loftus dressed as a girl, and tells a sad tale of a little girl with a sick mother (68), Mrs. Loftus sees through the lie almost at once. Huck throws lie after lie at the lady, but she sees through them all, and not only shows no desire to thwart Huck’s plans, but actually offers help. The second example of a clear-sighted woman is the daughter of the late Peter Wilks, and a would-be victim of the King’s “Funeral Con.” Miss Joanna Wilks probes Huck with question after question about his false life in England. Only when he agrees to swear upon a fake bible does she say: “Well, then, I’ll believe some of it; but I hope to gracious if I’ll believe the rest,”(224). In the end, Aunt Polly acts as the ultimate bringer of truth by coming to the Phelps farm and setting straight the identities of Tom and Huck, and making it known that Jim has been a free man all along.
Most of the women in the novel are portrayed in a pretty positive way. They are always kind, and more clever than the male character. Almost all the female character Huck encounters have a very motherly qualities However I am very fascinated by on of the restrictions females in the novel, and in modern society face. It is generally considered dangerous for women to do things (specifically travel on their own. This small restriction women face is a representation of a general lack of independence women endured, and even sometimes accepted. Though it is a very small moment in the grand view of the story, I find a passage in chapter 11 to be particularly interesting. Huck attempts to disguise himself as a girl and enters the home of Mrs. Judith Loftus. When she meets girl Huck she "wouldn't let me go by myself, but her husband would be in by and by, maybe an hour and a half, and she'd send him along with me"(68. However, only minutes later in the scene, after she has found out that Huck is a boy she allows him to leave her home by himself with absolutely no concern. This small distinction is really fascinating to me, especially since Huck is young and at an age where he is not particularly stronger than girls his age. Why is it ok to send a young boy out on his own but not a young girl? Though we have progressed immensely in establishing the equality of men and women since the 18 hundreds, this small difference is still present today. There are other remarks about women that demonstrate how much we have progressed since the time the novel was written, but one thing that has not change is people's reluctance to let girls go out into the worlds by themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe role of women is restricted to two stereotypical and constricting types: the ones that embody the almost Victorian values of guardianship and piety, and the extremely fragile, both physically and emotionally, ones. At best, they are merely guardians that can easily be pushed aside. At worst they are regarded as strict and pristine, and seen only as a tedious obstacle. I was surprised that though Twain seemed free from stereotypical thinking when it came to African Americans and gave Jim individuality and a strong role, the women were granted no such luxury in their character. When the Duke and King want to attract people to their show, they are emphatic about the fact that “LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED”(162), implying that it is not something that they could handle, and again their stereotype is perpetuated and even taken advantage of by the men.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, however, they are also the characters that are the most kind and honest throughout the entire book. And at the end of the book, the one true act of freedom- Jim getting freed from slavery- is granted by a woman. Though the women’s role has been devoid of any personality traits and heavy in constraints, I can’t help but think that maybe their role has some advantages, and even their understatement and subtly as characters portrays a stronger image of absolute, unconditional kindness.
Huck is not only male, but adolescent (or even pre-adolescent), and as such has one of the most clouded perceptions of women one can have. (Sounds harsh, but really, we are mysterious). The portrayals of women in the book are not necessarily sexist, but misunderstanding (and misunderstood, perhaps, as overtly sexist). The era the book is set in provides an excellent backdrop for two-dimensional female characters.
ReplyDeleteWhenever Huck runs into a group of women there are a usual list of character types: a motherly figure, a beautiful, soft, delicate type, and a proud or haughty young woman (often beautiful). Huck is initially controlled by the widow, who is good to him but not nearly adventurous enough to satisfy his needs. She is virtually the opposite of Huck's father, who exemplifies a violent misunderstanding and poor execution of machismo.
When Huck, who frees himself of both of these authorities, comes across the Grangerfords, the deceased Emmeline is the delicate type, though she is also tragic and sentimental, even cloyingly so. This is one of the first instances in which women are truly misunderstood, not only by Huck but by Twain as well. She is a shoddy caricature, at best, of feminine sentimentality and emotion, one executed without that sensibility. She is probably somewhat of a joke for both Huck and Twain, although her story is sad, because it is excessive to the point of being ridiculous.
Her sisters, both of whom are beautiful(one of the only ways women are identified as interesting), are not attempted to be understood. Charlotte is proud, and grand (perhaps in an aristocratic sense, as she is well-off), and Sophia is delicate and gentle. Surprisingly, the milder Sophia is the one to stir up trouble by eloping with a Sheperdson, the sworn enemies of her family. Perhaps this is because she is so desirable that they could both forget family allegiances. Huck is more comfortable with and attracted to Sophia, because of her soft demeanor. Women as gentle wives and caretakers are idealized. Their sympathetic and empathetic emotional systems are valued, but only to the extent that it directly benefits a man. This is another classic misunderstanding of femininity in the novel.
ReplyDeleteThe second important group of women he comes across are the Wilks sisters. The sister he feels the strongest connection to is Mary Jane. She is incredibly beautiful (although she is red-headed. He points this out as something to be considered negative but that he can ignore) and trusting. Though she is delicate, she is the most assertive of her sisters, as she is the eldest. She is moreso the haughty or proud young woman than her sister Susan (who says and does very little), but less so than her youngest sister Joanna (the harelip).
Because she is in the midst of the emotional crisis of having lost her uncle, she is vulnerable and gentle. She trusts the king and the duke without suspicion. This characteristic among women seems to be the only one Huck can understand as desirable. Having grown up in rough surroundings, and around mostly men, this aspect of femininity draws him in and acts upon his sympathetic reflexes.
Joanna, who is basically the only young woman in the book not described as beautiful (due to her cleft-lip), is also one of the only women to test Huck's cunning. She is younger than any other girl in the book, but still a little older than Huck. Despite not having her looks or feminine charms to control and shape his opinion of her, she is the only girl in the book to assert competitive power over him. She tests his lies, and continuously finds holes for him to awkwardly patch. Eventually her gentler older sister makes her stop challenging him, and she submits, apologetically.
Huck is far less fond of Joanna than Mary Jane, but still feels sad when she cries (while apologizing), because of his role in the king and duke's money-making scheme.
When Huck goes to Uncle Silas and Aunt Sally's farm, he encounters, once more, a mother figure. Initially Aunt Sally is warm and domestic. Her family is trusting and kind. When Tom and Huck start stealing things and making mischief as they free Jim, her character changes. She is obsessive, somewhat hysterical, and completely mysterious to Huck. He says he has never seen a woman like her, and to our knowledge, he hasn't. She needs order in her house in order to be the gentle mother Huck expects her to be. Tom and Huck write the notes, and the men go out to find the rebels who have allegedly taken Jim. Jim, Tom, and Huck escape almost flawlessly, except for Tom's gunshot wound. So Huck goes to find the doctor and Jim hides in the woods. When Aunt Sally finds Huck, she is worried for him, and tells him she loves him and cares about him, that she doesn't want him to go out in the night again. Huck sees her with a candle in the window all night waiting for Tom, and can't bring himself to slip off. He starts to appreciate her as a caretaker and mother figure but is still inclined to do as he pleases, as is his way. Even after his identity is revealed she shows him tenderness, and so he comes to appreciate her. Her character is perhaps less two dimensional than some others, though it has two facets: hysteria and nurturing. These clash, and show the way societal pressures can mold a caricature of a person with no shades of gray. She is another woman, misunderstood, viewed through the eyes of a young boy.
Throughout the entire novel it is apparent that women aren’t given much of the spotlight, although they play in an essential role throughout Huck’s journey. From the beginning of the novel Twain, or rather Huck, illustrates his urge to get away from Miss Watson who is trying to civilize him as well as educate him on a more religious level. Despite Huck’s strong disliking towards Miss Watson, the lesson between right and wrong come into play when Huck has to make a decision about Jim’s future. Huck states, “Here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face…whilst I was stealing a poor old woman’s nigger that hadn’t even done me no harm…” (269) Ultimately it becomes clear that not only has Huck matured throughout his journey with Jim, but also that Miss Watson’s strong religious and morality beliefs have an impact on his perspective.
ReplyDeleteOne of the women who I really started to grow a liking towards would happen to be Mrs. Judith Loftus because she enabled readers to fully understand the characteristics and role of women in this time period. When Huck attempts to be a girl, Judith is able to detect that he wasn’t by simple yet striking details that all common women share. When Judith says to Huck, “You’re a runaway ‘prentice-that’s all…. There aint any harm in it.” (73), it revealed her understanding of the urge to want freedom. Overall, Judith stands as the stereotypical woman in this time period and successfully demonstrates the potential all women have, but due to society standards, are unable to express themselves.
Women in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are portrayed as moral and religious beings. Huck sometimes resents this in them, as with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. The Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson try to teach Huck about religion and attempt to make him dress and act properly which he dislikes. Huck says of his time with the Widow, “You had to wash, and eat on a plate, and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and be forever bothering over a book and have old Miss Watson pecking at you all the time” (25). Huck very much dislikes the fact that the Widow imposes her own proper behavior and religion on him. However, when women don’t try to make him act like them, Huck doesn’t mind them. For example, in the case of Miss Mary Jane, Huck is quite charmed by the fact that she is so good and moral. Huck says of her, “She done it so beautiful it was good to hear” (160). Huck flees from the morals of the Widow Douglas and her sister, but he becomes enamored of those same qualities in Miss Mary Jane because she does not try to change him. All the women in Huck Finn are portrayed as having similar characteristics such as behaving properly, being educated, and being religious, but Huck’s feelings about those women change based on how they treat him.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the story, Huck seems to have a slight negative out-look on women. He refers to the Widow Douglas as someone who wants to civilize him and Miss Watson as someone who takes away his freedom and shoves him in more of a religious direction. When Huck states, “She got mad, then, but I didn’t mean no harm. All I wanted was to go somewhere, all I wanted was a change- I warn’t particular,” one can truly tell that all he wants is adventure and he had some sort of resentment towards Miss Watson for trying to take that away. As the story goes on, and he comes across the woman that tells him everything that had happened since his father locked him away; and then he stays Miss Mary Jane’s family as well as Aunt Sally; I think he slowly begins to view women in a kinder way as opposed to strict authority figures. He states, “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” (Page 362)
ReplyDeleteIn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are no main female characters. Although they are integral to the plot we never get to know them as characters, only bystanders moving the plot forward. Jim and Huck use the female characters to justify furthering their adventures. The Widow Douglas for instance, is a caring force that Huck cannot control, one that shapes his life, one that he runs from. Hucks reactions to the Widow Douglas's actions shape his adventure and spur, at least initially, his rebellious nature to consider running away. It is women again that are tricked into believing that the duke and his companion are their uncles from Britain, and through the friendship Huck has with these girls his morals are shaped and altered for the better. Huck reflects “Them poor things was that glad and happy it made my heart ache to see them fooled and lied to,”(Twain, 234). In the past Huck hast swindled people out of their possessions with no thought to their well being or their feelings but getting to know these girls has made him feel remorse for the things that happen partially due to his actions. Both the plot and Huck are influenced and changed by female characters even though they are not centers of the book, and although Huck is changed for the better the plot at times is made more complicated and harsh.
ReplyDeleteAs so many before me have already pointed out, the sideline role that women take throughout most of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not necessarily a manifestation of the author’s view of the role of women during this time period. Rather, it seems to me that with the sole exception of Jim and Huck, men and women alike are shallow, one-dimensional characters who exist only to showcase character growth of the main two and keep the journey along the river moving. The story’s focus is the friendship that develops between Jim and Huck during their trip down the river. Interactions with other people, regardless of gender, never uncovers deep motivations for actions, only advances the plot, and in this way, all characters save Huck and Jim are props. Even the King and the Duke, who spend the most time with Jim and Huck, stay along only because they solve the problem of “why, when Huck finds a new canoe, does he say nothing about going north with it?” (425) Given that every character exists in a fairly marginalized role, it is unsurprising that women are not a centerpiece of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the primary message illustrated by the marginalization of women is that late 19th century America was a very male dominated society. Women are seen as domestic caregivers and dependent on the support of men. An apt portrayal of 19th women is Mr.Boggs daughter, described as “very sweet and gentle looking, but awful pale and scared” (156). This feminine prototype of beauty without strength, kindness without capability, delicate creatures who need male protection & guidance is displayed in this novel, although not without variation. Mrs.Judith Loftus, whom Huck meets in St. Petersburg should be noted for her exceptional intelligence & cunning. The widow also plays a prominent role in fostering Hucks emotional growth. Though her direct appearance is brief, her lessons & care help guide many of Hucks actions throughout the novel. Though women are indeed marginalized in many aspects, I believe that women did play a much more important, complex role than many people give believe.
ReplyDeleteMany female characters in Mark Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, share maternal qualities of clemency, generosity, and hospitality. The women in Twain’s novel are not portrayed as distinctive, dynamic characters like Huck and Jim or as highly significant to Huck’s journey. Nonetheless, women are portrayed as positive characters that have a great deal of knowledge and wisdom compared to men. Many readers are confused into thinking that women in Twain’s novel are depicted as inferiors because Huck describes women as sententious and didactic obstacles to his freedom and enjoyment of life. However, in many cases women are more civil and acuminous. For example, on page 72, the woman who pities Huck’s situation quickly sees through Huck’s disguise by carefully examining his subtle, but boyish behaviors and quick, (un-girly(?)) reflexes. Even after realizing that Huck deceived her, she still treats him with the same tenderness that she displayed in treating a young, delicate girl. Furthermore, compared to the raucous, egocentric men on the raft, who can’t possibly bare themselves to be civil or respectful of others, and the foolish men of the Grangerford and Shepherdson family, who don’t even the remember the reason why they are fighting against each other, women such as Miss Watson and Miss Sophia have tender, sensible, and overall, favorable personalities. Miss Watson, although at certain times forceful, tries to teach and implement virtues of honesty and conscience in Huck while Miss Sophia, throws away unnecessary and stubborn hate for the Shepherdson family and finds romance for herself amid her family’s silly obsession for pride and ego.
ReplyDeleteAs many people here said, women in the beginning of the novel are talked about as objects. One example, is when Tom Sawyer tells his gang (including Huck) what they're going to do as robbers. When one of the members asks Tom what they'll do with women, Tom replies: "You fetch them to the cave, and you're always as polite as a pie to them; and by and by they fall in love with you and never want to go home any more". Tom says it as if they need to play a game with them so that they'll do what they them to do.
ReplyDeleteHowever, later in the book we meet female characters who are much more than objects.
In chapter seventeen, Mark Twain tells us about a young character called Emmeline Grangerford who died when she was fifteen.
Although Huck says at the beginning of the novel he finds poems boring and that he "[doesn't] take no stock in dead people" (2), these views of are changed after he hears all about the young dead Emmeline Grangerford and reads her poems. He gets really interested in her and feels deeply sorry for her death. He even tries to write a poem for her himself. He starts to understand women are human too.
Huck describes her for five pages. That must mean something, agree?