Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Kerouac’s On the Road – The River and the Road

3045 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The influence of mark twain

Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Kerouac’s On the Road – The River and the Road

One element that separates a good novel from a great novel is its enduring effects on society. A great novel transcends time; it changes and mirrors the consciousness of a civilization. One such novel is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For the past one hundred and fifteen years, it has remained in print and has been one of the most widely studied texts in high schools and colleges. According to Lionel Trilling, its success is due to Twain’s “voice of unpretentious truth” (92) embodied in the young narrator Huck Finn who reveals the hypocrisy and moral deprivation of society through his innocent observations. It is a picaresque novel, or novel of the road, where the river acts as the road that carries the characters on continuous adventures.

Seventy years after the publication of Huckleberry Finn, Jack Kerouac began to write his picaresque novel entitled On the Road. Like Twain’s Huck Finn, Sal Paradise is Kerouac’s naïve narrator who captures the essence of life in his depictions of experiences on the road. Both characters are social commentators regarding the conditions of their surroundings; they are public barometers who measure the state of societal values. Even though Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is heralded as one of the greatest American novels, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road embraces a loftier, more mature, religious ideal of life that transcends Twain’s social commentary and will one day place it permanently in the anthologies of American literature.

The similarities between Huckleberry Finn and On the Road are numerous and worth

consideration because they depict the hand in hand progression (one following the other in ...

... middle of paper ...

...76.

Hunt, Tim. Kerouac’s Crooked Road: Development of Fiction. Hamden: Archon Books, 1981.

Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York Penguin, 1957.

---------, Jack. Selected Letters: Jack Kerouac 1957-1969. Ed. Ann Charters. New York: Viking P, 1999.

Nicosia, Gerald. Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac. Berkeley: U of California P, 1983.

Swartz, Omar. The View from On the Road. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP: 1999.

Trilling, Lionel. “A Certain Formal Aptness.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford, 1995. 284-85.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford, 1995.

Weinreich, Regina. The Spontaneous Poetics of Jack Kerouac. New York: Paragon House, 1990.

Show More
Related

  • The Immature Huck Finn in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ke."  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism.  Ed. Sculley Bradley, et al.  2nd ed.  New York:  Norton, 1977.  421-22.

    Read More

  • Hyperboles In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain during the late 1800’s (Mintz). The book brought major controversy over the plot, as well as the fact that it was a spin-off to his previous story, Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book has remained a success due to Twain’s interesting techniques of keeping the audience’s attention. Chapters eleven and twelve of “Huckleberry Finn,” uses a first person limited point of view to take advantage of the use of dialogue while using many hyperboles to add drama to entertain the reader by creating description within the story without needing to pause and explain.

    Read More

  • Bop Music in the 1950s

    2523 Words  | 6 Pages

    Tallman, Warren. "Kerouac's Sound." Casebook on the Beat. Thomas Parkinson, ed. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell Company, 1961. 220-221.

    Read More

  • The Integrity and Strength of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kaplan, Justin.  "Born to Trouble:  One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn."  Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:  A Case Study in Critical Controversy.  Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan.  Boston:  St. Martin's, 1995.  348-359.

    Read More

  • Toxic Leadership in Law Enforcement

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    In any discussion of leadership, thoughts immediately begin to turn to examples of leadership gone wrong. These may include leaders who bully, threaten, or allow their mood to affect the environment of the agency (Reed, 2004, p. 67). The reason we focus upon these examples is the destructive impact they have upon the agency as a whole, as well as the individual officers unfortunate enough to serve under that type of leader. Leaders such as these foster an environment of backbiting and belittling as a method of control, resulting in an untenable environment for those officers who choose not to engage in such behavior and, as often as not, promotion of those that do. This kind of management gives way to:

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Passage Analysis

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered the great American Novel with its unorthodox writing style and controversial topics. In the selected passage, Huck struggles with his self-sense of morality. This paper will analyze a passage from Adventures of huckleberry Finn and will touch on the basic function of the passage, the connection between the passage from the rest of the book, and the interaction between form and content.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn And The Gilded Age

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the many works of Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn is one that can metaphorically serve as a time machine, in which as soon as one enters, one is quickly taken back to a time where social differences heavily marked history. Published in 1885. Addressing social defects, this novel sincerely illustrates the flaws of the 19th century. Mark Twain typically exemplifies issues through his writing and in this literary work, formally titled The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; he criticizes the attitude of the Gilded Age. This American novel can be closely assessed through many different types of criticism, however, two that,

    Read More

  • Prejudice and Racism in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite all the criticism, of racism and other questionable material for young readers, Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a superbly written novel, which in the opinion of this reviewer should not be remove the literary cannon. Twain’s novel is a coming of age story that teaches young people many valuable lessons and to some extend makes students reexamine their own lives and morals. The most common argument for its removal from the literary canon is that the novel is too racist; it offends black readers, perpetuates cheap slave-era stereotypes, and deserves no place on today’s bookshelves.  However one must ask if Twain is encouraging traditional southern racism or is Twain disputing these idea.

    Read More

  • What Is Jim's Lack Of Education In Huck Finn

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    Life in the late eighteen hundreds was very different from the life we know today. Not only was there more inequality, there were also more health concerns and lapses in education. Mark Twain, in his book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has given us a special look into the past through the eyes of a young boy. Though this book is one of, if not the most highly criticized books in the American school system, it is also one of the most highly renowned. Through the criticism, Twain has given us a golden reflective opportunity.

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.

    Read More

  • The Controversy of Huckleberry Finn

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    　　Over the 129 years for which the book has been in print, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been regarded with much controversy, for many different reasons. As it has progressed, the subject of this controversy has been almost constantly changing. This essay will explore some of the claims and explanations of the controversy, as well as a discussion on whether the book is even that controversial. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion about this novel, The main complaints seem to revolve around three core topics: Twain’s portrayal of Jim and other blacks, The extensive use of the racial slurs and racism, and the final chapters of the book itself.

    Read More

  • The Significance of the Physical Journey in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been called many things, over the years, by critics and scholars. Along with the plethora of criticism about its’ depiction of slavery and its’ use of the word “nigger”, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be the father of all American Literature. This high praise is puzzling, considering all its’ faults coupled with its’ unsatisfying ending. However upon a deeper examination of the text itself a parallel emerges among The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the classic Greek epics. In both novels an epic journey is employed by the author to provide a moral education to the main character, as well as shaping the plot and adding meaning to the story as a whole. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the physical journey is what makes the book a classic, it not only provides a moral schooling for Huck, and it is a safe sanctuary for Huck and Jim against the ills of 18th century America.

    Read More

  • Parental Influence on Huck Finn

    1596 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...cal Edition, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. and Trans. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beaty, E. Hudson Long, and Thomas Cooley. New York: Norton, 1977. 328-335.

    Read More

  • The Cause And Effects Of Organized Crime

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    This “black money” along with illegal exports taint local economies and corrodes the financial structure in developing countries where organized crime has strongholds. Developing countries become the targets for such practises due to the ability for organised crime groups to manipulate the system in place to their benefit. A country’s tax system is an important economic feature that has a major impact on organized criminal activities. A financial environment in the country where tax evasion is prevalent is often accompanied by the higher levels of organized crime associated with the nature and scale of money laundering. Organised crime groups take advantage of an already weak system to benefit their own enterprises. Instead of being granted a chance to improve, developing countries’ financial systems are stemmed from achieving success due to the presence of malicious “black money” operations done by crime groups. A great deal of money traverses these illegal systems every year, and it put to use on more illicit trades, operations, etc. Consequently, “according to an estimate by the non-profit Global Financial Integrity group, $1 trillion vanishes from the developing world’s economies every year. That is money that is badly needed for development” (Indrawati). By taking the money from countries where the regulations are not as strict in turn squanders any chance that

    Read More

  • Personal Statement : Leadership And Leadership

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    2. I have seen supervisors that held no one accountable for anything. I have seen some that would not deal with any problems between members in their unit and were commonly referred to as the “ostrich” because they kept their head in the sand and pretended there were no issues. I have seen first hand how that type of leadership also damaged morale and unit cohesion. One interesting thing that I have noticed over the years is that almost every true leader I have encountered in law enforcement was consequent...

    Read More

More about Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Kerouac’s On the Road – The River and the Road

Open Document