1 Write a literaty text analysis of the following excertpt from chapter 22 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
Suggested topics: importance of the text within the context of the author’s work and time; subject of the enunciation; point of view and effect upon the reader/addressee; rhetoric and linguistic devices and language tropes (descrptive or lyric manner, figures of speech, symbolism, innovation / surprising markers or pattern traces within the author’s work); intertextuality with texts studied in this class (at least 2) or others.
"Do I know you? I know you clear through was born and raised in the South, and I’ve lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man’s a coward. (...) Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark – and it’s just what they WOULD do.
(...)
"... The average man don’t like trouble and danger. YOU don’t like trouble and danger. But if only HALF a man – like Buck Harkness, there – shouts ‘Lynch him! lynch him!’ you’re afraid to back down – afraid you’ll be found out to be what you are – COWARDS – and so you raise a yell, and hang yourselves on to that half-a-man’s coat-tail, and come raging up here, swearing what big things you’re going to do. The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is – a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any MAN at the head of it is BENEATH pitifulness. Now the thing for YOU to do is to droop your tails and go home and crawl in a hole. If any real lynching’s going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion; and when they come they’ll bring their masks, and fetch a MAN along. Now LEAVE – and take your half-a-man with you” – tossing his gun up across his left arm and cocking it when he says this."
2. In chapter 28, Huck makes the following reflection about saying the truth or lying: " I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place is taking considerable many resks, though I ain’t had no experience, and can’t say for certain; but it looks so to me, anyway; and yet here’s a case where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better and actuly SAFER than a lie. I must lay it by in my mind, and think it over some time or other, it’s so kind of strange and unregular. " - Can you extrapolate from this reflection and think about other cases where the fiction you have read in this course problematized the pragmatic value of lying vs. telling the truth?
4 comments:
Throughout the novel, postbellum author Mark Twain comments on Southern antebellum society, its hypocrisy and cowardice. This episode is, at that point in the story, the most obvious moment of social commentary in the book: Twain's voice being more evident in Colonel Sherburn's speech. There is an absence of indicators of local dialect and colloquialisms and an usage of simple rhetorical devices such as repetition of keywords, indicating a certain straightforwardness absent in other speeches such as Papa Finn's.
Inês Sofia Mena Maniés
Carolina Amaro
This excerpt from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is written in the point of view of Sherburn and works as a mirror of Twain’s goal to question and critique the social morality and its behaviors. Through this speech, Twain addresses themes of justice, responsibility and social hypocrisy, and exposes situations that were actually happening during his historical and social context.
Sherburn’s monologue is both accusatory and reflective, implicating not just the fictional mob but also the audience. By addressing the crowd as "YOU," Twain emphasizes and forces the readers to consider their own actions and complicity in this situation. The rethorical questions “Do I know you?” or “ Why don’t your juries hang murderers?” creates a direct confrontation that intensifies the passage’s moral critique.
In this we see a repetition of some keywords in capital like “YOU” “HALF”, “COWARDS”, “MAN”, this gives a serious and powerful voice, reinforcing the confrontation while also creating a sort of rhythm into it.
The Repetition of "coward" and "average man" emphasizes the nature of Sherburn’s critique, while irony and hyperbole heighten its satirical tone, for example in “if any real lynching’s going to be done, it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion” or “You hang yourselves on to that half-a-man’s coat-tail”.
The choice of expressions like “droop your tails and go home and crawl in a hole” enhances the image of the mob as animalesc and irrational, ruled by animal instincts such as fear
The speech may also be related with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” . Since both works interrogate the moral failures of their societies, exposing the gap between the professed values and actual behaviors.
In this passage, Sherburn addresses the crowd after killing Boggs. He confronts a group of people who want to lynch him in order to punish and condemn his actions. In his speech, he calls out the cowardice of the crowd who, later on, prove his point by dispersing and leaving him.
During his speech, he brings up the concept of cowardice and fear. He calls out the mob for their lack of courage which is deeply ironic as Sherburn has just murdered a vulnerable and intoxicated man.
The speech is accurate and the mob does, indeed, act cowardly and without much critical thought. In the previous chapter the mob is created because someone said that Sherburn should be lynched and everyone else just joined: “Well, by-and-by somebody said Sherburn ought to be lynched. In about a minute everybody was saying it,”.
His tone is accusatory and direct, he uses “you” a lot: “You don’t like trouble and danger…” and “Now the thing for you to do is droop your tails and go home…”. Sherburn uses strong language like “cowards” and “pitifulness”. He also questions the audience: "Do I know you?” and “Why don’t your juries hang murderers?”. He uses the imperative verb tense “droop your tails and go home and crawl in a hole” and “Now leave – and take your half-a-man with you.”.
The continuous mention of the collective “you” and the rhetorical question are literary characteristics also found in Williams Apes’s “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man”. In terms of the speech’s content, it can be compared to, once again, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man”, as well as to Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”. Both texts question and criticize society, highlighting their hypocrisies and injustices.
Matilde Ribeiro (161233)
2) In chapter 28 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck reflects on the value of honesty and lying when he questions whether telling the truth or lying is the safest and most ethical way for a person to act. This doubt between telling the truth or lying can also be seen in Hawthorne's “Young Goodman Brown”, where the practical and moral consequences of being truthful or lying are explored through the protagonist's journey through the forest and consequently his loss of faith. Huck considers that telling the truth may actually be the safest form of action rather than lying in certain situations, although this may seem a little contradictory.
In "Young Goodman Brown" , there is a moment where the protagonist witnesses what appears to be a satanic ceremony, in which many of the most devoted members of his community take part. The text remains ambiguous as to whether this event is real or a vision, creating a space where truth and illusion are confused. Goodman Brown's inability to distinguish truth from lies leads to his deep distrust and isolation, suggesting that sometimes an ambiguous or uncomfortable truth can be more destructive than a comforting lie. Similarly, Goodman Brown faces the difficulty of dealing with the truth about the moral corruption of his community, which destroys him emotionally.
From Huck's perspective, telling the truth in a difficult situation, even if it may seem hard, sometimes brings practical benefits, despite the risks. In contrast, Goodman Brown's experience suggests that the search for absolute truth, without considering its consequences, can lead to despair and isolation. After what he experiences in the forest, he lives a life of cynicism and distrust, unable to reconcile his perceptions with the apparent piety of those around him. This contrasts with Huck's more flexible and pragmatic approach, which evaluates the morality of telling the truth or lying based on context rather than rigid principles.
Both texts emphasise the ambiguity of truth and lies in moral and social contexts. Huck, with his pragmatic perspective, rejects inflexible moral codes, while Goodman Brown is unable to accept moral complexity, which leads him to despair. Both explore the delicate balance between honesty and pragmatism, showing how both truth and lies can save or destroy, depending on the context and interpretation.
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