浅析《哈克贝利费恩历险记》中马克吐温的幽默

浅析《哈克贝利费恩历险记》中马克吐温的幽默

美国幽默大师和现实主义作家马克?吐温被称为是一个世界文学巨匠，他的作品涉及当时美国的各个领域，如政治，宗教，奴隶制。在马克吐温的众多著作中，《哈克贝利费恩历险记》无疑是最令人印象深刻的。作品将幽默与讽刺相结合，通过细腻的心理描写，极具特色的语言描述，向读者展示了一幅热爱人民，追求自由的画面，表现了强大的艺术魅力。自古以来，已经有很多学者对这部小说进行了研究。他们大多从小说的翻译，艺术特点，人物形象，语言特色，等等方面经行了研究。然而在幽默题材上，大部份研究都是针对语言的幽默感，对幽默表现手法在小说中的运用的研究相对薄弱一些。马克吐温作为文学大家，幽默大师，幽默表现手法多样。作者认为可以从幽默表现手法入手，着重分析《哈克贝利费恩历险记》中，马克吐温的幽默表现手法。从而能更深刻地理解马克吐温式的幽默。

关键词：马克吐温；哈克贝利费恩历险记；幽默

ABSTRACT

Mark Twain, a humor master and a realism writer, was called a giant in world literature. His writings touch up almost every issue of his time such as politics, religion, and slavery system. Among all of Mark Twain?s works, one makes most impression on readers that is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.With the humor and satire mixed in the novel, the writer shower a picture of loving people and seeking freedom, by the way of exquisite description of psychology and distinguishing-featured description of language. And it displays a strong artistic charm. Since ancient times, a great number of scholars have studied this novel from the perspectives of translation, artistic feature, role characters, language, and so on. While as regards to humor, a large number of researchers just concentrated on the language and put relatively less attention to the humor techniques of performance. Mark Twain, as a master in literature and humor, use various humor techniques of performance in his works. The author thinks it can be studied on the aspect of humor techniques of performance. This paper presents an analysis of Mark Twain?s different humor techniques of performance employed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to understand deeply about Mark Twain?s humor.

Key words: Mark Twain; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; humor

Contents

Introduction (4)

Part One The introduction of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (5)

1.1 Background and Plots (5)

1.2 Classical Characters (6)

Part Two Mark Twain’s Humor in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (8)

2.1 The First Person Narration (8)

2.2 The Vernacular Language (9)

2.3 The Use of Grammatical Errors (10)

2.4 Satire ............................................................ 错误！未定义书签。

2.5 Irony (11)

Conclusion (13)

Notes ................................................................. 错误！未定义书签。Bibliography (14)

Acknowledgments (15)

Introduction

In the late 19th among lots of writers in the western world, Mark Twain is a distinguished critical realism writer.People?s life situation at that time can be seen from his major works because of his realistic depiction in his works which always simmer with laughable humor that is not only filled with rich wisdom but also strongly reveals the current situation and causes people to think more.As a matter of fact, there were plenty of writers who used humor as a writing style in their own works before Mark Twain. Nonetheless, they simply stopped at the miraculous meaning and could not go deeper any longer. It is Mark Twain who brings humor to a new height that is using humor and irony to satire the various dark phenomenons in the American capitalism society. And The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn also acknowledges Mark Twain?s own literary position on the American literature. One noted American writer Hemingway said that all modern American literature derived from a book, namely, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Moran, 2002: 169) People appreciated Mark Twain?s humor tone in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but many researchers done the research just about its realism, artistic characteristics, languages, etc. Less of their researches refer to the humor in this novel. The author thinks it is worth to have a study on Mark Twain?s humor in the novel, because the humor not only for fun, but also reveals kinds of phenomenon in American.

Part One The Introduction of The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a famed novel appreciated by both children and adults, is the masterwork of Mark Twain. He launched out into writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876 which narrated in the colloquial style of first person, reflecting Mark Twain?s critical attitude towards slavery.

1.1 Background and Plots

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is on the basis of Mark Twain?s childhood experiences. When he was a child, he always went to play in the farmland owned by his uncle John who had 20 slaves. His uncle was amicable, enthusiastic and with full humor. Despite he was not ruthless to the salves, he could not allow them to be free. During his time in the farm, Mark Twain formed a good fellowship with Uncle Daniel, a black slave. He was always fond of asking Daniel novel questions. Daniel was diligent and kind to Mark and other children. He often told interesting stories to Mark. At the same time, Mark felt very sorry for the slaves. He thought that all men were born to be equal and the slavery should be abolished. It was at that time he became interested in literature, and began to dream of becoming a writer. The friendship with Daniel urged him to write about freedom for slaves.(Johnson, 2008: 7)

When The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published eight years later, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published. Both of the two books are great representative works of Mark Twain. The character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn appears in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. But Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn not only desires freedom himself but also hope all the people get freedom. Hero Huck does not want so called polite but lifeless life in order to escape from his father. He runs away and lives a wandering life. Then he meets Jim who will

be sold by his master. They take a raft down the Mississippi River and interdepend with each other, and build a deep friendship. But they do not find the way to Carol town; instead, they meet two frauds who call themselves the King and the Duke. Two swindlers want to sell Jim. And with the help of Tom, Jim is rescued and knows that according to the hostess?s will, Jim is free. Through all of the adventures down the river, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. He develops a conscience and truly feels for humanity. The pursuit of freedom and new culture is just the pursuit of Huck from the social background.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a vital phenomenon about culture, as well as a literary one. In 1984, Americans celebrated the centenary of its publication with a great number of research projects.

1.2 Classical Characters

Huck is a brave, smart and kindhearted boy. The great success of shaping the character lies is helping Jim fight from slavery, battles with his conscience about befriending nigger Jim. Huck?s inner struggle and his growing opposition to slavery are the most interesting parts of the book. He is taught by convention that Blacks are inferior to Whites. Slavery is good and right and a fugitive slave should be punished. So at first, Huck treats Jim as a obscurity runway slave. But his good heart and personal experience tell him that Jim is a man and a good man indeed. He is tortured between traditional values and his own sense of good and evil. At last, his sense of good and evil defeated traditional values. He determines to help Jim. He is such a brave boy who dares to challenge the tradition.

Jim is a typical representative of the slaves on the 19th century. He is industrious, honest, humane and full of passion. But at the same time, he is different from other slaves, because he subverts the submissive characters of common slaves. His yearning for freedom, desires for independence. And wants to escape for a “freedom state”where has no slavery. For Huck, Jim is his friend as well as protector. Huck tells the story happened on the ferry to Jim and reads books for Jim. And they chat in the

woods. Through these things, although there is an age gap between Huck and Jim, Huck does not treat Jim as an adult. He regards Jim as his good friend who he wants to stay with. Meanwhile, Jim is willing to take care of Huck when he was ill even though he may loss his freedom. Because of Jim?s selfless spirit and courage, Huck believes that Jim is a good man. In this novel, Mark Twain makes up a runway slave character that is justicial, noble and sincere. This role makes an obvious contrast with the hypocrites in the “civilized world” which expressed the sharp satire and profound criticism to slavery.

The humor reflected in the book is found mostly in Huck?s unique world outlook and his way of expressing himself and events as well as Jim?s dialect and superstition. The humor of children in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn makes readers laugh naturally.

This paper is talk about humor. Then, what is humor? What is the function of humor in literature? Humor is one of the essential characteristics of human language during its development as well as one of the essence of human?s daily life. Humorous utterance brings people spiritual enjoyment in daily life. And with increasing demand of people?s communication quality in daily life, sense of humor has become one of the important symbol to judge a person?s character. Humor, in other words, has become a means of human communication. Humorous utterance can not only help people like a duck to water in their communication, at the same time, in solving contradiction or awkward problems, humorous words can be an olive branch. In the process of daily criticism and advise, humorous words is a kind of effective means of suggestion, which make the criticisms and suggestions appear more tactful and easy to accept. In general, the effect of humor almost exists in many tiny things of our daily life and communication. (Net.1)

“Humor” has numerous different definitions. In the realm of literature, there are somethings in common. Humor in literature not only make the work more attractive and interesting, but also contains certain practical significance, which let people in a smile, at the same time, reveals those dark and unreasonable phenomena in society.

Part Two Mark Twain’s Humor in The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn

2.1 The First Person Narration

In Mark twain?s major works, he prefer to use the first person to narrative stories in his works. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the whole story is told by a 14－year－old boy, Huck. Mark Twain lets the hero Huckleberry Finn himself tell the story based on his personal experiences along the Mississippi River where he dwells. Since he is uneducated, Mark Twain carries on the southwestern humor tradition of vernacular language. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is Huck?s story, and he tells it from his natural and unsophisticated perspective.This not only does the authenticity of the story increase but also allows the readers to fell no doubt to the experiences of Huckleberry Finn.

At the very beginning of the novel, mark twain put the first person narration into use:

“You don?t know about me, without you have read a book by name of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,”but that ain?t no mater. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There were things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom?s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas, is all told about in that book –which is mostly a true book; with some stretchers, as I said before.”(Wang Tian, 2006:2)

It is earlier to analyze the humor which was created by Huck?s vernacular language. In addition, the narrator?s tone makes readers feel funny due to the narrator?s identity who was a fourteen years old child. Those narrative words and tone are not correspond with a kid. The formal address of “Mr. Mark Twain”, the twice emphasis of the word “mainly”, the “good-hearted” absolution of Twain?s “lies”, and the misuse of grammar shows a childish 14-year-old boy who pretend to speak like an

adult. A little boy, speaking in a seriously adult tone which not conform to his age identity would trigger the reader?s laughter..

2.2 The Vernacular Language

The vernacular language has a function named social indication, which can not only reflect regional characteristic of the characters but also reflect social status, educational level and personal characters of people. From this point, language as a social indicator conveys us literal contents as well as social information. In a novel, the selection and use of language is very important, because it is always in the service of the ideas which the author wants to convey and the characters the author wants to shape. In this novel, Mark Twain masterfully uses dialects, slang, and Black English to shape the characters, especially Huck?s dialects and Jim?s Black English. Huck?s colloquial and vernacular language throughout the whole novel, which is so striking that give readers a deep impression. The consistent and appropriate dialects used in the novel, especially the dialects, exactly fit Huck, a 14－year－old boy, who is uneducated and from lower society. In Huckleberry Finn, there is no exaggeration of grammar or spelling or speech, there is no sentence or phrase to destroy the illusion that those are Huck?s own words. Huck?s language is the spoken language of untutored Americans of his place and time. So, in this novel, a number of slang or dialects are used, which produced a huge contrast to standard language. The huge contrast engenders humor and fun as a result.

In Chapter fifteen, Jim said:

“well, you wouldn?t a ben here f it hadn?t a ben for Jim. You …d a ben down dah in de woods widout any dinner, en gittn?drownded, too; dat you would, honey. Chickens knowns when it?s gwyne to rain, en so do the birds,chile.”

Jim?s language was typical Black English with fuzzy pronunciation and always omitted many syllables. When Huck and Jim arrived at a poor country, where people

spoken another comical vernacular language.

“What a body was hearing amongst them the time was: …gimme a chaw?v tobacker, Hank.?…Gain?t; I hain?t got but one chew left. Ask Bill.” (Twain,2003:54)

These languages are vulgar and funny, which present us a vivid picture of uncivil villagers. Before Mark Twain, the use of vernacular language, generally called vulgar language, in literature, was rare and unacceptable. Mark Twain?s ice-breaking journey won him the title of “the founder of American colloquial style”.(Chang Yaoxin, 1990:123)

This novel uses south America regional dialect of the end of 19th century as the whole narrative language. The dialogue part, because of characters?different social backgrounds and literacy levels, using black English and other social dialects. In this novel, language convey literal contents directly and information about social backgrounds indirectly which was full of cultural atmosphere, concise and lively.

2.3 The Use of Grammatical Errors

In this novel, there are many grammatical mistakes, which make a sharp contrast to the standard language. The incongruity presents a particular effect of humor to this novel.

In Chapter sixth, Huck?s heart bounded with contradiction. Finally, Huck decides rowing to the shore to denounce Jim. On his way to the shore, he just runs into two whites who are in chase of the runway slave. Twain in the tone of Huck, said:

“I didn?t answer up prompt. I tried to, but the words wouldn?t come. I tried, for a second or two, to brace up and out with it, but I warn?t man enough—badn?t the spunk of a rabbit. I see I was weakening; so I just giving up trying, and up and says: “He?s white.”(Twain,2003:78)

This segment words presents Huck?s poor grammar due to his age and little

education. Such as using adjective to replace adverb: the sentence I didn?t answer prompt should be I didn?t answer up promptly; using “warn?t”, the non-standard to mean negative: “warn?t” should be “wasn?t”; using non-standard verb forms: “I says”should be “I say”.

Although there are several grammatical errors in the Huck?s sentences, we can see a vivid picture of a childish Huck. Twain depicted it through the mouth of an innocent and naught boy. From this passage, we know Huck received little education, but he is native and goodness. Compared with standard language, the childish language with bad grammar causes humor and incongruity.

2.4 Satire

When Mark Twain began writing, it was the heyday of American literature. In the late 19th century, dramatic changes have taken place in American society. Brutal Civil War makes people awake from blindly optimism to face the ugly situation of the society. The American Dreams that inspired people for a long time to create future seems gradually wiped out. American society began to enter the inner vanity, unwieldy Gilded Age. Mark Twain has an insight into the dark and contemptible phenomenon in the society, using sharp words to depict a batch of vivid obscure characters.

For example, in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain describes two ugly and antics cheats through a “king”and a “duke”. In order to win money from people, even under the period of the so-called peaceful times, they can do reckless action and care for nobody even with any sense of shame. The two cheats set up a stage together and ready to play Shakespeare?s plays. When the “king” realized that he was baldish with white beard who can not play the heroine Juliet. The “duke”tells him don?t worry, those bumpkins don?t know about the plays at all. Then the “duke”teaches “the king”about the lines which were tampered of Shakespeare?s classical play—Hamlet. These lines mixed with the words in Macbeth. This distinguished appearance makes a strongly contrasts with the superficial in their heart.

This satirical example reflects the real American social phenomenon in the 19th century. At that time, Shakespeare?s plays were very popular. People spoke highly of these plays and almost worshipped the ground Shakespeare trod on. But many of them just blind worship of these plays, had no sense of the profound meanings in them. The king and the duke were the products of this social and cultural state. At this point, Mark Twain uses humorous irony writing: “these old idiots do these things, but can really make a cow at all laugh.”From Mark Twain, these descriptions full of laughable humor and a bitter satire, which have the profound social significance.

2.5 Irony

Mark Twain was a master of humor for his unique humor. Chinese famous writer said Mark Twain?s humor contains sorrow and irony. Mark Twain?s works usually close to people?s daily life, always choosing the most ironic things in life with comic hyperbole,which let people think profound of reality after laughter. And make the humor with rich content of reality. In Twain?s work, the role do something priggish, while the truth is very preposterous, which make a striking contrast to trigger reader?s laughter.

Through reading the novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it is not difficult to find that this work is full of irony such as the description of the lady Emmeline Grangerford whose hobby is poetizing. Here is Huck?s feel of the lady?s poetry:

“ every time a man died, or a women died or a child died, she would be on hand with her tribute before he was cold…She never complained, but she kind of pined away and did not live long.…Poor Emmeline made poetry about all the dead people when she was alive, and it didn?t seem right that there wasn?t nobody to make some about her, now, she was gone, so I tried to sweat out a verse or two myself, but I couldn?t make it go, somehow.”(Twain,2003:177)

Huck?s language was plain but convulsed the readers. The lady was fond of writing tribute before the bodies were cold. Finally, she pined away. Huck displayed sympathy to her. He wanted to write a tribute either, but he couldn?t make it go even

though he had tried to sweat out. This plot was ridiculous. After American Civil War, realism literature was rising while the romantic literature was declining. But some literati ignored the change, still keen about the anachronistic bleak poetry. Mark Twain scoffed at it, using the plain words of Huck to satirize those feigned and fuss literary genre. Humor in Mark Twain?s time in the literature, the main function is to amuse people which lack of profound ideological content. But Mark Twain?s humor is not just for fun,his humor and irony tightly combined with the reality. That is to say, his humor as a weapon to ridicule and satirize those false,ugly and unreasonable phenomenon of the society at that time.

Conclusion

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the most remarkable novel of Mark Twain. It is the first novel that reflects the truly American society. In this novel, undoubted, humor contributes a lot. Following the previous descriptions, we can deeply recognize Mark Twain?s humor in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His humor is very rich and colorful. And it is easy to find that amusing is not the only function of humor. Mark Twain used humor to expose various dark phenomenons in American society. He once said: “humor, only on the basis of real life can full of vitality and make readers laugh. But if bot based on love, provoked laughter is meaningless.” (Twain, 2008: 481)

To sum up, undeniably, Mark Twain is a noted humorist in American literature, because he is expert in expressing his emotions romantically as well as satirizing the essence of society via taking advantages of the skilled use of the special weapon---humor. Technically, he uses flexibly various ways to presents humor, such as the first person narration, the vernacular language, satire, irony and so on. As a result it is easier for readers to gain a deeper understanding of the work of Mark Twain.

Mark Twain contributed a lot to the humor of American literature and evolved ironic and sadness humor from the pure humor. It was his humor became a important

literary style down from generation to generation. William Faulkner had ever said: “Mark Twain is the first real American writer; we are all on the shoulder of his.”(Net.2)