Local Color and Huckleberry Finn free essay sample

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exemplifies the characteristics of a local color writing in several different ways, through the use of narration, dialect, local customs, and characters. Mark Twain’s use of several different dialects and local customs really helps the reader gain a just perspective on the people, places, and events that took place in the story as wells helps demonstrate the characteristics of a local color writing. The use of a narrator in Huckleberry Finn, as in most local color writings, usually uses an educated person as the narrator to help give distance between the locals in the story and the more urban audience who the story was intended. However, in this case Mark Twain uses a 14 year old boy, Huckleberry Finn, who is ignorant to the proper ways of the time. On the other hand, with his naive and innocent nature he accomplishes the same separation as he struggles through his own personal issues, which reflect the issues of the era. We will write a custom essay sample on Local Color and Huckleberry Finn or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For example when Huckleberry says, â€Å"Then I thought for a minute, and says to myself, hold on; s’pose you’d a done right and give Jim up, would feel any better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad – I’d feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong. † In this example Huck is struggling between doing what is morally right and what is socially right during this era, thus showing his moral maturity, which compensates for his lack of education and â€Å"proper ways†. It is this moral maturity that separates Huck up on to a higher platform, so to say, that exemplifies the characteristic of local writings. Just like the use of a narrator, Twain’s extensive use of dialect, also displays the characteristics of local color writings. As stated in the Explanatory by Twain himself there are seven different dialects in the story. Theses dialects help set up the characters in the story while contributing to the over credibility of the story itself. An example of this would be when Huck sneaks up on Jim in chapter fifteen, Jim says, â€Å"No, you ain ‘ dead! It’s too good for true, lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o’ you. No, you ain’ dead! You’s back agin, ‘live en soun’, jis de same ole Huck – de same ole Huck† By using different levels of dialect from the narrator Huck, to Jim and other characters of the story, it allows the reader to get a better understanding of the region through the words of a â€Å"local yokel†. This is an important characteristic of local writing because it helps set the foundation for the characteristics of the people in the region. Another characteristic of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and local color writing is the use of local customs and beliefs to help build the overall character and characters of the region. By doing this Twain is able to paint a picture of the area and the people in it to give the reader a better idea of what life is like in that particular region. For Example in Chapter 2 when Huck says â€Å"Afterwards Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rode him all over the State, and then set him under the trees again, and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it. And next time Jim told it he said they rode him down to New Orleans; and, after that, every time he told it he spread it more and more† This gives the reader insight into the superstations and beliefs of the slaves and regular folk of the region. Therefore, and like in most color writings, using the characters and the local customs to help the reader gain a better understanding of the locale. In summary, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are a good display of local color writings. Through the use of narrative, extensive dialect, and local customs, Mark Twain paints a portrait of the region in order for the reader to gain a better understanding; while tugging on the moral issues of the time, like slavery. It is by doing this that the story demonstrates the characteristics of local color writing.