Journal 11 Mark Twain - The Deeper Meaning

Allister Lo
English 48B
Journal 11 Mark Twain

Quote: “NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot” (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Summary: Twain opens his book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with this notice, informing people that the impending story is merely a story, and no one should look deeper than the literal meaning of the text.

Response: In writing the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it has been noted that the book shows two different sides of Twain. Twain’s works range from humor to works that have the capability to challenge our belief systems. The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn covers that broad spectrum, incorporating both in one work.

The quote is extremely ironic because the book is considered by many to be the greatest piece of American literature because of its profound challenging of the institution of slavery and the morality of such an institution, although it claims to be just a story, to be taken at its face value.

It is interesting to point out that during the writing of this book, Twain took some time off from writing the novel and the book reflects that. At its beginning, it seems to be a sort of sequel to one of his previous works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The novel also seems to reflect Twain’s humoristic writing, as evidenced by the quote above, which opens up the whole story. Perhaps Twain intended for this book to be just a story, as he opens up with this humorous note, yet after his time off from the story when he traveled the Mississippi River, the book completely changes its tone and style. Many people attribute this to Twain seeing all of the racism along the river.

However, since Twain himself grew up in a border state, it must have been tough to make this transition as a writer and a person, so instead of proudly parading this new moral idea, he did it under the cover that the story is not to be taken seriously. He may have done this because he was still struggling with his own moral values at the time or he was worried about how people would react to it. In this way, Twain had something to fall back upon in case his book came under heat, which it did.