in the adventures of huckleberry finn which statement best captures why twain chose to use hucks point of view

Question

1) Hucks casual, conversational style lightens up otherwise serious events
2) Twain wants the reader to see events through Hucks eyes
3) The story wouldn't keep the readers interest if it were told from third person point of view


Which do you think is best and why. Give three examples if you can!

Answer 1

2, Huck is in essence an innocent youth, and children always have a simplistic view on life. They are not corrupted by the restrictions and constraints society puts on people. Huck is able to see the hypocrisies of society, call a spade a spade.

Having the story told through Huck also allows the reader to get inside of a somewhat deliquent youth on the run from a society that shuns him, and lets us experience with him his process of growth and understanding he goes through to find his freedom.

Answer 2

I think No. 1 is a subset of No. 2. It's clear that Twain wanted his readers to see the world through Huck's eyes, the eyes of a kid. If the novel had a third-person point of view, we would lose Huck's innocence and mischievousness. There wouldn't be an anchor to guide the plot. Since the reader must go wherever Huck goes, a natural connection to Huck is established.

Twain's use of vernacular dialogue is highly effective. Regional dialects were more pronounced in Twain's time than they are now. The Internet and standardized testing assure that only a few cultural differences are preserved in different regions of the United States. Twain was trying to portray his characters honestly -- not only how they sounded, but what they talked about.

Twain's decision to use Huck to confront institutionalized racism was a good move, indeed. On the raft, Huck expresses to Jim the guilt he's feeling about befriending an escaped black slave instead of turning him in. Huck claims that he'll go to hell before he turns in Jim.

The link below has a brief essay that might be helpful as well. Good luck!

Answer 3

b) Twain needs the reader to work out activities by Huck's eyes. "Turning the tale over to Huck presented into view earlier unsuspected literary possibilities in the vernacular attitude, particularly the opportunity of creating use of vernacular speech for severe applications and of reworking the vernacular narrator from a trifling personality right into a personality with human intensity."