On The Paradoxes In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Considered as the father of modern American literature and Pioneer of American Humor, Mark Twain is a great American realist writer in the 19th Century. At the peak of his career, Mark Twain contributes his masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to American literature and international literature as well. This novel has been praised over one hundred years of its existence for its remarkable originality. Criticism of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn relates to almost all-around approaches, yet involves a rather simple kind of deficiency—the lack of the folly and systematical analysis of paradoxes which becomes the main concern of my thesis and endues my thesis with considerable originality.Through, my tentative discussions of the textual and psychological analysis of this great novel, we might get some rough idea of Mark Twain's artistic charm. Approaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the angle of paradox, this thesis attempts to discuss its consummate usage on the level of traditional rhetoric, imagery of characters, structure, and theme. With his strategic approaching of paradox, Mark Twain exhibits the development of morality by molding complexity of characters, reveals the chaotic and deformed society in 19th Century by deliberate loose structure, and extols the nobility of humanity and freedom by depiction of authentic themes in this novel.The author of this thesis first of all elaborately analyses Mark Twain's three brilliant thematic paradoxes of the novel: paradox of civilization, paradox of freedom and paradox of life (rebirth vs. death).Through consummately approaching of these thematic paradoxes, this novel uncovers the hypocritical veil of the deformed social "civilization", reflects human beings' instinctive pursuit of ideal freedom, attacks the notorious slavery and lauds lofty humanity.Exposed to the deformity of social conscience and the hypocrisy of morality, the social individuals cannot escape its indoctrination. Thus the conflict between the hypocritical social conscience and noble human nature forges the paradoxical...