Life

Identity

• Father was a Virginian with dreams of striking it rich in land speculation.
• Wife, Olivia, was a Congregationalist and a member of New England genteel culture.

Chronology

• 1835: born in Florida, Missouri
• 1839: family settles in Hannibal, Missouri
• 1847: father dies; Twain leaves school, becomes an apprentice to a printer, and works for brother Orion's newspaper
• 1853-54: works as journeyman printer in Midwest and East
• 1856: trains as steamboat pilot under Horace Bixby and lives experiences recounted in Life on the Mississippi
• 1858: receives steamboat piloting license
• 1861: fights briefly for Confederates and then travels by coach to Carson City and lives experiences recounted in Roughing It
• 1862: works for Virginia City Territorial Enterprise
• c.1863: adopts the pseudonym Mark Twain
• 1865: "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" gives him national recognition
• 1869: travels to Europe and the Holy Land and lives experiences recounted in The Innocents Abroad
• 1869: The Innocents Abroad
• 1870: marries Olivia and settles in Hartford, Connecticut
• 1872: Roughing It
• 1873: The Gilded Age (co-written with Charles Dudley Warner)
• 1876: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• 1877: Whittier birthday speech
• 1878: travels to Europe with his family
• 1879: returns to America
• 1880: A Tramp Abroad
• 1882: The Prince and the Pauper
• 1883: Life on the Mississippi
• 1884: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• 1889: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• 1892: The American Claimant
• 1893: Twain's publishing firm, meant to publish his works and Ulysses Grant's memoirs, fails
• 1894: Paige typsetting machine, in which Twain has invested almost $250,000, fails; after going bankrupt, he goes on a lecturing tour of the world
• 1894: Tom Sawyer Abroad
• 1894: The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
• 1896: Tom Sawyer, Detective
• 1896: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
• 1897: Following the Equator
• c.1895: daughter Susy dies of meningitis
• c.1895: suffers from bronchitis and rheumatism
• 1898: finishes paying off debts
• 1900: "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"
• 1906: What is Man?
• 1907: Christian Science
• 1909: Is Shakespeare Dead?
• 1910: dies

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Issues and themes

Creativity

• As a pilot from 1857 to 1861, Twain encountered a lot of storytelling and gleaned material that he later would use in his work: "Above all, there is the talk of men. It is a constant stream in Mark Twain's books, and a good part of it was heard in early evenings while the Alonzo Child or the City of Memphis went booming down the spring floods. Tales of feuds and voyages, of mistaken identities, piracies, murders, hangings and lynchings, monstrous twins, hypocrisy, revenge, ghosts--much that his tropical imagination was to play with all his life originates here" (DeVoto 105).
• Twain became cosmopolitan: "And for the first time cosmopolitanism enters the mind of Sam Clemens. All this was education. Frontier boyhood and the simplicities of a tramp printer merge into a maturity weathered by this infinitely variegated experience. He perceives much more: the damned human race is clearer to him. Much that is constant in his books--much of what is valuable--comes from this clear perception" (DeVoto 106)
• On these boats, he absorbed America: "When the war put an end to piloting, he had already had more of the experience of America, and had been more intimately a part of it, than any one else in American literature" (Devoto 111)
• Ideas often drove Twain into "fevers of creation"; for example, a friend suggested that his account of steamboating was a "virgin" subject, and he began writing "Old Times on the Mississippi" (DeVoto 108)

Dreams

• "30,000 Years Among the Microbes"
• "Which Was the Dream?"
• The Mysterious Stranger

• felt pressure because of Olivia, who belonged to genteel culture.
• tried to write genteel fiction, including The Prince and the Pauper.
• "Any discomfort, resistance, or resentment that Samuel Clemens felt from the 'civilizing' he had been undergoing could be readily expressed in Huck's attitude. Telling the story with Huck's voice released tons of psychic energy" (Emerson 128).
• Whittier birthday speech (Dec. 17, 1877): Invited to speak at a gathering of genteel figures, Twain adopts a rustic persona and pokes fun at Longfellow, Holmes, and Emerson. He gets few laughs and fears he has offended the important people in genteel culture. Feeling humiliated and banished by genteel culture, he leaves the country for Germany (Emerson).

Humor

• Twain wrote that American humor is just human humor that has been set free from its chains.
• wrote in Pudd'nhead Wilson that that "the secret source of humor itself is sorrow."
• A steamboat accident injured his brother, and the brother died after Twain gave him a dose of morphine; Twain feared that he caused his brother's death.
• Twain felt responsible for death of his son, who was exposed in cold weather.
• Three of his four children died before he did.
• His father died young.
• Twain gave a drunk matches, and the man accidentally burned the jail, where he died in the flames; Twain said the incident stayed with him.
• Twain biographer Albert Paine wrote that Western humor, in general, "grew out of a distinct condition--the battle with the frontier. The fight was so desperate, to take it seriously was to surrender. Women laughed that they might not weep; men, when they could no longer swear. 'Western humor' was the result. It is the freshest, wildest humor in the world, but there is tragedy behind it" (Brooks 14).
• Twain originally wanted to be a serious artist; his turn toward humor damaged his artistic promise: ". . . it was in consequence of pursuing it, we have divined, that he was arrested in his moral and aesthetic development" (Brooks 13).
• Life in the West did not appeal to Twain, who complained about the hard work and barren landscape (Brooks 14). This hard life drove him--as it drove other writers, including Artemus Ward and even Bret Harte--to write humor; here, humor was a means of giving vent to pent-up emotions of dissatisfaction in a difficult world; other pioneers vented through practical jokes and violence, but Twain was too sensitive and humane for these outlets. "By means of ferocious jokes . . . he could vent his hatred of pioneer life and all its conditions, those conditions that were thwarting his creative life; he could, in this vicarious manner, appease the artist in him, while at the same time keeping on the safe side of public opinion since the very act of transforming his aggressions into jokes rendered them innocuous" (Brooks 18).
• Because Twain longed for popular success, he continued to produce what people wanted and drifted away from his original impulses toward serious art (Brooks 20).
• Although Twain's humor was satiric early on, such material could not survive in the West, where economic prosperity was based on the system he was criticizing: "His impulse, his desire, we see, was not that of the 'humorist,' it was that of the satirist; but whether in Nevada or in California, he was prohibited, on pain of social extinction, from expressing himself directly regarding the life about him. Satire, in short, had become for him as impossible as murder: he was obliged to remain a humorist" (Brooks 19-20).
• Twain's humor struck a chord because, as Howells pointed out, America was a homogeneous society; readers responded to his humorous accounts of life's irritations because they, too, had experienced these irritations (Brooks 21).

• Twain "never encouraged people to forget that he was also Samuel L. Clemens: he signed letters with both names, and the two names appeared together on the title pages of his books" (Emerson ix).
• Doubles--such as Tom and Chambers in Pudd'nhead Wilson and Prince Edward and Tom Shanty in The Prince and the Pauper--point to questions of identity.
• Living in Missouri, a boarder state, he was neither a Northerner or a Southerner. See "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed."

• Twain grew up in a time and place that condoned slavery, yet he admired black Americans he knew and even sponsored the education of a black student at Yale.
• By 1885, Twain was lecturing with Cable, who was speaking out against oppression; Twain subscribed to this belief.

• Twain read Walter Scott's works as a child (Gribben).
• In 1860, Twain praised Cervantes, whose Don Quixotie satirizes chivalric romance.
• Records show that Twain's household bought A Boy's King Arthur in 1880.
• See The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed," and descriptions of pilot and passenger in Life on the Mississippi.

• Definition: "A work or manner that blends a censorious attitude with humor and wit for improving human institutions or humanity" (Holman and Harmon 423); satire has an object--usually an institution or humanity in general--which the satirist seeks to improve by exposing it to ridicule.
• Formal satire: work in which the satiric voice speaks directly to reader or adversarius.
• Horatian satire: formal satire that gently pokes fun at its object and encourages sympathetic laughter, see works of Joseph Addison
• Juvenalian satire: formal satire that harshly criticizes its object; see works of Jonathan Swift
• Indirect satire: satire in which an author exposes characters' shortcomings through their words and actions; Twain mainly uses this form of satire

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Work

Life on the Mississippi

Publication

• Life on the Mississippi was published in book form in 1883.
• Parts of the book originally appeared in periodicals under the title "Old Times on the Mississippi."

Chapters I-XXI

• How does the book begin? What appears to be Twain's intention in writing it? Can you think of any other kinds of literature it resembles?
• Analyze the story Twain includes in Chapter III: "Frescoes from the Past." Identify characteristics of Old Southwestern humor in the story. What is its purpose? Twain says in this chapter that this narrative is part of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but it does not appear in the published version of that novel. Why do you think he omitted it?
• Why do young Sam Clemens and other boys on the Mississippi long to be steamboat pilots? What in particular appeals to Clemens and relates to his ultimate career as a writ
• Identify some humorous passages in these chapters. What makes them humorous?
• Analyze Twain's style. What makes his prose lyrical and effective?
• What tone and point of view does Twain employ in these chapters. Consider passages such as this one from Chapter VI: "I supposed that all a pilot had to do was to keep his boat in the river, and I did not consider that that could be much of a trick, since it was so wide" (45).
• Compare these early chapters to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which Twain was writing at the same time he was working on Life on the Mississippi. How might have his work on this book affected his composition of Huck Finn?
• How would you characterize Sam's and Horace Bixby's relationship?
• Analyze these early chapters as a bildungsroman.
• Identify some larger implications for some of Twain's descriptions of the river and steamboat piloting. For instance, consider Mr. Bixby's advice on learning the river: "No! you only learn the shape of the river; and you learn it with such absolute certainty that you can always steer by the shape that 's in your head, and never mind the one that 's before your eyes" (63).
• Why do you think Twain spends so much time describing the science of piloting?
• Trace the theme of liberty through these chapters.
• What, in addition to the ability to pilot a steamboat, did Twain learn from his days on the Mississippi?

Chapters XXII-L

• How does Twain react to the changes that have taken place in the 21 years since he retired from piloting?
• Analyze this passage from Chapter XXV: "Going into Cairo, we came near killing a steamboat which paid no attention to our whistle and then tried to cross our bows. By doing some strong backing, we saved him; which was a great loss, for he would have made good literature" (193).
• Twain makes several comments about romance. What does he mean by "romance" in phrases such as "the romance of our calling" (211)? What does he think of romance?
• Which of the sketches in this section do you like best? Why? Why do you think Twain included them in the book?
• What is the tone of the chapter called "The House Beautiful"? Why do you think Twain reacts as he does to the homes of Southern aristocrats? Where does this attitude appear in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
• Why does Twain harshly criticize Sir Walter Scott? Of what does he accuse him? Do you agree with Twain?
• In Chapter XLV: "Southern Sports," Twain says that Southerners were more likely to talk about the Civil War than Northerners in the years after the war. Do you think this condition still exists today? Why or why not? If possible, cite evidence from your personal experience as one who grew up in the North, the South, or both.
• Analyze this line from "Southern Sports": "I was not sorry, for war talk by men who have been in a war is always interesting; whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been in the moon is likely to be dull" (328).
• Where did Twain get his pseudonym? Why do you suppose he chose this one?

Chapter LI-Appendix D

• Identify parallels between passages of this section and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• Why do you suppose Twain includes the anecdote about the prisoners?
• How does Twain react to the changes in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri?
• Do you see any purpose behind the chapter called "Past and Present" besides humor?
• Why do you think Twain included an appendix?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• What sort of person is Huck Finn? What are his likes and dislikes? How does Twain convey his character to us?
• The first chapter of this novel is a kind of snapshot of Huck at one point in his life. What kind of snapshot is it? How is the picture of Huck in Chapter 1 different from the picture in Chapter 2?
• Look up "naive narrator" in Holman and Harmon's A Handbook to Literature. Find some evidence in Chapter 1 that Huck is a naive narrator. What effect does this type of narrator have on the reader?
• "At the beginning of the novel, it becomes apparent that Huck is a rather rebellious character by virtue of his conversation with Miss Watson. In this conversation, where Miss Watson describes the 'bad place' to Huck and how people who do not comply with the norms of society go there, Huck responds by saying he would like to go there if Tom Sawyer is going to go. This response shows his honesty and truth to himself, as well as the rebellion from society that he exhibits on other occasions throughout the novel. It is this willingness to rebel from society that later allows Huck to make the decision to free Jim and proceed in his heroic actions" (Butler 10/8/96).
• "Huck is the type of person who wants to do what is right for him, not necessarily what is right according to the Widow Douglass, who is a personification for the rules and regulations of the society Huck lives in. He wants to make his own decisions and be free to do as he likes" (Hundley 10/8/96).

• Is Huck a loner? Why or why not?
• What kind of character is Tom Sawyer? If you could have either as a friend, which would you choose? Why?

• Interpret the final lines of this chapter: "So then I judged that all that stuff was only just one of Tom Sawyer's lies. I reckoned he believed in the A-rabs and the elephants, but as for me I think different. It had all the marks of a Sunday school."

• How do you interpret Jim's and Huck's interest in superstitions?
• "Huck is . . . naive when hearing of Jim's superstitions because he is convinced by the rattlesnake ordeal. Instead of just deciding that this was just coincidence, he decides to believe Jim's rules about bad luck. The reader might find this ridiculous, but many of Jim's beliefs actually are for their own good and tend to sometimes be concrete. Here Twain might be trying to show that sometimes the unbelievable has some truth to it" (Kimmel 10/;8/96).

• Analyze Pap's relationship with Huck and his ideas about reading and school.

• What do Huck and Jim have in common? Consider Huck's life in the cabin with Pap.
• Consider Pap's speech about the black man who could vote. What is the real source of Pap's anger? How is Twain satirizing humanity in this passage?

• Why does Huck wish Tom Sawyer had seen his ruse for making people think he was murdered?
• How does Huck describe his escape? Pay especially close attention to the paragraph that begins: "I didn't lose no time."

• How do you interpret the scene in which Huck watches his family and friends drift by him on Jackson's Island?
• How does Twain create a connection between Huck and us? In what ways does Huck illustrate our own experience?
• Huck says he won't tell on Jim, even though people will call him a "low-down Ablitionist." How does this statement fit in Twain's satire?

• What function does Huck's vivid description of the storm serve?

• What kind of joke does Huck play on Jim? In what way might the outcome be a comment on humor?

• After escaping independently earlier in the novel, Huck and Jim make a joint escape at the end of this chapter. Consider these escapes and the many that follow. How do they function in the novel, and why might Twain have included so many in this story?
• "Huck is making a big sacrifice when he decides to travel with Jim because there are people chasing after Jim. When Huck meets Jim on the island, he acts nobly by asking Jim to travel with him. This fact, in itself, is enough to prove to me that Huck is the hero of the story" (Patterson 5-6).

• Where does Huck show his knowledge of the river? How are these passages autobiographical?
• Look up "bildungsroman" in A Handbook to Literature. In what ways is this novel a bildungsroman? Consider Huck's relationships with Pap, Tom Sawyer, and Jim. What does he learn from each? Pay attention also to the many "adventures" Huck has in the novel. How are they like episodes in an ordinary boy's life? What metaphorical meanings do some of them have?

• How does Huck react to the murderers' plight? What does this reaction say about his character?

• Huck thinks that Jim is illogical. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Chapter 15

• Have you ever been in a fog like the one Huck and Jim encounter? How might extremely thick fog be even more frightening than darkness? In what way does the fog work as a metaphor in the novel? Consider Jim's words after his reunion with Huck: "Is I me, or who is I? Is I heah, or whah is I?"
• Why does Jim react so harshly to Huck's joke? In what way might we describe the end of this chapter as a turning point in the novel?

• How do you interpret Huck's moral dilemma? Why does he decide to turn in Jim? Why does he then change his mind? What evidence of Twain's satire do you see in this chapter?
• Huck says that he tried to speak up to the men he saw on the river and tell them about Jim: "I tried, for a second or two, to brace up and out with it, but I warn't man enough . . ." How do you interpret this line?

• Describe the Grangerfords. What are their values? What is their function in the novel? What do you think of Emmeline Grangerford's art and poetry?
• Most literary scholars characterize Twain as a Realist, along with William Dean Howells and Henry James. What in this chapter would support this classification? Pay special attention to Huck's description of Emmeline Grangerford: "She warn't particular, she could write about anything you choose to give her to write about, just so it was sadful."
• What evidence in this chapter supports the characterization of Huck as a "naive narrator"? How does the naive narrator function in this novel? In particular, consider its role in Twain's humor and satire.
• "Twain is making fun of the Old South. For example, Huck describes how the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords were sitting in church with their guns between their knees, but loved the sermon on brotherly love. Twain, by including this adventure, satirizes the hypocrisy of this way of life" (Plonk 10/15/96).

• What is the significance of Buck Grangerford?
• Interpret these lines: "I wished I hadn't ever come ashore that night, to see such things. I ain't ever going to get shut of them--lots of times I dream about them." Consider the tragedies in Twain's own life. See "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed."
• Interpret the final line of this chapter: "You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."

• After explaining that he and Jim were usually naked on the raft, Huck says: "It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened." If you have read Paradise Lost, try to identify a parrallel in this novel and that epic poem.
• Interpret this line: "If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way."

• What similarities do you see in this chapter and Old Southwestern humor?

• What is wrong with the duke's version of Hamlet's soliloquy?

• How do you interpret the episode featuring Boggs and Col. Sherburn?
• Why do you think the circus appeals so much to Huck? In what way is the circus a metaphor?
• What evidence do you see of Huck's role as a naive narrator in this chapter?
• "An example of Huck's naivete is when he goes to the circus. He describes the women there as very beautiful, with perfect complexions. What he didn't realize was that they'd gotten their 'perfect complexions' by wearing makeup" (Smith 10/10/96).

• Interpret Huck's musings on Jim and his family: "He was thinking about his wife and his children, away up yonder, and he was low and homesick; because he hadn't ever been away from home before in his life; and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for ther'n. It don't seem natural, but I reckon it's so."

• Interpret the final line of this chapter: "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."

• How do the duke and the king con the Wilks family?

• After spending some time with the Wilks girls, Huck eavesdrops on the duke and king and hears that the duke wants to take the money and run. "That made me feel pretty bad," Huck says. "About an hour or two ago, it would a been a little different, but now it made me feel bad and disappointed." What difference has an hour or two made in Huck's feelings? What parallels do you see in Huck's relationship with Jim? How do these lines support a reading of this novel as a bildungsroman?
• "Despite his own personal risk, [Huck] succeeds in stealing the money that the king and the duke wrongfully possess, and he places it in the coffin, where it can later be recovered by the Wilks girls, who should rightfully own it. This reaction is a huge step in the development of Huck's character and is one of the actions that result in his classification as a hero, for he puts himself at the risk of the wrath of the duke and the king in order to ensure that the girls will not be so unjustly robbed of their family's small fortune" (Butler 5).

• How does Huck demonstrate his knowledge of human nature in this chapter and others?

• How do you interpret the role of Mary Jane Wilks in this chapter?

• How does the episode with the duke and the king, especially the trip to the cemetery, affect the town?

• An old expression goes, "There is no honor among thieves." Apply this expression to this chapter.

• Analyze Huck's moral dilemma in this chapter. Why does Huck say, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"?

• When Aunt Sally asks Huck if anyone was hurt in the steamboat accident, he replies: "No'm. Killed a nigger." She replies: "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt." How do you interpret this passage?

• How is Tom Sawyer's entry into the Phelps' home and his practical joke on Aunt Sally typical of his personality?
• Interpret Huck's reaction to seeing the duke and the king tarred and feathered, particularly this line: "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another."

• How do you interpret Tom's plan for freeing Jim? How does it compare with Huck's plan? How is each plan appropriate for its creator's personality and outlook?

• Interpret Tom's defense for suggesting they cut off Jim's leg: "Well, some of the best authorities has done it." Who are these authorities, and how has Tom encountered them?

• How are this chapter and the one surrounding it similar to Twain's novel itself?

• How would you characterize Uncle Silas?

• How do you interpet Jim's reactions to Tom's ideas for his prison life, particularly Tom's suggestion that he keep a rattlesnake for a pet? What parallels do you see in Jim's and Huck's personalities?

• How are this chapter and the surrounding ones unlike other parts of the novel?

• Interpret Jim's reaction to Tom's injury, particularly this line: "No, sah--I doan' budge a step out'n dis place 'dout a doctor; not if it's forty year!"

• What is the purpose of the gossip scene?

• Compare the doctor's reaction to finding Jim and Huck's treatment of Jim.
• "Both Tom Sawyer and the doctor serve as character foils to Huck. Twain strategically makes the foils each be of different age groups. This is important because it shows that neither a young nor old person could see what Huck was able to" (Plonk 6).

• Why is it significant that Huck is going to "light out for the Territory"?

• Huck, although he could be labeled 'moralless,' seems to have a loose set of morals which he follows. Huck lies often, but only with the intentions of not causing any harm to others ('white lies'). Huck also steals often, but justifies it by leaving some form of payment or compensation to those he steals from. So, to some extent, Huck does have a set of morals differing only slightly from the norm of those in society" (Brooks 10/8/96).
• "Huck shows much loyalty to Jim. At the beginning of the novel, when Huck and Jim think that people are after Jim because he is a runaway slave, Huck states that they are after 'us.' This use of the word 'us' shows how strongly Huck feels about friendship. This proves that when one of the pair is suffering, the other is, too. Huck thinks that if they are after Jim, they are after him as well because he is Jim and Jim is Huck" (Patterson 7).
• "Huck Finn is the hero of the novel because he is the one who has the greatest achievement in the story. Jim is obviously a very central character to the novel. After all, the book is about his freedom. However, Jim serves to guide Huck on his heroic journey; Jim only has to act human. Huck, on the other hand, has the great task of realizing Jim's human traits when the whole world is telling him Jim has none" (Plonk 7).
• "During the journey down the Mississippi, Huck finds out what it is like to be a friend and a partner. Whenever Huck and Jim are separated and Huck returns, Jim is elated. From this Huck is able to feel firsthand what it like to be missed. . . . When Jim finds Huck again and again, it is almost a parental joy that Huck is okay. This is something that Huck has not experienced before" (Wallen 10/9/96).
• Twain's use of a naive narrator: "Having these episodes recounted from the point of view of a child . . . emphasizes the truth in his statement, as his view is unbiased and uncorrupted from the evils of society. The reader also benefits from a naive narrator because the narrator can be trusted completely. The lack of previous experience in the situations he encounters ensures an honest and unbiased recollection of what he sees or experiences" (Minis 10/8/96).
• "What Huck wants out of life, I think, is to find his place in the world. He wants the ability to be his own person and live his life how he wants. He wants to be able to exert his own free will and make decisions on his own" (Catt 10/8/96).

Bibliography

Life

• DeVoto, Bernard. "The Symbols of Despair." Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Henry Nash Smith. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: 1963.
• Emerson, Everett. The Authentic Mark Twain: A Literary Biography of Samuel L. Clemens. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.
• ---. "Mark Twain and Humiliation." Mark Twain Journal. Spring 1991. 2-7.

• Brooks, Van Wyck. "Mark Twain's Humor." Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Henry Nash Smith. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963. 13-28.
• Canby, Henry Seidel. "Machine-age Yankee." Turn West, Turn East: Mark Twain and Henry James. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951. 163-172.
• DeVoto, Bernard. Mark Twain's America. Westport, Conn.: Greenport, 1932.
• ---. "The Symbols of Despair." Ed. Henry Nash Smith. Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: 1963.
• Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. Was Huck Black? Mark Twain and African American Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Gribben, Alan. Mark Twain's Library: A Reconstruction. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1980.

Interpretation of work

• Brooks, Robbie. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8, 1996.
• Butler, Chris. "Development of a Hero." English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fall 1996.
• ---. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8, 1996.
• Catt, Cynthia. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8, 1996.
• Hundley, Ann. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8 , 1996.
• Kimmel, Jeremy. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8, 1996.
• Minis, Sarah. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 8, 1996.
• Patterson, Kathleen. "Mark Twain's Hero in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fall 1996.
• Plonk, Sara. "Huckleberry Finn--the Hero." English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fall 1996.
• ---. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 15, 1996.
• Smith, Jenny. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 10, 1996.
• Wallen, Stephanie. Journal for English 28. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. October 9, 1996.