and Picaresque Fiction English 11 Honors American Themes Picaresque The picaresque novel Spanish picaresca from pícaro for rogue or rascal is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which is ID: 365672
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Slide1
Huck Finn and Picaresque Fiction
English 11 Honors: American ThemesSlide2
Picaresque
The
picaresque novel
(Spanish:
"
picaresca
"
, from
"
pícaro
"
, for "rogue" or "rascal") is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is
usually satirical
and depicts in
realistic
and often
humorous detail
the adventures of a roguish hero of
low social class
who lives by his or her wits in a
corrupt society
. Slide3
Other Examples: PicarO (RoGue)
Don Quixote
Ignatius J. Reilly
Candide
Raoul DukeSlide4
Picaresque Novel: Huck Finn
Mark Twain’s novel,
The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, is a picaresque novel:
episodic
plot
a unifying theme of the river
characterization of Huck Finn as a rogue heroSlide5
Episodic Plot
The novel’s periodic plot is demonstrated by Huck’s many adventures in
separate episodes having independent conflicts.
The conflicts that govern Huck’s encounters with people are very different and disconnected
from
one
another.the dishonest and devious king and the
duke: involves two crooksthe Grangerford family: involves a long-standing family feud between the Grangerford and Sheperdson familiesColonel Sherburn
: involves a Colonel defending his honorSlide6
Unifying Theme: Mississippi River
Though episodic
in nature, the story nevertheless holds together because of the river and the constant presence of Huck as
narrator. Every episode in the book takes place along the banks of the Mississippi River, as Huck and Jim travel down the mighty river, trying to find Cairo.Slide7
Unifying Theme:
MississippI
River
“The
River gives the book its form. But for the River, the book might be only a sequence of adventures with a happy
ending” (
T.S.
Eliot)Water diction is used to purvey a sense of the unifying river in the book. As Huck and Jim raft down the river from Jackson Island, Huck comments: “Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I might say they swum by, they slid along so quiet and smooth and lovely”
(129). The
river physically holds the story together and also underlies the whole novel.Slide8
Picaresque Hero“The picaresque novel is a witty, satirical form that revolves around the exploits of a lower-class hero of dubious morals, often called a ‘rogue hero.’ This hero lives by his wits as he moves through the various strata of his society. The hero is constantly in and out of trouble but often uses his street-smarts to emerge from compromising situations
.”(
Gary
Weiner)Slide9
Picaresque Hero: Dubious MoralsHuck can be characterized as having dubious morals through his actions and reasoning.
Huck
justifies some of his immoral actions, such as stealing, by using his pap’s own actions as a precedent.
As Huck tells the reader during the preparations to help Jim escape from the Phelps residence, “Along during that morning I borrowed a sheet and white shirt off of the clothes-line […] I called it borrowing because that was what
Pap
always called it
[…]” (256). Slide10
Picaresque Hero: Social StRata
Rogue heroes travel ‘through’ various social
classesThrough
the episodes that Huck experiences, Twain presents the many levels of antebellum Mississippi valley American social classes.
Huck
starts traveling with Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi river, and eventually befriends him, a lower class individual.Slide11
Picaresque Hero: TroubleAnother facet of the picaresque hero is
Huck’s
constant entanglement with trouble. Each episode that Huck experiences, embroils him in that conflict until he escapes to stumble into the next conflict.
In his attempts to escape from trouble, Huck often inadvertently stumbles into more trouble. Slide12
Picaresque Hero: Street SmartsHuck fulfills the fourth criterion for a rogue hero by using wits and practical knowledge of the world to avoid or escape from trouble.
Whenever
Huck is tangled in a problem, he concocts a story for himself on the spot and manages his way out of trouble.Slide13
Conclusion
An episodic plot and Huck Finn as a rogue hero establish Mark Twain’s
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a picaresque novel.
The plot consists of many episodes with separate and disconnected conflicts, all bound by the river.
Huck
Finn can be characterized as a rogue hero, thus fulfilling all the necessary criteria for the picaresque novel.
Dubious Morals
Social StrataIn and Out of TroubleStreet SmartsSlide14