Huck Finn Criticism

I felt that the selected literary criticisms of Huckleberry Finn were an excellent mix from a diverse group of writers. Two of the most interesting were Victor Doyno's insights into Twain's creative process and T.S. Eliot's assessment of the classic work. In Doyno's piece it becomes apparent that Twain's writing process was painstaking and deliberate. Because the novel is told in first-person by Huck using language that was spoken by an unsophisticated southern boy during that period of time, we as readers tend to think that it was a casual, spontaneous process without a lot of revision or anguish. What Doyno is able to do in his research is debunk that idea. Every word is carefully chosen to accurately paint the characters' as Twain envisions them. What's amazing to me is that he is able to do so through the len's of a 14 year-old boy. Doyno's piece shows the chronological events that led to the creation and development of Huck which reveals a great deal about Twain's creative process.

I also loved the T.S. Eliot insights into the novel. Although Eliot, a writer approaches his criticism from a literary point of view, his psychological insights into Huck's psyche give readers a fuller understanding of his character. After I read his piece, I felt I had a better understanding and more sensitivity toward Huck and Jim.

It was also interesting to contrast Eliot's piece with Toni Morrison's. At times it was hard to believe that they were discussing the same piece of literature because their opinions were so opposed.