When Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after the Civil War, it was in part a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel before the Civil War, Uncle Tom's Cabin. While supporting many of Stowe's assertions and motivations, Twain also found fault with several aspects of his writings. For example, Twain undoubtedly agreed with Stowe's anti-slavery stance, as well as his depiction of a moral, gentle black man triumphing over the ills of society. However, judging from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it appears that Twain disagreed with Stowe's use of the cult of domesticity, religion, language modification, and his ultimate hopes for Black people after they gained freedom. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The similarities and differences between Stowe and Twain appear in their respective characterizations of Tom and Jim. In chapter 26 of Uncle Tom's Cabin, while little Eva is on her deathbed, Stowe writes the following portrait of Tom, who is at her side: “Tom had his master's hands in his; and with tears streaming down his dark cheeks he looked He asked for help where he had always been accustomed to seek help. “Pray this can be cut short!” » said Saint Clare, it tugs at my heart. “Oh, bless the Lord!” It's over, it's over, dear Master! said Tom; “look at her”” (321). In chapter 15 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain writes the following passage, in which Jim addresses Huck: When I was worn out with work, and with calling for you, and fell asleep, my heart rose. 'broken because you were lost', and I didn't understand what became of me in de raf'. And when I wake up, you'll be back again, all safe and sunny, and the tears will flow and I can get down on my knees and kiss your foot, I'm so grateful. And everything you thought about how you could ridicule Jim with a lie (95). In the previous passage, Tom is portrayed as a gentle, feminine, religious and well-spoken person. Jim, too, is described in this last quote as being gentle and woman-like, but there is no mention of religion, and he speaks in the "Missouri Negro dialect," as Twain calls it in the note. explanatory preceding the novel. and Jim are clearly men of feelings. In fact, in both passages, both men openly display emotion, one of the many characteristics of women in terms of the cult of domesticity. However, Stowe's use of the cult of domesticity was intended to attract female readers by describing it as the "moral sex." In her concluding remarks, Stowe attempts to stir women's action by appealing to all the qualities of the female domain of the cult of domesticity (i.e. morality, child rearing, education and religion): And you, mothers of America, - you, who have learned, from the cradles of your own children, to love and feel for all humanity, - by the sacred love you have for your child ; by your joy in his beautiful and impeccable childhood; by the maternal pity and tenderness with which you guide his years of growth; by the worries of his education; by the prayers you breathe for the eternal good of his soul; - I beg you, have pity on the mother who has all your affections, and not a single legal right to protect, guide or educate the child of her womb! "(479)Twain, on the other hand, while acknowledging Stowe's use of The Cult of Domesticity,uses it for a different purpose to subvert notions of gender roles. Essentially, he uses the cult of domesticity to undermine it. This is perhaps best illustrated by the contrast between Jim and Huck's gentle qualities. the artificiality and male violence that characterize the chapters involving the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. Twain also finds fault with Stowe's extensive use of religion in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Obvious elements of religion in his novel include the typology of the American continent and the use of the Mississippi River. River, the sermon quality of the book (especially the final chapter), and above all, the portrait of Tom himself as a Christ figure. An example of this is found in chapter 41, when Tom approaches death at the hands of Simon Legree, his satanic master. Even after all the harm he suffered at the hands of Legree, Tom still prays for his salvation. He said, “Oh, if [Legree] could only repent, the Lord would forgive him now; but I'm afraid he never will! (452) Twain mocks religion at the beginning of his novel, with the Widow Douglas teaching Huck Bible stories. Huck tells the reader, “...I was sweating at the thought of knowing all about [Moses]; but little by little she let slip that Moses had been dead for a very long time, so I didn't care. about him; because I take no account of the dead” (14-15). It is clear that although Stowe centers his novel on Christian morality and the Bible, Twain believes Christianity to be submissive and feminine. Another issue on which Twain disagrees with Stowe is that of language. As the aforementioned deathbed passage shows, Tom speaks with considerable eloquence for a black slave. This is partly so that Tom's character will appeal to Northern readers. The shaping of Tom's character to please the audience represents what Stowe herself did on a larger scale in writing her novel. In addition to trying to be an influential author, she also tried to write a novel that would appeal to both Northerners and Southerners. His description of Arthur and Emily Shelby as "good" Southern plantation owners is an example of his attempt to appeal to Southern readers. While Twain parallels Stowe's illustration of capitalism corrupting slavery (e.g., Miss Watson considers selling Jim, just as Arthur Shelby is forced to sell Tom), he does not, like Stowe, engage in the manipulation of language in order to appeal to a wider audience. In fact, Jim's "Missouri Negro dialect" is similar to the way Twain wrote his entire novel. Twain's narrator is Huck, who is in every sense of the word, a realist. Huck is a very literal character who, above all, tells it like it is. Twain uses local dialects to react against the “overcivilized” language of contemporary New England writers. This is depicted in the book by Huck's refusal to be "civilized". Indeed, the last lines of the novel are: “But I think I have to leave for the Territory before the others, because Aunt Sally, she's going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can't stand it. I've been there before. " (296). Thus, Twain also reacts against Stowe, who has allowed herself to be bound by language. As Thomas Cooley notes in the preface, Huck's narration, like Twain's, is... the language of speech, and it is very different from the language in which most American literature was written before 1885. The language of Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and even Melville was a formal, "literary" language; at worst, it was sometimes inflated into what Mark Twain called "the most spectacular kind of literary speech" (viii).: 1999