Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Writing Style

Informal, Youthful, Colloquial, Illustrative

Twain’s style is original (and was even more so at the time this novel was published). The character of Huckleberry Finn has inspired countless authors ever since he first came on the scene. Some readers think that Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye, with his attitude and informal tone, is a more modern version of Huck Finn.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told from the first person point of view an only-partly-educated thirteen-year-old southern boy in the 1830s or 40s. As narrator, Huck describes the story in his natural, everyday voice, and he addresses his readers directly during his storytelling with a friendly, trusting attitude. Taking that into consideration – along with Huck’s age, education level, and social background – Twain’s choice of a colloquial style makes perfect sense. We can’t imagine you didn’t pick up on Huck’s particular way of speaking. But just in case, let’s take a look here at a bit section of Chapter 6:

I didn’t want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn’t like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn’t no objections... But by-and-by pap got too handy with his hick’ry, and I could’t stand it. I was all over with welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome.

The grammar isn’t perfect, and clearly Twain writes the way Huck Finn talks (hence all the apostrophes subbing for unpronounced letters). It’s also important to note that Huck’s voice – as well as the era and the location in which the novel is set – is why the n-word pops up so often. Throughout its publication, Huckleberry Finn has been banned numerous times because of the inclusion of that word.

Besides nailing Huck’s education level, social background, and personality, Twain succeeded in telling the story convincingly through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old. (At least, we think so.) There’s quite a bit of dramatic irony throughout the novel, when we can pick up on certain subtext even when Huck doesn't. Think about all those conversations where Huck thinks he’s fooling somebody into believing one of his lies. Nearly every time, we can see that whomever he’s talking to is onto his tall-tales.