Why Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn shocked readers of their time

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are characters in the works of American writer Samuel Clemens, who worked under the pseudonym Mark Twain.

Where did they come from

Twain told about the origin of his characters in the preface to the book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". According to him, the prototype of Huckleberry Finn was a real boy, his childhood friend is Thomas Blankenship, and Tom Sawyer combines the features of three of his peers from the past at once.

The most famous and beloved works that tell about the adventures of a couple of incorrigible tomboys are the story "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and the novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that came out after it. The latter is considered the writer's greatest contribution to American fiction.

Literary Challenge

The appearance of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was shocking and revolutionized the minds of the "respectable" readership of those times. In the 19th century, books about these heroes were even declared immoral and tried to ban them.

The fact is that before the purpose of children'swriters was to create an image of obedient, God-fearing and diligent children who should be a good role model. A book for children must have taught that the main virtue of a child - obedience - is always rewarded. The adventures of the clever and fair prankster Tom Sawyer and the adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a restless rake with a good heart, became a challenge to a conservative view of the tasks of literature. But believing in such heroes was much easier than seriously believing that there are perfectly obedient children in the world.

Defiant, brave, sincere

The advantage of the new characters was also the fact that live, direct characters presented the reader with new ideals. True virtue can be considered an unquenchable interest in the world, an indomitable desire to help the weak and an indestructible sense of justice. This is how the mischievous from the fictional provincial town of Missouri turned out to be - Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Such characters began to appear in the books of writers from other countries, not excluding Russia. These are Misha Polyakov and his faithful friends Genka and Slava from A. Rybakov's story "Kortik", Denis Korablev from the stories of V. Dragunsky. These are the heroes of Nosov, Zheleznikov, Sotnik.

Contrary to stereotypes

Tom Sawyer is an orphan living in Aunt Polly's house with his cousins. The resourcefulness and self-esteem of this boy can be envied. Tom is bored with following the rules and obeying other people's requirements. Unbridled imagination and a bold sharp mindtake him on adventures, many of which are breathtakingly dangerous. Huck has a father, a homeless drunk, so the boy grows up as a homeless child and spends the night in a barrel. Huckleberry does not boast of good manners, smokes a pipe, does not attend school. He has unlimited freedom and is therefore infinitely happy.

Of course, the children of the city are forbidden to be friends with Huck, but this law is not written for Tom Sawyer. Together, the guys go through a cascade of adventures in which their glorious independent characters appear.

Continued

Famous works had a sequel: the novels "Tom Sawyer Abroad", and then "Tom Sawyer - Detective". But these were projects created during the years when the writer was in dire need of money. The commercial motive was reflected in the quality of the books, which did not find a warm response and remained forgotten parts of the tetralogy.

Screenings

It is not surprising that the works of Mark Twain about the friendship of two smart fidgets interested filmmakers. The first attempt to capture the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn on film was made by the Americans. In 1917, the silent film The Adventures of Tom Sawyer appeared, and a year later a sequel called Huck and Tom was released. In 1930-1931, American children's comedies based on the famous dulogy came out one after another. Forty years later, overseas filmmakers once again made musicals based on Twain's bestsellers.

In 1980, introduced Tom to the anime genreSawyer and Huckleberry Finn is a Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Saito. In 1993, a comedy was filmed in Hollywood about Huck's journey in the company of a Negro Jimmy. Tom also appears in the film only in the first two-second frames. In 2000, the film company Metro Goldwyn Mayer created a full-length cartoon based on Twain's story, in which Tom acts as a cat and Huck as a fox.

Tom and Huck in Russian interpretation

The Soviet version appeared on domestic blue screens in 1981. It was a three-part television film "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn", shot by the recognized master of the adventure genre Stanislav Govorukhin. The tape was made at the Odessa film studio, colorful landscapes were found in the Kherson region and the Caucasus. The Dnieper "starred" as the Mississippi River.

The film reflects all the main storylines of the book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". In the lead roles, the audience saw the future stars of the Russian film industry - Fyodor Stukov, who was only 9 years old, and 10-year-old Vladislav Galkin (Sukhachev), for whom this picture was the debut.