Solomon Criticism

While reading "Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Karen Sloan, I found myself agreeing with her multiple times. Also, it seemed that many of her points agreed with my own personal thesis. For instance, Sloan says, "Twain uses Jim's parody of biblical justice as an interpretive key to a modern-day parable of his own about the social and psychological enslavement of blacks twenty years after the Civil War" (Sloan 2). I completely support this statement, in that Twain uses this parody of King Solomon to show his own views on slavery and the mistreatment of African Americans. Also, Sloan says that, "The wellspring for Jim's parody and Twain's parable is the novel's half-told biblical account of King Solomon and a dispute in which the contested property is a human being" (Sloan 3). This statement also agrees with my thesis in that Jim does not like how Solomon treats the baby like it is property, which is the way slaves were treated; as property. I also believe that "..it is Huck, not Jim, who has missed Twain's point" (Sloan 2). I agree with this because it is obvious Twain is anti-racist and Huck represents the white society that has engraved all these corrupt morals and it is Jim who sees this in the story, that the baby is seen as property rather than a child. Jim only understands it the way his experience allows him to, which agrees with Justin's idea that Jim was raised in an environment who doesn't consider him a whole person. ; just like Huck-whose interpretation is based off the widows, along with the rest of society. I also think that Twain tries to speak to the audience needs to listen to Jim when he has Jim say, "En mine you, de real point is down furder-it's down deeper"(Twain 78). Sloan also agrees with this idea when she says, "Twain's larger purpose is to encrypt Huck's story with a parable that his audience most likely does not wish to hear" (Sloan 4). I agree with Jill that the real mom represents African Americans and the deceitful mom represents white society. However, I am not sure that I agree with Reena and Roxanne about Solomon representing the government. According to this thesis, I think that the real mom thinks that cutting the baby and treating it like property is morally wrong and the other mom is white society, who does not see the corruptness of treating the baby like property at all. Overall, I believe that my classmates along with Sloan bring up very interesting points. After reading the criticism, Sloan presents many points that agree with my own thesis.


colleen froehlich