Works of Mark Twain
第六组
Representative Works
01
Innocents Abroad
02
The Gilded Age
03
The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer
04
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
05
A Million-Pound Note
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
01
Writing background
02
Main characters
03
The plot overview
04
The novel language and
expression skills
The Writing Background
In 1876,the novel
The Adventure of
Tom Sawyer is
published.
The novel takes
the small town on
the Mississippi
River as the
background and
welcomed by the
readers of any age.
Many interesting
plots are author’s
experience, which
conform (符合)to
the children’s
phychology.
Characters Lists
Main characters
Tom Sawyer
Other characters
Huckeberry finn
Muff Potter
Joe Harper
Injun Joe
Becky Thatcher
Dr.Robinson
Aunt Polly
Judge Thatcher
Widow Douglas
Tom Sawyer
• The novel’s main character:
• Tom is a mischievous（淘气的）
and
adventures boy with an active
imagination who spends most of the time
getting himself in trouble. Despite his
mischief, Tom has a good heart and a
strong moral conscience. He becomes
more and more muture as the story
progresses.
Huckleberry Finn
• Huck is Tom’s best friend and fellow
adventurer. Abandoned by his drunken
father, he lives on his own and by his own
rules. Huck is very independent. Most
adults disapprove of him and other
children envy him for his freedom.
Joe Harper
• Tom’s best friend and playmate.
He, Tom and Huck spent their
“pirate life” that they had been
longing for on Jackson’s Island.
Beck Thatcher
• Judge Thatcher’s pretty and cute
daughter. She is Tom’s loved one.
She
stirs（激起）Tom’s lively
romantic
sensibility. Naive at first,
Becky soon
matches Tom as a
romantic strategist.
Aunt Polly
• Polly is Tom’s aunt and guardian.
Aunt
Polly is a nice lady but she
can be
mean and strict at times. Overall, Aunt
Polly just wants to
be loved.
Other Characters
• Muff Poter: A“drunkard”, he help the doctor
Robinson rob a tomb in order to earn money to
buy drinks. But he were framed for murder by
associates of Indian Joe, after due to Tom’s
brave testimony he was proved innocent.
• Injun Joe: An Indian,insidious（阴险的） and
when he helped Dr.Robinson rob a grave with
Muff Potter he killed the doctor and planned the
accusation on Muff Poter. In the end he starved
to death in a cave because of greed.
• Dr. Robinson: A villager, was killed for
refusing to pay the extra by Injun Joe.
• Judge Thatcher: Becky’s father, is a great
figure in St Petersburg Town
• Widow Douglas: Beautiful, kind and rich.
Because Huck had saved her life she
adopted him.
The plot overview
Tom’s mother died in his childhood, then
he was adopted by Aunt Polly. The smart
naughty boy can not stand Aunt Polly and
teacher’s discipline, and he often played
truant （逃学）and got in trouble.
Adventures starting…
1.Test the guts in the cemetery at midnight with Huck.
2.Go to Jackson’s Island to be a “pirate” with Huck and
Joe.
3.Hunt treasure in a haunted house with Huck.
4.Get lost in McDougal’s cave with Becky.
5.Hunt treasure in the cave with Huck again.
• Later, Huck was adopted by the widow
because of his rescue. She taught him
manners and let him wear clean clothes,
but Huck can not stand those. One day he
disappeared. Tom discovered he was
asleep in empty cask. Huck only felt free
when wearing ragged（衣衫褴褛）.
• In the end they were planning new
adventures.
The novel language and expression skills
Humor
Colloquial(通俗的)
Language
Satire(讽刺)
Figures of
Speech
Humor
• “The irony from life is the real irony”.
• Life is the source of humor and humor
could only be reflected by life.
• He combined the realism and humorous
together criticizes the dark society.
Figures of speech
• Exaggeration and metaphor are used to
provide emphasis, freshness of
expression, or clarity. Such language
enriched the reader’s effect of vivid
scenes.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
01
Characters
02
The story of Jim and Huck
03
Comments
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark twain’s masterpiece
Published in 1884
It presents a vivid picture
of American society in the
19th century
Huckberry Finn
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adapted child
Smart
Love the nature
Pursuit freedom
Kindhearted
Bravery
Devoted to friend
Strong-minded
Jim
•
Slave
•
Brave, dare to escape the slavery
•
Faithful to Huck
•
Warmhearted to friend
•
Protective
•
Make great help to the growth of Huck
The old morality in America
• Mark Twain put the story just
before the civil war. At that
time, the southerners took
slavery for granted and did
not feel guilty for that.
Huck and Jim:The White-and-Black Relationship
• How a white and a black could be friends?
Huck is a white boy while Jim a black
slave. At beginning, Huck is hesitate
whether he should help Jim escape. His
education and traditional conception in
mind tells him that it is illegal to help a
slave run away.
Huck finally convince himself no to tell the
secret that Jim is a run away slave and run
risk to save Jim out of the hut where Jim
lost his freedom again. At the end of the
novel，Huck gets to know the importance
of love and responsibility.
• Ernest Hemingway said:
“All modern American literature comes from
one book by Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn. ... There was nothing
before. There has been nothing as good
since”.
Thanks