The Iowa Review
Volume 14
Issue 3 Fall
1984
Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud on the
Discontents of Civilization
W. R. Irwin
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Irwin, W. R.. "Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud on the Discontents of Civilization." The Iowa Review 14.3 (1984): 30-47. Web.
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Article 17
Mark Twain
OF
FRAMERS
dence
W.
of Civilization
Discontents
THE
Freud on the
and Sigmund
asserted
that human
T H E American
beings
have
Irwin
R.
Declaration
certain
of
Indepen
inalienable
rights?life,
have
fathers might
of happiness. These founding
liberty, and the pursuit
also that "in a stare of nature"
declared
only the powerful,
predatory
state
life in that mythic
few can enjoy these rights. For most
people
as
it
in
describes
Leviathan
Hobbes
Thomas
would
be,
(1650), "solitary,
a word, uncivilized.
Our forefathers
In
and
short."
brutish,
poor, nasty,
further
have noted
might
are two fortunate
condition
a social
ing of
that
the only
releases
from
this
dismal
the form
of mythic
history:
of civilization.
They might
developments
and the growth
teaches
what
experience
contract
us, that the price of our
freedom.
of personal
happy
bitter
evade
these simple,
We
self-evident,
truths, for our
easily
We must
rather rely
candor is a feeble security against self-deception.
to us is the steady reminder
on
that the price of
whose
gift
people
were Mark
Twain
and Sigmund
is pain. Such benefactors
pleasure
Freud.
have
finally
declared
civilized
I propose
to show
concentrated
gave
and culture.
state
is the curtailment
that, in their different ways, Mark
to the conflict
between
attention
Twain
personal
resolution. The
and Freud
freedom
that
could perceive
Neither
any happy
those who
is compromise
and endurance.1 Even
any person can achieve
to
who
detachment?those
solitude
and
try
reject society by seeking
no
out for the
them
before
have
prospect.
congenial
territory"?
"light
I have been sketch
in the conclusions
Now
there is nothing
original
best
even those who
reject license and exalt liberty
ing. Students of culture,
are worth
the
within
the law, who claim that the benefits of civilization
a
to
have
or
divine
of
manifestation
order
be
who
social
hold
will,
cost,
never
been
discontents
quietude
requires
able to deny that civilization
can be scorned as unworthy,
generates
overcome
discontents.
That
the
into
by piety, argued
them less real. Civilization
does not make
by self-deception
an internalized
which
control of the aggressiveness
is, as Freud
Freud seems to hold out a hope that in some vague future the harshness of the cultural superego will be
mollified by some kind of therapeutic control. How this may affect individual happiness he does not suggest.
. . . and edited
1962, p. 91.)
by James Strachey (New York: Norton,
(Civilization and itsDiscontents), translated
30
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®
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notes,
"the constitutional
inclination
of human
beings
. . . towards
one
another."
not
I need
continue
stating
in which
the obvious.
Rather
to the ways,
saw
dissimilar,
two persons,
remarkably
of you have already surmised
them. Most
on two books: The Adven
I shall concentrate
similar,
remarkably
and dealt with
the problems
that for this examination
I turn
tures of
and itsDiscontents.
Huckleberry Finn and Civilization
some consideration
A useful
be
approach may
through
Twain
At first
it may
Freud themselves.
and Sigmund
sight
the two had
Mississippi
in an early
thought
self-made
little
River
in common.
before
Mark
Twain,
the Civil War, when
but never
seem
that
and reared along
the
the civilizing
process was
is usually
showed signs of what
stage and only the river towns
to be culture. Mark
with
Twain,
adventure,
by enterprise,
an intellectual
remotely
born
of Mark
little
formal
education,
directed
travel, personally
reading,
in the usual sense of the word. Mark
driven by need and later by
funnyman
journalist,
professional
a commentator
more
to
than
found
he
debt
comfortable,
performance
a curious combination
on acute observation,
who
relied for his validity
and his sense that human nature is every
of tolerances
and prejudices,
the same, "the damned human race."
where
and at all times essentially
Twain,
heir to an old and highly
culture
Freud, a Jewish
intellectual,
wrought
in that most urbane
scorned by those who did not share it, an urbanit?
was
at a
at a time when
its urbanity
of cities, Vienna,
of
height
not far in the future.
with
disaster
decadence,
flourishing
Sigmund
in
and systematically
educated
disci
Freud, carefully
long-established
which
he
mastered
and
from
which
he
then
driven
seceded,
by
plines,
an
to clinical
determina
questioning,
speculative mind
experimental,
tions and principles
of therapy which
members
of his profession
long
citizen
resisted. Sigmund
of Europe,
stimulator
of
Freud, polymath,
as
as
no
and cults
well
of opponents,
wish
promoter
disciples
through
of his own
of myriad
and endless cocktail party conver
popularizations
as much
those
who
do not understand
his work
by
provided
as
not even read
have
those
who
arbiter
still
of our
do,
it)
by
(perhaps
as to
assumptions
personality.
How
could any two men be more different? Yet many
of you have
sations,
even
in the contrasting
I have just
generalizations
proposed,
two
were
in which
the
minds
and dispositions
similar. Both were
ways
to decent stock, but with no
of family ascendan
born humbly,
privilege
were
never
Both
self-made,
cy.
early hardships,
through
struggling
detected
31
views. Both
Both propounded
iconoclastic
affluence.
enjoying
were
in their inherited
Both
devoted
little comfort
religions.
men,
have
to this demand of civilization
though Freud's adjustment
than Mark Twain's.
Both were
been more
comfortable
with
the
insulted
found
family
seems to
capable of
and the
unsentimental,
compassion
though
scorned pettiness
and malice.
Both attracted
injured of their worlds; both
even
on
and in their different ways
left impressions
admirers,
disciples,
cultures beyond
those of their immediate
spheres of action, impressions
great,
which
to make
Twain
Let
are visible
us what
of history have some power
today. If the personages
we are, we owe part of our present
to Mark
being
and Sigmund
Freud.
us come
a little
between
them.
rapport
acquainted
with
It is a matter
the works
of Mark
in Vienna
listening
pleasure.'2
Years
later he cites
record
Twain.
February
Dr. Wilhelm
friend Mark
in Civilization
and
passage
assertions
countered
repeated
Twain's
by quoting Mark
of
in
"public
readings,"
event in a letter to his friend
to our old
more
and examine
closer
Twain
the same
He
1898.
Fliess:
in person,
of
specific evidence
that Freud was well
one
attended
of
Freud mentions
"I treated myself
was a
which
in a footnote
experience
its Discontents.
the
this
to
great
to a
Freud
Predictably
enough,
movement
that the psychoanalytic
famous
of my
"Report
telegram:
is dead
death
to an
In response
from
the Viennese
inquiry
greatly
exaggerated."
names Mark Twain's
ten
Freud
Sketches
Heller,
among
publisher Hugo
one stands in rather the same relation
books:
books
"to
which
"good"
as to
one owes a part of one's
to whom
'good' friends,
knowledge
ship
one has
of life and view of the world?books
which
enjoyed and gladly
commends
reverence,
to others, but in connection
with which
of one's own
smallness
the feeling
is not
the element
in
with
the
face
Mark
of timid
of
their
Twain's
greatness,
prominent."3
Along
particulary
them are Kipling
'sJungle
other books. Among
Sketches, Freud mentions
and
Book, the Essays of Thomas
Macaulay,
Merezh-Kovsky's
Babington
a strange list, which,
in accordance with
It is altogether
a
to my mind without
the request, has "come
great deal
But the list does show again the catholicity
of Freud's
in
it becomes
in the brief essay which
for
he
evident,
reading,
Leonardo
da Vinci.
the spirit of
of reflection."
tastes
2SeeThe Origins of Psychoanalysis: Letters toWilhelm Fliess, Drafts andNotes: 1887-1902 (New York: Basic Books,
as
September 2, 1898, a mistaken
reading perhaps of 9. 2. 98.
1954), p. 245. Ernest Jones dates the lecture
See The Life andWorks of Sigmund Freud, 3 vols., (New York: Basic Books, 1957), 1, 329.
3Jones, 3, 422.
32
wrote
to accompany
his reply,
that he knew
the "great
and his own "favorite books" as well.
books,"
the
one
books,"
Indeed,
"significant
wonders
Freud did not choose
rather than medi
literature,
again why
career.
in his versatile
cine, as the major emphasis
InJokes and the Unconscious Freud cites several stories
by Mark Twain,
in some way
all of which
illustrate
the reliance of humor on "economy
or his brother,
are
of pity." That
these stories concerning
his family
transfers or fabrications
the comic effect. For example,
only heightens
us
"... Mark Twain
his
he traces back almost
presents
pedigree, which
.
.
.The mechanism
as far as one of the
of
Columbus.
of
companions
our
is not disturbed
humoristic
that
this
by
pleasure
knowing
family
is a fictitious
one, and that this fiction serves a satirical tendency
history
to expose the embellishments
which
result in imparting
such pedigrees
to others;
as the
it is just as
of
the
of
conditions
independent
reality
on Mark Twain's
manufactured
comic."4 Of course, Freud's comments
humor
illustrate all over again that casual analysis of comic effects are
as
as the comic
itself is lively. But they show also an
usually
dreary
for
Mark
Twain's
work.
respect
abiding
to Mark
course, no one should be surprised at Freud's allusions
contexts
in
and professional.
both personal
The Vienna master
Twain,
is famous for his range, for
sources.
in
clinical
clues
non-clinical
finding
Of
Even
passing
so, his attention
allusions
acquaintance
we
When
which
toMark
in the citations above and in other
Twain,
I need not mention,
than a casual
suggests more
and regard.
look, however,
in the works
of Mark Twain
and in his
to
is only
there
Freud,
copious autobiographical
writings
no
to
must
It
is
silence.
have read Freud
say that Mark Twain
good
can discern Freudian
because of the ease with which
purposeful
people
or because
in his fiction
hints
in a series of stories written
after his
for references
dream motifs. The interpreta
daughter Susy died Mark Twain
exploited
was
tion of dreams for purposes of
and
diagnosis
therapy
scarcely within
his capability.
circumstances
it unlikely
alone
would
make
Actually,
to Mark Twain's
that Freud could have come more
than by accident
to
in the late nineteenth
century were
trips
Europe
scarcely
was
culture
for
his
cruises; he
money,
lecturing
reputation
exploiting
a
in order to pay his debts. His
discovering
revolutionary
depth psychol
notice.
His
4See The Standard Edition of theComplete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (London: Hogarth
8, 230-231.
Press, 1964),
33
Even
if he had discov
have been only a remote possibility.
ogy would
more
it
in
its
ered it, and?even
unpopularized,
amazing?understood
to
untranslated
form, he would
obligated
surely have felt prudentially
however
he
stay clear of any such scandalous
congenial
speculations,
secretly
might
Mark Twain
have
died
found
them.
in 1910. Freud's
one visit
to America
occurred
in
at Clark
and received
five lectures
he delivered
1909, when
University
an
award
of
his
lifetime.
Freudianism
such
the
doctorate,
only
honorary
reached America
for non-professionals
later, indeed, not before 1915, and
a
in the 1920's.5 Even
matter
conversation
for sophisticated
it became
no
to such a
Twain
had virtually
had he been disposed
subject, Mark
to become
it.
with
chance
acquainted
toMark Twain
in Freud's work,
the
So, despite the repeated allusions
were
the two who
of exchange
between
great in
prospect
engaging
a
was
never
this
Whatever
real
else,
essay
possibility.
disparate ways
a substantive
cannot be a study of influence or reciprocal
profit. Even so,
is
views on civilization
and its discontents
of the two men's
congruity
now
turn.
to
I
this
and
discernible,
a brief discussion
of Civilization
and its Discontents.
I shall lead with
Early
in
though appealing,
dilemma
imposed
be
A
expected.
a solution which,
states the
mentions
problem,
is
and shows that the human
unworkable,
patently
can
is such that no prompt
solution
civilization
by
3 Freud
Chapter
achievement
remarkable
for
these
two
sentences:
we call our civilization
is
we
our
be
that
should
and
for
misery,
responsible
largely
to
we gave it up and returned
if
much
primitive
happier
in
I call this contention
conditions.
because,
astonishing
we
it
of
the
define
whatever
civilization,
may
way
concept
This
contention
is a certain
protect
sources
From
this
has been
fact
holds
that all
ourselves
of suffering
we
seek to
things with which
from the
the threats that emanate
the
against
are part ofthat
very
civilization,
(p. 33)
he reaches may be expected:
"My
the sense of guilt as the most
important
the conclusion
to represent
that what
intention
problem
5On the spread of Freudianism in America see Frederick J. Hoffman, Freudianism and theLiterary Mind (Baton
novel Dangerous Ages (New
Press, 1957), pp. 44-58. Rose Macaulay's
Rouge: Louisiana State University
in
York: Boni and Liveright,
1921) shows psychoanalysis of Freudian orientation already well established
the bright
accounts
fashionable
of
Freudian
and
among
reading
theory
already
high-level popular
England
young people.
34
in the development
of civilization
our advance
of civilization
for
and
is a
that the price we
to show
loss of
pay
the
through
the short
throughout
happiness
of the sense of guilt"
(p. 81). Actually
of importance,
but all are related
deals with
other matters
an
to
to the conclusion
he presents. He does not wish
"express
opinion
His
conscience
civilization"
and his
upon the value of human
(p. 91).
to limit his considerations
to a
force
him
habits
description
professional
the
which
he derives from a speculative
history of the psyche during
heightening
book Freud
it is learning conformity
with
the demands
of civilization.
are no more
states that all his revelations
than common
he
Repeatedly
time
After we
that this is a pose of ironical modesty.
seem
common
to state what
is
the book it does
knowledge,
it.
like
few of us could write
anything
knowledge,
have read
and I doubt
though
Let me
itself
as it learns and forces
attempt to trace the history of the psyche
to meet
to
the demands
of civilization.
Freud seems implicitly
who posit that some time in
those political mythographers
agree with
in a "state of nature"
of persons
the far past, the majority
found
living
from
the
of
the
few.
themselves
So,
needing protection
predatory power
a concerted
the
"social
created
and
with
their
act, they
contract,"
by
few to accept it. One dare not be
strength forced the powerful
one is
an
for
with
here,
myth which
dealing
aetiological
specific
substance
than most myths
of national
has even less narrative
heritage.
of the contract came along in time. It took human
Several consequences
unified
more
the taming of fire, the
ofy though it did not directly
achieve,
advantage
use of tools, the
of
development
technology,
accomplishments
fostering
the institutions which
domes
education,
organize
experience,
religious
are the agents of social ameliora
institutions
tic living, the arts. These
and order" which
tion, and they secure to man the "beauty, cleanliness,
as he needs control
of the forces and resources
of
he needs as much
nature.
Even
which
before
we
these phenomena
of civilization
gained the development
new
into
born
the
faced
know,
any person
dispensation
with
the demands of civilization
and with himself. Even now,
problems
it is axiomatic
that no one
is born
civilized
and
that no one
becomes
a conversion
as that which
transformed
Saul of Tarsus
by such
is already
into Saint Paul. The
and
each person
social contract
there,
a
must get
never
successful,
process, slow, effortful,
through
completely
are far from
its demands. There are the sexual drives, which
of meeting
not
and aggressive,
and
just predatory
just cherishing
simple?not
civilized
35
are there as well.
is prominent,
but Pan and Priapus
to eliminate
the
from the libido
problems
deriving
good
or
even
no external
castration.
selective,
Clearly
by unselective,
to
minimize
the aggressive
of sexual desire
will work
potential
Eros
nurturing.
Clearly
simply
control
it is no
to promote
its power
communities
of love. Most
of
maximizing
some program
to this end, but unless
have
the institutions which
develop
are to lose all freedom and with
this all capability
of contributing
people
to the
institutional
control of the id is infeasible.
growth of civilization,
or superego,
is internal control,
in a word,
conscience
is needed
What
while
a power
to
inspire fear
a
a
sense
of guilt,
that great monitor,
becomes
internalized,
which,
remorse. All institu
as Freud
different,
points out, from
phenomenon
sense of
tions must operate to
in
the
effective
the
keep
guilt
controlling
sense
each
of
because
when
this
latent
person,
aggressivity
only
barely
results of cultural
of guilt is keen can the positive,
beneficial,
elevating
derived
from
institutions
the ego
be achieved.
itself,
but endowed
So we
with
to
the civilized
person?unable
its
benefits
and
with
demands; pleased
by
to advance
the good works
of culture,
but still
have
surrounded
escape civilization;
them, perhaps aspiring
by anti-cultural
plagued
if virtue gives no other
to be virtuous,
but aware that,
urges; wishing
reward than its ineffable self, the reward is poor
all these ambivalences,
the civilized
indeed. Throughout
person remains
true
is
discontented.
What
of
the
person is true also
guilt ridden, restive,
even
seem
at
to have
the "primitive"
of the societies,
ones, which
sight
so with
none of the
As
it
is
of
civilization.
with
all
other
sex,
problems
is essential,
is to survive and prosper,
if man
kinds of energy. Repression
is our best friend. But,
and guilt,
that internal
agent of repression,
we
we
not
also hate our friend. Somewhat
only love,
stubbornly human,
as I have described
Twain
Freud's book is in general
the way Mark
to read it.6
the opportunity
it, had he enjoyed
Twain
the
works
of
Mark
for
whatever
reason,
that,
or
are free of any
of
heterosexual
homosexu
love,
representation
genital
would
Now
have
we
understood
know
Mark Twain was innocent of Freudian language, he understood that conscience, which we have
Though
come to know as a substructure of the superego, dwells on violations of our ideals and promotes feelings
the Carnival of Crime in
of guilt. An excellent example is his fantasy entitled "The Facts Concerning
a "shriveled shabby dwarf" which
In this Mark Twain's own conscience,
nonetheless
Connecticut."
resembles him, appears to torment him with his sins of omission and commission. This "caricature o? me
in little" is censorious, gleeful, malicious, and right. "Every sentence was an accusation, and every accusation
a truth." And when Mark Twain kills the little monster, he exults: "You behold before you a man whose
life-conflict is done, whose soul is at peace, a man whose heart is dead to sorrow, dead to suffering, dead
to remorse; a man without a conscience." Thereafter
he launches on a carnival of crime, and his "life
36
as he may have been amused
it had
tradition,
by the genteel
in its grip. But as I suggested
the
of
the
earlier,
history
psyche's
traces in terms of
which
Freud
because
this is
sexuality,
adjustment
to
same
the
fundamental,
uneasy peace in
may be traced also
essentially
confrontation
with
the blessings and
the other aspects of the individual's
al. Much
him
the
of civilization
aspects
in Huckleberry
copiously
features
of the conflict
Freud was
nent
of
demands
unwelcome
non-sexual
and
Finn. Moreover,
And
with
its discontents
he sets forth
of
many
Mark Twain
in narrative
these
dealt
some
Freud, for good reason, only hints at.
a basic and perma
the theoretical
with
aspects of
we
are
not to his purpose
in the work
considering
concerned
It was
problem.
civilization.
which
to present
in
social anatomy
and even less to indulge himself
specific
was
concerned
Mark
with
social
value judgments.
Twain,
however,
on which
to base accurate
and he had the experience
anatomy,
descrip
was
in value judgments which,
tions and narratives. He
indeed interested
they show
though
sometimes
favoring
ly, because
was
intent
he was
no
are nonetheless
vanity of dogmatizing,
partisan,
standard
and sometimes
values. Particular
opposing
to his idea of the damned
devoted
human
race, he
to show
most
can be the
of civilization
official proponents
even when
are
of civilization,
they
presumably
was also much
interested
against it.Mark Twain
how
enemies
flagrant
animus
acting without
in human maturing,
how
it can be both advanced
and impaired by one
of civilization,
education.
the great institutions
to come I shall examine
In the
first what we learn about
paragraphs
we
see of offenses
education
in Huckleberry Finn and then what
against
as
civilized
themselves.
civilization
by
people
perpetrated
of
From many works
Twain held a plenitude
those who have made
it. But Huckleberry Finn itself is bare of formulary
Even so, from character, events, and dramatic
infer a critique, mostly
adverse
reliably
though
statements.
and theoretical
presentation
than Huckleberry Finn we know
that Mark
of views about the discontents
of civilization
and
other
we
can
is all bliss." (See Tom Sawyer Abroad, Tom Sawyer, Detective, and other Stories (New York and London: Harper,
1924, pp. 302-325).
In this jeu d'espritMark Twain ignores the ego-ideal, that counterpart of conscience, and fails to distinguish
between remorse and feelings of guilt. Even so,Mark Twain reveals perceptions and convictions remarkably
consonant with Freud's.
I am grateful to my colleague Professor Baender for suggesting that the fantasy discussed in this note
is pertinent to the
subject of my paper.
37
institutions
comically
expressed, of the
the main character
Let us start with
designed
himself.
to
in order.
keep society
In the view of those who
Finn is a bright youngster
him, except for Jim, Huck
desper
On the first page we learn that "the Widow
ately in need of civilization.
..."
she could civilize me
she took me for her son, and allowed
Douglas
others have the same
and sometimes
In their different
strange ways
Aunt
motivation?Miss
Watson,
Sawyer.
Sally, Tom
Judge Thatcher,
own
some
direct
of
kind
All work by
imposition. Huck Finn's
attempted
is
like the
somewhat
He
is ambivalent.
attitude
grateful,
knowing,
own
an
to
is
need
lead
Huck
his
life.
young James Boswell,
orderly
of
and
authority,
compliant,
respectful
existentially
susceptible
guilty,
sentence
To
earlier:
"But
resistant.
the
restive
and
yet
complete
quoted
how dismal
it was rough living in the house all the time, considering
was
in all her ways;
I
and so when
the widow
and decent
regular
stand it no longer I lit out." This part of the sentence
couldn't
is, I
two sentences
a
in
"But
last
book:
of
the
the
forecast
propose,
purposeful
out for the territory ahead of the rest, because
I got to
I reckon
light
me and civilize me, and I can't stand
to
Aunt
adopt
Sally she's going
that Huck
of language mean
this envelope
it. I been there before." Does
surround
of his adventures?
from
the educative
process
nothing
and competi
In fact, he has improved
his natural shrewdness
Scarcely.
success he
tiveness to the point of being capable of any kind of worldly
seen
Finn
I
the moral
It does mean,
has
that Huck
believe,
might wish.
and conformity
issues in that unequal contest between personal freedom
has
learned
which
Freud
describes
and has made
or in
the raft, by himself
Jim's
moments
The
freedom.
of blissful
on
his choice
of values. On
company,
two of them
the islands,
Finn
Huck
do
experiences
in
indeed form,
saints. But
these
a
of
community
phrase,
Trilling's
happy
are
with
succeeded
confrontations
aspects of civili
by
always
or
of
the
elevated
zation,
corrupt, which
simple enjoyment
abrogate
release and make Huck defend his personal values as best he can. In such
are responses
skillful. But still his maneuvers
defense he is remarkably
are compro
to social pressure, not actions freely
thus
and
taken,
they
Lionel
moments
mised.
I did not
are in the
several threads which
paragraph
preceding
to
of
those
the
who
I
from
follow
attempt
company
excepted Jim
to
more
educate him,
than anyone else
civilize Huck Finn. Yet Jim does
an acceptance
to promote
of certain aspects of being civilized,
aspects
are both unorthodox
is one
and valid. Jim's secret of effectiveness
which
There
out.
38
not
He educates,
pro
by imposing
and love. He can
but
submission
institutions,
grams
by
as he does after Huck
mean
trick of making
Jim
plays the
reproach,
on the
that he was only dreaming
believe
raft, and thus he
fogbound
which
he himself
derived
not
prompts,
from
coming
than anything
not know.
does
from
guilt,
but what
Freud
calls
remorse.
But
this
reproach,
more
is powerfully
effective.
love,
Probably
disappointed
Huck's
decision at that time
else, this incident determines
crisis when
he tears up the note to Miss Watson
and consents
as
to go to hell. Here we see the real force of
teacher:
Jim
unintending
not his effort, draws out from Huck
his example,
the best that worthy
of moral
in
has in him. There
are, of course, passages, mainly
comic,
youngster
as a purvey
which
attempt to instruct each other?Huck
Jim and Huck
or of
as to French
as
and
of the
history, Jim
expositor
enlightenment
But these have none of the marks of
superstition.
do not show a "superior"
person bestowing
They
imposed civilizing.
is no effort on the part of either to secure
There
benefit on an "inferior."
reality
and value
of
are not coercive.
does benefit by coming
conformity;
they
Likely Huck
to understand
an
no
which
superstition,
understanding
enlightened
an
it
is
dare
But
which
he freely
person
again
neglect.
understanding
to
on
civilize Huck
education
accepts. In short, the efforts
by imposing
him
make
little benefit, except
produce
his resistance more effective.
and
sharpen his native shrewdness
From teacher Jim, however,
he gains
He gains a brother, an inestimable
far better than knowledge.
for a boy who has always been lonely, and he gains amature
something
satisfaction
moral
to
sense.
forces are less happy
civilizing
than his dealings with Jim. What
he learns from watching
the institu
tions which
civilize
and by feeling
is exactly
their pressure on himself
a
what Freud noted, that by repressing
freedom
personal
they generate
can
no
discontent
from which
be
there
lasting relief, for the discontent
exacts from each of us. And Huck
is, in effect, the price that civilization
learns
in Freud's essay,
further, a truth implicit
something
though Freud
does not stress it. Grant
that there can be no civilization
without
the
an institution,
on
exertion
of a superior power,
embodied
in
usually
must
who
be
made
and
If
obedient
obedient.
the
submit,
persons
kept
so that there need be no evident
all seems harmonious;
the
coercion,
Huck
institution
as Huck
institution
Finn's
other
encounters
with
are. But,
appear benevolent,
perhaps actually
a
is
there
in
inherent
sadly observes,
nothing
civilizing
to prevent
its agents from using it to advance
their personal
and
its agents
Finn
39
the unprotected,
interest by coercing
and exploiting
much
let us see in more
in the mythical
"state of nature." Now
of civilization.
Finn observes of the workings
Huck
as
they did
detail what
a
is a social organism,
of many
civilization
complex
Any genuine
Finn
which
Huck
of
civilization
elements. The main
sees,
components
are
to education,
law
the
law
of
in addition
(chiefly
religion,
organized
as
to
social
and
the differentiation
among persons
standing,
property),
the conventions
of inherited
of each. He
tive manifestations
tions
of
affected
being
sometimes
admirable,
character
his
attitude
needs
development
encounters
Huck
knows
cannot
and
each
sometimes
of
romance.
by
sees both
benign
avoid participating
He
Huck's
each.
culpable,
is toward
though
maturity
his
throughout
and destruc
in the opera
are
participations
the general
tendency
and improvement.
and his
adventures,
people
religious
is not at all simple. He
them and their professed
beliefs
are
that he
towards him, and he knows
benevolent
mainly
they
in fact, he gets from most of them. But
their beneficence,
which,
toward
that every one of these pious people derives from religious
as a
a slave, understood
a
to
conviction
belief
piece of
freeing
opposed
Finn shares
is
of which
the possession
by law. Huck
property
protected
he knows
this conviction
that he has
makes
love
added
with
chosen
that when
intensity
But his love
damnation.
such
he violates
for
it, he assumes
a new-found
brother
to accept the eternal
As Freud tells us,
punishment.
have
forceful
emotion,
though he might
civilizing
a
to
love make
institutionalize
that attempts
sorry
up
generally
him willing
is the most
history.
We
all know
and secular law are
majority
religions
in
rules for daily
accord. Both yield
for worldly
purposes
normally
a
arise when
founded
and worse
Embarrassment
conduct.
religiously
as
and
counter
values
love
from
such
derived
code,
justice,
unworldly
a
comes
and
code for prudent
into conflict with
founded
religiously
Finn is far worse
than
embarrassed
conduct.
So
Huck
daily
advantageous
to
which
inner prompting
tells him that his black brother Jim
obey the
Huck
chooses is the kind of action
has an inherent right to be free. What
us
that
which,
yet unknown
give
phenome
practiced, might
generally
to
the ethical code of any of the
non, the good society, good according
to
read the preface
faiths. Without
world's
having
major
religious
the truth of Shaw's pronouncement:
knew
Androcles and the Lion, Huck
This man
40
that established
not been
Jesus has
a failure
yet; for nobody
has been
. . We
.
to try his way.
have always had a curious
enough
we
on a stick, he some
crucified
Christ
that, though
feeling
to get hold of the
how managed
end
of it, and that if
right
. . .7
we were better men we
try his plan
might
sane
we assume that the more civilized
naively
people are, the
their social position,
their standards of conduct,
be
and their
higher
as
Finn
has
axiomatic
Huck
all
this
and
grown up accepting
prosperity.
as
a
own
a
that his
low status is
believes
result of his
consequence
as Freud
for which
he feels guilty.
unworthiness,
Exactly
suggested,
to social pressures. He
is his internalized
Huck
Finn's guilt
response
to resemble
Tom
his "betters"?the
Widow
Sawyer,
longs
Douglas,
Somewhat
will
and others?though
he understands
Judge Thatcher,
are in some way
short of ideal beings. The ugliness
in his drunken
he sees chiefly
father. So he forms
too that all of them
of anti-civilization
a naive division
of
into good and bad, civilized
and uncivilized,
before he begins his
on that
encounters
two
But
river.
the
he
quest
journey
shocking
can be. I refer, of
of how uncivilized
demonstrations
civilized
people
he is a guest, almost an
while
course, to his experiences
adopted son, of
people
down
the Grangerfords,
In both narratives
and
to the murder
there
is vivid
as that
which
aggressiveness
the life instinct and maker
committed
Sherburn.
by Colonel
Freud posits
of what
exemplification
the death instinct against Eros,
expresses
in both narratives
And
of civilization.
the
are
Twain
civilized
is
aggressors
ostensibly
people. Mark
principal
careful to detail the excellence
of his whole
elevated
prosperous,
socially
in a portrait of the patriarchal
Colonel:
family
Grangerford
was a
Col. Grangerford
you see. He was a gentle
gentleman,
so
was
all over; and
his family. He was well born, as the
as much
in aman as it is in a horse,
saying is, and that's worth
so theWidow
ever denied
and
that she
said,
nobody
Douglas
man
in our town; and pap he always
aristocracy
no more
said it, too, though he warn't
than a mudcat
quality
...
He was as kind as he could be?you
himself.
could feel
so
and
had
confidence.
Sometimes
he
that, you know,
you
was
to
it
and
but
he
when
see;
smiled,
good
straightened
was
of
the first
himself up like a liberty-pole, and the lightning begun to
7Androcles and the Lion (London: Constable,
1921), p. 3.
41
out from under his
to climb a
you wanted
eyebrows,
tree first, and find out what
the matter was afterwards. He
ever have to tell
to mind
didn't
their manners?
anybody
was
where
he was. Every
always good-mannered
everybody
was
to
have him around,
sunshine most
too; he
body loved
mean
it seem like
he
made
When
weather.
always?I
good
into a cloud-bank
it was awful dark for half a
he turned
flicker
and
minute,
wrong
again
that was enough;
for a week.8
there wouldn't
nothing
go
of civilization,
Huck
finds the entire world
of the Granger
as
sees
not yet heard
he first
it, congenial
fords,
beyond belief. But he has
is rapidly advanced,
he does, his education
first by
of the feud. When
a conversation
the rationale of a feud, and then
with Buck, who outlines
An
admirer
shot down. Huck
has learned
ends with Buck
by the skirmish which
can
a
a
one lesson as to how civilization
tolerate
barbarism which
simple
could not match.
barbarian
soon
Sherburn
the
Colonel
kills
another, when
a
faces
then
down
This
is
mob.
incident
Boggs
lynching
more
two
seem
to
make
the
briefly told than that of the feud. Since the
one wonders
same
at
Twain
Mark
included
the
second
all.
point,
why
two ways
One may
in which
that the two incidents
illustrate
guess
two
and
of
benefits
be
civilization,
order,
may
by
justice
perverted
a
own
civilized
private guerilla war, has its
justice and
people. The feud,
An
order, understood
say that the
by all participants.
apologist might
Very
drunken
he
learns
and
feud
harms only Grangerfords
and Shepherdsons,
all of whom,
except
for Harney
and Miss Sophia (the Romeo
and Juliet of this piece), accept
its conditions.
An adverse critic might
say that the harm spreads far
a
for
the
rob
needful
leaders. But any
wider,
society of potential
killings
views
is left to the reader's inference.
of these conflicting
resolution
To draw
about perverted
Sherburn's
justice from Colonel
its consequences
is still an operation
But
of inference.
ismurdered
be clearly drawn. Here aman
for no worse action
conclusions
act and
savage
these may
than
offensive
regrettably
Sherburn
to
punish
impotent
conduct.
Boggs
is no
part of the feud, and one can
notion
of personal
honor Colonel
force of law and order exerts itself
guess at the deranged
is vindicating.
But what
a
this murderer?
Only
spineless mob, which
and bravado of one criminal.
by the contempt
*TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn (New York: Norton,
42
1961), pp. 86-87.
can be rendered
We
never
hear
of any effort to arrest, indict, try and punish
the patently
guilty Colonel
Sherburn.
and
he goes free,
civilized,
Socially
privileged
officially
notes as "the first
what
Freud
thereby frustrating
requisite of civiliza
.
.
.
not be broken
tion
the assurance
that law once made will
in favor
of an individual."
shows us, as do others in the book,
an Illusion, that
of
"every individual
an
is virtually
to
is
enemy of civilization,
though civilization
supposed
be an object of universal
interest."
human
to the first of
Between
Finn is introduced
these two incidents Huck
what
Freud
Colonel
Sherburn
in The Future
asserted
two other
to abuses of civilization
fostered by its very values.
exposures
seems an intolerable
he and Jim must
endure for what
time the
antics of the Duke
and the Dauphin
before
their final ignominious
account of
reward. Soon thereafter begins
the long and often censured
First
as
Sawyer.
by Tom
stage-managed
state another
these sequences,
let me
however,
examining
Civilization
and
often
snobbish,
accepted
assumption.
high,
"rescuing"
Before
Jim,
widely
culture, not only go
other. So Huck
Finn
but also by reciprocal
action
the achievements
of cultured
together
admires
elevate
each
people, and
state as the necessary
he
his
uncultured
concomitant
of his
again
regards
even at the end of the
He never understands,
unworthiness.
story, that
in his way he is as
as the best of those whom
accomplished
culturally
as well
as
he encounters.
Finn is
Huck
the
amenities,
impressed by
by
can
no
the abundant good food, of the
more
He
household.
Grangerford
than can the
understand
that their cultural
values
and
Grangerfords
accomplishments,
cause
of
sorrow
Emmeline's
including
to
any
one
possessed
of
poetry,
conventional
would
be a joke
sophistication.
or a
In
the Duke
and the Dauphin,
and later in the antics Tom Sawyer
however,
as
sees
directs
Finn
"rescue
Huck
of the already
they
"Jim,
perversions
as
mentioned
alliance of civilization
and cultural performances.
Again,
with
the two sequences
of killing, we have a
of
pair
complementary
Finn undeceived
he
does
both,
exposures, with Huck
through
though
not exert himself
to end the follies.
The
by Tom
cultural
values misused
by the Duke
the conventions
and the Dauphin
and then
as
of romance,
these were
Sawyer derive from
into the raw and yet
imported from Western
Europe
dependent United
an
for
Twain
which
Mark
made
Scott bear
Walter
States,
importation
a burden of blame.
as
and the Dauphin
Ignorant
they are, the Duke
to understand
know just
of
these
conventions
that
the yokels find
enough
them impressive
and cannot at first detect the frauds
in their
perpetrated
43
name.
then, shows the exploitation
sequence,
possible
through
in
for
the prosperous
before
they end their
fakery,
period
on a rail, the Duke
and the Dauphin
tarred and feathered
ascendancy
live in a fraud's paradise.
This
cultural
No
moral
the rescue
understands
victims
and no vengeance
attend
by outraged
to
of Jim, supervised
what
he
Sawyer,
by Tom
according
associates
Baron
which
he
of the romantic
with
escapes
opprobrium
Benvenuto
Casanova,
Trenck,
describe
in their
escapes
a
done
amount
and Henry
Tom
Cellini,
autobiographies.
of reading, and from
IV, three of whom
it is clear,
Sawyer,
his
did
has
insatiable
credulity
powerful
as
as those which
the
fixed on principles
delusionary
possessed
in Jane Austen's Nonhanger
uneducated
Catherine Morland
Abbey. But
can be accused of is
and
self-indul
the worst
that Tom
Sawyer
folly
has
Finn
and Jim appraise
From
the beginning
both Huck
the
gence.
not
situation
and
the
do
excesses,
realistically,
they
though they protest
that they only protest,
rebel. The reader may be disappointed
actively
never resist, Tom's
foolishness.
The fact is that, except when
they deal
one is a forceful moral
and each other, neither
with
themselves
agent,
one considers
a strange
failing when
Finn
both quick and accurate. Huck
that as moral
speaks
the Duke
perceptors
they
for both as he assures
are
the
as with
the Dauphin
out
I
else
of
learnt
that
best
the
frauds:
pap,
to
own
to
is
let them have their
way
get along with his kind of people
one
the
expect from a member
way"
might
(p. 102). Scarcely
policy
of saints. Should we simply reproach Huck
and Jim for
of a community
a
on
and
founded
constitutional
moral
strategy
cyni
laxity
expedient
we
is
have
here
another
effect
cism? I think not. What
really
crippling
dealt with
that he properly
never
I
"If
learnt nothing
reader
and
Finn (and presumably
Jim too)
the
authority which
believing
being civilized
but not to act upon
he has a right only to perceive
bestows,
privately,
he
Finn cannot understand
others. Huck
civilized,
that, being highly
of civilization.
to
more
So habituated
that because
than deserves
an
is an
he
authority
is Huck
lacks
which
he never
not
thinks
of asserting. The
sense, but of his
of his moral
impairment,
consist
shows
himself
he
energy. Repeatedly
capable of feelings
at last that
sees the Duke
ent with
He
and
the
getting
charity.
Dauphin
it made me sick to
their offenses deserve:
"Well,
rough justice which
see it; and I was
like I
rascals, it seemed
sorry for them poor pitiful
of all
result
this
moral
couldn't
was
44
in the world.
It
any hardness against them any more
can be awful cruel to one
to see. Human
thing
beings
ever feel
a dreadful
a
to imagine
180). It is hard
higher
degree of civility,
sentiments
hint
of
than
these
without
reveal.
any
self-righteousness,
Finn
of
moral
Huck
knows
that
of
the
doctrine
part
Ignorant
theology,
of charity requires that, though one should abhor the sin and understand
one sins himself
is deserved,
if he abhors the sinner.
that punishment
Are we to reproach Huck Finn and Jim because they rarely convert
their
another"
(p.
into actions bearing on other people? No.
Such is the power
Tom
which
and
them of the alleged
others gain from
superiority
not assert their
sense
and
civilized
that
dare
cultured
they
being
good
or inhumane,
or both. What
is ridiculous
Huck
against conduct which
attitudes
over
as well
as any reader who
is not so besotted as
perceive,
is
what
the
members
of the Scriblerus Club in the
Sawyer,
exactly
that from the sources they
century noted about the dunces,
eighteenth
Finn
and Jim
Tom
to
and devices, while
failing
gives these devices unity and meaning.
is a folly in itself and a
The result of such an assembling
of fragments
violation
of culture's
essential unifying
power.
imitated
they could adopt only
understand
the principle which
the tricks
of course, were
I to treat the sequences
involving
and the Dauphin
the capers of the Duke
and the rescue of Jim as if they
were narratives
as realistic as the story of the
Grangerford-Shepherdson
to believe
feud. It is impossible
that Mark Twain
intended or
supposed
that his readers would
such
of verisimilitude.
any
perceive
uniformity
some readers
intentions which
If there is the discordancy
of narrative
Iwould
be mistaken,
not
in the final chapters o? Huckleberry Finn, it is introduced,
to rescue
but
intrusion
the campaign
with
the
of
Jim,
burlesque
in Chapter
and gross comedy
the book,
19, less than halfway
through
come
when
the Duke
and the Dauphin
first
aboard the raft. From that
on believable
are mixed
no
narration
and
fantastic
point
together, with
overt attempt on Mark Twain's
to
or
to
transitions
resolve
part
provide
them into a single system of credibility.
And the reader needs no such
same
situation as that presented
the
help. For he is in approximately
by
have
found
with
Don Quixote,
in narrative
in which
whom
also cites
the credible
and the incredible
fuse
repeatedly
a
must
to
A
reader
be
find
this
sequences.
purist
objection
was not a system of verisimilitude
such
able, for what Cervantes
sought
as Defoe
a system of true
and Dreiser
but
rather
achieve,
repeatedly
in the mad
embodied
of Don Quixote,
morality,
nobility
knightly
Freud
first who
grant
Tom
becomes
Sawyer
in Jokes
an embodiment
the dignity
and the Unconscious
of the highest
we
give
which
as a
at
figure of fun
cannot
morality. We
to Don
Quixote,
for
45
Tom's
devotion
means
of
the
revealing
and the fanciful,
realistic
Thus
to the values
Twain
Mark
two,
are
of
Finn
and
of the satisfactions
He
abuses, of civilization.
emphasizes
an author in the moralistic
tradition
But
self-indulgent.
which
mingles
the
the
the same.
essentially
Huck
is
narrative
through
conducts
series of demonstrations
romance
the reader
a
through
the uses and
and discontents,
the discontents
and abuses, as befits
more
of comedy,
concerned with
is nothing
comic
There
than with
exposure
congratulation.
perceptibly
the exposure
about Freud's essay, but he too is concerned with
and also
does not engage Mark
the latter of which
Twain's
with
causation,
content
is
for
with
the
for
he
"damned
human
interest,
explanation
It is an index
race."
make
the damned
at times
that he can
however,
urbanity,
race seem at times
at times
amusing,
depraved,
of Mark
human
Twain's
both.
As
I noted
factors
in
of the causative
earlier, Freud restricted his consideration
of civilization
and the personal
discontents
the forming
to what can be
by psychoanalytic
theory.
inevitably
generated
explained
discussion
and any
Thus
he omitted
of specific
social manifestations
intimation
Let no one think I am reproaching
Freud
judgments.
This would
be to reproach him for
his
task.
complete
to do, for, as a theoretical
he never intended
scientist, he
to stay within
the confines
of demonstrable
theory and
of value
to
for failing
omitting what
felt obligated
a story and could
But Mark Twain was writing
evidence.
confirmatory
even
if
he
had
wished
have
to, specific social manifesta
avoided,
scarcely
a
too ostentatious?
seems
tions. It
direct?and
likely also that, despite
the reader the narrative material
from
he is also providing
disavowal,
to infer moral
which
not
Moreover,
of Huck
history
judgments.
a
does
though Mark Twain
attitudes
toward
Finn's
systematic
do see in the young man a progression
like
remarkably
of
toward
the
the
describes,
emergence
ambiguous
feelings
over
the dominance
institutions
he must face, and, even more,
give
civilization,
what Freud
cultural
us
we
of a maturing
conscience,
As with most
of us,
of
feel guilty. Guilty
our own
except being
ordinary,
nothing
us
is what
this sense of guilt
selves. And
keeps
aggressive,
retrograde
as Freud
omits
shows. The only thing Mark Twain
civilized,
eloquently
in
of
character.
is what we expect him to omit?any
any
sign
sexuality
narrative
Twain's
and the moral
To be sure, throughout
Mark
judg
him
what?
46
which
makes
him
concern with
it supports there is no hint of a theoretical
which
as
But evidently
he is deeply concerned with
civilization.
civilization
on
it bears
in daily action, and wishes
his readers
persons and societies
to share his concern.
ments
By this time I should think
and alike as the two men were,
if they had agreed
that what
is obvious. Different
that my conclusion
It is as
their books are complementary.
understanding
sad accidents
one omitted
the other would
is that the
history
that they would
have found each other
in their
their insights,
their sense of
congenial,
compatible
dispositions,
sorrow that the human condition
and their tempered
in a state
comedy,
never can be,
is not, and probably
it is.
of civilization
than
happier
the many
provide. Among
two of them never met.
I believe
of cultural
47