Huckleberry Finn
The way in which a young boy loses his innocence by realizing the truth in life symbolizes how the evolution of Transcendentalism to Realism destroys a nation, as the United States moves towards the Civil War. American transcendentalism began with the formation of the Transcendental Club in Boston, in 1836. Transcendentalists were influenced by romanticism, especially such aspects as self-examination, the celebration of individualism, and the extolling of the beauties of nature and humankind. As it spread throughout the country, the people lived in complete harmony, with themselves and among themselves, in a fantastic world. American Romanticism was followed by Dark Romanticism, in which Nathaniel Hawthorne is its most symbolic character. Realism was then introduced to American literature. It encompassed the time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction "accurately representing the American Lives in various contexts."1 The Realism, which was a major cause of the American Civil War, can be defined as "the faithful representation of reality."2 Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn symbolizes the loss o
I took it up, and held it in my hand. The loss of a young boy's innocence and recognizing the truth represents the breakdown of a whole nation as they finally are able to realize the truth that they had been ignoring for several years. "(Page #161-162) In this novel Twain makes us realize that we must not ignore the truth, otherwise we most confront it and fight it. The Americans began to see the truth that had been ignored for several years in the Realism. During this time, which was before the Civil war in the United Sates, the Americans lived in complete harmony with themselves and among themselves. In very similar way Huckleberry Finn losses the innocence that once had prevailed in him and decides to act upon the truth. In American literature, the term realism covers the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction dedicated to perfect representation of American lives in several contexts. Huckleberry Finn symbolizes these three stages throughout his adventures in Twain's novel. "3 Transcendentalism, highly influenced by English Romanticism and by Neoplatonism, "is a belief in a higher reality than that found in sense experience or in a higher kind of knowledge than that achieved by human reason. He also realizes things when he meets the duke and the dauphin and realizes that they are not who they say they are, but he prefers silence to prevent conflict, "It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars waren't no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low down humbugs and frauds. Dark Romanticism was a stage that followed American Romanticism and the people focused more in reality and not so much in utopian societies. He was the most emblematic figure of Dark Romanticism although he characterized most of his books as romances, which freed him to manipulate the actions of his characters in order to symbolically represent the passions, emotions, and anxieties of his characters and to expose "the truth of the human heart" that he believed lies hidden beneath ordinary daily life. But I never said so, because it would only make trouble, and wouldn't do no good. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist whose works are deeply concerned with the ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement. The Dark Romanticism followed this period and the great writer Nathaniel Hawthorne exposed the truth that was hidden under ordinary daily life.
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Acceptance Essays
