Research Paper Proposal

Research Paper Proposal

Topic: Mark Twain

Proposal: The hypocrisy of society’s beliefs on religion and race through satire in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

          In this research proposal, I want to explore how Mark Twain uses his satire to get a point across in his books “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Satire is generally used to depict the problems in society without actually saying “This is the problem with society,” and this seems prominent in the first book with Tom Sawyer as the protagonist. It appears to be a book solely about the adventures of a boy, but, underlying the fun and the quests is Mark Twain voicing that not all of Tom’s ways of thinking are correct. However, it isn’t easy to see Tom Sawyer as a privileged white boy who has fun at everyone else’s expense, because Tom’s audience has fallen so in love with him. Mark Twain switches his protagonist in the sequel, and, as Olivier Nyirubugara says when he explored the themes of the two novels, he “needed a profane, less cultured, uneducated, powerless, natural and honest twelve-year-old boy” to objectively observe and criticize society (Nyirubugara 1.1). Gary Scharnhorst also explored the different topics Mark Twain criticized, and declared racism, imperialism, and especially religion as his favorite subjects to discuss society’s hypocrisy with. However, the way Twain does this between his two novels shifts, he approaches the two novels through two conflicting eyes – the first boy vivaciously adhering to the rules he finds in romance novels and superstitions, and the second boy much more free from society’s “wisdom,” and capable of learning truth, even if it goes around what his culture has deemed acceptable, moral, or correct. By harnessing his comedic criticism in these two different ways on the topics of race and religion, and placing today’s unacceptable behaviors in acceptable context, Twain is able to suggest that society turns a blind eye to its own problems but is ready and willing to condemn other’s.

Preliminary Bibliography:
Depalma, Anthony. "A Scholar Finds Huck Finn's Voice in Twain's Writing About a Black      Youth."The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 July 1992. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

McGraw-Hill. "Study Guide for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Glencoe.com. The Glencoe Literature Library, n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

Mintz, Steven. "Rethinking Huck." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

Nyirubugara, Olivier, and Brian Lloyd Davies. "Mark Twain's Satirical Approach to Mid-19th Century American Society." Olny.nl. University of Bangui, 2000-2001. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

Reed, Ishmael. "Harvard University Press Blog." Harvard University Press. Harvard University, 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. . Weiss, Sasha. "The Paris Review Perspective." Literary Reference Center. EBSCO, 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

Scharnhorst, Gary, Dr. "Mark Twain's Relevance Today." Occasional Papers. ZUSAS, 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

Wolff, Cynthia G. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: A Nightmare Vision of American Boyhood." Literary Reference Center. EBSCO, 1980. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. .

Analysis of Close Reading 1

Food Rationale

In both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the Mississippi River weaves throughout the piece and is a source of adventure for the boys. Not only that, but the river serves as a means of spiritual growth – it becomes a road toward development of moral character – something that the church failed to do for the boys. Huck makes his “first moral decision out on the water” (Trites 1). The Mississippi River becomes a symbol for spiritual growth, while working with the biblical motif of water, for example, Christ as the “living water” (KJV 4.10) in comparison to “the dry argument” (Twain 56) preached within the walls of organized religion. This living water serves as a source of spiritual sustenance for the two boys.

            Not only spiritual nourishment is extracted from the river, but physical as well. The boys are constantly “going over the river a-fishing, for a lunch” (Twain 90), and pulling literal sustenance from this source of moral development. This is interesting in comparison with the biblical quote “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (KJV Matthew 4.19). The overlap of spiritual nourishment and physical nourishment is best seen in Mark Twain’s writing of the Mississippi River. The goldfish – although not real fish – represent this intersection of the two.