Mark Twain regretted losing his sense of wonder. This may be why, in so many of his books, Twain's characters are children, or uneducated people who are innocent. Twain writes from their point of view because only they can see the Mississippi as something special.
In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", two runaways named Huck and Jim travel down the Mississippi in search of better lives. Though much of the story takes place on the river, Twain saves his characters from "knowing" it as he did. Jim and Huck travel by raft, and, unable to direct it, they have many adventures.
In most novels, characters learn from their experiences and grow. However, Huck and Jim do not learn much on their adventures. Is this a weakness in Twain's book? Perhaps not. By keeping his characters from learning about the river, Twain is able to share a sense of wonder with his readers of the muddy Mississippi.
by Carly Sullivan
詞匯小補(bǔ)帖：
●point of view觀點(diǎn)
●runaway逃跑者
●raft木筏
●direct操縱方向
●novel小說(shuō)
純真年代--馬克-吐溫的河流經(jīng)驗(yàn)(下)
Sentence 4U：
(點(diǎn)擊右鍵“另存為”可下載語(yǔ)音)
take place“發(fā)生；舉行”，例如：
I really want to see the free rock concert, but I don't knowswheresit's taking place.
我真想去看那場(chǎng)免費(fèi)的搖滾演唱會(huì)，但我不知道在哪兒舉行。
英語(yǔ)小教室
《哈克歷險(xiǎn)記》(Huckleberry Finn)是馬克-吐溫的代表作(signature work)，在書(shū)中，哈克和吉姆兩人乘著木筏順著密西西比河漂流而下。這個(gè)旅程(journey)，對(duì)兩人而言各有不同的意義：黑人吉姆是要逃離身體的奴役(physical slavery)，哈克則是追尋心理的自由(psychological freedom)。他們?cè)诼贸讨幸恢倍嘉词芪拿?civilization)的污染。馬克-吐溫的這本小說(shuō)旨在表達(dá)：我們要像主角哈克一樣，永遠(yuǎn)都不要失去純真之心(sense of innocence)，那種像小孩子一樣單純看待事情的能力。
純真年代--馬克-吐溫的河流經(jīng)驗(yàn)
馬克-吐溫很遺憾失去了驚奇感。這也許是為什么在他許多書(shū)中，人物都是小孩子，或是純真的沒(méi)受過(guò)教育的人。馬克-吐溫從他們的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)寫(xiě)，因?yàn)橹挥兴麄冋J(rèn)為密西西比河是特別的。
在《哈克歷險(xiǎn)記》中，哈克和吉姆兩位逃跑者，沿著密西西比河漂流，尋找更好的生活。雖然故事大部分發(fā)生在河上，但馬克-吐溫沒(méi)有讓他的角色像他一樣“熟悉”河流。吉姆和哈克坐著木筏漂流，由于不能操縱木筏，他們有了許多歷險(xiǎn)。
在大多的小說(shuō)中，人物通常從他們的經(jīng)驗(yàn)中學(xué)習(xí)并成長(zhǎng)。然而，哈克和吉姆在冒險(xiǎn)旅程中卻沒(méi)學(xué)到很多東西。這是馬克-吐溫書(shū)中的一個(gè)缺陷嗎？也許不是。通過(guò)不讓他的角色學(xué)到河流的知識(shí)，馬克-吐溫可以和他的讀者一起分享對(duì)混濁的密西西比河的驚奇感覺(jué)。