Huck as a Perpetual Outsider: American National Identity in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Akdeniz İnsani Bilimler Dergisi, cilt.9, sa.2, ss.81-94, 2019 (Hakemli Dergi)

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been regarded as a manifestation of the

American exceptionalist myth which has profoundly influenced American national identity. Drawing on

this interpretation, this article asserts that Mark Twain’s novel not only valorises the ethos of American

exceptionalism, but also undermines it. The American exceptionalist perspective is predicated upon the

constructed opposition between the Old World and the New World. This American myth is alleged to

originate from the American Puritans’ belief in their errand into the wilderness and to draw upon the

frontier experience. The polarity between civilization and nature established by the American myth

corresponds to the clash between culture and savagery that structures Mark Twain’s novel. Hence, it

provides ground for the discussion of this novel within the context of the American exceptionalist myth.

The discussion concentrates on Huck’s relationship with his female guardians and his father, and his

encounter with Jim and this paper argues that Huck’s experience is in accord with the American myth in

terms of his flight from the domesticating dynamics of civilization and his venture into the wilderness,

whereas his narrative also subverts the American ethos in regard to the confusion of identities and the

permeability of boundaries.