The Pastoral in Huckleberry Finn Huck Finn presents a view of the pastoral which is very closely linked with

liberalism and the American Dream. State of Nature Hucks innocence means he is uncorrupted by the prejudices and free from the constraints of his society. Huck is in a state of nature (the natural state of a person before they are shaped by society). Liberals regard this natural state as positive and co-operative, and use this to argue that we function best with limited government. Huck is the archetypal innately good figure of the state of nature. The pastoral is a perfect medium for the expression of these ideas as it is all about taking people out of civilisation back to a state of nature. Rosseaus ideas especially are very much echoed in Huck Finn. Rousseau was a liberal philosopher who believed that "uncorrupted morals" prevail in the "state of nature." Rousseau wrote that morality was "innate." People have a natural disposition to compassion. In the book this is shown with how Hucks innate goodness repeatedly conquers his racism when he tries to hand Jim in, and when Jim is captured. However, Rosseau saw inequality and flaws in society. He called civilisation the fatal enlightenment of civil man. Note all the fatal enlightenments in the book - the hypocrisy of Christianity, racism and worship of authority (Huck and Jims disastrous co-operation with the King and Duke). American Dream Twain doesnt use the journey from civilisation to nature in the same way as other pastoral writers. Huck does not go to a static pastoral paradise but instead travels down the river having adventures. Hucks adventures represent the infinite possibility embodied in the American dream. In this way Twain is repurposing the journey from civilisation to nature to show Americas journey from an old fashioned, rigid civilisation to a freer country. One German immigrant in the mid-1800s described the American dream like this: The German emigrant comes into a country free from the despotism, privileged orders and monopolies, intolerable taxes, and constraints in matters of belief and conscience. Everyone can travel and settle wherever he pleases. No passport is demanded, no police mingles in his affairs or hinders his movements....Fidelity and merit are the only sources of honor here. The rich stand on the same footing as the poor; the scholar is not a mug above the most humble mechanics; no German ought to be ashamed to pursue any occupation....[In America] wealth and possession of real estate confer not the least political right on its owner above what the poorest citizen has. Nor are there nobility, privileged orders, or standing armies to weaken the physical and moral power of the people, nor are there swarms of public functionaries to devour in idleness credit for. Above all, there are no princes and corrupt courts representing the so-called divine 'right of birth.' In such a country the talents, energy and perseverance of a person...have far greater opportunity to display than in monarchies."

It is very important to remember that the American Dream was made by immigrants, leaving their old countries and starting afresh in a new one. Huck and Jims journey away from home and escaping through successive towns echoes that of immigrants. The journey from civilisation to nature echoes that of immigrants. It is also important to remember that the book was published just as the industrial revolution and unregulated capitalism were in full swing (1885) and after slavery had been abolished both leading to an even greater social mobility and equality. Self reliance Another way in which the pastoral is used by Twain to present the American dream is the emphasis on Huck and Jims self-reliance. They constantly invent clever solutions to problems. Twain takes the idea of going back to nature and emphasises the element of hard work and self reliance that this entails, rather than presenting nature as a static ideal. In this he praises the natural America as opposed to the civilised America: the America in nature is made up of honest, self reliant people who have earnt their way, as opposed to the old, civilised, imperialist America where status was not earned but inherited. But is it a perfect vision of the American Dream? Is Huck and Jims escape from the civilisation of a constrained society with racist and imperialist hangovers, into nature and opportunity, really complete? The artificial constraints of civilisation continue throughout the book. Jim has to lie on the raft tied up, pretending he is a runaway slave they have caught, or wear robes as a Sick Arab he is still governed by racial stereotypes. Huck and Jim defer to the King and Duke immediately, and continue to even after Huck figures out their authority is an illusion. The constraints are an illusion, but they are still there. Moreover, Huck and Jim are really alone. They are always running away from corrupt people (the King and Duke), violent people (the feuding families), slave owners, Hucks father, people who want to lynch them. Huck and Jim, who represent the morality and self-reliance embodied in the American dream, are at odds with the rest of American society. Is Twain saying that the American dream is actually mostly a lie? Moreover Hucks attempts at idealised descriptions of the pastoral in the book are always tempered with ugliness the breeze is sweet to smell but sometimes not that way, because theyve left dead fish laying round, gars and such, and they do get pretty rank. But does this actually suggest that this ideal is achievable? It is up to the reader to figure out whether Huck Finn in fact presents an optimistic vision of the American dream, as all these things are left ambiguous. This could be the meaning of the Notice at the beginning. The question in the book is can Huck and Jim (and thereby America) escape their past? This is what Hamlin Hill says: We are aware that Huck cannot live comfortably in any of the worlds he inhabits. He searches for a father he cannot find, having killed, at least symbolically, the legal one. He cannot find a home, at

Widow Douglas's, in Pap's cabin, on Jackson's Island, at the Grangerfords, on the raft, or at the Phelps plantation, either because none of his worlds is insulated from outside interference or because he loses them to circumstance or expediency. The entire structure of the novel is one of frustrated attempt to escape from restrictions only to find the refuge susceptible to invasion and destruction. Judith Loftus's husband is 'after us'; the slave-hunters and the Duke and Dauphin violate the pastoral immunity of the raft.