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Get every literary device explanation for Adventures of Huckleberry FinnPlus so much more...
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Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Jim:
In the “Explanatory” at the beginning of the book, Twain establishes that he intentionally studied and tried to replicate the “Missouri Negro dialect,” as seen in the way that the character Jim speaks. (Note that "Negro" is now considered an outdated and offensive way to refer to Black people.) The nature of Jim's dialect is exemplified in an emotional conversation with Huck:
“My heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’t k’yer no mo’ what become er me en de raf’. En when I wake up en fine you back agin’, all safe en soun’, de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss’ yo’ foot I’s so thankful.”
Twain’s rendering of “was” as “wuz,” “because” as “bekase,” “care” as “k’yer,” and “yo’” as “your” all add to readers being able to hear the sounds of Jim’s speech clearly, even as the reading experience might be somewhat challenging.
Attempting to capture this dialect so closely is part of Twain’s commitment to writing a realist novel that closely renders the sounds, sights, and racial dynamics of pre-Civil War American society. In honoring the “Missouri Negro dialect,” Twain honors Black Americans who spoke in similar ways, a move that highlights the intentions of his book as a whole: to critique slavery and the racist notions about Black people being less human that allowed such an institution to continue for so long.
Of note is that, in recent years, some scholars have questioned Twain’s exaggerated rendering of the Black American dialect, suggesting that it could have added to stereotypes about Black people’s speech patterns—even as Twain intended to challenge these stereotypes.
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