"Huckleberry Finn" is a Masterpiece on Liberation

According to the public relations and the website of Khatam University, on the occasion of research week and with the efforts of the Departments of Psychology and English Language of Khatam University, on Thursday, December 14, 2023, a meeting was held with the title "Analyzing the personality traits of fictional heroes: the case of Huckleberry Finn" and with the speech of Dr. Anahita Khodabakhshi Koulaei, a faculty member of the psychology department of this university.

At first, Dr. Hoda Shabrang, a faculty member of English Department of Khatam University, briefly introduced the American writer "Mark Twain" and the story of "Huckleberry Finn".​

"Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece about liberation

By stating that Twain was influenced by Dickens and Balzac, two other great writers of realist literature, she described the tone of humor in his stories as thought-provoking and admirable, and further, regarding the story of "Huckleberry Finn", she considered this novel as a work of liberation; The liberation of "Jim" (the black character of the story) from slavery and the liberation of "Huck" (the white boy of the story) from the restrictions of society.

Shabrang also described the character of "Huck" as dynamic and said: "The way society looks at black people in this story forces him to decide whether to let Jim, who is a slave of Mrs. Douglas, escape or not. It is the moment that Twain leads us to the concept of ‘civil disobedience’ and finally Huck makes the first decision and sends Jim away.”

This faculty member of Khatam University's English Language Department also listed "Racism and Slavery", "Education and Morals", "The Destruction of White Civilized Society" and "Money and Wealth" as the 4 main axes of the story of "Huckleberry Finn" and added: “In the first axis of this story, we see how a corrupted society (in the context of racism) causes people to doubt the issue of morality and leads a person to make individual decisions at crossroads.”

She continued: “In the second axis, we are facing a kind of homogenization of all members of the society in schools and churches and forcing other people to accept the values of the white society. In the third axis, we are faced with the central idea that every controlling society injects a sense of shame and guilt to its people; which have been derived from Christian upbringing.”

Shabrang also stated: “In the fourth axis, Twain well depicts the money-oriented and materialistic American society in which some people (white people) earn money for themselves by buying and selling slaves.”

According to this faculty member of Khatam University's English Language Department, "Huckleberry Finn" is a story in a realistic style and about real people, and that is why the audience can easily relate. This novel is also a regional work and one of Mark Twain's masterpieces which can very well show the differences in the various dialects and accents that existed in that region - where the events of the story took place.

She also used the Mississippi River in the story of "Huckleberry Finn" as a symbol of freedom, the boat (the boat that Jim and Huck built with each other's help) is a symbol of cooperation, and Jim himself is a symbol of injustice and racism which exist in the society.

In the following, Dr. Anahita Khodabakhshi Koulaei, a faculty member of the department of Psychology of Khatam University and the main speaker of the session "Analyzing the Personality Traits of Fictional Heroes: The Case of Huckleberry Finn", referred to an article by an American psychoanalyst who in 1950 aimed to introduce the "Huckleberry Finn Syndrome" and said: “According to the argument presented in this article, when a literary work becomes famous and can even influence the formulation of the constitution of a country (here America), it inevitably breaks the boundaries and its values spread around the world.”

"Hawk" attacks the virtuous Aristotelian character

She listed irresponsibility, frequent absences from work and school, rejecting parents, hyperactivity, frustrated and depressed children and lying among the characteristics of the "Huckleberry Finn syndrome" and emphasized: “The beauty and greatness of the story of Huckleberry Finn is in the evolution of its fictional character. Huck reaches the point where he looks for moral values to take or not to take an action and becomes a character who sympathizes. It can be seen that his conscience is awakened, he is intelligent, and in a word, he hits the Aristotelian virtuous character.”

Referring to the shortcomings of various educational systems in the world, Khodabakhshi said: “As human beings, we do not need to always know a series of words, but it is necessary to apply them in practice, which requires the internalization of the knowledge and moral values.”

Hatred toward others arises when we have no love for ourselves

In another part of her speech, this faculty member of Khatam University's psychology department pointed out the importance of the subject of human phenomenology and that the certain value of this issue is influenced by geography, culture, religion, family, education system and childhood, and reminded: “We can understand each other once we allow others to enter our world and vice versa, which means that we do love ourselves when we hate others.”

The protagonist of Huckleberry Finn is Jim, not Huck

She also divided the different types of "parenting" based on the pattern of love and communication, which have been discussed in psychology texts and the works of psychologists such as "Diana Baumrind", including "authoritarian pattern", "filial piety pattern", "abandonment pattern" and "The model of kindness combined with the child's right to choose", and said: “Huckleberry Finn's character, who has an alcoholic father and there is also no information about his mother, was actually created based on the model of abandonment in parenting.”

Khodabakhshi also emphasized that the reason for the immortality of the story of "Huckleberry Finn" is in the characterization that took place in it. She described the creation of the character "Jim" in this novel as masterful and said: "Although Jim has a superstitious character, he is a very emotional person at the same time. He is emotional as well as intelligent and loyal (to "Hawk"); which was the opposite of all the story stereotypes about blacks that existed until then. In my opinion, the protagonist of Huckleberry Finn is Jim. Mark Twain gives his story a ‘happy ending’ and Jim is finally freed from the chains of captivity.”