The Beloved Raftmen

While I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I couldn’t help but get the notion that the dialects spoken by Huck and Jim are distinguishably similar to that of the characters in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Although they take place some 40 years apart, on either side of the crux of the Civil War, the dialect spoken by the African Americans (whether slaves or freedmen in each) in each share many commonalities, or at least they’ve sounded the same as I picture them in my mind. Huck’s language as well isn’t too far from that of the residents of 124 Bluestone Road.

However, so far, I’ve found Twain’s work more likeable and easily understandable, as well as more coherent. Huck’s narration seems logical and linear, while in Beloved, Sethe’s goes all over the place as she reminisces about her tragic experiences while escaping slavery.  Aside from the colorful language and the realistic dialog and language of the 1840s characters, the most memorable part for me so has been the “Raftman’s Passage.”  The introduction that the Child of Calamity gives himself, with all of the metaphors and similes and descriptions of the plethora of natural disasters that he is makes him the most interesting minor character so far. What makes it particularly delightful for me is the fact that this was submitted as a short story separately by Twain, and then incorporated in the story. I also found it funny how The Child of Calamity paints this picture of how undefeatable he is and then gets quickly beaten by the man with the least imposing and threatening name: Little Davy. The irony of the whole situation, with Tom hiding behind barrels for the whole brawl, makes it my favorite part of the story so far. The absurd story of the haunted barrel, told by Ed, only makes the Raftman’s Passage more humorous. I had no idea that the man was going to pull his dead infant son out of the barrel. That was a real curveball.