Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)
Studies - Gabriella Varró: The Adventures of the Minstrel Sign in Mark Twain 's Huckleberry Finn
section of the novel cliches referring to theatricality predominate, for instance, the Boggs and Sherburn duel in Chapter 21 seems perfectly choreographed, Jim is dressed up as King Lear not to be captured, moreover, in Chapter 22, Huck attends a real circus performance. Likewise, Huck's narrative on Henry VIII in Chapter 23 evokes the practice of minstrel stump speeches (applied as a central attraction of the minstrel olio), mixing up various historical facts, ages and personalities. "Ring Up Fair Rosamund." Fair Rosamund answers the bell. Next morning, "Chop off her head." And he made every one of them tell him a talc every night; and he kept that up till he had hogged a thousand and one tales that way, and then he put them all in a book, and called it Domesday Book —which was a good name and stated the case. [...] Well, Henry he takes a notion he wants to get up some trouble with this country. How does he go at it —give notice? —give the country a show? No. All of a sudden he heaves all the lea in Boston Harbor overload, and whacks out a declaration of independence, and dares them to come on. (169) The underlying psychological tensions of blackface performance are strikingly evoked in this section as well. The most vivid example of this is the scene in which the duke dresses Jim up in King Lear's outfit, and paints his face in blue paint (chapter 24). Regarding Twain's image of blacks some critics draw the conclusion from this scene that here once again Jim plays the white man's clown, and triggers laughter from the audience by the humiliation of himself. It is more likely, however, that we gain an insider's look into the psychological process of the white blackface delineator here. The whole ritual is very much like a minstrel act in reverse, since this time it is the black man's face which is covered with paint, and the black paint of the minstrel stage is turned into a death mask. Yet, in Jim's blue face we recognize not the Negro's, but the blackface entertainer's deathly glance, who shatters the essence of his own identity behind the mask; his death being the curious resurrection of the black man. The spiritual torments of the masquerade are represented through Jim's prearranged mad outcries in the respective scene. Meanwhile Twain is talki ng both to and about his audiences. 1 he snobbery of the masses is well illustrated by the fact that they automatically favor the upper classes as it is demonstrated in the 272
