Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis examines Mark Twain’s use of the dialectic between the characters Huck and Jim to illuminate Jim’s humanity in the classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Over the course of their adventure, Huck learns that Jim is a human being and not property. This realization leads Huck to choose to assist Jim in his escape from captivity, and risk eternal damnation according to his religious beliefs. Huck’s decision is driven by the friendship that develops between him and his fellow fugitive on their adventure. Jim’s kindness and stewardship also provide a stark contrast to the treachery of the characters on the banks of the river. Twain thus crafts a message that slavery and race discrimination are wrong without taking the tone of an abolitionist, combining an amusing children’s story with a profound social message. Although definitive proof of his intention to do so has never been found, human friendship is the sliver of common ground Twain used to reach across the profound racial gap in the United States in the late 19th century. The analysis takes place in four parts: (1) a comparison of AHF to other nineteenth century works that featured slavery to establish it as unique among those works; (2) an analysis of the aforementioned dialectic from a modern text of the novel featuring previous deleted parts from the early manuscript; (3) a review of the critical response to the novel which reveals that if Twain was trying to send a message of racial equality, he was not doing so overtly; and (4) a conclusion in which I posit that Twain found a creative solution to a social problem and cite critical discourse that notes Twain’s course of action. This yielded a work that was both more widely read and timeless than a work that confronted slavery directly. Chapters one, three and four utilize critical dialogue and history from print and digital sources. Jane E. Schultz, Ph.D., Professor

Né en 1935 à Estérençuby (Pyrénées Atlantiques), Eñaut Etxamendi est écrivain, poète et chanteur en langue basque. Dans son œuvre narrative, il décrit la société agraire du Pays Basque Nord – concrètement, la province de la Basse-Navarre – et son processus de désagrégation sociale et culturelle à partir des années 60. Quelle place accorder dans la littérature basque moderne à cette œuvre, qui sublime l'idylle détruite ? Quelle est sa place et son originalité au vu des productions des auteurs basques contemporains? Quelle part de l’œuvre d’Etxamendi se situe sous l’influence de la pensée nationaliste et quel peut bien être son degré de participation à la construction de mythes identitaires? Nous utilisons les concepts du formalisme russe pour décrire la structure, le matériau littéraire et le dynamisme de l'œuvre etxamendienne. Puis, nous interrogeons ces résultats par l'apport du post-formalisme et des propositions bakhtiniennes et tâchons de situer l'œuvre littéraire d'Eñaut Etxamendi dans son rapport à l'idylle détruite et au Cкaз. Finalement, nous faisons intervenir l'ethnocritique de la littérature et le post-colonialisme, afin d'inscrire l'œuvre littéraire d'Eñaut Etxamendi dans « la mémoire longue d’une communauté discursive » et dans le contexte particulier des années 1960-1990 qui alliait la vitalité politique à la vitalité culturelle. L’objectif de ce questionnement est d’approfondir dans la connaissance de l’œuvre d’un auteur mais aussi d’une région littéraire du Pays Basque encore trop peu étudiées. / Eñaut Etxamendi was born in Esterençuby (Pyrénées Atlantiques, France), in 1935. He is a writer, poet an singer in basque language. In his literary work, Eñaut Etxamendi describes the agrarian society who was disappearing by the 60's in the North Basque Country – concretely in the province of Basse-Navarre – and the process of social and cultural disbanding that occured then.Where can be placed Eñaut Etxamendi's literary writing – sprung up in geographical and linguistic periphery – and its sublimated « idyllic chronotope » in basque modern literature ? Which is his originality comparing to other contemporary basque writer's works ? What is Etxamendi's part of work under nationalist theories's influence and up to which point has his literature pertained to the discourse of identity ? Our search is an attempt to improve knowledge of a few known author and few known literary area of Basque Country.