The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tor Classics)

In this follow up to his classic about Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain focuses on Huckleberry Finn. The book has only the loosest of plots. The beginning follows Huck as he tries to adjust to being "civilized" and then tricks his abusive pappy into think he's dead.

The book really gets rolling when Huck and runaway slave Jim take to the raft down the Mississippi River. Even then, it's episodic in nature as they get caught up in a feud and harbor two conmen, the King and the Duke. In the final part of the novel, Tom Sawyer makes a reappearance and helps Huck free Jim, who is being held as a runaway slave.

Honestly, that last "episode" is my favorite in the book. It's so funny watching Tom make things ten times as complicated as needed since he wants to make this a grand adventure. I love it.

This book has always captured my imagination more than the first with these characters, probably because I love the idea of rafting down the Mississippi. It's a classic adventure that appeals to the boy in me. I freely admit the episodic nature of the plot makes for an uneven read.

Also problematic is the dialect writing. Huck narrates this book first person, and his schooling isn't the best, so the grammar reflects that. It's nothing compared to the poor grammar and written accents of some of the other characters, most noticeably Jim. There are times it's almost impossible to understand what is being "said."

This book often gets challenged and even banned because Twain uses the "N" word to talk about Jim and the other slaves. Considering when the book was set (before the Civil War) and written (1870's), that was the "correct" term to use. I challenge you to read beyond that because what you'll find is that Twain was trying to challenge the views of his day. Jim is the best character, and Huck's growth as a character comes from recognizing Jim as a fellow human being.

This is still a fun read that holds a place as a classic of American literature. It's not often you find that combination.

I will begin by saying that I loved reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" also by Mark Twain. I think it is an inspired work of genius and I thoroughly enjoyed it (see my review on that book). Even the introduction to Tom Sawyer, however, describes Huckleberry Finn as "Twain's masterpiece, perhaps his only great novel, morally and stylistically above the somewhat fragmentary and anecdotal Tom Sawyer."

I cannot agree with this assessment. I had numerous problems with this work which detracted from my full enjoyment of its many positives.

First, the outline - This is the story of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer's colorful outcast friend introduced and developed in that first book. This book recaptures his association with Tom, but very quickly Huck breaks off on his own - he runs away to get away from his drunk and abusive father who has imprisoned him in a desolate cottage. He will not meet Tom again until the final chapters of the book. He picks up on his flight down the Mississipi the runaway slave Jim, and they quickly develop a mutual bond of love, respect and friendship that transcends the social barriers between them. The rest of the book is the story of their many adventures as they raft down the Mississipi river. Central to the saga are Jim's struggle to find freedom and Huck's struggle with his conscience torn between the 'civilized' ideas he recieves during his brief time with the well-meaning widow Douglas and his own previously uncontaminated sense of right and wrong.

Using the first person narration in the voice of Huck Finn is a stroke of genius, giving the story a freshness and authenticity that make even the simplest passages a pleasure to read. Each character is given a distinct local accent. The author is obviously proud of this achievement; he specifically describes his linguistic efforts thus in the preface, "The shadings have not been done in a hap-hazard fashion, or by guess-work; but pains-takingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech."
Moreover, despite the limitations on vocabulary forced by this decision, he manages to create eloquent and evocative descriptions of life on and along the Mississipi river. In fact, the Mississipi, in all its majesty and beauty and power runs through the entire narrative holding it together and effectively becoming a third major character in the story.

Now for the negatives. The first is technical, and takes off where the last paragraph left off. Even for a genius like Mark Twain, it is apparently difficult to consistently maintain the speech cadences of an uneducated boy who can barely read, through the entire course of a full-length novel. And the inconsistencies show through. Frequently. This acts to intermittently spoil the very effect he is trying to create. Also, it can be a little annoying, like the voice of an American imitating a British accent that frequently and unintentionally falls back to American. I will illustrate with two passages. First, the opening lines of the book,

"You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary."

Quaint. Honest. Beautiful.

Now contrast this speech peppered with grammatical flaws with the following lines from chapter 9 -

"The door of the cavern was big enough to roll a hogshead in, and on one side of the door the floor stuck out a little bit and was flat and a good place to build a fire on. So we built it there and cooked dinner."

Or these from chapter 12 (except for the colloquial word ain't) -

"I took the canoe out from the shore a little piece and took a look, but if there was a boat around I couldn't see it, for stars and shadows ain't good to see by. Then we got out the raft and slipped along down in the shade, past the foot of the island dead still, never saying a word."

And so on. Maybe a small quibble, but noticeable.

Secondly, because the story assumes quite early on a clear moral position (unlike Tom Sawyer), one begins to expect a certain degree of realism and believability in the plotline itself (which is not the case with Tom Sawyer). In Huck Finn, the childlike pranks of Tom Sawyer are replaced by elaborate and convoluted plots spanning many chapters and frequent twists that rely all too much on coincidence. The stories are funny but not convincing. This detracts from the credibility of the underlying message. Crystals of wisdom do not dissolve well in a broth of farce, and they stand out like sunburnt trees on a savannah, somehow diminished, desolate and out of place.

The weight of this contradiction becomes particularly telling in the final chapters which stretch credibility to its limit and become tedious to the point of exasperation. This fact was apparently also pointed out by Ernest Hemmingway in his famous critique of the novel. He had high praise for it but urged readers to stop reading at the final third of the book, although he still mostly canonized it as a ground-breaking work of American Literature. (This last bit I obtained from a commentary on Hemmingway's review, so I cannot claim first-hand knowledge of it).

Other critics have proposed that the painful slowness of the latter part of the book is a deliberate attempt to reflect the lackadaisical attitude of white people and law makers toward social change during the period. But I cannot accept that to describe a sense of boredom a book must itself be made boring - at least not in the hands of a skilled writer like Mark Twain. Therefore I see it as a shortcoming.

Another inexplicable (and in my opinion, unforgivable) anomaly is that Tom Sawyer is used in the story only as a trickster and a foil to contrast with the innocent and innate honesty of Huckleberry Finn. The lovable social rebel of the first novel now takes on a darker character and in fact becomes the embodiment of a fickle and foolish system of social values. His childlike imagination is transformed into a penchant for lying and the erstwhile lighthearted pranks take on a grotesque and somber dimension. In his self-centered desire for fame and glory, Tom Sawyer is willing to put his friends at great risk and comes up with hare-brained schemes and ridiculous ideas to further his ends. I don't see why such a rare and wonderful literary character must be sacrificed at the altar of another in this wasteful manner.

As to the more usual criticism of the book for its abundant use of the racially abrasive term "nig**r", I feel the author has used it for authenticity in the speech of the day rather than with any intent to denigrate. The spirit of his book is squarely anti-slavery. Still, it would probably be painful for an African American to digest the repeated use of the word.

Also, the consistent portrayal of slaves as simple-minded and superstitious is hard to accept. Even Jim's character could not be fully developed because of these limitations.

Yet, despite my reservations, I am happy to have finally read this great American classic, that I have long wished to tackle. Its positives still make it a worthy read.

The question is: is this the greatest American novel ever written?? If not it comes pretty close. Though it's extremely controversial, it's a book that should without a doubt be taught in every American school. The frequent use of the "N" word is disturbing, but it makes sense in the context of the book. Funny, witty, and extremely enjoyable, it is now of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend it with no hesitations.

Great book

great classic

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel of sorts. First came The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which Huckleberry Finn was a character in just as Tom Sawyer was in this one. In this adventure Huckleberry runs away from his alcoholic father and along the way runs into a slave Jim, who is trying to gain his freedom. As they stop in towns along the river they always seem to run into trouble.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was more enjoyable to read on my own then it was to read for school. Huck definitely has a original imagination to get them through all the hijinks they go through.

I felt that by the Tom Sawyer showed up the book could and probably should have ended. Many of the people in the town were pretty gullible to believe Huck, Tom and other characters like the Duke or King.

An Interesting read. Not sure I understand why it is a classic except that is by Mark Twain. I could see the authors humor throughout the book, which he was known for.

The quality is really poor, I would clean my hand after reading and I will never eat apple while reading it.