The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Author: Mark Twain
Publishing Info: Originally published in 1860s--the one I read: © 1994 by Dover
Suggested Reading Level: Grades 9 - 12

Synopsis:
Huckleberry Finn had some adventures already in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but sets off this time to have some adventures on his own while rafting down the Mississippi River. He doesn’t get far before he meets up with a runaway slave named Jim. Huck knew Jim before they met up on the river. He was a slave at the house where Huck was being taken care of. His father, Pap, is a drunk and isn’t around at the beginning of the novel, so Tom’s aunts are trying to civilize both Tom and Huck. As Huck and Jim raft down the river, they run into trouble on more than one occasion. Huck climbs aboard a wrecked ship against Jim’s advice and their raft floats away. They steal another raft (of some thieves and murderers who also climbed aboard the wrecked ship), but run into a fog that separates the two of them. They get back together and then get hit by a steamboat. Because of the steamboat incident, a family called the Grangerfords, take Huck in. He finds out that the Grangerfords are part of a huge family feud with another family called the Shepherdsons. He likes the Grangerfords, but doesn’t want to be a part of their feud, so when things get out of hand, he and Jim (who has been hiding out in a nearby swamp) high-tail it out of town. As soon as they are back on the river, they run into the King and the Duke, two carpetbaggers who take advantage of people in every town they come to. These two crooks get Huck and Jim in a ton of trouble including the worst trouble of the book: they sell Jim as a runaway slave to a man in a riverside town while Huck isn’t around to protest.
Although the story is set in a pre-civil war United States and slavery is legal, Huck by this time has decided that Jim is a good man who deserves freedom, even if it means he (Huck) will go to hell for breaking the law. He goes to find and rescue Jim and gets himself into another mess by telling Jim’s new owner, who happens to be Tom Sawyer’s uncle, that he (Huck) is Tom. When Tom shows up, they make up stories and create some chaos before Jim is finally set free. In the end, he and Tom and Jim plan to take another adventure on the river.

Analysis:
I had never read this book before. I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer quite a few years ago, but never had a desire to read about Huck Finn. The first thing I discovered (which came as a surprise to me, actually) is that I don’t like Twain’s writing style. This book was difficult to read and to follow and became extremely boring. I would not have finished it if I wasn’t reading it for an assignment. I’m glad that I read it though, so I can try to counteract this problem for my students if I ever have to teach it. I say the book is hard to read because most of it is dialogue in what we would call “local color” style. After reading 70 pages one night, I had to try to not speak with a southern accent because that is how the words are written – exactly as they would sound if they were spoken out loud. The dialect of the slaves in the book was even harder to get through. There is a lot of underlying issues that are important to the post-civil war era that would make this a good choice for curriculum though, and although it is hard reading, it is very well done. Because it is difficult reading and rather a long book, I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone younger than high school age.