The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic adventure as Huck Finn and Jim the slave search for freedom. Freedom is the theme of this book. Jim is trying to escape slavery. Huck is trying to escape growing up under rules and his father’s tyranny. Pap, Huck’s father, wants freedom from the government. Huckleberry Finn takes place before the Civil War. Twain wrote the novel 25 years after this era. The novel balances light and good fun with the darkness of death and child separation. The heart of the novel is Huck Finn and Jim’s relationship. I was shocked at how few scenes they had together. Huck does his own thing while Jim has to stay on the raft. I was also shocked that Huck sometimes hesitates with the plan to free Jim. He has real doubts about it until he decides at the end. I also forgot Tom Sawyer was in this book at the end, and it was a huge plot point. Tom Sawyer is in this book as much as Huck Finn was in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The pacing of the book is good thanks to smaller chapters. As a reader, I felt the immediacy of getting Jim out of the South. But, Jim and Huck get turned around so much, it is the driving plot but also an afterthought. The ending of this book was way different than I thought, and it is frustratingly funny thanks to Tom Sawyer. I liked The Adventures of Tom Sawyer quite a lot. Yet, in this book, Tom Sawyer is pretty annoying. He gets in the way of Jim and Huckleberry’s relationship. Huck Finn is a story assigned in high school. I did not read all of it, just parts. I was not a good student or a reader. I felt I knew the story because of the excellent The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starring Elijah Wood and Courtney B. Vance, but that adaptation took serious license and cut out the last 25% of the book. I did see the Ron Howard version as a kid, which I believe is more faithful, but not as memorable. I wanted to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to appreciate James by Percival Everett which I will read next month. I do like to read at least one classic novel a year as well. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published on February 18, 1884.

Plot Summary: This story follows immediately after the events of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn is staying with the Widow Douglas and has to go to school and dress properly. The Widow Douglas is not his official guardian. Huck Finn’s father is a drunk deadbeat. Some people rumor he is dead. Others say he is heading to town because he heard of Huck Finn winning treasure. Pap, Huck’s father does come back and goes to the courts to get Huck back. They do but his dad blows it by getting drunk several times. Pap gives up on the courts. He kidnaps his son from the Widow Douglas. Huck is somewhat okay with this because he doesn’t like going to school. However, his father gets drunk and beats him. Huck is also locked in a room every time his father leaves sometimes for 3 days at a time. After one scary night with Pap, he decides to run away. He had been sawing and loosening floorboards for a while. One night, he finally escaped. He killed a pig and staged the blood to look like he got murdered. Then he escaped. He hid a raft when out fishing with Pap and took it upriver. He picks a deserted island but finds an escaped Slave named Jim. Huck and Jim have known each other for some time. Jim belongs to the Sister of the Widow Douglas. Jim explains that he ran away while the town was looking for Huck’s body. Huck and Jim live out on the island for a while, and Huck learns of a 200-dollar reward for Jim. Huck goes into town. He dresses as a girl. He finds out that the reward is so high because they believe Jim murdered Huck. Huck also discovers a group of hunters. They are heading towards the island to capture Jim. Huck and Jim make it out but soon meet with two con artists the Duke and the King. They plan to rob and steal while using Huck for multiple schemes. Huck tries to foil their plans while escaping with Jim, but the Duke and the King have other plans.

What I Liked: The Huck and Jim relationship there’s real love there. Jim is willing multiple times to throw away his freedom to protect Tom and Huck. I loved that Huck pranks Jim. He makes Jim think he dreamed of getting separated from each other. Later in the story, Jim, Huck, and Tom prank a fellow slave to believe something was a dream. I like the scam the King and Duke play on the town after their horrible performance. They cleverly use the crowd’s energy to cause a buzz. Huck’s unique saying like, you scared the livers and the lights out of me. I used this phrase when my wife said something. She was tickled at it. She asked me to repeat it. I loved that Tom who reads all kinds of adventure books has rules that a prisoner must follow. Like making friends with an animal, be it a snake, rat, or spider. It just must happen it is in all the books. There is another rule about writing on the wall, making his mark. Pap’s drunken rant on the government is great. He makes no worthy points and everything he is for is horrible. The feud scene mirrors the real Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud that would be ongoing when Twain wrote the book. The Huck Finn in the women’s clothing scene was pretty funny. When he gets caught, the woman explains what he was doing wrong. She tells him what it is like to be a woman. I do like that a recurring gag is Huck forgetting whatever false name he gives to hide his identity. I did enjoy the quiet moments when Huck and Jim just enjoyed nature and the night sky. I liked that Twain added how the church would use its influence. They would tell children they would go to hell if they helped a slave escape.

What I Disliked: Tom Sawyer is super annoying. I liked the character a lot in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but he’s just in the way. The ending finally reveals the reason he is there. It is funny. However, I think this book would be better if Tom Sawyer was not at the end. Tom Sawyer got in the way of the Jim and Huck Relationship. I hate that we missed seeing the Duke and the King getting caught, tarred, and feathered. Chapter 33 used the N-word a lot almost after every sentence that was hard to get through. Huck is defending Jim but also claiming ownership by saying “My N-word”.

Book Recommendation: The Adventures of Huck Finn is an American classic. It was written at a time when certain words were used to demean others. The book can be a difficult book for that reason. Does the message of breaking away from societal norms matter more? Should we follow our conscience in how other people should be treated? I’m glad I read the book and am looking forward to reading James by Percival Everett. There’s a big opportunity to add to the character of Jim. He is all heart, but I did wonder what is in his head. I recommend my followers check out The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Rating: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 4.6 out of 5. Overall I liked The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. They are both great works. Tom Sawyer is the easier read of the two books.