The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a timeless American classic which set the tone for all other American literature to follow. The story opens up a window into the life of the American People before the Civil War. The lessons that this book presents can give the reader a deeper understanding of what existence was like along the Mississippi River over two hundred years ago. This is a novel which is full of thrilling adventure; personally, I enjoy adventure, which is the reason why I chose this book. Throughout the story there is constant exciting activity, there simply is never a dull moment in this book. Friendship, honesty, deceitfulness, and racism are all main issues all through this book. The characters face problems with ethics and morals along with the stereotypes of their society. The complex connections between race, culture, politics, and morality are made vivid in this story.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starts out with a brief description of the previous book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Both boys stole twelve thousand dollars in the previous book; each boy got six thousand a piece. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are both young boys growing up before the Civil War along the Mississippi. Both boys are mischievous but Tom is the one with all the plans, he reads a lot which gives him these ideas, which are fairly eccentric. Huck Finn does not live with either his mother or his father, in fact he seems to fear his father which he refers to as 'pap', he lives with a widow who takes care of him and makes him act very proper. It is thought that Huck's pap is dead but Huck believes that he is alive and will come get him eventually.

The first adventure that Huck has is with Tom Sawyer and a group of other young boys who band together to form a robber gang, all under the influence of Tom Sawyer. Their mission is to rob people and then kill them, however none of this ever happens and the gang soon breaks up.

Shortly after the gang splits, Huck's evil father comes back and takes him away from the widow. Pap takes Huck into the woods and makes desperate attempts to get the six thousand dollars which Huck owns. Luckily however, Huck gave it the bank manager, Mr. Thatcher for safe keeping. The beatings that Huck's father gives him become unbearable, so Huck finally decides to run away. However, he does not merely jump in a raft and float down the river. He sets up an elaborate scene; killing a hog and smearing its blood around the cabin, stealing corn and whiskey, which makes everything look like the house had been robbed and Huck had been killed.

Huck floats down the river till he gets to a nearby island, called Jackson's Island, where he hides and keeps cover from the search party which is looking for his dead body. One day, when Huck was wondering around exploring his island, he happens upon a Negro friend named Jim. Jim and Huck Finn are good friends and Jim is on the run too, so they both team up and build a more substantial fort on the island. They catch fish for food and lead a fairly good life for a little while. They even robbed a house which was floating down stream; they got eight dollars and some supplies. However, eventually the people of St. Petersburg get a clue and go after Jim, who ran away from his owner. The two boys are forced off their island and drift down the river on a raft which was made out of odds and ends they got out of the river.

The two boys float down the river by night and hide when the day breaks. They continued catching fish and lived a pretty decent life, until one day. It was a fairly heavy storm and the boys were caught in the middle of it. As they floated around, they spotted a fairy boat which had run aground. They boarded the ship with plans to rob it, however plans changed when two men are discovered on the boat who want to kill this other man. The boys get off the boat as fast as possible and continue down stream to a city that's far enough from St. Petersburg so Jim would be safe.

One night, Huck goes into a small town and sneaks around someone's back yard but was caught. He lies and lies till the people accept that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, they even go as far as opening their doors to him and letting him stay for an extended period. Huck stays with the family who is undergoing a family feud with another family, a violent feud. The family is very nice and Huck goes into great detail about how great the family really is. Eventually Huck gets out of the situation and meets up with Jim again.

They continue their journey down the river until, they help two men by letting them raft with them. One man claims he's a Duke while the other claims he's the rightful King of France, Huck can see right through their lies but Jim is fascinated and gives both men tremendous respect. The Duke and Kinds turn out to be great con men, conning every town that they pass in some way. Tricking people is their specialty, and they are very good at it. Huck and Jim go along with their cons until one goes too far. The men plan on robbing a dead mans inheritance by claiming they were his brothers, but Huck luckily pulls the plug on them and foils their plans.

Huck tries desperately too lose the liars but is stuck with them for a short while longer until they finally get caught and the boys are rid of them. However, things are not good at all, for Jim got kidnapped. Huck looks for Jim until he finds out where he is staying. However, when he gets there, the people mistake him for Tom Sawyer, of all people. So Huck lets on that he is Tom Sawyer until the real Tom Sawyer shows up and everything gets really crazy.

Huck continues to pretend that he is Tom Sawyer, and Tom pretends that he is Huck's friend, Sid. Jim is locked up in a small hut where all the other slaves live, and Tom and Huck set out to free him. However, instead of simply unlatching the door, Tom insists on making the escape look really genuine. So they dig a tunnel underneath the hut and make Jim carve all these things on the wall. Until finally, Tom tells the family that some Indians are planning on stealing Jim. That same night, they plan the escape; it all goes smooth until Tom gets shot. So when Tom was getting better, he told his Aunt that they were the ones that stole Jim, not the Indians.

After a long argument the family accepts the truth and everyone is happy. Jim is freed, Huck's pap was killed and he gets the six thousand dollars back, and Tom remains the mischievous boy he always was. Aunt Sally adopts Huck and that is the end of the story.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens', latter naming himself Mark Twain, life became the basis for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Memories from Twain's childhood were combined with his experiences on the Mississippi working as a pilot. He grew up

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