The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written by Mark Twain. Mark Twain, bornSamuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, led one of the most exciting and adventuresomeof literary lives. Raised in the river town of Hannibal, Missouri, Twain had toleave school at age twelve to seek work.
He was successively a journeymanprinter, a steamboat pilot, a halfhearted Confederate soldier (no more than afew weeks), and a prospector, miner and reporter in the western territories. Hisexperiences furnished him with a wide knowledge of humanity, as well as with theperfect grasp of local customs and speech, which exhibits itself so well in hiswriting. With the publication in 1865 of The Celebrated Jumping Frog ofCalaveras County, Twain gained national attention as a frontier humorist, andthe best-selling Innocents Abroad solidified his fame. But it was not until Lifeon the Mississippi (1883), and finally, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1885), that the literary establishment recognized him as one of the greatestwriters America would ever produce. Toward the end of his life, plagued bypersonal tragedy and financial failure, Mark Twain grew more and morepessimistic-an outlook not alleviated by his natural skepticism and sarcasm. From this last period, only the stories The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg andThe Mysterious Stranger match his earlier work in brilliance.
Though his famecontinued to widen-Yale and Oxford awarded him honorary degrees-Twain spent hislast years in gloom and exasperation, writing fables about the damned humanrace. Characters Tom Sawyer- Tom is a friend of Huckleberry Finn. Tom hasan extraordinary imagination. Huckleberry Finn- Huck is the main character ofthe story. His mother is dead and father is a drunk and abuses him.
Jim- Jimis the slave of Miss Watson. He is very superstitious and believes in witches. The King- The King is a bum that, after hearing the other bum say that he wasa duke, said that he was the King. Huck and Jim just go along with it so itwould not start trouble.
The Duke- The Duke is a bum. He pretends that he isthe rightful Duke of Bilgewater. Summary Huckleberry Finn is a child around theage of 14. He lives along the Mississippi River with Miss Watson.
She is hisguardian, because his mother is dead and his father is a drunk. His fatherabuses him. When Hucks father comes to town and hears that his son is goingto inherit six thousand dollars, he wants custody of Huck. Every once in a whilehe will get drunk and argue with the judge. Finally, Hucks father takes Huckback.
He runs away and makes it look like he was killed while his father wasout. He took a boat and went floating down the Mississippi. He stops aJacksons Island thinking that he was going to live there. He finds MissWatsons slave, Jim on the island. She was going to sell Jim so he ran away. Jim was scared to death, because he thought that Huck was a ghost.
Everyonethought that he was dead. Huck went ashore, disguised, to find out if anyone waslooking for them. He found out that they were going to go to the island to lookfor Jim. They immediately left the island. They had many adventures whilefloating down the river towards Jims freedom.
They met two bandits whoclaimed that they were a Duke and a King. These bandits scammed every town theycame across for money. At one point they get discovered for being fraudsclaiming that they were the brothers of a dead man and came to get there sharein his will. Huck escapes and later runs into the Duke and the King again.
Theyuse a paper they made at one of there stops to suggest that Jim was a runaway. They sold him for 40 dollars. Huck is determined to set Jim free again. He goesto the farm where Jim is held captive and is mistaken for Tom Sawyer but goesalong with it to find out about Jim.
Later on Tom comes to the house and coversfor Huck by saying that he was Sid Sawyer and they wanted to surprise them. Astime passes, Tom and Huck make plan to set Jim free. Huck figures out a simpleplan to help their friend. But Tom, with his extraordinary imagination, wasntsatisfied one bit. His devised a plan that was more dangerous and consisted ofmany unnecessary elements.
Huck went along with it anyway to make Tom happy. Thenight that they act on the plan, Tom was shot in the leg and they were allchased by men with guns in the dark. They headed for the boat. They all got onand decided that they better get some help for Tom. Huck stopped at the shore alittle ways down the river and found a doctor.
Huck fell asleep and it wasmorning when he woke up. He shoved off shore on the raft and ran into hisuncle. His uncle brought him back home and asked where Sid(Tom)was and Huck told him that he was in town. He told him that they heard thegunshots the night before and went after them. Tom didnt return that day andhis aunt sat up all night waiting for him.
In the morning, the doctor comesalong with Tom and Jim. Jim was tied up. The doctor said that this was a runawayand that he helped him take care of Tom so they wouldnt punish him soharshly. As the time went by, Tom got better and told his aunt the whole storyabout their plan to free Jim, thinking that they had freed him. He didnt knowthat Jim was recaptured.
Everybody talked about it and Tom said that he waslegally free, because in Miss Watsons will, she set Jim free and she had diedtwo months before. So it turned out that they were risking their lives to free afree man. Jim got 40 dollars for helping the doctor take care of Tom and he wasa free man. Toms aunt and uncle adopted Huck to civilize him. Jim tellsHuck that his father is dead. Therefore, Huck can go back home and claim the sixthousand with no problem.
Analysis This book was written in a time of racialdiscrimination and slavery. Because of that fact, I think that the author, MarkTwain, was against racial injustice. I can imagine that the material was veryrisky to right. It was a very controversial subject. I dont know if MarkTwain was an abolitionist, but the ideas in the book might suggest it. He couldhave just been writing an adventure which is also suggested by the titleof the book.
This message of anti-slavery is very important, because thereshould not have been any slavery or racial discrimination. It shows thestupidity of the human race and what we should be ashamed of. What we should beashamed of in the past and the present. There is still racial injustice in ourmodern society today. So, what does that tell you about our race and oursociety? Now we have problems of sexual discrimination. My Opinion I think thatthis book was written very well.
The message was demonstrated throughout theentire story by Hucks loyalty to Jim, and Jims loyalty to Huck. I thinkthat this story about a young boy, his journey, and his adventures along the waywas one of the first great novels to speak in a truly American voice. The waythat he wrote in slang dialects is incredible. This is a great book and I thinkthat it should be a reference for many writers of all kinds.
He told abelievable story with a twist. This book will be remembered for a long time andbe read by generations and generations and will always be considered a wonderfulstory and also a piece of history.Book Reports
