traceymadeley 's review for:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book is entitled ‘Adventures’ for a reason. It depicts the escapades of a young boy and his relationship with the runaway slave Jim. Picking up on some of the details from Tom Sawyer, Huck shows his disdain for money by giving his fortune away. Even the reward for he capture of runaway slave Jim does not tempt him. He tries to orchestrate his escape in a somewhat convoluted way, based on how it happened in adventure books. Despite his upbringing in the slave owning South, Huck sees Jim as a human being and therefore chooses to follow his conscience rather than his upbringing. 

 

In relation to the two conmen, the Duke and the King, Huck plays along with their charade as part of his adventure, showing due deference to an old formal class system that never existed in America. These two men perform inaccurate renditions of Shakespearean speeches for an audience that appears ignorant of the original. In the next town, they impersonate a dead man’s relatives to try and obtain his fortune. These men could be seen as representing the British aristocracy who bought plantations in the South, taking advantage of slave labour for their own profit.   

 

The ending has been criticised as wrapping things up too nicely, but if this is to be a morale anit-slavery, anti-corruption tale, then Jim needs to be a free man and Huck is vindicated in his stand against his Southern upbringing. I read the unsanitized version of this book and although the language is offensive, it is accurate for the time.