The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn From James Topham

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

From James Topham

 -Mark Twain-

Mark Twain's second book detailing the life and times of the young ragamuffin, Huckleberry Finn came as something of a sequel to his ever-popular The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and it provides a similar mix of heady southern atmosphere, child-like larks, and fantastic prose.

Like his earlier book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is firmly ensconced in the atmosphere and social structure of eighteenth century life by the Mississippi river, a river that (even more so than in the book's predecessor) comes to be more of a character than a mere setting. A beautiful novel of fun and great beauty, it has been a must-read for adults and children for more than a century.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn return us to the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, and its opening pages reacquaint us with the characters that we met in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn, who once a child of the river, found a robber’s loot, and now had quite a large amount of money held in trust at the bank. He has been adopted by an old widow, and has been forced to go to school, keep clean, and do all the things that a respectable boy should.

However, such a veneer of respectability does not last, when Huck's father Pap returns to town claiming custody over Huck (and, of course, wanting his money). A drunk and a n'er-do-well, Pap often beats Huck and locks him in a cabin when he goes out drinking and so, in an attempt to escape, Huck fakes his own death using pig's blood and runs away to an island in the center of the river. After a few days of living rough he meets an escaped slave by the name of Jim, and they join forces, living lives close to nature. However, the island could not hold them forever, and when Huck overhears that Jim's owners are planning to look for Jim on the island, they both escape--traveling on a log raft down the river.

On their journey they have a number of run-ins with various river folk--including a gang of robbers whose loot they managed to steal, and a group of slave-hunters whom Huck lies to in order to save Jim. Finally, in the dark one night, a large steamer collides with the raft and, abandoning ship, Huck and Jim are parted. However, they are not parted for long, as Jim finds Huck and gets him out of a tight spot when he is caught up in a gun battle between two warring southern families.

Returning to the river, Huck and Jim get mixed up with two small-time con artists going by the names the Duke and the Dauphin, who get attempt a number of scams at the towns they come across along the river (and which Huck does his best to spoil). However, this agreement comes to an end when the two men betray Jim. Huck swears to help him, and is helped in this endeavor by Tom (who coincidentally turns up when he goes to visit his aunt and uncle).

The escape goes badly awry however, when in the process of breaking Jim free, Tom is shot in the leg. Caring more for the boy than his own freedom, Jim gives himself up and is once more put in chains. However, when Tom awakes he explains that, in fact, Jim is a free man (having been freed months earlier in the will of his recently departed owner). On their return to St. Petersburg, Huck's father is revealed to have died, and Huck once more faces the prospect of being "sivilised" this time by Tom's Aunt Sally. He says no thank you, and heads off on his adventures once more.

A wonderful, sprawling book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has all the components to make a truly great adventure story. And, in the end, Huck firmly determines that the adventurous life is for him--forsaking any notions of making himself a good child. Like a Peter Pan for the American frontier, one feels that Huck will never grow up, and will never fall into civilization's traps. His interest lies in the excitement and adventure of the river--and in the final analysis those are what he chooses.

A brilliant book, perhaps surpassing its predecessor in readability and plotting, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a boy's own story told at a wonderful pace. It should be an instant recommendation in any list of great American literature.

http://classiclit.about.com/od/adventuresofhuckleberry/fr/aa_huckfinn2.htm