Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) Paperback – May 26, 1994

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most interesting books I have read because of the great life lessons that it teaches and the continuously intriguing plot. One of my favorite parts of the story is during the rising action when Huck runs away from his father and fakes his death so that he go to the island, where he eventually finds Jim. Huckleberry begins abandoning many of the rules that he has been taught to help Jim and stay with him during their adventures. The most captivating part of the novel is during the climax when Huck does not tell Miss Watson where Jim is because he and Tom want to rescue Jim. Later on in the story, during the falling action, Aunt Polly identifies Huckleberry and Tom and Tom informs them that JIm was released, according to Miss Watson’s will. This leads to Tom’s plan to travel west because he decides that he does not want to deal with the normality of society anymore and the viewpoints that many people have. Overall, the story is about a boy who is proved to be different from the people around him because he believes that a lot of what he has been taught is right, is actually wrong. He comes to these realizations on his own and understands the real right from wrong. It is about a boy who sees the world a little differently from others and how he reacts to all of it.Huckleberry Finn is not only the main character of the story, but he is a round and dynamic character as well. Huck changes throughout the story with his realization of the difference between his version of the right things to do and other people’s version of it. Over the course of the story he learns to get over what society has taught him and accepted Jim when others did not. Furthermore, he is also the protagonist of the story because of how he spends time with Jim and actually wants to be with him, which goes against the beliefs that he grew up with. On the other hand, Jim is more of a flat character. Although he transitions from being a slave to being a free man, his morals and viewpoints do not change at any point in the novel. I like how the characters all have something unique about them that none of the other characters possess. For example, Huckleberry thinks differently from other people in the story.One of the most significant elements to the story is the irony throughout it. Twain uses a lot of situational and dramatic irony in the novel. At the beginning of the story, Huckleberry’s father gets angry whenever he goes to school, which is a topic that most parents would not get angry over. Additionally, when the Grangerford’s and the Shepherdsons go to church, they leave their guns at the doors to establish peace in the church community. However, they grab their guns and continue their feud as soon as they leave the church, showing how it is ironic that they want to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the church while they are fighting under any other circumstances. Twain also writes in the same way that he thinks his characters would speak. This element gives more personality to the characters. The irony also makes the story enjoyable to read because it gives the readers something that the characters are unaware of or something that they do not think about as much as the audience does.Huckleberry Finn struggles with where he is in his environment and society trying to change him so that he will eventually become an adult. He goes against many of the things that he has been doing and has seen other people doing his whole life, creating conflict. For example, Huck wonders about whether he should turn Jim in or not because it is what he had been taught to do, but he does not think that it would be right to do that because Jim had become his friend over the time that he spent with him. Huckleberry shows a normal life through his uncivilized ways and his want to escape the society that he is in. He grows up believing that African Americans are not as intelligent as people with light skin are. During the story, it surprises him when he finds Jim to be more “level headed” than he assumed he would be. This establishes the theme of civilization interfering with life, rather than improving it. Overall, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story about a boy figuring things out in his life and how he handles them.

Bought this book for my grand-son for his summer reading. He loved it!

Years ago, I’d read Tom Sawyer, and when Percival Everett published the novel James, I decided to read Huckleberry Finn.It is the most frustrating bit of foolishness I’ve ever read. I suppose, in its time, it would have been great entertainment for Twain’s contemporaries, a laugh riot, but the stories of the King and the Duke and Tom Sawyer’s involvement with freeing Jim the slave, did nothing but annoy me, page after page.Your mileage may vary.

Turns out that I'd never read Huck Finn before but decided to do so before reading Percival Everet's "James." So glad I did! Great story with so many messages. But glad I didn't have to read it from a weekly magazine!

I forgot just how good it was. It’s been 50+ years since I first read. Well worth a second read.

I loved the book when I taught and read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in the 70s, however, after reading Twain's book a few days ago, I grew a bit tired of the dialect. There are plenty of other writers who have utilized dialect and dialogue, but this just took a bit too long for my brain to get around it. I'm probably committing the biggest mortal sin of all by saying this about a beloved classic ... well, too bad....I'm just sayin'.... Perhaps read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harpet Lee if you want honest dialogue and a message that is consistent with the times as well as BLM.

I loved the humor in this book and the entertaining characters. A heartwarming and fun book. It is a true classic.

Read Mark Twain’s original book before you read the new book James. It’s a complete experience that I highly recommend.