Huck Finn Essay

999 words - 4 pages

Huck Finn's Odyssey Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, wrote a revolutionary novel by the name of Huckleberry Finn. Twain originally called his new novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) because Huck was friends with Tom from his former novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain's decision to change characters proved to be a good one helped lead to the novels success. The novel is written to contain all the characteristics of its time in that it is during the civil war and reconstruction era. It accurately depicts the language and romantic writing styles of the time period. Throughout the book, Huck Finn has many small encounters that blend together to build the plot. Each obstacle Huck must overcome plays a role in his maturity and moral development. The beginning of the novel gives the reader a transition from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by providing some background of the plot in the former mentioned novel in which Huck comes across a large sum of money. Huck is living with the Widow Douglas, who is attempting to educate and civilize him. Huck's father, who is a drunk and has been out of the picture for some time, shows up just as Huck has worried about and convinces a judge to grant custody rights to his son. The reason for this is to try and get the money that belongs to Huck. When the Widow Douglas tells the father to stay away, he kidnaps his son. At first Huck likes the freedom of living with his father, but it comes at the price of abuse. Huck, who has recently left a group started by Tom and in hopes of getting away from his father, fakes his death and sails down the Mississippi. Not long after the start of his odyssey Huck runs into Jim, Miss Watson's slave, who joins him in his journey down the Mississippi. While hiding out on Jackson Island Huck gets word that there are men looking for them, so they continue down the river and start their long journey. The river is peaceful to the two runaways at first, but only briefly, as this changes thanks to the dangerous experiences they survive along the way. The first thing to disrupt their relaxed journey is a wrecked steamboat they encounter. Although Jim wants to just pass by, Huck convinces him to go on board for supplies. They witness a man tied down and two others discussing his fate. The two leave quickly, and tell the citizens in a nearby town its Huck's family in hopes that they'll get their before the boat sinks, but it's too late. Next they come across two families who are involved in an ongoing feud. Though neither side...

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