Books for/about - mark twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics)

Publisher: Bantam Classics
Authors: Mark Twain

ISBN: 0553210793
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Summary: In case anyone over age seven doesn't know the story...
If I had only one Twain short story to recommend, it wouldn't be Jumping Frog- it would be "The Literary Offenses of James Fennimore Cooper". If I had only one Twain novel to recommend it would far and away have to be Huckleberry Finn. If it's not the greatest American Novel by the greatest American author, it doesn't miss it far. It has humor, satire, insight, adventure, romance, travel, tragedy, family, racial commentary, and on and on. It hits just about any and every issue that an author could hit, all without preaching, and all while maintaining a high level of enjoyment.

The story is so well known that I won't waste much time describing it, but young Huck, sort of raised by an alcoholic and abusive father, sets out for adventure on the Mississippi River with his boyhood friend Tom Sawyer and their runaway slave friend, Jim. Twain uses their voices to make some powerful observations about human nature, and much like a modern day Christopher Guest would do through movies, Twain through books builds up overly earnest characters who wear their hearts on their sleeves but are still people we care about. Again, if you have just one Twain book to read, let it be Huck Finn. And track down "The Literary Offenses of James Fennimore Cooper" if you ever want to read the most sarcastic short story in the history of the English language.

Summary: Old fashioned fun...in a book
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a wonderful novel that is adventurous, humorous, and fun. The characters are believeable (one reason why is that Mark Twain writes in the character's dialects). The book really transports the reader into a differant time period.

The story revolves around Huck Finn. Huck is an easy going young teenager who is the son of a town drunkard. He recently made a large fortune. Because of this Huck is confined by schooling, shoes, and ,worst of all, manners. Huck had enough of this so he runs away. His small town assumes that he is dead, so he enjoy's the life on Jackson's island. When Jim, an escaped slave, runs away to the island. Huck decides to go down the Mississippi River.

Going down the river, Huck interacts with a variety of people, small towns, and adventures. The story is outrageous, but it doesn't matter. Huck more then makes up for it in his view of the world.

I would recommend this to most people because it is a very easy read and is entertaining.

Summary: The American novel
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be the American novel; the work that most closely represents the America experience. What then makes this such a great book to read, and such an embodiment of America? Many things.

First, this book addresses the issue of color racism thoroughly and subtly from multiple viewpoints. The latter includes the naive reluctant racist (Huck), the naive apathetic racist (Tom), those discriminated against (Jim), and of course the active, enthusiastic racists (most everyone else we meet in the book). Racism is examined from both the mental viewpoints; how individuals consider others of the same and different race, and from the social viewpoint; how individuals of different races interact in public and private. This emphasis on race points to the heart of American history; few other countries have struggled with skin color bias as long and as deeply as the US.

The second major point examined in this book is slavery; an issue strongly related to the first. Slavery as existed in other countries was rarely as delineated along color lines as it was in the USA. And rarely was it defined as a feature of different skin colors. For example, slavery throughout Europe was used as a form of criminal punishment. Likewise, slavery in the Middle East was a side effect of military conquest of one group of people by another. Not so in America. Here it was an inherent feature of how two races dealt with each other.

The third theme of this book that strongly embodies the American experience is the fractured / divided family. Walk through any neighborhood in China, India, Japan, Mexico, Egypt, Ireland or most any other country, and most of the children you encounter live with their parents, and most of the parents you meet live with their children. Unique among nations is America where many children do not live with both their biological parents. True now, this was true in the mid-1800s when this book's story takes place. Jim is searching for his family and Huck has left his. At the end of the book, they meet Tom, another boy who is not being raised by his parents. In fact, the two most stable families nuclear families encountered in this book are the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons.

This leads of course to a fourth feature of this book that is reflective of America; the family feud. For a country where everyone has so much, both back then and now in the early 21st century; Americans seem to have problems with neighbors. Nowadays, everyone wants a house with big yards to maximize separation between them and their neighbors, and neighbors rat on each other to their homeowners assocation. Back then, they had feuds.

The fifth topic dealt with in this book is the con. Unique to America is the role of the con artist in our history and culture. Consider Jim and Tammy Fay Baker, Robert Millikan and Charles Keating of modern times, and Ponzi of the early 1900s. In this book the reader encounters numerous cons and con artists. Huck himself cons Jim at the end of the book whereby he concocts a series of escape plans that puts Jim thru a series of ordeals, all for the naive amusement of Huck.

Having read several versions of Twain's classic by different publishers; this reviewer has only praise for this version. The book itself is a great classic and worthy of anyones time and effort in reading it.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Penguin Classics)

Publisher: Penguin Classics
Authors: Mark Twain Guy Cardwell John Seelye

ISBN: 0142437174
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Summary: Down the Lazy River
What can you say? Yes, it's a classic. Twain in his introduction says it best, (paraphrasing) anyone attempting to find rhyme, reason, or a moral to this story will be shot. Well, two out of three ain't bad. The story hopscotches through a series of sharply drawn minis and vividly realized characters. The moral - Huck coming to accept the slave Jim's humanity and protecting him against his socially conditioned "better judgement" - is blunted by a meandering and needlessly cruel plot to "save" Jim concocted by Tom Sawyer toward the end of the novel.

But how fresh and envigorating this novel must have been when it appeared, a truly American voice expressed for the first time. In true American fashion, it's style became much copied, softened, and cheapened over time (think The Andy Griffith Show some 90 years later) that it's easy to overlook how remarkable achievement it was. As a reslt, Twain is no longer a caricature for me.

Jaklak sez check it out.

Summary: A classic - worn and dated.
This classic might not be published today - certainly not accepted because of the language and one woed in particular. The preface makes the poing that most adults come to H. Finn with prior baggage, which makes the book especially prone to criticism from modern readers. Aside from a college literature class, the story is nearly worth a general reading, but lacks a modern touch. Twain takes several jabs at organized religion and Faith, nearly as a hidden agenda one might think. If you haven't read it, you are in the minority. Time to correct that.

Summary: Huckleberry Finn
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is an absolute must read. Twain masterfully creates an interesting story line while staying true to the times, setting, and language. Huck's tale of his adventure down the Mississippi will keep you turning the pages. It is very interesting because things happen when you least expect it. This is an amazing story full of adventure and fun.

But of course, you will find the character's speech to be either annoying or downright confusing. But remember, this takes place in the past! It was normal for people to talk like that. So try your best to translate the character's speech. All in all, this book is an unforgettable and amazingly adventurous. When I read this book,(I thought)it should be in the top 5-50 best classic of all time.

by Pra

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	Mark Twain: A Life Publisher: Free Press Authors: Ron Powers
ISBN: 0743248996 List Price: $35.00 Amazon Price: $23.10 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 3 Reviews: Summary: AFun with a lot of froth, no depth Overall this is a decent biography, not great but readable. The author seems to have a problem as to whether he is writing about Mark Twain or trying to imitate Mark Twain and I find his numerous "humorous" side comments irritating. Also it is evident that he tries to put Twain and his work in the context of the time, but he does so in a very superficial way. He is too much of a cheerleader as another reviewer said and his book reminds me too much of a a Hollywood biography than a serious study of his work and life. Summary: Everything you always wanted to know about Twain, and then some... I have never been exposed to Mark Twain, but I do enjoy reading biographies. So when a friend gave me Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers, I couldn't resist. Mark Twain is a mammoth work, and Powers goes to great lengths to explain this 19th Century icon to 21st Century readers (Powers calls Twain America's first rock star). Twain had a circuitous route to fame, and the author starts with his childhood and the history of the Clemmens family. Twain first became a printer's assistant, switched over to steamboat pilot and then had a very short career as a Confederate soldier in the Missouri State Guard. But Twain's first love was writing, and he became a successful newspaper writer for two Western papers. This gave him the platform which launched his career as a humorist, speaker and novelist. Powers gives us lots of information about his relationships with his family and friends. Clemmens was a prodigious writer, and is said to have written from 50,000 to 100,000 letters. He also kept dozens of notebooks, which help give us a window on Twain's thought processes. It is mind-boggling to think that Twain's social circle included Thoreau, Emerson, Longfellow, Henry James, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Ward Beecher and William Dean Howells. But while Powers gives us everything we ever wanted to know about Twain (and then some), he skimps on Twain's early years, as well as his old age. Powers claims that the Hannibal years of Twain's youth were the "ten most imaginatively fertile years of his life." Yet Powers only spends one chapter (13 pages of a 722 page book) discussing these formative years. Powers dedicates only two chapters (29 pages) to the last ten years of his life. Instead of facts, Powers has a tendency to over-analyze Twain's writing. The chapter on Huckleberry Finn reads like a doctoral dissertation. At the end, Powers leaves us hanging when Twain breathes his last, and there are many unanswered questions. Where was Twain's funeral? What was it like? Who eulogized him? Where is he buried? Does he have any descendants? Who reaps the financial benefit of his writings today? When and how was his Hartford house turned into a historic site? And what ever happened to his father's Tennessee land? After finishing this book, I discovered that Twain had his wife's remains cremated. Why didn't Powers include this fact in his book? Such information is interesting--especially for the times. Still, Powers is a wordsmith and he is obviously smitten with his subject. His descriptions of Twain's talent are first rate. "Mark Twain's baton began to mute the Anglican symphony and strike up the rhythms of American jazz....Any language to him was a form of music. Even the slightest misuse of his native tongue grated on his ears like a false note--unless it was in dialect, which had its own laws." Powers claims that Twain suffered from "typographical Tourette's Syndrome" when he worked as a Western news writer. This is good stuff. But unlike Twain (who valued brevity), Powers loves a dollar word when a nickel word will do. I definitely enjoyed Mark Twain: A Life and it has piqued my interest to read more of and about Mark Twain. I may even take a ride to see his home in Hartford CT. But I feel that Powers fell short of having a truly magnificent biography. Summary: Great Biography Powers used three voices of the Samuel Clemens to tell this story. He used Sammy, the young man with his heart still in his youth; Samuel, the writer and family man and Mark Twain, American celebrity and icon. He molds these three distinct aspects into a rich vibrant human being whose greatness is tempered by his many faults. What makes this biography so readable is that so much of it is told my Clemens. Powers extensively quotes from Twain's letters, diaries, memoirs and novels. By the time you finish this book you will have the voice of Mark Twain in your head and you'll come away with and understanding of the man and his age. Summary:

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The Prince and the Pauper (Puffin Classics S.)

Publisher: Puffin
Authors: Mark Twain

ISBN: 0140367497
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Summary: Prince and the Pauper
Wow! What a story this was. Twain was a great story-teller in his own right with the ability to inject his own feelings into the book. This book is very much a satire attacking the life under a tyrant. And although the book was written in a good-humored state, one can see the sourness behind it all.

The book started out with a prince and a poor lad, who really looked alike, switching clothes. They soon found themselves into very uncomfortable positions as the two had to step into the life of the other. The pauper was very much uncomfortable with all the regal etiquettes imposed and followed in the royal court. And the Prince flowed into the streets, still believing and telling everyone that he was the Prince of England. This only made himself look like a clown, soon the Prince found himself in the company with a bunch of thieves, gangs, and pickpockets. He even drew a spanking from the pauper's vogabond father, who believed the Prince was his son Tom Canty. The two's lives would soon come to at a criss-cross at the coronation of the Prince, and many interesting things ensued.

Overall, this book was well-written, well-told, and well-described. I give it a four stars instead of a five because there are small segments in the book that are quite boring, but nothing major that lasts more than 5 pages at a time. This book is definitely a classic that is worth reading.

Summary: A classic story of mistaken identities
In Mark Twain's classic historical novel, Tom Canty, a poor boy from the London slums, and Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, unwittingly swap places. Because they bear an uncanny resemblance to each other, no one believes them when they announce who they really are. So their adventures begin ...

I recommend this book to just about anyone, especially historical-fiction fans. I adored it. The novel is humorous, witty, adventurous and has a lot to say about the human folly of judging people by outward appearances. Plus, it's a classic that's actually a quick read!

Summary: Life Far From the Mississippi
What does a poor man with an eighth grade education know about the life of Britain's royal family? Not much. I seem to recall enjoying Twain's more famous works when I read them years ago. This book I could not wait to finish, just to get it over with.

An unlikley meeting between a pauper and the king-to-be makes the two wonder what it would be like to live in the other's shoes. When they switch clothes, they find they look remarkably similar. The king-to-be leaves the castle to experience life outside the castle while the pauper experiences the pressures of royal life. This causes Twain to write in a style that is far from "life on the Mississippi". While the twists that eventually bring the rightful king to the throne are moderately exciting, the story is bogged down in Twain's attempts to sound sophisticated.

I truly have to strain to say something postive about this book. If you are interested in the plot, maybe you should rent the Disney movie. Buying the Cliff Notes is another strategy. Judging by many of the other reviews, I am not alone in my feeling.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Cliffs Notes)

Publisher: Cliffs Notes
Authors: Robert Bruce

ISBN: 0764586041
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Summary: A good basic resource
I think this is probably best for people that need basic info. For the person that needs to write an indepth paper or do indepth research this is probably not the choice for you. It's a good basic tool for the beginner though.

Summary: Huckleberry Finn's Critique for Dr. K's Class at RMU
JWD at RMU

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn "Critique"

Huckleberry Finn introduces himself as someone who appeared in an earlier book reminding us of what happened towards the end of that story. Though he won't mention it until later in the story, when his irresponsible father has left him by his self. Huck has been living with Ms. Douglas a widow, a kind woman who wants to teach him all the things his father has neglected, the things all normal kids would usually learn.

He tells us about Miss Watson, the widow's sister, who is strict on teaching Huck good manners and religion, and about Tom Sawyer and his stories, a boy like Huck looks up to because of his wide reading and imagination ability. He is also friendly with Jim, the black slave. Huck's father returns and takes him away from the widow. A pig has murdered when his father begins beating him, Huck runs away and makes it look as though Huck. He hides out on a nearby island, intending to take off after his neighbors stop searching for his assumed dead body.

Jim the black slave of Miss. Watson is also hiding on the island, since he has run away from Miss Watson, who was about to sell him and separate him from his wife and his deaf little girl. They decide to escape together, and when they find a large raft, their journey on the Mississippi River begins. After a couple of adventures on the Mississippi River, a steamboat hits their raft, and Huck and Jim are separated. Huck goes ashore and finds himself at the home of the Grangerfords, which allow him to come and live with them. At first Huck admires these people for what he thinks is their class and good taste. But when he learns about the deaths caused by a feud with another family, he becomes disgusted with the Grangerfords. By this time Jim had time to repair the raft, and Huck rejoins him. Two men who are escaping the law and who claim to be a duke and the son of the king of France soon join them. Huck knows they are actually small-time crooks, but he pretends to believe their stories.

After watching these frauds bilk people of their money in two towns, Huck is forced to help them try to swindle an inheritance out of three young girls who were recently orphaned. He goes along at first because he doesn't want them to turn Jim in, but eventually he decides that the thieves have gone too far. He invents a complicated plan to escape and to have them arrested. The plan almost works, but at the last minute the two crooks show up and continue to travel with Huck and Jim. When all their moneymaking schemes begin to fail, they sell Jim to a farmer in one of the towns they're visiting. Huck learns about this and decides to free Jim. The farmer turns out to be Tom Sawyer's uncle, and through a misunderstanding he and his wife think Huck is Tom. When Tom himself arrives, Huck brings him up to date on what's happening. Tom pretends to be his own brother Sid, and the two boys set about to rescue Jim.

The true to his imaginative style, Tom devises a plan that is more complicated than it has to be. Eventually they actually pull it off and reach the raft without being caught. Tom, however, has been shot in the leg, and Jim refuses to leave until the wound has been looked at. The result is that Jim is recaptured and Tom and Huck have to explain what they have done. Tom, it turns out, knew all along that Miss Watson had set Jim free in her will, so everyone can now return home together. Huck, however, thinks he's had enough of civilization, and hints that he might take off for the Indian Territory instead of going back to his home.

Summary: Excellent
I found this book an excellent choice of words to describe Mark Twaine's Huck Finn

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	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Publisher: Penguin Classics Authors: Mark Twain John Seelye
ISBN: 0140390839 List Price: $7.00 Amazon Price: This item is currently not available. Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 2 Reviews: Summary: Just OK. Better than the dreaded Huck Finn! This book, even though boaring and lagging, was okay. It was nothing great, not surprising considering it is by Mark Twain, but much better than the awful Huck Finn. At least this had something of a plot and okay characters. Nothing great. I still snooze when I read this, and have to drag my way through. And as I said about Huck Finn, the dialect and story are too slow. But this was okay. And as I maintain, Mark Twain is an awful author. He lags so much and uses By-And-By, way too often. His writing lags and his outlook is childish. I have yet to see something increadible by Twain. Over all, this was just okay. Nothing great. But, much MUCH better than Huck Finn. Summary: A classic I read the books years ago. Probably I may have been in school then. But the book still has a great impact on my life. The orphan childhood of Tom, his relationship with his Aunt. His adventures with his friends especially with Huck Finn on whom another book has been written about. I think such a book would really be enjoyed by kids of 13 years and younger. This has and will always be one of my best books ever. Summary: ? It's a classic I know, but I just couldn't follow the country dialouge. Seeing the movie, the story itself is good. But in the book it is soo hard to understand and doesn't.....flow. Maybe it is just me? It's a classic, but I didn't like it. I recomend the book. Summary:

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Bantam Classic)

Publisher: Bantam Classics
Authors: Mark Twain

ISBN: 0553211439
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Summary: Confusing, but also fun
In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, a conecticut from the 19th centuries brings modernization into the 5-6th century and seems to change the world at that time. He is named the Boss after making amazing feats and everyone becomes scared of him and in awe. he puts Merlin the magician into shame and the Boss becomes the famous minister of king Arthur and the magician everyone is scared of. Yet, Hank( the connecticut's real name) is not a real magician. He uses his knowledge of the earths reaction and science of the 19 century to perform what seem like miracle and magic to the people of the 5 and 6th century.
Hank goes through many things in the 5th century. In the end, all of britain goes against him and 53 other people, but he prevails using his knowledge and cunning. He sleeps for 16 centuries until the time comes for him to wake up and be in his own time again.

Summary: Revolution
Mark Twain's time-machine drops the main character in this book in the 6th century of King Arthur's Great-Britain.
What he sees is a nation of slaves under the heel of king, Church and noble ('a privileged class is but a band of slaveholders'): 'sweat blood for them, starve that they might be fed, work that they might play, go naked that they might wear silk and jewels, pay taxes that they might be spared from paying them.'
But the slaves were so poor-spirited that they took the thanks (cuffs and contempt) and the attention they got as an honor. They were completely under the spell of the Church: 'a united Church means death to human liberty, and paralysis to human thought ... in two or three little centuries it had converted a nation of men to a nation of worms... she invented 'divine right of kings'; she preached (to the commoner) humility, obedience to superiors, the beauty of self-sacrifice, non-resistance under opression and she introduced heritable ranks and aristocracies.'
No wonder that the nobility, 'tyrannical, murderous, rapacious and morally rotten as they were, were deeply and enthusiastically religious.'

In order to fight against the forces of darkness and to free mankind Hank Morgan creates teacher factories.
But he is confronted with the problem of heridity and social conformism: 'There is no such thing as nature; it is merely heredity and training. All that is original in us can be covered up and hidden by the point of a cambric needle, all the rest inherited from a procession of ancestors that stretches back a billion years.'
His teacher schools liberate only a few dozens of pupils. With their help, he has to dynamite the whole British aristocracy in order to install his ideal of universal suffrage ('when every man in a State has a vote, brutal laws are impossible').

This comical science fiction story is ultimately a very actual political diatribe against exploiting privilege, pure indoctrination and class (in)justice.

A must read.

Summary: Twain's view of monarchy and state-run religion
The story of Hank Morgan, the plucky supervisor in a gun factory in the late 1800s, who is knocked out and wakes up under a tree in the times of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He is promptly captured and condemned to death, but saves his neck through his knowledge of a solar eclipse in the 6th century, which happens to occur the following day. He plays this to his advantage along with his knowledge of 19th century technology and quickly gains a reputation as a magician more powerful than Merlin. He becomes known as "The Boss" and secures a place in the government of King Arthur and sets about secretly to change the primitive and savage ways of the people, even daring to challenge "the Church" (the Catholic Church) and trying to institute modern freedoms.

The satire is classic Mark Twain, and the situations Hank finds himself in (and his responses to them) are often very humorous. The story, however, was obviously meant as a more serious criticism of the idea of monarchy and especially of the abuses of religion when there is no freedom to choose. While I have no complaint with his logic and reasoning, I found it tiresome to continually read his folksy diatribes on the concepts of noble birth or religion - especially when the same argument popped up so often. What started out as an amusing tale became rather boring when the story stopped for these editorials. I was also disappointed that it wasn't explained how Hank managed to return to the 19th century with his manuscript (that he went and came back was explained as "transmigration of souls" - whatever that means - but how does that apply to his writings?). In the end, it just wasn't a very endearing story; funny and interesting at times but not enough to warrant a full four stars - call it 3 and a half.

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Modern Library Classics)

Publisher: Modern Library
Authors: Mark Twain George Saunders

ISBN: 0375757376
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Summary: An interesting journey, takes its sweet time though
Huckleberry Finn, best friend of Tom Sawyer, runs away from his brutal, white-trash father for an easy-going life of floating down the Missisippi river on a raft. But just as he sets out he meets up with runaway slave Jim. Their escape and adventure they have together as with each mooring of the raft they encounter a new problem, friend, fued or foe. Each and every time Huck manages to worm out of the situation by telling huge lies so he can get back to the raft, escaping one fine mess to end up in another.

Huckleberry Finn speaks volumes of the era it was written in. There's no such thing as political correctness here as the 'N' word is thrown around so casually and frequently you might have to stop yourself from repeating it after putting the book down. To justify this, one might consider that Huck and Jim are considered to be the most common and ruffian of black and white so would naturally go together like peas in a pod. Jim's role as a surrogate father cements this theory also.

The only ongoing plot thread is that of Jim evading his captors. Other characters and story arcs come and go. I do realise that Mark Twain wrote the book over a period of many years so this may account as to why it has a stop/start feel to it. It does seem as meandering as this Missisippi river itself.

Some have voiced dismay at the cop-out ending. But you can look at like so many movie plot-holes of today. Without suspension of disbelief or some necessary contrivances there simply wouldn't be a story or, ultimately, any adventures to tell of.

It's written in many different dialects and can be a bit tricky to get ahold of. But if you stick with it, the effort will pay off. I don't consider Huckleberry Finn to be a life-changing book but it does deserve its status as a classic and has huge amounts of drama and character.

This edition features a lengthy introduction by George Saunders, a lost chapter and critical reviews.

Summary: The Best Work of Mark Twain
The most charming element of Mark Twain's writings is that he masques his utter disdain at the defects and foibles of society under a superficial layer of humour. Indeed the simmering screen of wit and hilarisity so readily associated with this great 19th.century American novelist lends an air of deceit to his work. Now,humour and comic satire have always been great writers' subtle instruments to deflate the ever-expanding balloon of society's corrupt lifestyle and the gift of employing boisterous means to mirror moral decay is firmly exploited by Mark Twain in his remarkable novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn",arguably the best work of the author.

For those who haven't read Twain's previous book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer",a meeting with Huckleberry Finn for the first time would prove both awkward and interesting. Huck Finn,as we know from his plethora of adventures with Tom Sawyer in the aforementioned book,is a mischievous urchin always in the uttermost fear from his drunken,never to do well father. At the end of this book,we discern Huck Finn to be fed up with being,or rather trying to be,a decent,well-furnisheeeed lad and even runs away from his adopted mother-of-sorts Old Widow Douglas only to be brought back by Tom Huck takes up the funny and great tale of boyish mischiefs from there and himself accounts in his very own American dialect in a conversational tone that imbibes the readr's interest and takes him through his various adventures,misadventures,joy,agony and an innocent and gradual maturation.

Huck is saturated with putting on a fresh and fair appearance and longs to escape the realm of Old Widow Douglas,Miss Watson and others propagating 'civilization' and returns to his old familiar,accuatomed ways of 'uncivilized' living. His drunken father's whim to take him back with him and his fortunes enentually proves to be a blessing in disguise as he escapes from his perpetually inebrited and cruel father only to meet with another fugitive in the shape of Jim,a "nigger" and and slave of Miss Watson. Jackson Island proves too insecure an abode to sustain life with the whole of St.Petersburg hot on their heels and so Huck and jim make a raft and flow along the Mississippi river and what "a raft of trouble" their floating journey would turn out to be.

The eponymous protagonist of the novel and the frightenrd slave encounters numerous characters on their journey. Huck Finn undergoes changes in his perceptual capabilities as he decodes the latent meanings in ordinary and seemingly harmless folks' intensions. Most notably Huck and Jim meet two men,old in years but youngat deceit,and enforcrd by trying circumstances to accept them in their journey,are subjected to myriad critical moments,which when congregated,direct at the moral corruption of people. Huck and Jim have to harmonise reluctantly with these two characters in their success in fooling a whole village and then in attempting rob an innocent family of its money. Huck learns to refine the good from the evil and foolowing the echo of a pure conscience saves many a misfortune from crashing upon a number of innocents. Huck and Jim are finally successfully in absconding these two men but land up in Uncle Silas Plhep's place,two miles below Pikesville,and then the inevitable takes place. Huck is kept back under the care of Aunt Sally,Uncle Silas's wife.

"The Adventures of Hucleberry Finn" reflects a typical Mark Twain---witty,hilarisity and sarcastic. This book goes much deeper and is more intense in the sense of exposing the debaucheryand sheer foolishness that society favours to live in. What the American great sketched in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", he finishes addind the final touches in this novel---the abject custom of slave-trade and racism. The easy and nonchalent manner in which the poor villagers are taken in by the two "Royal Nonesuch rapscallions" mirror the intellectual bankruptcy of humans in a smaller landscape. Hollow laws are mocked at and individual pecularity ridiculed. But Twain doesn't make this essentially boys' book a dark,exhaustive social novel and riddled with with comedy and fun,this novel is then added by a hint of romanticism when the representative of all boys Tom Sawyer arrives onto the scene and both enthralls and pleases te audience the audience with the implementation on his notion of heroism and style.

The plethora of dialects used in the book do make it difficult for the reader to properly absorb their meanings but with the passage of time,he gets to comprehend them and finds them somewhat funny. The word "nigger" too is an utterly controversial one as scattered through the pages actually divert the major essence of the book. And Jim's marvellous escape from the jaws of death after being bitten by a rattlesnake becomes a trifle too romantic. Is it really possible to survive a rattlesnake bite that easily?

Even after taking the flaws into consideration,one must ackowledge its conguency to the life of a boy undermined by a boozed father,uncompromising circumstances and bitter society. Huck finn is the eternal effigy of a street-urchin captivated within the narrow scope of civilization and in his urge to free himself from the shackles of civil codes,this "poor devil" confronts the harh realities of life and through his innocent,pure perception,learns more about the world and the umpteen dark aspects of it. His explicit desire to return to his old days of uncivilized manners is never realised as escaping from Widow Douglas,he falls into the grasp of Aunt Sally. Indeed the book ends in the rstoration of all pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and pehaps this fairy-tale gratification is a vital part of life that propels us to carry on with our own adventures.

Summary: ok
This book interest meh because it has everything that I look for in a book. It has comedy, drama and suspense. It takes us down the Mississippi River, running through trouble and adventures every step of the way. While the main characters, Huck and Jim goes further and further away, they realize that their's more to friendship than their eyes see.

Huck and Jim became close friends eventhough society permits it. It talks about the bad thing African-Americans went through. It thought me that it's ok to lie to protect a friend. You have to follow your heart because most of the time, your brains tells you what others want you to do, while your heart tells you want you want to do. I would give this book 3 stars because... eventhough I like the whole book and it's lessons, I find the ending a little bit frustrating. But all in all, it's still an above average book and I would suggest this book to everyone!

Summary:

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