On the heels of reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," I read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain/Sam Clemens.
"Huck Finn" was meant to be a sequel to "Tom Sawyer," but is believed to have surpassed its predecessor as being the greater piece of literature. The writing styles are definitely different. "Tom Sawyer" was written from a young boy's point of view and was intended as a children's book; a fun read. I really enjoyed that light-hearted fun book.
"Huck Finn" for me was almost a difficult read, not because it was a bad book, no. Because it used so many dialects. Mr. Clemens wrote as people would speak; the southern twang, the Missouri black speech, the "Pike Country dialect" as he put it. This book required a lot of focus.
I enjoyed the book and the trip down the river. I enjoyed that this young white poor child and this grown black man (I don't think he was a slave, he was just....indentured to a farm? I really don't know) had such a strong friendship. They are both seeking to run away from their lives; Huck from his drunk, violent father and Jim from the land owner he thinks is going to sell him. They take a raft and head down river.
Their day to day lives are filled with contentment. They have nothing to do but swim, fish and enjoy each other's company. They meet a few people along the way, experience some horrible weather and enjoy each other's company. They see a house that had been uprooted by the rising river waters and is flowing down the river. There is a dead man in the house, but Jim won't let Huck see such things. They loot this floating "coffin" and are on their way.
They also experience one side of the true nature of humanity; evil, when they secretly spy upon some men in a steamboat run aground. These men are crooks and about to leave a third man on board, to drown with the sinking ship. Huck cannot believe the evil in these men's hearts and eventually Jim & Huck end up stranding all three men by taking the men's boat when they realize their boat has floated away.
The family that Huck stays with when he thinks Jim has drowned in the horrible weather at sea, are also stuck in a feud with another family that goes back generations. No one can remember why the feud even started. When a "Romeo & Juliette" type romance between the families is discovered, both side go on to picking each other off, leaving Huck completely dazed and amazed that people would do this to each other, all over that dreadful monster, Pride. He finds Jim again and they leave that place, the place that still gives Huck nightmares. The tranquility of their life on the raft has been marred.
Then they meet the "Duke" and the "King." These two swindlers, crooks, rapscallions take advantage of the innocent two, for they truly are innocents. The younger of the two men "confides" to our friends that he is indeed an ousted Duke and they should address him as "My Lord" or "Your Honor." Not to be outdone, the older "gentleman" admits that he is ......the disappeared Dauphin, the son of "Looy the Sixteen and Marry Antonnette" and must be addressed as "Your Highness."
The two crooks swindle unsuspecting people in towns along the river and attempt to steal the inheritance of a group of girls whose father has died. This is too much for Huck (and for me) to bear and his conscious gets the better of him. He tells one of the girls about these awful men's schemes. The men run off, and in a final act of desperation and utter lack of respect for humanity, sell Jim for $40 of a $200 reward using a handbill they forged, proclaiming Jim to be a runaway.
Huck makes what he feels is a sacrifice; he proclaims that he will go rescue Jim, thus damning himself to hell for sinning. "All right then, I'll go to hell," he utters to himself.
This is where the book takes a total 180. Mr. Clemens had set aside this manuscript for a few years and at one point almost decided to throw it away. They bring back Tom Sawyer in a total coincidence. Deus Ex Machina - last minute save. This Tom is tedious and annoying. Huck just wants to release Jim, an easy enough thing to do. This Tom wants to spend time making Jim be a "real prisoner" and spends four weeks coming up with all sorts of elaborate schemes that make absolutely no sense and is quite painful to read. What was Mr. Clemens thinking? Let's just get this book over, already? The ending does not match the rest of the book. Huck and Jim end up right where he started; back to the home they run away from. Jim at least was freed from his farm by its owner, and Huck is finally told that is was his father who was the dead man in the floating house. But Huck is still following Tom's lead at the end, and all the growth we see in this young boy throughout the book is for naught.
