ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

MARYIL JIMNEZ FERNNDEZ

AMERICAN LITERATURE

UNIVERSIDAD DEL ATLNTICO

2015

It is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and
in the United States in February 1885.

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
He was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri with name of Samuel L.
Clemens; but he wrote under the pen name Mark Twain and went on to pen several novels,
including two major classics of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyerand The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer,
entrepreneur and inventor. Twain died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut.
He is the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. When he was 4 years old, his family moved
to nearby Hannibal, a bustling town of 1,000 people. John Clemens worked as a
storekeeper, lawyer, judge and land speculator, dreaming of wealth but never achieving it.
His mother, by contrast, was a fun-loving, tenderhearted homemaker who whiled away
many a winter's night for her family by telling stories. She became head of the household in
1847 when John died unexpectedly.
Sam Clemens lived in Hannibal from age 4 to age 17. Hannibal inspired several of Mark
Twain's fictional locales, including "St. Petersburg" in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Sam kept up his schooling until he was about 12 years old, whenwith his father dead and
the family needing a source of incomehe found employment as an apprentice printer at
the Hannibal Courier, which paid him with a meager ration of food. In 1851, at 15, he got a
job as a printer and occasional writer and editor at the Hannibal Western Union, a little
newspaper owned by his brother, Orion. Then, in 1857, 21-year-old Clemens fulfilled a
dream: He began learning the art of piloting a steamboat on the Mississippi. A licensed pilot
by 1859, he soon found regular employment plying the shoals and channels of the great
river. However, his service was cut short in 1861 by the outbreak of the Civil War, which
halted most civilian traffic on the river. In February 1870, he improved his social status by
marrying 24-year-old Olivia (Livy) Langdon, the daughter of a rich New York coal
merchant. The couple settled in Buffalo and later had four children.
In 1889, Twain published A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a sciencefiction/historical novel about ancient England. His next major work, in 1894, was The
Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, a somber novel that some observers described as "bitter."
He also wrote short stories, essays and several other books, including a study of Joan of
Arc. Some of these later works have enduring merit, and his unfinished work The Chronicle
of Young Satan has fervent admirers today.
Mark Twain's last 15 years were filled with public honors, including degrees from Oxford
and Yale. Probably the most famous American of the late 19th century, he was much
photographed and applauded wherever he went. Indeed, he was one of the most prominent
celebrities in the world, traveling widely overseas, including a successful round-the-world
lecture tour in 1895-'96, undertaken to pay off his debts.

Early in their marriage, he and Livy had lost their toddler son, Langdon, to diphtheria; in
1896, his favorite daughter, Susy, died at the age of 24 of spinal meningitis. His youngest
daughter, Jean, was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. In 1909, when she was 29 years old,
Jean died of a heart attack. For many years, Twain's relationship with middle daughter
Clara was distant and full of quarrels. In June 1904, while Twain traveled, Livy died after a
long illness. Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years, even while projecting an
amiable persona to his public. His memory faltered. He had volcanic rages and nasty bouts
of paranoia, and he experienced many periods of depressed indolence, which he tried to
assuage by smoking cigars, reading in bed and playing endless hours of billiards and cards.
Samuel Clemens died on April 21, 1910, at the age of 74, at his country home in Redding,
Connecticut. He was buried in Elmira, New York.
SUMMARY
Consisting of 43 chapters, the novel begins with Huck Finn introducing himself as someone
readers might have heard of in the past. Readers learn that the practical Huck has become
rich from his last adventure with Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) and that the
Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, have taken Huck into their home in order to
try and teach him religion and proper manners. Instead of obeying his guardians, however,
Huck sneaks out of the house at night to join Tom Sawyer's gang and pretend that they are
robbers and pirates.
One day Huck discovers that his father, Pap Finn, has returned to town. Because Pap has a
history of violence and drunkenness, Huck is worried about Pap's intentions, especially
toward his invested money. When Pap confronts Huck and warns him to quit school and
stop trying to better himself, Huck continues to attend school just to spite Pap. Huck's fears
are soon realized when Pap kidnaps him and takes him across the Mississippi River to a
small cabin on the Illinois shore.
Although Huck becomes somewhat comfortable with his life free from religion and school,
Pap's beatings become too severe, and Huck fakes his own murder and escapes down the
Mississippi. Huck lands a few miles down at Jackson's Island, and there he stumbles across
Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away for fear he will be sold down the river.
Huck and Jim soon learn that men are coming to search Jackson's Island, and the two
fugitives escape down the river on a raft. Jim's plan is to reach the Illinois town of Cairo,
and from there, he can take the Ohio River up to the free states. The plan troubles Huck and
his conscience. However, Huck continues to stay with Jim as they travel, despite his belief
that he is breaking all of society and religion's tenets. Huck's struggle with the concept of
slavery and Jim's freedom continues throughout the novel.

Huck and Jim encounter several characters during their flight, including a band of robbers
aboard a wrecked steamboat and two Southern "genteel" families who are involved in a
bloody feud. The only time that Huck and Jim feel that they are truly free is when they are
aboard the raft. This freedom and tranquility are shattered by the arrival of the duke and the
king, who commandeer the raft and force Huck and Jim to stop at various river towns in
order to perform confidence scams on the inhabitants. The scams are harmless until the
duke and the king pose as English brothers and plot to steal a family's entire inheritance.
Before the duke and the king can complete their plan, the real brothers arrive. In the
subsequent confusion, Huck and Jim escape and are soon joined by the duke and the king.
Disappointed at their lack of income, the duke and the king betray Huck and Jim, and sell
Jim back into slavery. When Huck goes to find Jim, he discovers that Jim is being held
captive on Silas and Sally Phelps' farm. The Phelps think Huck is their visiting nephew,
Tom Sawyer, and Huck easily falls into the role of Tom. Tom Sawyer soon arrives and,
after Huck explains Jim's captivity, Tom takes on the guise of his own brother, Sid. After
dismissing Huck's practical method of escape, Tom suggests they concoct an elaborate plan
to free Jim. Tom's plan is haphazardly based on several of the prison and adventure novels
he has read, and the simple act of freeing Jim becomes a complicated farce with rope
ladders, snakes, and mysterious messages.
When the escape finally takes place, a pursuing farmer shoots Tom in the calf. Because Jim
will not leave the injured Tom, Jim is again recaptured and taken back to the Phelps farm.
At the farm, Tom reveals the entire scheme to Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas. Readers learn
that Miss Watson has passed away and freed Jim in her will, and Tom has been aware of
Jim's freedom the entire time. At the end of the novel, Jim is finally set free and Huck
ponders his next adventure away from civilization.
SETTING
1. Characters:
Huckleberry Finn: is a boy about thirteen or fourteen years old. He has been brought
up by his father, the town drunk, and has a hard time fitting into society. He is called
as "Huck Finn".
Widow Douglas: is the kind lady who has taken Huck in after he helped save her
from a violent home invasion. She tries her best to civilize Huck, believing it is
her Christian duty.
Miss Watson: is the widow's sister, a tough old spinster who also lives with them.
She is fairly hard on Huck, causing him to resent her a good deal.

Jim: is Miss Watson's big, mild-mannered slave. Huck becomes very close to Jim
through the travel on the Mississippi River.

Tom Sawyer is Huck's best friend and peer. He is "the best fighter and the smartest
kid in town".
"Pap" Finn: Huck's father is the town drunk. He is often angry at Huck and resents
him getting any kind of education. He also returns to Huck whenever he needs more
money for alcohol.
Judith Loftus: is the kind and perceptive woman whom Huck talks to in order to
find out about the search for Jim.
The Grangerfords: an aristocratic Kentuckian family headed by
the sexagenarian Colonel Saul Grangerford, take Huck in after he is separated from
Jim on the Mississippi. Huck becomes close friends with the youngest male of the
family, Buck Grangerford, who is Huck's age. By the time Huck meets them, the
Grangerfords have been engaged in an age-old blood feud with another local family,
the Shepherdsons.
The duke and the king: are two otherwise unnamed con artists whom Huck and Jim
take aboard their raft just before the start of their Arkansas adventures. The middleaged "duke" claims to be the long-lost Duke of Bridgewater, while the elderly
"king" claims to be the long-lost Dauphin of France, and so is sometimes called
"Capet" by the duke.
Doctor Robinson: is the only man who recognizes that the King and Duke are
phonies when they try to pretend to be British. He warns the town but they ignore
him.
Mary Jane, Joanna, and Susan Wilks: are the three young nieces of their wealthy
guardian, Peter Wilks, who has recently died. The duke and the king try to steal the
inheritance left by Peter Wilks, by posing as Peter's estranged brothers from
England.
Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas Phelps: are the two people whose nephew Huck poses
as, after he abandons the duke and king. She is a loving, but high-strung lady, and
he is a plodding old man, both farmer and preacher.

2. Genre: Picaresque novel (episodic, colorful story often in the form of a quest or

journey); satire of popular adventure and romance novels; bildungsroman (novel of

education or moral development)
3. Language: English; frequently makes use of Southern and black dialects of the
time
4. Time: Before the Civil War; roughly 18351845
5. Narrator: the story is told in first person. In this case, it is Huckleberry Finn, the
protagonist in the novel, who tells the story.

6. Place: The Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri; various locations
along the river through Arkansas.
7. Major conflict: At the beginning of the novel, Huck struggles against society and
its attempts to civilize him, represented by the Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and
other adults. Later, this conflict gains greater focus in Hucks dealings with Jim, as
Huck must decide whether to turn Jim in, as society demands, or to protect and help
his friend instead.
8. Rising action: Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas attempt to civilize Huck until
Pap reappears in town, demands Hucks money, and kidnaps Huck. Huck escapes
society by faking his own death and retreating to Jacksons Island, where he meets
Jim and sets out on the river with him. Huck gradually begins to question the rules
society has taught him, as when, in order to protect Jim, he lies and makes up a
story to scare off some men searching for escaped slaves. Although Huck and Jim
live a relatively peaceful life on the raft, they are ultimately unable to escape the
evils and hypocrisies of the outside world. The most notable representatives of these
outside evils are the con men the duke and the dauphin, who engage in a series of
increasingly serious scams that culminate in their sale of Jim, who ends up at the
Phelps farm.
9. Climax: Huck considers but then decides against writing Miss Watson to tell her the
Phelps family is holding Jim, following his conscience rather than the prevailing
morality of the day. Instead, Tom and Huck try to free Jim, and Tom is shot in the
leg during the attempt.
10. Falling action: When Aunt Polly arrives at the Phelps farm and correctly identifies
Tom and Huck, Tom reveals that Miss Watson died two months earlier and freed
Jim in her will. Afterward, Tom recovers from his wound, while Huck decides he is
done with civilized society and makes plans to travel to the West.
11. Themes: Racism and slavery; intellectual and moral education; the hypocrisy of
civilized society.