-
O
n “
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
”
The
Adventures
of
Huckleberry
Finn
written
by
Mark
Twain
in
1884
is
widely
accounted
as
one
of
the
first
Great
American
Novels.
The
book
has
been popular with young
readers since its being published. It is also one
of the
first
major
American
novels
ever
written
in
the
literary
genre
of
Local
Color
Realism.
According to my personal understanding,
the Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn
mainly
tells
the
story
of
a
teenager
who
finds
himself
floating
on
a
raft
down the Mississippi
River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course
of their
perilous
journey,
Huck
and
Jim
meet
adventures,
dangers
and
a
cast
of
characters who are sometimes menacing.
Of course, the central figure of the
novel is Huckleberry Finn, the son of
the
town
drunkard.
At
the
beginning,
from
Mark
Twain’
s
introduction
on
the
background of Finn we
know that Huck has grown into a free-wheeling sort
of
human being who is the happiest as
he has fewest social responsibilities. He
does
not
need
to
think
about
religion
the
way
other
people
do,
because
he
seems
more interested in enjoying the comforts of the
moment. Huck is a little
superstitious,
but he is not hypocritical or sneaky. He does not
like to please
people as others often
did, especially if it would do no good. He wants
mainly
to be left to his own devices,
to sleep in his hogshead, to wear his old rags and
to
eat
his
food
all
mixed
up.
Though
he
is
essentially
good-hearted,
he
is
looked down upon by the
rest of the village. He dislikes civilized ways
because
they are personally restrictive
and hard.
He is generally ignorant of
book-learning, but he has a sharply developed
sensibility.
He
is
imaginative
and
smart,
and
has
a
sharp
eye
for
details,
though he does not always understand
everything he observes in the society,
or its significance. Huck is
essentially a realist. And partly due to little
education
he has received, Huck knows
only what he sees and experiences. He
doesn
’
t
have a
great deal of faith in things he reads or hears.
He must experiment to
find out what is
true and what is not. With his sharply observant
personality he
is able to believe
Jim
’
s superstition at some
times, to scoff at it at others.
What
’
s
more,
we
can
find
some
changes
happen
to
Huck
during
the
course
of
the
novel.
He
becomes
more
mature,
more
humane,
and
more
self-reliant
as
a
result
of
his
experience
and
his
association
with
Jim.
Huck
learns
what
real
friendship
means
and
he
grows
to
value
and
cherish
his
friendship with Jim. In the beginning
of the novel he joins Tom in playing a joke
on Jim, but towards the end, he cries
when Jim is sold to Phelps family by the
king and the duke. The turning point in
Huck
’
s relationship with Jim
came when
Huck humbled himself after he
played the game on Jim the night they
were
separated
on
the
foggy
river.
As
a
result
of
this
friendship,
Huck
comes
to
place
more trust in his experiences, rather than in what
he has been taught.
What he learns out
of books is too far removed from daily life to be
of any use
to him.