Huckleberry Finn Response

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Theme: To me the reader, or the audience, best interprets the theme of this story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To some they simply may see this as a fiction novel written for fun rather than having a main focus point, or underwritten message. Others may see this whole novel as a depiction of something quite the opposite, suggesting that Mark Twain wrote a parable meaning that the simple things of a young boys life may be complicated by his over indulgent imagination. To me the novel is saying to follow your heart and not always do what is necessarily condemned as “right” or “just” by law, but to rather do what makes you happy.

Setting: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place around the
late 1800s, approximately 1890. In the beginning Huck Finn was in Missouri, but by a coincidental series of events and the current of the Mississippi River he ends up in Louisiana. The combination of the time era and the location of this form the idealistic mix of southern comfort, strains of slavery, and the simplicity of a young country boys mind. The biggest factor throughout the novel is the Mississippi River. The river provides food, transportation, and the traveling comfort of home for Huck and Jim.

Characters: Out of the many different personalities in this novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character is Huck Finn.
Huck Finn is a simple southern boy that has an elusive imagination that helps him surmount many obstacles by using his unusual wit and a little luck. Another major character in this novel is Jim the slave. Jim, with the help of Huck Finn, escapes from slavery in order to reunite with his family. To me Jim is written to be perceived as an undermined person, but in actuality Jim is the reason for Huck taking the chances he did. A minor character that was quite fond of Huck Finn was Tom Sawyer. Tom is key to Huck having the passion and intuition that he does. There are many other characters in the novel such as Miss Watson, Huck’s father, miscellaneous river men, the King and Duke, and families of different locations from Huck’s journey, that have created many adventures for Huck and
Jim.

Conflict/Plot: Huck Finn’s adventure begins by him and Jim meeting up on Jackson’s Island after Huck escapes Miss Watson the over controlling widow and his abusively drunk father.
Jim is united with Huck after he escapes from slavery and is trying to reunite with his family. From there Jim and are forced to go down the Mississippi River with ultimate goal of getting to Louisiana. Almost immediately a tight friendship is born between Huck and Jim. The two are faced with many hurdles at first due to their amateur experience of navigating the waters. As hop from town to town by their nocturnal habit of sailing at night and hiding at day. At a farm in Arkansas Huck has his first test by being separated from Jim and having to rely on his wit to help fool a family he meets in order to have a safe place to stay and regroup pin order to continue his adventure. Proving to be harder that he expects Huck soon finds himself in a bind, he the reunites with Jim and heads down river
again. Soon after they are down river Huck and Jim run into two men claming to be a duke and King. These two men take Huck and Jim through a series of scamming tricks in order to get money, but in the long run get caught in a fix. The two men claim to be two brothers that in reality they are not. When the real brothers show up, the King and the Duke are revealed as frauds and also lose the money they previously tries to claim. Huck and Jim they raft down river and lose the two men. One day while Huck and Jim are staying in town and Jim is taken away because he is a runaway slave. While trying to find Jim Huck accidentally trick Tom Sawyers relatives into think he is Tom Sawyer. Eventually through a series of elaborate plans Huck and Tom help Jim escape from Slavery and thing end up just how they should be.