![]() While many critics have praised his take on racism, a significant number have taken issue with what they consider to be Twain's stereotypical depiction of Jim. Huck comes to see that though Jim is black and a slave, he is also a person and loyal friend who repeatedly protects Huck. The novel as a whole has been interpreted as an attack on racism, something supported by Twain's own opinions on the subject. Twain also uses Huckleberry Finn to explore issues of slavery and race relations. As Hamlin Hill explains in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, "Huckleberry Finn explores whether any human being can transcend his society, violate his training, achieve independence from external pressure and judgment." Twain explores these ideas as Huck deals with issues of right and wrong and wrestles his conscience several times over helping Jim escape in the book. Huckleberry Finn satirizes society's hypocrisy as it demonstrates the positive results of moral action. ![]() In the end, both Jim and Huck remain free as Huck will not let himself be adopted and changed by the Phelpses. Huck eventually ends up at the Phelps farm where Jim is held as a runaway slave. Both seek total freedom and enjoy the liberty they have along the way. With Huck on his journey is Jim, a runaway slave owned by Miss Watson, the widow's sister who also tries to civilize Huck in the early chapters of Huckleberry Finn.Īs Huck and Jim travel along the Mississippi River by raft and canoe, they encounter a variety of people from many social classes, from con artists to kind-hearted wealthy families. He is running from the Widow Douglas's attempt to turn him into a respectable citizen, as well as from his alcoholic, abusive father. Set in the 1830s or 1840s, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn features Huck as the first-person narrator of the novel. Huckleberry Finn took him nearly seven years to complete as he struggled to finish the story several times and let the manuscript rest while working out the story's direction. Twain began writing what became Adventures of Huckleberry Finn soon after publishing Tom Sawyer with ideas left over from the novel. Like many of the characters and events in the novels, Huck Finn was based on someone Twain knew while growing up in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain introduced the character of Huck Finn in his 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a partner in Sawyer's adventures. The novel has also been controversial since its publication, primarily because of its racial content, and it has been repeatedly banned by various libraries and schools. Huckleberry Finn has also been translated into over 50 languages and at least 700 editions have been published worldwide. ![]() Since Huckleberry Finn's publication in 1885, it has appeared in over 150 American editions alone and 200,000 copies are sold each year. ![]() The novel is a classic of American literature, and, many believe, the greatest work of a great author. Huck Finn, the natural boy, resistant to civilization and hungry for adventure, morally right and often legally wrong, is as vivid and familiar a personality to readers as any childhood friend. With Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) Mark Twain developed an archetypal American hero. ![]()
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