CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Basically , we as a student majoring in education and literature English language

understand that we will not only explore the science teacher but also science

literature . therefore we begin to understand the need for reviewing the contents of

a novel , short story , or a variety of papers which of course requires the art of

writing and literature in order to analyze secars correct and on target . because the

literature does not have the same meaning for some people . therefore , we are

here trying to find a common view of the novel . novels we studied may be many

who find controversial opinion because the theme is presented is a more mature

romance theme is not worth reading for minors especially for eastern nations such

as Indonesia . but here we are trying to assess from the literature that explores the

submission of the author's thoughts and expertly embodied in a paper which

eventually can be enjoyed by the general public . for that we present assessment of

this book and the literary scientific as possible in order to achieve our goal of

literary analysis for this book from the controversial novel after this .

B. Problem Formulation

- How the summary of the novel ?

- What are the intrinsic elements that exist in this novel ???

C. Purpose

The purpose of writing this paper we present are :

• In order for students to know the intrinsic elements in the novel

• In order for students to understand a novel of literary elements

• In order for students to know the relevance of the concept of writing and intrinsic

element of a novel

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CHAPTER 2

CONTENT

A. Summary

Chapter 22

The crowd travels to Sherburn's store and rips down the front fence. They halt when Sherburn

emerges with a shotgun and calmly stands in front of them. He lectures the mob on how

pathetic they are, tells them they are being led by half of a man, Buck Harkness, and calls

them all cowards. When he finishes his speech, he cocks his gun and the crowd runs off in

every direction.

Huck leaves and goes to the circus which is in town until late that night, and after which the

Duke and King plan to perform their show. He sneaks in and watches all the fun activities,

such as the clown and showgirls. Huck then remarks that it is the best circus he has ever

witnessed and the most fun.

That night, the Shakespearean show is a disaster, with only twelve people showing up and

none of them staying until the end. In response, the Duke prints up some new handbills

touting a show titled the Royal Nonesuch. He then cleverly adds the line, "Ladies and

Children Not Admitted" and comments that if such a line does not bring an audience, then he

does not know Arkansas.

Chapter 23

The Royal Nonesuch opens to a house packed with men. The Duke greets them and hypes up

the audience for the King. The King emerges completely naked, covered in paint, and

crawling on all fours. The audience laughs their heads off, and he is called back to do it twice

more. Then the Duke thanks them all and wishes them a good night.

The men are furious that the show is so short and realize they have been "sold," or cheated.

But, before they can rush the stage in protest, one man stands up and tells them that they will

be the laughingstocks of the town if it ever is revealed how badly they were cheated. They all

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agree to leave and tout the show for being wonderful so the rest of the town can be cheated as

well.

As a result, the next night's performance is also full, and the audience leaves just as angry.

The third night, all the men show up, carrying rotten eggs, dead cats, and other foul items

with them. The Duke pays a man to mind the door and he and Huck rush away to the raft.

They immediately push out onto the river and the King emerges from the wigwam where he

and Jim have been hiding all along. Together, the two con-artists made four hundred sixty-

five dollars.

That night, Jim grieves over no longer being able to see his wife and children. Huck remarks

that Jim cares almost as much about his family as a white person would. Jim then tells Huck a

story about when he was with his daughter, Elizabeth, one day. Jim told her to shut the door

and she just stood there smiling at him. Jim got mad that she did not obey and yelled at her

until he finally whacked her on the side of the head for not listening to him. Ten minutes later

Jim returned and his daughter still had not closed the door. She was standing in the same

place, crying. At that moment, a strong wind slammed the door behind her, causing Jim to

jump. However, his daughter never moved an inch. Jim realized his poor daughter had lost

her hearing. Jim tells Huck that he burst out crying upon making this realization and grabbed

his daughter to give her a hug. Ever since, he has felt terrible about how he treated her.

Chapter 24

To avoid tying Jim up in ropes during the day (since he has been pretending to be a runaway

slave), the Duke figures out a better solution. He paints Jim in blue and makes him wear a

costume. Then, he writes a sign that reads, "Sick Arab - but harmless when not out of his

head." Jim is happy that he can now move around.

The King and Huck cross the river and meet a young fool waiting for the ferry to Orleans. He

proceeds to tell them all about how a Peter Wilks has died, leaving his whole estate to his

daughters and brothers. The two brothers have not yet arrived from England, which greatly

saddened the man before he died. The King takes a keen interest in the story and gathers

every detail he can.

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Once he has all the details, the King gets the Duke and tells him the entire story. The two

men agree to pretend to be Peter Wilks's brothers from Sheffield, England. Together, with

Huck acting as a servant, they get a steamboat to take them to the town and drop them off.

Their ploy works perfectly and when they hear that Peter is dead, both men put up a huge cry

and lament. Huck remarks that, "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."

Chapter 25

The two con artists are taken by the crowd that greeted them upon arrival to visit the family,

which consists of three orphaned girls: Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna. Everyone exchanges

hugs and cries, and then the King and Duke go to view the coffin. The two men burst out

crying again, and finally the King makes a speech about how sad the whole situation is. They

finish off by kissing all the women on the forehead and acting heartbroken. Huck comments

that the whole scene is "disgusting."

The King and Duke discover they have received the bulk of the estate holdings as well as

three thousand dollars cash. The three girls have also received three thousand dollars and the

house they live in. Wilks's will tells them where in the cellar to find the cash, and the two

men go downstairs and find it. The King and Duke count the money and come up four

hundred and fifteen dollars short. To alleviate any suspicion, they add the money they made

from the Royal Nonesuch to the pile. Then, to permanently win the town over to their side,

they graciously give their share of the money to the three girls, knowing they can steal it back

at anytime.

The King gives a speech and foolishly digresses. A Doctor Robinson enters the crowd, hears

the King and laughs heartily, calling the King a fraud because his British accent is such a bad

imitation. The townspeople rally around the King, who has been so generous, and defend

him. The Doctor warns Mary Jane directly, but in response, she hands the bag of money to

the King and tells him to invest it for her. The doctor warns them one final time of the

mistakes they are making, and then departs.

Chapter 26

The night of the doctor's warning, Joanna and Huck eat together, since they are the youngest

two people present. She asks him all about England, and Huck lies to her in order to sound

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knowledgeable. She catches him in several of the lies, and Huck keeps pretending to choke

on a chicken bone in order to think of a way out. Mary Jane overhears Joanna telling Huck

that she does not believe him and makes Joanna apologize to Huck for being so rude. Huck

decides he cannot let the King and Duke steal the money from these extremely kind girls.

Huck goes to the King's room and hides when he hears the Duke and King approaching. The

conmen debate whether they should leave now that suspicion has been raised or wait until the

rest of the property is sold off. They choose to stay and hide their money in the straw tick

mattress. Huck steals the money immediately and waits until it is safe to slip downstairs to

hide it.

Chapter 27

Huck is afraid he will be caught with the stolen money, so he hides it inside Peter Wilks's

coffin. That day, the funeral service is held, and is interrupted by loud barking from a dog

locked in the cellar. The undertaker goes to silence the dog, returns, and tells the audience the

dog caught a rat. Huck remarks that the service was long and tiresome, but is relieved when

Peter Wilks and the money are finally buried.

The King and Duke immediately begin selling everything they can, including the slave family

owned by the household. To sell the slaves faster, they break up the family. The girls are

extremely upset by this insensitivity. Many of the townspeople also expressed disapproval,

but the men are not swayed.

On the day of the auction, the King realizes the money is gone. He questions Huck, who

cleverly blames the slaves who were sold. Both the Duke and King feel extremely foolish for

selling the slaves at such low prices considering all their money is now lost.

Chapter 28

Later that morning, Huck sees Mary Jane sitting on her floor, crying while packing to go to

England with her uncles. Mary Jane explains that she is upset about the slaves being so

mistreated, and Huck blurts out that they will be together again in two weeks at the most,

knowing the Duke and King will abandon the town. When he realizes he has slipped, he

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decides to tell her everything. She becomes furious as he relates the story, and when Huck

finishes, she calls the King a "brute."

Huck makes Mary Jane leave the house and stay with a friend across the river. Before she

leaves, he writes down where the money is located so she will be able to find it later on. Huck

is afraid that if Mary Jane stays at the house, her face will give away Huck's indiscretion.

Huck tells her sisters that she is across the river trying to stir up interest in buying the house.

After telling this part of the story to the reader, Huck remarks that he has never forgotten

Mary Jane and still thinks she is one of the most beautiful girls he has ever met.

The auction occurs that afternoon and the King works hard to sell every last thing. In the

middle of the auction, a steamboat lands, and two men claiming to be the real heirs to the

Wilks's fortune disembark. As they approach the crowd, Huck notices that the elder man is

speaking, and that the younger man's right arm is in a sling.

Chapter 29

The new heirs claim to have lost their baggage and are therefore unable to prove their

identity. The King and Duke continue pretending to be the real heirs. Both groups are taken

to the tavern where Levi Bell and Dr. Robinson grill them for information.

The first information revealed is that the Wilks money has been stolen, which looks bad for

the King and Duke. However, they blame it on the slaves and continue pretending. The

lawyer, Levi Bell, manages to get all three men to write a line for him. He pulls out some old

letters and examines the handwriting, only to discover that none of three men had written the

letters to Peter Wilks. The real Harvey Wilks explains that his brother had transcribed all his

letters because his handwriting is so poor. Unfortunately, since his brother has a broken arm,

he cannot write and therefore they cannot prove their case.

Harvey Wilks then remembers that his deceased brother had his initials tattooed on his chest

and challenges the King to tell him what was on Peter's chest, assuming that the men who had

laid his brother out would have seen the mark and will be able to determine who is lying.

Refusing to give up, the King continues pretending and tells them Peter had a blue arrow

tattooed on his chest. The men who laid out Peter Wilks cannot remember seeing anything,

and thus they are forced to exhume the body.

6

The entire town travels to the gravesite. When they finally unearth and open the casket, they

discover the gold Huck has hidden there. Immediately, the men holding the King and Duke

let go to get a look at the money. At this opportunity, Huck, the King, and the Duke run to the

river as fast as they can. Huck gets to the raft and takes off down the river, hoping to escape

the two men. When the Duke and King catch up to him in a little skiff, he almost starts to cry.

Chapter 30

After the King boards the raft, he grabs Huck, shakes him, and yells at him for trying to get

away and for escaping without waiting. The Duke finally intervenes and calls the King an

"old idiot," asking, "Did you enquire for him when you got loose?"

Next, the King and Duke get into an argument about the money and start accusing each other

of stealing the cash and hiding it, especially since they had added the proceeds of the Royal

Nonesuch to the pot. The Duke finally physically attacks the King and forces him say that he

took the money. Next, both men get drunk, but Huck notices the King never again admits to

taking the money and rather denies it at every opportunity.

Chapter 31

The Duke and King spend a few days plotting how to recover their fortunes. Soon, they reach

a village named Pikesville. The King leaves and tells the Duke and Huck to follow him if he

does not return by midday. After he fails to reappear, they go to find him, leaving Jim with

the raft. Huck and the Duke search for quite some time, and finally find the King in a tavern.

Soon, both the Duke and King are drunk.

Huck sees his chance and runs straight back to the raft, but when he arrives Jim is gone. A

young man on the road tells him Jim, a runaway slave, was just captured and sold to the

Phelps family, down the road. Huck realizes that in an effort to make some money, the King

had snuck back to the raft while he and the Duke had been searching for him, took Jim, sold

him for forty dollars, and returned to the town to drink.

Huck sits down and contemplates his next move. He is torn between his friendship for Jim

and his belief that helping a runaway slave is a sin. Huck finally writes a letter to Miss

Watson explaining where Jim is. Not quite satisfied, he thinks about it some more, and, in

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one of the most dramatic scenes in the novel, rips apart the letter saying, "All right, then, I'll

go to hell!"

Huck starts walking to the Phelps's farm, but encounters the Duke along the way. The Duke

is posting advertisements for the Royal Nonesuch, which the two men are planning to

perform again. When he sees Huck, the Duke gets extremely nasty and is afraid Huck will

warn the townspeople. Next, he lies to Huck and tells him Jim was sold to a farm several days

away and threatens Huck in order to keep him silent. Huck promises not to say a word, and

hopes he will never have to deal with men such as the Duke and King ever again.

Chapter 32

Huck decides to trust his luck, and walks directly up to the front door of the Phelps's farm. He

is quickly surrounded by about fifteen hound dogs, which scatter when a large black woman

chases them away. Aunt Sally emerges and hugs Huck, saying "It's you, at last! - ain't it?"

Entirely surprised, Huck merely mutters "yes'm."

Aunt Sally drags Huck into the house and starts to ask him why he is so late. Not sure how to

respond, Huck says the steamboat blew a cylinder. The woman asks if anyone was hurt, to

which Huck replies, "No'm, killed a nigger." Before he has a chance to answer any more

questions, Silas Phelps returns home after picking up his nephew at the wharf. Aunt Sally

hides Huck, pretends he is not there, then drags him out and surprises Silas. Silas does not

recognize Huck until Aunt Sally announces, "It's Tom Sawyer!" Huck nearly faints from joy

when he hears his friend's name and realizes Aunt Sally is Tom's aunt.

Over the next two hours, Huck tells the family all about the Sawyer's and entertains them

with stories. Soon, he hears a steamboat coming down the river, and realizes Tom is probably

on the boat, since the family was expecting him. Eager to meet his friend and keep himself

safe, Huck tells Aunt Sally and Silas that he must return to town to fetch his baggage, quickly

explaining they need not accompany him.

Chapter 33

Huck meets Tom Sawyer on the road and stops his carriage. Tom is frightened, thinking

Huck is a ghost, but Huck reassures him and they settle down to catch up. Huck tells Tom

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what has happened at the Phelps's, and Tom thinks about how they should proceed. He tells

Huck to return to the farm with his suitcase, while Tom returns to town and begins his trip to

the Phelps's again.

Huck arrives back at the Phelps house, and soon thereafter, Tom arrives. The family is

excited because they do not get very many visitors, so they make Tom welcome. Tom makes

up a story about his hometown and then suddenly and impudently kisses Aunt Sally right on

the mouth. Shocked at his behavior, she nearly hits him over the head with her spinning stick,

until Tom reveals that he is Sid Sawyer, Tom's brother.

Next, Silas tells the family that their new slave Jim warned him about the Royal Nonesuch,

and that he took it upon himself to inform the rest of the town. Silas figures the two cheats

Jim spoke of will be ridden out of town that night. In a last minute attempt to warn the Duke

and King, Huck and Tom climb out of their windows, but they are too late. They see the two

men being paraded through the street covered in tar and feathers. Observing the scene, Huck

remarks that human beings can be awfully cruel to one another.

Chapter 34

Tom and Huck brainstorm ways to break Jim out of his prison. Huck plans to get the raft,

steal the key to the padlock, unlock the door and then float down the river some more. Tom

claims that plan is too simple and would work too well. Tom's plan is much more elaborate

and stylish, and takes a great deal longer to implement.

The boys go to the hut where Jim is being kept and search around. Finally, Tom decides that

the best way, or at least the way that will take the longest, is to dig a hole for Jim to climb out

of. The next day, he and Huck follow the black man who is delivering Jim's food. Jim

recognizes Huck and Tom and calls them by name, but both boys pretend not to hear. When

he has a chance, Tom tells Jim that they are going to dig him out. Jim is so happy he grabs

Tom's hand and shakes it.

Chapter 35

To create as fantastical a story and game as possible, Tom tries to determine how to make Jim

into a real prisoner before his daring escape. He decides that he and Huck will have to saw

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off the leg of Jim's bed in order to free the chain, send him a knotted ladder made of sheets,

give him a shirt to keep a journal on, and get him some tin plates to write messages on and

throw out the window. To top it off, Tom tells Huck that they will use case-knives to dig Jim

out, rather than the much quicker and more appropriate picks and shovels.

Chapter 36

The next night, Tom and Huck sneak out and start digging with their case knives. They tire

soon and their hands quickly develop blisters, but it seems they haven't accomplished

anything. Tom finally sighs and agrees to use a pick and shovel, but only as long as they

pretend to be using case knives. Huck agrees and tells Tom his head is getting "leveler" all

the time.

The next day, they steal some tin plates and a brass candlestick for Jim to write with. They

also finish digging the hole and make it possible for Jim to crawl out. Jim wants to escape

immediately, but Tom then tells Jim all about the little things he needs to do first, including

writing in blood, throwing the tin plates out of the hut, etc. Jim thinks all of these ideas are a

little crazy, but agrees to do it.

Tom then convinces the man who brings Jim his food that Jim is bewitched and offers to heal

him by baking a pie, in which he plans to conceal the sheet ladder.

Chapter 37

Aunt Sally notices that she has lost a sheet, a shirt, six candles, a spoon and a brass

candlestick. Very confused by the strange disappearances, she becomes absolutely livid. Aunt

Sally yells at poor Silas, who eventually discovers the missing spoon in his pocket, where

Tom had placed it. He looks ashamed and promises her he has no idea how the spoon got into

his pocket. Aunt Sally then yells at everyone to get away from her and let her get some peace

and quiet.

Tom decides that the only way to steal back the spoon is to confuse his poor Aunt Sally even

further. Tom has Huck hide one of spoons while Aunt Sally counts them, and then Huck puts

it back when Aunt Sally counts again. By the time she has finished counting, Aunt Sally has

no idea exactly how many spoons she has, and Tom is able to take one without any more

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trouble. Tom then does the same thing with the sheet, by stealing one out of her closet and

putting it on the clothesline, only to remove it the next day.

The boys bake Jim a witches pie, in which they hide the rope. It takes them several hours to

get it right because the pie is so large, but they finally succeed. The man who normally takes

Jim his food takes the pie in to him, and Jim happily removes the rope.

Chapter 38

Tom designs a coat-of-arms for Jim to inscribe on the walls so as to permanently leave his

mark on the prison cell. Next, Tom works out three mournful inscriptions and tells Jim he

must carve them into a rock. Huck and Tom go to fetch an old grindstone for Jim to use as his

rock, but it is too heavy for them to carry, so they are forced to allow Jim to leave his

"prison" and come help them. Jim rolls the rock into the hut and sets to work on the

inscriptions.

Tom decides that Jim needs some cell companions, such as snakes and spiders. He tells Jim

that he and Huck will find some for him, but Jim is vehemently opposed to the idea. Tom

then tries to convince Jim to get a flower so he can water it with his tears. Jim replies that the

flower would not last very long. Tom finally gets frustrated, and gives up for the night.

Chapter 39

Huck and Tom spend the next day catching creatures to live with Jim in his cell. They first

gather about fifteen rats, but Aunt Sally's son frees them by accident and both Tom and Huck

receive beatings for bringing rats into her house. Determined, the boys catch another fifteen

rats, along with some spiders, caterpillars, frogs, and bugs. At the end of the day they gather

some garter snakes and put them in a bag, but after dinner they discover all the snakes

escaped in the house as well. Huck remarks that there was no shortage of snakes in the house

for quite a while after that.

Uncle Silas decides to start advertising Jim as a runaway slave in some of the local

newspapers because he has failed to receive a reply to his earlier letters. Since the plantation

to which he wrote never existed, it makes sense that he never received a reply. Tom figures

out how to stop Silas, by planting anonymous letters that warn him off this plan of action.

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Tom and Huck first plant a letter reading, "Beware. Trouble is brewing. Keep a sharp

lookout." The next night the boys tack up a letter containing a skull and crossbones, which

they follow with a picture of a coffin.

Tom plans a final coup by drafting a longer letter. Pretending to be a member of a gang of

robbers who are planning to steal Jim from the family, he warns them that the gang will be

coming late at night from the north to get Jim. The family is terribly frightened and does not

know what to do.

Chapter 40

The letter has a strong effect, and over fifteen armed farmers are sitting in the house waiting

for the robbers to come during the night of the escape. Huck is frightened for their safety

when he slips out the window and tells Tom they must leave immediately or they will be

shot. Tom gets very excited when he hears about how many people came to catch them.

As Tom, Huck and Jim start to move away from the hut, Tom gets caught on the fence and

his britches rip quite loudly. All three start to run, and the farmers shoot after them. When

they get to a dark area, Huck, Jim, and Tom hide behind a bush and let the whole pack of

farmers and dogs run past them.

Once safe, they proceed to where the raft is hidden and Tom tells Jim he is a free man again,

and that he will always be a free man from now on. Jim thanks him and tells him it was a

great escape plan. Tom then shows them where he got a bullet in the leg, but Jim is worried

for Tom's health. Jim rips up one of the Duke's old shirts and ties up the leg with it.

Jim tells Tom that he is not going to move until they get a doctor there and make sure he is

safe. Tom gets mad at both of them and yells, but Huck ignores him and gets the canoe ready

to go to town. Tom makes him promise to blindfold the doctor before bringing him back to

their hiding place.

Chapter 41

Huck returns to town and finds a doctor. Instead of allowing Huck to come along, the doctor

makes Huck tell him where the raft is and takes the canoe out alone to find Tom and Jim.

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Huck falls asleep on a woodpile while waiting for him to return. When he wakes up, he is

told the doctor has not yet returned.

Huck soon sees Silas, who is very glad Huck is not hurt. Together, they go to the post office,

and Silas asks where Sid is. Huck makes up a story about Sid taking off to gather news about

the events of the night. When they return home, Aunt Sally makes a fuss over Huck, but is

glad he has returned.

A large gathering is held at the house, and the women discuss how they think Jim must have

been crazy due to Jim's grindstone inscriptions and the tools found in his hut, all of which

Huck and Tom actually crafted.

Aunt Sally is worried about Sid's whereabouts. Huck tells her the same tale he told Uncle

Silas, but it does not set her mind at ease. During the night, Huck sneaks out several times

and each time sees her sitting with a lit candle on the front porch, waiting for Sid's return.

Huck feels very sorry for her and wishes he could tell her everything.

Chapter 42

The next day, the doctor appears, bringing Tom on a stretcher and Jim in chains. Tom is

comatose due to a fever from the bullet wound, but is still alive. Aunt Sally takes him inside

and immediately starts to care for him. Tom improves rapidly and is almost completely better

by the next day.

Huck goes into the bedroom to sit with Tom and see how he is doing. Aunt Sally walks in as

well and while both of them are sitting there, Tom wakes up. He immediately starts to tell

Aunt Sally about everything the two of them did and how they managed to help Jim escape.

Aunt Sally cannot believe they were creating all of the trouble around her house.

When Tom hears that Jim has been recaptured he shouts at them that they cannot chain Jim

up anymore. He tells them that Jim has been free ever since Miss Watson died and freed him

in her will. Apparently Miss Watson was so ashamed about planning to sell Jim that she felt it

best to set him free.

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At that moment Aunt Polly, Aunt Sally's sister, appears. Aunt Sally is so surprised that she

rushes over to her sister to give her a hug. Aunt Polly proceeds to tell Aunt Sally that the boys

masquerading as Tom and Sid are actually Huck and Tom. Embarrassed, the boys look quite

sheepish. Aunt Polly only gets angry when she discovers that Tom has been stealing and

hiding her letters. She also explains to Aunt Sally that in regards to Jim, Tom is correct. Miss

Watson freed Jim in her will.

B. Analysis Intrinsic Elements

Major Themes

Conflict between civilization and "natural life"

The primary theme of the novel is the conflict between civilization and "natural life." Huck

represents natural life through his freedom of spirit, uncivilized ways, and desire to escape

from civilization. He was raised without any rules or discipline and has a strong resistance to

anything that might "sivilize" him. This conflict is introduced in the first chapter through the

efforts of the Widow Douglas: she tries to force Huck to wear new clothes, give up smoking,

and learn the Bible. Throughout the novel, Twain seems to suggest that the uncivilized way

of life is more desirable and morally superior. Drawing on the ideas of Jean-Jacques

Rousseau, Twain suggests that civilization corrupts, rather than improves, human beings.

Honor

The theme of honor permeates the novel after first being introduced in the second chapter,

where Tom Sawyer expresses his belief that there is a great deal of honor associated with

thieving. Robbery appears throughout the novel, specifically when Huck and Jim encounter

robbers on the shipwrecked boat and are forced to put up with the King and Dauphin, both of

whom "rob" everyone they meet. Tom's original robber band is paralleled later in the novel

when Tom and Huck become true thieves, but honorable ones, at the end of the novel. They

resolve to steal Jim, freeing him from the bonds of slavery, which is an honorable act. Thus,

the concept of honor and acting to earn it becomes a central theme in Huck's adventures.

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Food

Food plays a prominent role in the novel. In Huck's childhood, he often fights pigs for food,

and eats out of "a barrel of odds and ends." Thus, providing Huck with food becomes a

symbol of people caring for and protecting him. For example, in the first chapter, the Widow

Douglas feeds Huck, and later on Jim becomes his symbolic caretaker, feeding and watching

over him on Jackson's Island. Food is again discussed fairly prominently when Huck lives

with the Grangerford's and the Wilks's.

Mockery of Religion

A theme Twain focuses on quite heavily on in this novel is the mockery of religion.

Throughout his life, Twain was known for his attacks on organized religion. Huck Finn's

sarcastic character perfectly situates him to deride religion, representing Twain's personal

views. In the first chapter, Huck indicates that hell sounds far more fun than heaven. Later on,

in a very prominent scene, the "King", a liar and cheat, convinces a religious community to

give him money so he can "convert" his pirate friends. The religious people are easily led

astray, which mocks their beliefs and devotion to God.

Superstition

Superstition appears throughout the novel. Generally, both Huck and Jim are very rational

characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes over.

The power superstition holds over the two demonstrates that Huck and Jim are child-like

despite their apparent maturity. In addition, superstition foreshadows the plot at several key

junctions. For instance, when Huck spills salt, Pap returns, and when Huck touches a

snakeskin with his bare hands, a rattlesnake bites Jim.

Slavery

The theme of slavery is perhaps the most well known aspect of this novel. Since it's first

publication, Twain's perspective on slavery and ideas surrounding racism have been hotly

debated. In his personal and public life, Twain was vehemently anti-slavery. Considering this

information, it is easy to see that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn provides an allegory to

explain how and why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a main character and a slave, to

15

demonstrate the humanity of slaves. Jim expresses the complicated human emotions and

struggles with the path of his life. To prevent being sold and forced to separate from his

family, Jim runs away from his owner, Miss Watson, and works towards obtaining freedom

so he can buy his family's freedom. All along their journey downriver, Jim cares for and

protects of Huck, not as a servant, but as a friend. Thus, Twain's encourages the reader to feel

sympathy and empathy for Jim and outrage at the society that has enslaved him and

threatened his life. However, although Twain attacks slavery through is portrayal of Jim, he

never directly addresses the issue. Huck and Jim never debate slavery, and all the other slaves

in the novel are very minor characters. Only in the final section of the novel does Twain

develop the central conflict concerning slavery: should Huck free Jim and then be condemned

to hell? This decision is life-altering for Huck, as it forces him to reject everything

"civilization" has taught him. Huck chooses to free Jim, based on his personal experiences

rather than social norms, thus choosing the morality of the "natural life" over that of

civilization.

Money

The concept of wealth or lack thereof is threaded throughout the novel, and highlights the

disparity between the rich and poor. Twain purposely begins the novel by pointing out that

Huck has over six thousand dollars to his name; a sum of money that dwarfs all the other

sums mentioned, making them seem inconsequential in contrast. Huck demonstrates a

relaxed attitude towards wealth, and because he has so much of it, does not view money as a

necessity, but rather as a luxury. Huck's views regarding wealth clearly contrast with Jim's.

For Jim, who is on a quest to buy his family out of slavery, money is equivalent to freedom.

In addition, wealth would allow him to raise his status in society. Thus, Jim is on a constant

quest for wealth, whereas Huck remains apathetic.

Mississippi River

The majority of the plot takes place on the river or its banks. For Huck and Jim, the river

represents freedom. On the raft, they are completely independent and determine their own

courses of action. Jim looks forward to reaching the free states, and Huck is eager to escape

his abusive, drunkard of a father and the "civilization" of Miss Watson. However, the towns

along the river bank begin to exert influence upon them, and eventually Huck and Jim meet

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criminals, shipwrecks, dishonesty, and great danger. Finally, a fog forces them to miss the

town of Cairo, at which point there were planning to head up the Ohio River, towards the free

states, in a steamboat.

Originally, the river is a safe place for the two travelers, but it becomes increasingly

dangerous as the realities of their runaway lives set in on Huck and Jim. Once reflective of

absolute freedom, the river soon becomes only a short-term escape, and the novel concludes

on the safety of dry land, where, ironically, Huck and Jim find their true freedom.

Plot

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict,

complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake

up the recipe and add some spice.

Exposition

Sivilization and Six Thousand Dollars

When we meet Huck, it sounds like he should be set for life: he's rich, and he's being brought

up by a strict but upstanding widow. But something's missing. Adventure… and his deadbeat

dad, who shows up to extort money from him. When Huck escapes and stumbles on the

runaway slave Jim, he's thrust right into the story's main conflict.

Conflict

Free… At Last?

And boy is it a doozy. Should Huck return Jim, who is someone's "property," or should he

follow his conscience and help an enslaved man escape to freedom? Sure, it sounds like a no-

brainer to us. But we think it's remarkable that a boy living in the pre-Civil War South would

even think to ask such a question. Go Huck! 

Complication

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Presenting Romeo and Juliet

Huck and Jim come up with a pretty good plan involving the small town of Cairo, but their

plans are foiled (and foiled… and foiled) by events as diverse as a sinking steamship, a band

of robbers, and two Shakespearean conmen. It sure is hard to have a moral crisis when you

have to keep dressing up as a girl, are we right?

Climax

Their Royal Highnesses

After a series of misadventures with the "duke" and "king" conmen, Huck realizes that Jim

has been sold into slavery again, and the conflict breaks out into a climax: will he help Jim

escape, or will he tell Miss Watson that her "property" has been stolen? (Were you expecting

pirates? Sorry. This may be an adventure story, but the real struggle takes place in Huck's

soul.)

Suspense

Off With His Leg!

The climax is prolonged by an unexpected encounter: Huck's (and our) old friend, Tom

Sawyer. Huck may have had adventures with robbers and conmen, but Tom has been reading

about them—and so he's got all sorts of kooky ideas about rope pies and amputation.

Yeah, okay, it's not actually that suspenseful. We're pretty sure Jim won't lose his leg. But we

are starting to get worried about his freedom.

Denouement

Free at Last

The whole debacle culminates in Tom getting shot and Jim about to be hanged… when Tom

wakes up from his coma/ inconvenient nap and announces that Jim's owner Miss Watson died

a few weeks ago and freed Jim in her will. He's a free (and no longer about-to-be-hanged)

man! It looks like everything is wrapping up nice and neat.

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Setting

The Mississippi River along Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas sometime in the 1830s-40s

Slavery is legal. Everyone drunk. And you'd better not touch any rattlesnake skins, because

you'll be sure to have bad luck.

Welcome to the South, circa twenty years before the Civil War.

And this isn't the gracious, refined South where everyone is drinking sweet tea and wearing

giant dresses. It's a backwater south, full of uneducated, superstitious, and misguided hicks

who say things like this: "Deed you ain't! You never said no truer thing 'n that, you bet you"

(12).

But we do also see that people can be good and kind: the Grangerfords take Huck in right

away; Mrs. Judith Loftus tells Huck—who's a stranger—to "send word… and I'll do what I

can to get you out of [trouble]" (11); and Aunt Sally welcomes Huck like a long-lost child

instead of a boy who isn't even really her cousin.

And there's real beauty in this South, too. When Huck is on the river, he responds to this

natural beauty: "There was freckled places on the ground where the light sifted down through

the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little, showing there was a little breeze up

there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered at me very friendly" (8.1).

So what's Twain saying with this setting? Well, like a lot of people who write about the South

—like William Faulkner—he seems to see its good and its bad sides—and, more than that, he

seems to think that it could change.

Point of View

First Person

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Meet Huck—or, as you introduces himself, "You don't know about me without you have read

a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter" (1.10).

So, we know right away that we're getting a first-person narrator, and it's a real first person,

full of Huck's personality and viewpoint and youthful voice. Because everything is filtered

through Huck, we have to rely on him to interpret the story and present it to us. This

subjectivity means taking the narration with a grain of salt, but Huck's is so earnest and

truthful with himself—and with us—that we're happy to take him at his word.

Genre

Satire Coming-of-Age

Kid on a raft, bad guys, several snake-related incidences—you're just one Samuel L. Jackson

(and a few technological innovations) away from Snakes on a Plane. (Although, to be fair,

Twain is also clearly drawing from classic adventure epics, particularly The Odyssey. Don't

believe us? Well, consider that, throughout the whole epic, the main character is called the

"wily" or "crafty" Odysseus. Translation: the guy is really good at spinning a story—just like

our friend Huck.)

But there's clearly something else going on here. For one, take Twain's "Notice": "Persons

attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a

moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."

Um, satirical, much? By reading this first, we know that we should pay close attention: this

may look like a kid's book, like one of the adventures rotting Tom Sawyer's brain, but

everything is not as it seems. It may look like a kid's book, but in fact it's a complicated

examination into racism, slavery, and the moral issues that go with them.

And speaking of morality: Huck doesn't exactly grow up over the course of his travels, but he

does develop his moral compass to a significant degree, which is a big part of becoming an

"adult." Sure, he's not about to settle down with a nice girl and a picket fence—but he's

definitely growing up.

Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

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The River

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

"Muddy Mississippi." "Ol' Man River." "Proud Mary." And even more, if you want them.

The Mississippi River might as well be a national symbol; it's definitely a majorly important

symbol for Huckleberry Finn. It represents freedom and possibility—but also, maybe, the

problems of a drifting life.

Nothin' Left to Lose

Sure, the river is Huck and Jim's transportation. It's taking them from captivity (slavery; child

abuse) to (hopefully) freedom in the state of Ohio. But the river ends up symbolizing freedom

in its own right.

Before hitting the rapids, Huck feels confined—both by both society (which, figuratively,

kept Huck imprisoned by its restrictive rules) and by Pap (who, literally, kept Huck locked

up). And the river is the only route they can take if they want to be free both in that present

moment and in their respective futures. Check out the way Huck describes it:

So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free

again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us. (29)

"Free again," "All by ourselves," "nobody to bother us": to Huck, the river represents a life

beyond the rules of society. And that's a life he could get used to.

With Great Freedom Comes Great Responsibility

But is freedom all it's cracked up to be?

After all, the rules and laws that people like the Widow and Judge Thatcher lay down aren't

just meant to make Huck's life miserable; they're also meant to protect him. On the river,

Huck and Jim encounter all kinds of life-threatening situations: burglars and potential

murders; losing their raft; missing the mouth of the Ohio River; losing the raft again;

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witnessing the Grangerford-Shepherdson bloodbath; meeting up with the duke and king; oh,

yeah, and losing Jim back to slavery.

As Huck drifts down the river, he learns that freedom comes with great responsibility: the

responsibility to decide for yourself how to be a good, moral person.

The Raft

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

We're kind of point A to point B people at Shmoop. Give us a nice four-wheel drive and a

good stretch of highway—or, better yet, an airplane with a loaded iPad.

But not Huck and Jim. Their vehicle of choice is a raft: something that can barely be steered

and that only goes as fast as the river it's on. But the raft ends up being a kind of no-man's

land that seems to operate under different laws than solid ground. In a way, it provides a

space for Huck and Jim to get to know each other man-to-man rather than master-to-slave. As

Huck says, "we… let her [the raft] float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the

pipes, and dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things—we was always

naked, day and night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us" (19.4).

Floating down the middle of the river (and naked) just might be the only place this black man

and white boy can speak together as equals. And that makes it a pretty important symbol.

Huck

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Huck, a symbol? We think so. Sure, he's a great, well-rounded character—but he could also

be seen as a symbol for America. (See Huck's "Character Analysis" for a few thoughts.)

Check out the very last line for some pretty convincing proof: "But I reckon I got to light out

for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me,

and I can't stand it. I been there before" (43).

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In the nineteenth century, there was a lot of mythology built up around the idea of the rugged

individual, the frontiersman or pioneer who was completely independent and self-sufficient,

and wasn't about the let the guv'mint tell him what to do. (For "guv'mint," read "Aunt Sally"

or "the Widow Douglas.") In other words, someone a lot like Huck: smart but uneducated; a

little wild but fundamentally honest and moral; and not too fond of table manners.

When Huck says he's got to "light out for the territory ahead of the rest," he's taking on the

role of the pioneer: heading out to new, untamed country. And we bet that as soon as it starts

getting "sivilized," he's going to head out looking for yet another frontier.

Shakespeare

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Man, Twain loved the Bard. There the duke and king rehearsing on the boat with an odd

amalgamation (now there's a $5 word that just means "mix") of the greatest soliloquies of all

time in one totally messed-up speech, the unsuccessful performance in front of the

"uncivilized" folk of Arkansas, and the subsequent naked prancing about. (Not to mention the

Romeo and Juliet-esque debacle with the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords.)

So what's up with that?

Well, the duke and king are all wrapped up in their own sophistication. They think they're

just so worldly and clever. Of course, the joke is on them for being ignoramuses who use

words like "orgies" to talk about funeral rites (25). It's the same thing with the Shakespeare;

the duke thinks he knows what he's talking about, but he's really going around saying: "To be

or not to be; that is the bare bodkin" (21).

(Not up on your Hamlet? "To be or not to be" are the first words of the most famous

soliloquy in possibly the most famous Shakespeare play; check out the whole thing here. It's

worth it.)

All the references to Shakespeare might just be one way for Twain to make fun of the duke

and king's pretensions. But it's also a way for Twain to contrast the smart but uneducated

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Huck with the duke and king—who think they're educated but actually turn out to be full of

hot air… and badly quoted Shakespeare.

Character Analysis

Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry may have $6,000 and a laissez faire attitude toward showing up to school, but

we're not about to switch places with him. This is one kid with a serious ethical dilemma—

and we're not talking about that internal struggle over whether to download Game of Thrones

because your parents refuse to pay for HBO.

Is This Moral Compass Turned On?

To begin, the boy's trying to sort out about ten systems of conflicting rules. He has to decide

to what and whom he feels loyal: follow religion, or follow his gut instincts? Obey his father,

or obey the Widow? Listen to Tom, or listen to the Phelpses? Check out this little moral

dilemma:

Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back

some time; but the widow said it warn't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent

body would do it. Jim said he reckoned the widow was partly right and pap was partly right;

so the best way would be for us to pick out two or three things from the list and say we

wouldn't borrow them any more—then he reckoned it wouldn't be no harm to borrow the

others. So we talked it over all one night, drifting along down the river, trying to make up our

minds whether to drop the watermelons, or the cantelopes, or the mushmelons, or what. But

towards daylight we got it all settled satisfactory, and concluded to drop crabapples and

p'simmons. (12.9)

We've got at least three different sets of moral values here: Pap's, the Widow's, and Jim's.

And there's Huck in the middle, trying to decide which one is right. That's a lot harder than

waking up in the morning and going to school because your parents will ground you if you

don't.

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And he doesn't take it lightly. Once he's decided the right thing to do, Huck does it—even if it

goes against society's code. Like, when he realizes that he was wrong to trick Jim (at one of

the many points he tricks Jim), he apologizes, even though it takes him "fifteen minutes" to

"work [himself] up to go humble himself" to a black man (15.49). So, even though we see

Huck do some questionable things (like lie, cheat, and prank his friends), we know he's an

upstanding kid.

H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

No wonder Huck takes these questions seriously: no matter how suspicious he is about

religion, he's a good Southern boy at heart, and he's been paying attention in Sunday School.

Wrong actions earn you a one-way, express ticket to hell, and not the metaphorical kind. The

literal kind. The "bad place" (1.6), where he's going to suffer all sorts of not-fun torments.

That's why his little moment of moral crisis is so important. Throughout the whole novel, he's

been struggling against his heart, which wants to treat Jim like a man; and his conscience,

which has been corrupted by the corrupt ethical system of his society into believing that Jim

is nothing more than a piece of portable property. He even goes so far as to write a letter

telling Miss Watson where to find Jim.

But he doesn't send it. Instead, he remember that Jim is a good friend who has continually

risked his life and freedom to save Huck—and he decides, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"

(31.34). He makes the right choice—even though he thinks it's the wrong choice, or the

wrong choice by the moral code that he's accustomed to.

Don't underestimate this. It's easy to say, "Oh, sure, of course Huck decided to do the right

thing." But in pre-Civil War Southern states, this would be like knowing your friend stole

your mom's sweet Lexus and helping him cover it up. Yeah, it's an ugly metaphor, but it was

an ugly time: slaves were often the most expensive "property" people owned. They were

incredibly valuable, particularly a strong, young man like Jim. Huck deserves major props

here.

What Would Tom Sawyer Do?

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As you can probably tell from all these moments of moral scrutiny, Huck struggles a lot with

his sense of self. In the beginning of the novel, he oscillates between his comfort living in the

woods and his realization that, actually, gettin' civilized ain't so bad.

Once he's on the river, he survives by pretending to be other people. He's "George Peters"

when Mrs. Judith Loftus wants to think that he's an abused, runaway apprentice (11);

"George Jackson" when the Grangerfords ask "Who's there?" (17.6, 17.2); and Tom Sawyer

when Aunt Sally asks "It's you, at last!—ain't it?" (32.8). Talk about identity crisis: Huck

can't seem to make up his mind who he is, or who he wants to be.

One thing to notice is that, when he's lying about who he is, he tends to spin elaborate stories

about fake families, or inserting himself into already exiting families—like the Grangerfords.

And who does he pretend to be at the end of the story? His hero, Tom Sawyer.

Throughout the whole adventure, Huck's been thinking about Tom. "I did wish Tom Sawyer

was there" (7), he says; and "Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? …

He'd call it an adventure—that's what he'd call it; and he'd land on that wreck if it was his last

act" (12); and, "I reckoned Tom Sawyer couldn't 'a' done it no neater himself" (28). But why

does he want to be so much like Tom? Does he succeed? Does he change his mind when he

sees how Tom acts? And why doesn't he want to be himself?

Buck Nekkid

There is one place where Huck feels at home: out in nature. When he's out in the woods or on

the river, his folksy, questionably grammatical language becomes almost beautiful. Check it

out:

The sun was up so high when I waked that I judged it was after eight o'clock. I laid there in

the grass and the cool shade thinking about things, and feeling rested and ruther comfortable

and satisfied. I could see the sun out at one or two holes, but mostly it was big trees all about,

and gloomy in there amongst them. There was freckled places on the ground where the light

sifted down through the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little, showing there

was a little breeze up there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered at me very

friendly. (8.1)

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The way Huck describes the woods, you can tell that this is where he belongs. Even the

squirrels are friendly to him. When he and Jim are hanging out by the river, they're "naked,

day and night, whenever the mosquitos would let [them]" (19.4).

And why does he love nature so much? It's the only place he can be "free and satisfied" (1.2).

We think there are a couple of things to note here:

(1) Out in nature, he and Jim are equal. They take care of each other, and there's no society

around to tell them that Tom is a free man while Jim is a slave. By making Huck so

comfortable in nature, Twain might be telling us that he knows what's up.

(2) When he's in nature, Huck feels "free and satisfied" (1.2). And you know how he runs off

to "Injun" country at the end of the book? Well, Twain might be making Huck into a symbol

of America: a little wild, a little rough around the edges, but always ready to push off into

new lands. (See our "Symbols" section for more on that.) This myth of rugged individualism

was super popular in the nineteenth century. But here's the question: does Twain approve of

it?

Or, by making the figure for rugged individualism a wild kid with questionable hygiene, is he

ever-so-slightly making fun of it?

BFFs

One last thing: Huck is a good friend. If Tom Sawyer were our bud, we'd get pretty sick of

his harebrained talk about adventures and genies, particularly if we'd just finished a weeks-

long actual adventure, one with actual robbers. Not Huck. Huck still looks up to and admires

Tom.

And then there's Jim. Huck may prank Jim, and may make fun of his superstition, but in the

end he does the right thing. The fact that a boy growing up in the pre-Civil War South is able

to think of a black slave as his friend shows that Huck, more than anyone else in the story, is

a good friend—and a good person.

Jim

Character Analysis

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Jim is a slave. For most people living in the pre-Civil War South, that's about all there is to

know. Who cares about a slave's motivations, or character, or background, or feelings? It

would be like trying to psychoanalyze your family pet—or not even, since that's apparently a

thing that exists.

But Twain is smarter than that—and so is Huck, eventually. Jim is every bit as complex a

character as Huck is, and maybe even more. So what makes him tick?

Friends Forever

Well, for one, loyalty. Jim sees Huck as the only "white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to

ole Jim" (16.16), and Jim repays him: he shelters Huck from seeing his dead father; he lets

Huck sleep through his watch, staying up all night to keep lookout ("he often done that" (23),

says Huck); and practically dancing a jig when he realizes that Huck actually is alive. "It's too

good for true, honey, it's too good for true," he says: "Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o'

you" (15.19).

Just for contrast, check out the way Huck's own father greets him after not having seen him

for a year: "You think you're a good deal of a big-bug, don't you" [5.4]. Warms your heart,

doesn't it? Jim may not exactly be a father figure to Huck, but he's doing a much better job

looking out for him than Pap is.

Jim's loyalty extends to Huck's friends, too. When the doctor is operating on Tom Sawyer

after the boy's been shot, Jim pops out of his hiding place to help save the kid, risking his

own life and (he thinks) giving up his hard-earned freedom.

The Magic Hairball

For all his practical street smarts—or, uh, river smarts, Jim has a superstition for every

occasion. Cooking dinner? Don't count your food. See a snakeskin? Don't touch it. Bit by a

rattlesnake? Kill it, roast it, and eat the meat. (Tastes like chicken.) Oh, and tie the rattles

around your wrist. Got a big hairball? Use it to tell fortunes.

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This may all sound a little silly, but is it any sillier than Miss Watson's religion, which will

send you straight to hell if you slouch? Or Aunt Sally, who thinks that spirits must have

stolen Jim away? Or Huck himself, who wants to throw salt over his left shoulder when he

pills it?

We think not. Jim is a product of his time. Sure, maybe he's a little goofier and more

committed to these superstitions than Huck or Tom. But can he help it? He's a slave. He was

never sent to school or coerced into going to church. In fact, Jim might actually smarter than

Huck, or at least has more natural smarts. Huck may think he's silly not to know that some

people speak languages other than English, but, come on, he has a point: why do people

speak so many different languages?

Family Man

So, we know that Jim is loyal, and we know that he's superstitious. But what does he want?

What makes Jim run away, when we really get the impression that he's basically okay with

being enslaved?

Family.

He finds out that Miss Watson is planning to sell him down to New Orleans, where he'd be

separated from his family. And Jim loves his family. Huck is a little surprised by this,

actually, saying, "I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for

their'n. It don't seem natural, but I reckon it's so" (23).

Uh, okay, Huck.

But the point is, Jim loves his family. We never see him interact with them—although we do

see a sort of disturbing incident where he smacks around his deaf daughter, although, to be

fair, he didn't know she was deaf—but, based on the way he treats Huck, we're going to guess

that he's a pretty good dad.

In the end, Jim gets what he wants: freedom. He also gets the respect of the white folks, who

say, like Huck, that he's a "good" black man.

Uncle Tom

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And that brings us to our final point. Is Jim an "Uncle Tom" character? Uncle Tom is a

character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (shock!). He's a gentle, childlike

slave who's totally loyal to his white masters. So, to call someone an "uncle tom" is an insult.

Basically, it's like calling someone a brownnoser or a suck up, except, well, worse.

So, Jim. Is Jim unrealistically helpful to Huck? Is his gentleness and nature-smarts a way of

making him seem primitive and simpler than the white guys? Or is Twain actually just trying

to show that a black man can be a complex character?

Tom Sawyer

Character Analysis

We first met Tom in Mark Twain's previous book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Tom Sawyer is Huck's good friend, introduced in a previous book by Mark Twain, The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer. And he is—well, he's basically like any pre-teen kid who spends

his time reading adventure novels or too many comic books. He's imaginative, mischievous,

and totally, hilariously, impractical.

Birds of a Feather

Maybe Huck admires Tom because they're so different. Sure, Tom has a stable home and a

good upbringing (a "character to lose" [33.21], as Huck puts it), but he's different from Huck

in other ways. Where Tom is imaginative, Huck is practical. Where Tom always has his nose

in a book, Huck runs away to the river or woods when he needs to escape. Where Tom is

basically a good-hearted kid who's oblivious to moral issues, Huck is a boy on the verge of

becoming a man by grappling with some really important questions.

And Huck definitely has a little bit of a man-crush on Tom. Huck wishes he could come up

with a story as good as Tom's, or come up with a plan as good as Tom's. Why? Maybe

because Huck seems that Tom has all the things he doesn't: "here was a boy that was

respectable and well brung up; and had a character to lose; and folks at home that had

characters; and he was bright and not leather-headed; and knowing and not ignorant; and not

mean, but kind; and yet here he was, without any more pride, or rightness, or feeling, than to

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stoop to this business, and make himself a shame, and his family a shame, before everybody"

(33.21).

So, respectability, a good upbringing, character, intelligence, kindness: we'll admit it, that's

pretty impressive. But it's not everything. In the end, Tom lacks the most important thing:

moral rightness.

Adventure Stories

Miss Watson can't see things clearly because her religion teaches her false principles (like,

black people should be enslaved). Jim is hopeless, because his system of superstition is a

complete fantasy. But Tom has his own fantastical system of rules leading him astray:

literature.

He's always trying to do things the way they're done in books, like starting a "band of

robbers" and making everyone write their names in blood (2.10). When Huck comes up with

completely logical and honestly kind of easy ways to free Jim (like, lift up the bed and slip

the chain off), Tom rolls his eyes: "Why, hain't you ever read any books at all?… Who ever

heard of getting a prisoner loose in such an old-maidy way as that?" (35.6).

And it may be just a game to Tom, but remember: this whole time, Tom knows perfectly well

that Jim is actually a free man. Tim is supposed to be the well-brought up kid with good

principles and a solid conscience, but he lets Jim suffer for days, using him to act out some

adventure fantasy he read in a book.

The Duke and The King

Character Analysis

Sorry to disappoint you, but these aren't a real Duke and King. Nope. They're conmen who

team up to bilk the gullible people of more than one riverside town.

Of the two, the king is definitely the worst. In the first con the two men pull, the duke steals a

measly nine bucks—not even enough for a pizza. The king, on the other hand, pretends to be

a preacher in order to steal a whole $80.

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Not too cool.

Okay, but other than being examples of What Not to Do, the duke and king have two

important roles in the novel: (1) they're like a bizzaro-world version of Huck and Jim; and (2)

they're a major part of Huck's maturation.

Friends For… Ever?

Let's look at bizzaro-world, first. When the duke and king first meet, they consider conning

each other and then decide that they'd be better off teaming up:

Like as not we got to be together a blamed long time on this h-yer raft, Bilgewater, and so

what's the use o' your bein' sour? It 'll only make things on-comfortable. It ain't my fault I

warn't born a duke, it ain't your fault you warn't born a king—so what's the use to worry?

Make the best o' things the way you find 'em, says I—that's my motto. This ain't no bad thing

that we've struck here—plenty grub and an easy life—come, give us your hand, duke, and le's

all be friends. (19.47)

So, first, we get the sense again that the duke has the high moral ground in the this pair;

second, we learn that these guys aren't pairing up out of loyalty or friendship, but for "plenty

grub and an easy life." In other words, we wouldn't bet on this team in The Amazing Race.

Fun and… Games?

At first, Huck is having a grand old time. No rules, no sitting up straight, and definitely no

Sunday School. Soon enough, he starts to wonder if maybe life on the lam isn't so great after

all, especially when the king and duke start trying to cheat the pretty Mary Jane out of her

inheritance.

And when the duke and king end up tarred and feathered, Huck realizes that he's probably

going to better off staying on the right side of the law. And that's a lesson worthy of royalty.

Pap

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Character Analysis

Sure, Huck's father Pap may be an ignorant, abusive, alcoholic racist who beats his son and

extorts whiskey money from him, but he's not all bad. He's got some really redeeming

qualities—like…

Like…

Okay, we lied. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and we don't really feel sorry that

he removes himself from Huck's life entirely by dying. But at least it's easy to figure out Pap's

motivations: he wants whiskey. And really, this is about all you need to know about Pap. He's

an addict. He'll do anything to get more whiskey, including lying, stealing, and abusing his

son. (As if you needed a cautionary tale about late-stage alcoholism.) He's so addicted to

alcohol that he lies around drunk in the pigpen and has delirium tremens-induced fits of

hallucinations.

When the new town judge tries to reform him, Pap is so un-reform-able that the judge

changes his mind about the ultimate good of human nature and declares that there are some

men you can only reform with a shotgun. Is Pap proof that no one can change? Or is he just a

man in the grip of a terrible addiction?

Fit for the Pigs

The drinking is bad enough, but that's not even the worst of it. The worst is that Pap is a

willfully ignorant racist. He doesn't want Huck to learn anything, saying "You've put on

considerable many frills since I been away… You're educated, too, they say—can read and

write. You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?" (5.6). In other

words, he's jealous because his son knows more than he does. Some dad, right?

And it's not just his son. He can't handle the idea of black people knowing more than he does,

either:

here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had

the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town

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that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-

headed cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think?

They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed

everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well,

that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just

about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was

a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote

agin. (6.11)

Pap is so outraged that a black person is (1) educated, (2) well-dressed, and (3) allowed to

participate in the political process that he just refuses to vote.

The Widow Douglas

Character Analysis

We don't see much of the Widow Douglass, but we get the feeling she's a nice lady. She takes

Huck under her wing and promises to civilize him, which maybe not be what he wants but,

by the standards of society, is a pretty nice offer.

Even though Huck doesn't much like getting "sivilized," he has nothing but praise for the

Widow: she's "regular and decent" (1.2), she makes Miss Watson lay off him (1.6), and she

doesn't lay into him when he fouls up his clothes. She even says that he's "coming along slow

but sure, and doing very satisfactory… she warn't ashamed of me" (4.2).

We don't learn much about the Widow Douglas as an individual. She's a type: she's basically

kind, mostly caring, and 100% committed to following the rules of society, from table

manners to church-going to slave-owning. But is that good enough for Huck? Is it good

enough for Twain?

Miss Watson

Character Analysis

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Miss Watson is Widow Douglas's sister, "a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles [glass]"

(1.6). And she means well. (We guess.) But if Widow Douglas represents the good parts of

civilization, Miss Watson is the bad parts. The nagging parts. The slave-owning parts.

She's got a whole list of rules for Huck, including:

"Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry"; and "Don't scrunch up like that, Huckleberry—

set up straight"; and pretty soon she would say, "Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry

—why don't you try to behave?" (1.6).

In the end, though, Miss Watson's conscience pricks her just a little too hard, and she sets Jim

free in her will. Does this redeem her? Can we blame her for wanting to sell Jim, or is she just

a product of her time?

The Grangerfords

Character Analysis

We might as well be talking about Scarlett O'Hara, because The Grangerford clan is Twain's

example of a traditional aristocratic family living in the pre-Civil War South. They're

extremely wealthy: each family member has his or her own personal servant; their house is

huge and beautiful; and they own a ton of land with over a hundred slaves (we're thinking

they live on a plantation). Check out this description of their house: 

It didn't have an iron latch on the front door, nor a wooden one with a buckskin string, but a

brass knob to turn, the same as houses in town. There warn't no bed in the parlor, nor a sign

of a bed; but heaps of parlors in towns has beds in them. There was a big fireplace that was

bricked on the bottom, and the bricks was kept clean and red by pouring water on them and

scrubbing them with another brick; sometimes they wash them over with red water-paint that

they call Spanish-brown, same as they do in town. They had big brass dog-irons that could

hold up a saw-log. There was a clock on the middle of the mantelpiece, with a picture of a

town painted on the bottom half of the glass front, and a round place in the middle of it for

the sun, and you could see the pendulum swinging behind it. (17)

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Translation? This is one sweet pad. And when Huck stumbles into their lives, the

Grangerfords treat him with the utmost hospitality and care… but only after they discern he

has nothing to do with "the Shepherdsons."

Oh yeah, that. The Grangerford family may be pleasant and respectable, but they live in a

world of fear and hate. They've had a hardcore feud going on with the nearby Shepherdson

clan for about thirty years, and each family is intent on killing off the other, one by one, until

no one's left standing. Even Buck Grangerford, a boy around Huck's age, has violence on his

mind all the time.

It ends, as you can probably guess, tragically. (Buck explains feuds: "by and by everybody's

killed off, and there ain't no more feud" [18].) What's up with this family? Well, just like

slavery, not all traditions should be respected. The South may have nice houses and great

sweet tea, but it also has some nasty history.

Buck Grangerford

Character Analysis

Move over, Tom: Huck has a new BFF. Buck and Huck become pals the second they meet,

partly because Buck's a friendly guy:

Say, how long are you going to stay here? You got to stay always. We can just have booming

times—they don't have no school now. Do you own a dog? I've got a dog—and he'll go in the

river and bring out chips that you throw in. Do you like to comb up Sundays, and all that kind

of foolishness? You bet I don't, but ma she makes me. Confound these ole britches! I reckon

I'd better put 'em on, but I'd ruther not, it's so warm. Are you all ready? All right. Come

along, old hoss. (17)

Talk about welcoming. They're so comfortable together that Buck doesn't even wear pants.

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He and Huck are both adventurous (and a little violent—Buck likes to carry a gun), so Huck

is especially devastated by Buck's death. The fact that they were the same age only makes the

loss of his new friend all the more personal. Did you notice that the two boys' names rhyme?

We're pretty sure that's not a coincidence. Huck and Buck have a sort of "long lost twin"

relationship. Huck sees in Buck what his life could have been like, had he been born into a

wealthy family. And he might be better off as a half-civilized river boy.

Aunt Polly

Character Analysis

Tom's Aunt Polly doesn't make her grand entrance until the very end of the novel, but that

woman has awesome timing (check out Chapter 42; we can't do it justice). Although she's

around a lot more in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly shows us that she's one sharp

lady in her one Huckleberry Finn scene. She's "slow and severe" (42), but she's definitely a

strong character. There's no fooling her, probably because she's had to deal with Tom's

shenanigans for years. As she says, "I reckon I hain't raised such a scamp as my Tom all these

years not to know him when I see him" (42).

Silas and Sally Phelps

Character Analysis

Small world: the king (who? check out his "Character Analysis") just so happens to sell Jim

to Tom's aunt and uncle.

Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas are good-natured and hospitable southern folk with lots of kids.

The two fall for a bunch of Tom and Huck's lies, but they also have honest intentions and big

hearts.

Here's Sally:

She grabbed me and hugged me tight; and then gripped me by both hands and shook and

shook; and the tears come in her eyes, and run down over; and she couldn't seem to hug and

shake enough, and kept saying, "You don't look as much like your mother as I reckoned you

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would; but law sakes, I don't care for that, I'm so glad to see you! Dear, dear, it does seem

like I could eat you up! Children, it's your cousin Tom!—tell him howdy." (32.10)

And here's Silas:

That's all he said. He was the innocentest, best old soul I ever see. But it warn't surprising;

because he warn't only just a farmer, he was a preacher, too, and had a little one-horse log

church down back of the plantation, which he built it himself at his own expense, for a church

and schoolhouse, and never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too.

There was plenty other farmer-preachers like that, and done the same way, down South.

(33.26)

Don't these seem like nice folks? They're hospitable, too. When Sally sees Tom (playing

"Sid") coming down the road, she says "Why, I do believe it's a stranger… put on another

plate for dinner" (33). She doesn't even wait to find out who it is to start feeding him. Talk

about Southern hospitality!

Unfortunately, they also embrace the South's tradition of slavery. So we're left feeling a little

confused. Are they good people, corrupted by a bad society? Or are they fundamentally bad,

unable to see how wrong it is to own another person?

The Shepherdsons

Character Analysis

We don't know much about the Shepherdson family other than the fact that they are the rival

clan of Huck's adoptive family, the Grangerfords. The Shepherdson plantation is about five

miles away from the Grangerford pad, but evidently, that's still too close for comfort. The

two families share the same steamboat landing as well as the same church—the one place

where they can peacefully co-exist, albeit with their guns locked and loaded resting between

their knees.

Despite all the hatred, the Grangerfords genuinely respect the Shepherdsons. "There ain't a

coward amongs them Shepherdsons" (17), Huck says. But when Harney Shepherdson, one of

the clan's studly sons, runs away with Sophia Grangerford one night, that mutual respect

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doesn't stop the families' violent hatred from claiming many lives on both sides. (You may

also want to check out what we have to say about The Grangerfords.)

Colonel Sherburn and Boggs

Character Analysis

Sherburn and Boggs are only in the story for a short time, and neither has anything to do with

the overall plot of the novel. What gives, Mr. Twain? Well, we think they illustrate two

common types of men in the antebellum South.

First, there's Boggs. He's the town drunk, and though he's belligerent, everyone in the town

believes him to be 100% harmless. As one of the townspeople says, "He don't mean nothing;

he's always a-carryin' on like that when he's drunk. He's the best naturedest old fool in

Arkansaw—never hurt nobody, drunk nor sober" (21.40). Evidently he rumbles into town

every once in a while and picks somebody to threaten. On this particular trip he's chosen

Colonel Sherburn—oops.

Sherburn doesn't entertain Boggs's drunken lectures, and ends up shooting Boggs dead. The

bystanders form a mob and migrate over to Sherburn's house, in attempt to lynch him. But

Sherburn calmly faces them, and delivers the most articulate speech of the novel. Here's how

it starts:

The idea of you lynching anybody! It's amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck

enough to lynch a man! Because you're brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-

out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your

hands on a man? Why, a man's safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind—as long as it's

daytime and you're not behind him. (22.6)

It goes on from there—you should really read the whole thing. Basically, he's undermining

the whole myth of Southern bravery. So why did Twain decide to include this speech in the

novel? Was this a speech Twain himself felt like making? Is Sherburn supposed to represent

a true Southern gentleman of honor, while most of the population has devolved into

embarrassing riffraff?

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Judge Thatcher

Character Analysis

Judge Thatcher and Widow Douglass are the dynamic duo fighting for Huck's safety and

well-being at the start of the novel. The judge is super-respectable and seems like an all-

around good guy. At the end of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer (this novel's prequel), the

judge takes the money that Huck and Tom found during their adventures and invests it for

them, so they'll earn as much interest as possible.

Judge Thatcher and Huck have a father-son relationship, and when Huck gets worried

something bad is about to happen to him, he literally runs to the judge and tries to make the

judge take his money. Judge Thatcher won't have any of that, though; he "studied awhile" and

then comes up with a way to let Huck keep the money while protecting it from Pap (4.16).

This says a lot, since most of the other characters in the book would take the money and

sprint away in the opposite direction.

Besides taking care of Huck's money issues, the judge tries to gain custody of Huck when

Pap proves to be an incapable father. Go judge!

The Wilks Family

Character Analysis

The Wilks family is the target of one of the duke and the king's most conniving scams. The

two cons learn from a local young man that Peter Wilks, a fairly wealthy local tanner, has just

passed away. Peter Wilks's nieces—Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna (who Huck refers to as

"the hare-lip")—are about to inherit the family estate, since their mom and dad (who was

Peter's brother) passed away the year before.

Peter had been hoping to see his other two brothers, William and Harvey, before he died, but

they hadn't yet arrived from England. The duke and the king, being the con-men

extraordinaires that they are, decide to pose as the two missing brothers in attempt to steal the

family's riches.

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Unfortunately for the cons, the Wilks ladies are very likeable, lovely young women, and

Huck just can't stand by and let the duke and king take the girls' money. Huck grows

especially fond of Mary Jane, the oldest of the group. She's "awful beautiful" (25.5), and

"handsome" (25), and basically Huck has a giant crush on her. Her compassion for her

family's slaves has a big impact on Huck's ethical questioning.

The Wilks Family

Character Analysis

The Wilks family is the target of one of the duke and the king's most conniving scams. The

two cons learn from a local young man that Peter Wilks, a fairly wealthy local tanner, has just

passed away. Peter Wilks's nieces—Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna (who Huck refers to as

"the hare-lip")—are about to inherit the family estate, since their mom and dad (who was

Peter's brother) passed away the year before.

Peter had been hoping to see his other two brothers, William and Harvey, before he died, but

they hadn't yet arrived from England. The duke and the king, being the con-men

extraordinaires that they are, decide to pose as the two missing brothers in attempt to steal the

family's riches.

Unfortunately for the cons, the Wilks ladies are very likeable, lovely young women, and

Huck just can't stand by and let the duke and king take the girls' money. Huck grows

especially fond of Mary Jane, the oldest of the group. She's "awful beautiful" (25.5), and

"handsome" (25), and basically Huck has a giant crush on her. Her compassion for her

family's slaves has a big impact on Huck's ethical questioning.

Figurative Language

In this book, Twain does not use much figurative language since he is limited by the use of

Huck as the narrator. Because Huck is the narrator, it would not make sense to use too much

figurative language since that would be like expecting an uncivilized adolescent to use a lot

of figurative language in his speech. However, there are some cases of figurative language.

Twain gives an example of a metaphor during one of Jim’s talks with Huck. Jim says, “... en

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trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head or dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed.” Jim

compares trash with the people who play tricks on their friends.

Twain does use many similes throughout the book, especially during descriptive passages.

For example, he said of the duke and king that they “slept like dead people.”

Twain rarely uses personification in this work. But occasionally applies it to steam boats.

Once saying that it was, “shining like red-hot teeth.”

There are many allusions to other works in Huck Finn. Early in the book, he alludes to the

story of Moses and the Bullrushers. He also alludes to Twain’s earlier work, Tom Sawyer.

Also during the plays of the duke and king, he alludes, to Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

Moral Values

The morals values that we can get from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

novel are:

1. Sincerity, We think that by Jim's actions we do learn about him. Jim is probably the

only truly loyal and "nice" character in the book. There is a sense of innocence about

him that the other characters, including Huck, do not posses. We think Twain meant

to create this character and certainly pulled it off. Jim had a sincerity about him that

could not be faked. He loved Huck for who he was. When Jim sees Huck's dead pap

on the floating house, he doesn't tell Huck out of concern for him. Jim was loyal to

Huck throughout the story. It was a loyalty based on friendship rather than colour or

social norms.

2. Be a Good Person, We can be as Huck who believes that when he lies or steals in

order to do good, he still will be sent to hell.

3. Togetherness, as a human being we should help each other or at least we can send a

pray to them who are in need like what Huck had done in the novel he prays for those

who are in need, such as the daughters of the dead man.

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CHAPTER 3

CLOSING

A. Conclusion

Many people treat Huck Finn as real character, like Tom Sawyer. Actually he is

fiction character Mark Twain, who is 12 to 13 years old, and at the first time appear in the

adventure of Tom Sawyer, and then the position is up become the main character in the

adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

So, why Huck Finn can be really real ? it’s because Mark Twain always creates character in

his book based on that is experienced by him in daily life. Huck Finn is character that is inspired from

Tom Blankenship, son of a sawyer that live near Mississippi river. Mark Twain clear call this in his

autobiography : “Through Huckleberry Finn, I paint Tom Blankenship seems like objective.

He is cool, dirty, and thin, but he has heart that really kind.

One thing that can’t be denied is brave characteristic, plainness, and freedom Huck Funn

when he adventured. A world of boy that is created by Mark Twain that very explorative, full of new

things that challenge and surprising, which is finally inspire and become true story asset of millions

of boys around the world.

This novel is interesting to be read. Novel with many themes which can decide has 8

themes, it shows that how the wide the story of this novel. Which is all of themes are

appropriate decided become the theme of this novel.

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RFERENCES

http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/examcentre_sc.asp?id=415

http://www.collegetermpapers.com/TermPapers/English/Morality_of_Huckleberry_Finn.html

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/study-guide/short-summary/

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