Adventures of Tom and Huck #2

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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s/t: Complete Text with Introduction, Historical Contexts, Critical Essays
A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published.

400 pages, Paperback

First published February 18,1884

This edition

Format
400 pages, Paperback
Published
January 24, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN
9780395980781
ASIN
039598078X
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Huckleberry Finn

    Huckleberry Finn

    Huckleberry Finn is 12 or 13 years old at the time of the events in "Tom Sawyer" and would be a year older in "Huckleberry Finn". He is ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had a good heart. Huck is the son of a vagrant drunkard. He enjoys lazin...

  • Tom Sawyer
  • Jim Upton

    Jim Upton

    ...

  • Mark Twain

    Mark Twain

    An American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which has been called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He is extensively quoted. Twain was a friend to presidents, ar...

About the author

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Community Reviews

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99 reviews All reviews
April 17,2025
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(Book 825 from 1001 books) - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn = Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Adventures of Tom and Huck #2), Mark Twain

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

It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer.

It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «هکلبری فین»؛ «برده فراری ماجراهای هاکلبری فین»؛ «ماجراهای هاکلبری فین»؛ «سرگذشت هکلبری فین»؛ «هاکلبری فین»؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ انتشاراتیها (آگاه، روزن، علمی فرهنکی، امیرکبیر، نشر کلاغ، فرانکلین، زرین، ارسطو، مهتاب، دادجو، خوارزمی، ارغوان، گوتنبرگ، ناژ، عصر اندیشه، نهال نویدان، قدیانی) تاریخ نخستین خوانش ماه اکتبر سال 1994میلادی

عنوان: هکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: ابراهیم گلستان؛ چاپ نخست 1328؛ چاپ دوم تهران، آگاه، 1349؛ چاپ سوم تهران، روزن، 1348؛ در308ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، بازتاب نگار، 1387، در 383ص؛ شابک 9789648223408؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، نشر کلاغ، 1393، در368ص؛ شابک9786009418879؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 19م

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ فروست ادبیات نوجوانان؛ مترجم: هوشنگ پیرنظر؛ تهران، سازمان کتابهای جیبی فرانکلین، 1345؛ در312ص؛ چاپ ششم تهران، علمی فرهنگی، 1377، در 416ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، امیرکبیر، 1389، در 443ص؛ شابک 9789640013182؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: شهرام پورانفر؛ تهران، زرین، 1362؛ در 394ص؛ چاپ دیگر؛ مشهد، ارسطو، 1370؛ در394ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، مهتاب، 1370؛ در 394ص؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: سودابه زرکف؛ تهران، دادجو، 1364؛ در 255ص؛

عنوان: سرگذشت هکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: نجف دریابندری؛ تهران، خوارزمی، 1366؛ در 380ص؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: رویا گیلانی؛ تهران، ارغوان، 1372؛ در 136ص؛ چاپ دوم 1390؛

عنوان: برده فراری ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: جواد محیی؛ تهران، گوتنبرگ، 1379؛ در 228ص؛ چاپ دیگر مشهد، جاودان خرد، 1375، در 228ص؛ چاپ دوم 1385؛

عنوان: هکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، ناژ، 1390، در 397ص، شابک 9786009109746؛ عنوان روی جلد ماجراهای هکلبری فین؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: محمد همت خواه؛ تهران، عصر اندیشه، 1391؛ در 59ص؛ شابک 9786005550078؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: شکوفه اخوان؛ تهران، نهال نویدان، 1392؛ در 175ص؛شابک 9789645680440؛

عنوان: ماجراهای هاکلبری فین؛ اثر: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: سحرالسادات رخصت پناه؛ تهران، قدیانی، 1394؛ در 336ص؛ شابک9786002517029؛

جناب آقای «مجید آقاخانی» نیز داستان خلاصه شده را ترجمه کرده اند در 177ص؛

داستان نوجوانی با پدری الکلی است، «هکلبری» در پی نزاع با پدرش، از خانه فرار می‌کند؛ در راه با برده ی سیاهپوستی به نام «جیم» آشنا می‌شود؛ آنها کلکی می‌سازند، و سوار بر امواج رودخانه ی «می‌.سی‌.سی‌.پی» را می‌پیمایند؛ این کتاب به رویدادهایی که بر این دو رخ می‌دهند و میگذرند، می‌پردازد

جناب آقای «ابراهیم گلستان» در جایی از مقدمه ی کتاب نوشته اند: (آنچه مهم است این است که درس خشن زندگی، «هک (هکلبری فین)» را خبیث نمی‌کند؛ فطرت او خلاف زندگی نمی‌رود؛ دلش شک برمی‌دارد اما به قساوت آلوده نمی‌شود، بی اعتنا نمی‌شود؛ آن‌ها که به او نارو زده ‌اند اگر گرفتار شوند نه به توطئه اوست بلکه خلاف میل اوست و او از گرفتاری‌هایشان غمگین می‌شود و دریغ می‌خورد که چرا آدم‌ها یکدیگر را می‌آزارند؛ «هک» همدم است با هر آنچه درست و پاک و زیباست، بی آن‌که خود بداند، می‌فهمد اگر دنیا زشتی‌ها دارد، چرکی‌ها دارد، شادی‌ها و گرمی‌ها نیز دارد.)؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ 08/08/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 21/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
April 17,2025
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What a fresh narrative voice, I never would have expected that for a 19th century novel! And the level of adventure is right up there with any modern YA book.
I go a good deal on instinct - No sh*t, Huckleberry

With a protagonist named after a fruit that cannot be successfully domesticated, this classic gives us an especially irreverent 14 year old. Huckleberry flees an abusive and drunk father, just when he started to settle into a life of school and being less influenced by his youthful friends. He ends up faking his own death and navigating the Mississippi together with Jim, an enslaved man that tries to escape being sold in New Orleans.
Many dead people, storms, mist, treasures and con artists (who go by the name Duke and Dauphin and have everyone bowing to them) are encountered along the river, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn delivers on its title! Huckleberry even needs to dress up as a girl (like Achilles) to get information.
Along the journey the prejudices he has against black people start to be questioned and waiver due to the friendship and shared hardship experienced with Jim.

In terms of language I was a bit annoyed with so many by and by and the use of the word ornery (not to mention the continual use of the N word), but it is a feat this book remains remarkably readable after more than 100 years. The surroundings of Huckleberry and Jim are full of guns, barter trade and bounties to turn in free freed enslaved people. People project a lot on the travellers, with blabbering being their worst enemy in terms of getting exploited (Ain’t we got all the fools in town on our side, and ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?).
Circus and steamboat postal services serve as the limited connections to the outside world.

There is definitely humor in the book. For instance Huck his father, a no good drunk, ranting against the government, reminded me enormously of current day conspiracy theorists. Huckleberry his poor schooling also leads to Henry VIII being rendered as responsible for the Boston Tea Party and being the son of the Duke of Wellington. Shakespeare is butchered by some con artists in the most terrible enactment of Hamlet ever.

The section with Huck and Tom working on undoing Jim’s imprisonment near the end is rather confusing and less engaging, and severely convoluted, with Tom Sawyer his plans making me tired just reading about them. Also Jim his plight is not really covered much, which is a shame and renders him rather stereotypically, besides some observations like: Human beings can be awful cruel to each other
April 17,2025
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n  "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."n

4.5 stars — What a devilishly clever Trojan Horse of a novel this is! Dressing up as a folksy, comical story of boyhood adventure, what in reality is a scathing satire of the rank hypocrisy and moral rot that has been infecting the soul of this country ever since its inception and Original Sin.

Walnut Grove and Mayberry, this is not. Rather, Twain takes us on a Dante-esqe journey deeper and deeper into the truly deranged and delusional American South. His America is a colorful collection of murderous thieves, feuding fools, greedy con-men, gullible rubes, and religious hypocrites. Same today as it ever was! (If this is the former "greatness" to which all the MAGA morons so eagerly aspire, they're a lot closer to reaching their goal than they realize.)

It's a shame that the relentless onslaught of toxic but historically accurate language and outdated racial stereotypes will (understandably) prevent this from being discovered by contemporary readers, because even nearly 150 years later, it still holds up an unflattering but brutally honest mirror to American society that we need to look into now more than ever. Twain was revealing and interrogating things like "white supremacy" and "white privilege" long before they ever became 21st century buzzwords.

All while telling an engrossing and poignant coming-of-age story about friendship, freedom, and a young boy grappling with the growing dissonance between his own observed reality and moral instincts on the one hand, and the nonsensical religious bullshit and racism he's been indoctrinated with since birth on the other. In other words, precisely the kind of "woke" YA propaganda that conservatives are actively trying to remove from schools and libraries as we speak.

I know Twain's characterization of Jim has been puzzling and polarizing readers and scholars for a century and a half, but it wasn't nearly as problematic as I'd feared, and in fact Jim quickly became my favorite character in the entire novel. Obviously, we're only ever seeing Jim through the eyes of an uneducated preteen White boy born and raised in the rural South, a biased perspective that is just inherently and inescapably going to be limiting, and include some dehumanizing stereotypes.

But reading between the lines, I see Twain doing some sophisticated, subversive stuff here, constantly reminding us of Jim's (and other enslaved characters') complex emotions and full humanity long before Huck begins to recognize those things for himself. Scene after scene, Jim is almost always the smartest, wisest, funniest, and most compassionate character in the room (or raft, as it were).

Only thing holding this back from a full five stars is that disappointing clunker of an ending. Bringing Tom Sawyer back into the story felt like the 19th century equivalent of "fan service" rather than good storytelling, and I pretty much HATED everything from that point on. If Tom was a pompous little brat before, he's absolutely insufferable here and those final chapters were a real slog to get through.
April 17,2025
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Славен момък е тоя Хъкълбери Фин, честно слово! Ако не вярвате, питайте мистър Марк Твен, той ще ви каже...

„Приключенията на Хъкълбери Фин“ четох в превод от 65-та година. Чудесно придава атмосферата на по-миналия век в САЩ. Не зная дали съвременен преводач, пък бил той и умел, би могъл така добре да се справи. Малкото, което помня от „Приключенията на Том Сойер“ (освен Беки, леля Поли, която донякъде напомня баба Цоцолана по нрав, и гангренясалия пръст на Том), е, че романът носеше същия дух. А самият Том, разбира се, не пропуска да се появи и да обагри и тукашните премеждия.

Някаква магия има в малките момченца. Благоприличните момиченца не си играят на разбойници, не си измислят кървави клетви, нямат пръчки саби и метли кончета. Момиченцата си играят на сервизи и мама и татко, и общо взето още от малки се подготвят да станат пълноправни и сериозни членове на обществото (скучна работа, но все някой трябва да я върши). Виж, момченцата са друга работа. Съвсем спокойно можеш да скалъпиш освобождаването на негър от робовладелци и то по всички правила на рицарските и там другите му приключенски романи. Оставяш изчегъртани в камък скръбни послания (оф, пришки излязоха от това дълбаене!), копаеш тунел с часове, нищо, че безпрепятствено можеш да влезеш през вратата, за която имаш ключ (не се прави така, не разбирате ли) и освен това помагаш да избяга на някого, който е бил затворник 37 години! Е, те всъщност са били няколко седмици, но на ужким всичко е позволено. Пък и къде остава интересното иначе… Това ми напомня за В., която съвсем не в стила на момиченцата като била малка и се налагало да помага в градината на село и да носи нещо-си-тежко, си представяла, че била роб на галера, който трябвало да мъкне кофи с вода и един ден да се превърне в бъдещия страховит Черен корсар на Емилио Салгари.

Хубаво е да прочетеш подобен роман като дете. Разгаря въображението като нищо друго. Хубаво е да го прочетеш и като възрастен. Виждаш какво изпускаш във всички онези дни, в които си зает с работата-си-за-големи, с чистене на фугите в банята и търкане на загорелия тиган след тиквичките. Хубаво е да се сетиш какво е да си толкова безгрижен, че всъщност да имаш време да го пуснеш на воля онова въображение, дето сякаш ти се беше разгоряло като малък и най-сериозният проблем беше, когато коремчето те подсеща, че май е време за вечеря. Ех, и всичкото това бързане да пораснем…
April 17,2025
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-احدى امتع القصص التي قرأتها ابدا. تصلح لكل الأعمار، فكلما نضج القارئ نضجت الرواية معه واستقى معان جديدة منها.

- القصة على لسان صبي مراهق؛ تنطلق ببطئ في الفصول الأولى لكن سحرها يبدأ في الكوخ المنعزل مع الفكرة المجنونة للفتى، وتنطلق الرحلة الساحرة.

-الشخصيات كانت ممتازة، ف "هاكلبري" مغامر ذكي وفطن وطيب، "جيم" العبد وقصة تلاقيهما والصفات المعطاة له من "توين" كانت مذهلة، "الدوق"و "الملك" من افضل الشخصيات التي وجدتها في رواية يوماً لما يمتلكاه من اساليب شيطانية.

- لم يطل توين الأحداث، لكنه جعلها متواترة بطريقة لا تشعرك بالملل وتجعلك تعيش في القصة منتظراً ما الذي سيحصل تالياً، والتنويع الحاصل بين اصناف المغامرات ومواقعها (غابة، نهر، قرية، سيرك، مزرعة...) اتى ليعزز التشويق في هذه الرواية.

-الأسلوب سلس على عادة "مارك توين"، ساخر ومبطن في العديد من الأماكن ومن هنا فمهما كان عمر القارئ سيستقي معنى جديد مبطن بين سطور الرواية.

- "هاكلبري" ليس بطلاً امريكيا كما اعتادت هوليوود تصويره، فهو ليس مع اعطاء الحرية للعبيد، لكنه طيب القلب وكان جميلاً ان نرى وجهة النظر هذه من دون المزايدات المتعارف عليها!!

- "توين" يقوم بالسخرية من "سوير"في نهاية الرواية، ويصوره ككائن جليدي لا يهتم سوى بأفكاره دون اخذ ادنى اعتبار لمشاعر الآخرين.

- الترجمة ممتازة وسلسة، واللغة المستعملة بسيطة.

- أنصح الجميع بقرأتها لأنها ستضحككم من الصميم في العديد من الأماكن (خصوصا مع "الملك"و"الدوق")، وستقرأون فيها العديد من اللمسات الإنسانية، العاطفية وبعض الحبكات المشوقة جداً.
April 17,2025
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I read this book as a senior in high school. My favorite part of it was the gothic fighting families because it reminded me of Romeo and Juliet! I also remember that we watched a interesting PBS documentary about if it should or should not be taught in school. I forget what the title of the film was. I also remember that I got a horrible grade on the paper I wrote about the book. High school was not one of the best times it was more like the worst times (pun intended).
April 17,2025
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I just reread the famous young adult classic book (first edition: 1884) after many years.
The thing that caught my eye first and foremost is the everyday racism here, which is satirized by the author in order to make a point. As you may know, the story is told from the perspective of Huckleberry Finn, a neglected, albeit smart and good-hearted teenage boy, who begins to realize that discrimination against black people may not be all right and starts to revolt against slavery.
A very entertaining book, a classic and a key work of American literature, and still deservedly so, I think.
April 17,2025
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SPOILER ALERT! My review is primarily focused on the controversial denouement and ending. Therefore, if you haven’t read the book in its original form—not a bowdlerized, sentimental travesty like the film versions—you may want to stop reading here. Anyway, you’ve been warned!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn belongs on the list of great American novels, and probably at a place near the top. It earns that honor by the authenticity of Huck’s first person narrative voice; the psychological complexity of his character; his relationship with the runaway slave, Jim; the detailed description of life on the Mississippi in the late 1840’s including descriptions of nature that are at once accurate and poetic, some of the finest “word painting” in the 19th century rural American vernacular.

The novel is not a sentimental portrait of back-country boyhood in a bygone era; on the contrary, Clemens left us a realistic “warts and all” depiction of that time and place, of slavery, of ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, vice, child abuse, blood feuds, drunkenness, fraud, mob violence and lynch law. Clemens placed each memorable scene within the structure of a series of “adventures” as the two runaways travel down the great river on a raft. What were they running from? Jim fears being sold down the river. His goal is liberty in a free state or territory and a job where he can earn enough to buy his wife and children out of slavery. Huck, who has $6,000 held in trust for him (See The Adventures of Tom Sawyer for details on how Huck and Tom made their small fortunes) is running from his brutal, avaricious, alcoholic bum of a father, but he’s also escaping from “civilization” and adult responsibility.

CLIMAX AND DENOUEMENT: “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” About halfway through the story Huck and Jim fall into bad company in the form of the King and the Duke, a pair of pretentious con artists. When their most elaborate and reprehensible scheme ends in failure, they sell out Jim for forty dollars; they print phony handbills advertising Jim as a runaway slave and hand him over to a farmer who takes Jim at a discount in anticipation of receiving a bogus reward from a non-existent owner. (They don't know or care about Jim's real owner any more than they care about Jim. All they care about is the money.)

The King and the Duke eventually get their comeuppance at the hands of a mob. However, when Huck sees the criminals tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail, he feels sympathy: “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” That statement is self-revealing. Huck has suffered abuse from his cruel father, however, he his pal Tom Sawyer can be very cruel indeed.

Huck’s Moral Dilemma: About two-thirds of the way through the narrative, Huck faces a moral crisis. Should he notify Jim’s lawful owner, Miss Watson, about her slave’s whereabouts, or should he help Jim escape? The answer, from a moral standpoint, might seem obvious to a contemporary reader, but it certainly wouldn’t have been obvious to Huck Finn who’d been raised in a slave state two decades before the Civil War, nor would it have been obvious to many of Mark Twain’s readers in the 1880’s, and especially so to those readers in the post-war, post-reconstruction era South.
According to the laws of his state and community morality, Huck ought to have given Jim over to his owner, Miss Watson. On the other hand, Jim treated Huck with nothing but kindness and friendship and Huck felt a strong attachment to his fellow runaway. He turns the matter over in his mind; the inner conflict and tension rise until he decides to send Miss Watson the following letter:
“Miss Watson, your runaway n***** Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr. Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send.   HUCK FINN.”

But Huck can’t betray his friend, which leads to the novel’s dramatic climax. He destroys the letter and comes to this resolution:
"All right, then, I'll go to hell"—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words….And for a starter I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog.”
It's important to note that contrary to our contemporary attitude toward the situation, Huck has decided to do the “wrong” thing by helping to free Jim, something he believes is so bad that he’ll go to hell for it. What’s more, he’s saying he’s decided on doing the “wrong” thing because he’s no good and badness is in his nature, so he “might as well go the whole hog.” This is sharp irony on the writer’s part, but what would his contemporary readers think, especially those readers in the South? And what do we now think of a society and culture that taught a boy to believe he would go to hell for helping a runaway slave? Clemens was in dangerous waters, especially for someone who deserted a Confederate militia and headed west to the Nevada territory to avoid fighting in the war.
I believe the author has revealed his own moral dilemma through Huck’s narrative, in the opening humorous disclaimer and the apologia in the final chapter as well as the problematic denouement.
First, the novel’s opening “Notice” in the form of a disclaimer:
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.
Second, the final chapter/ending apologia:
“…and so there ain't nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I'd 'a' knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn't 'a' tackled it, and ain't a-going to no more.”
Finally, the denouement leading up to the final chapter.

Tom Sawyer: Diabolus ex Machina: Around the time of Huck’s decision to free Jim, Tom Sawyer makes a highly improbable appearance. Jim is being held by Mr. Phelps, a farmer who purchased the runaway at a discount from the King and the Duke. When Huck arrives at the Phelps farm, they mistake him for their nephew, Tom Sawyer (!) who they’ve been expecting to arrive on the steamboat. Huck pretends to be Tom until the real Tom turns up! The boys explain away this conundrum by telling another fib; Huck is really Tom’s brother, Sid! Please note: from this point on, the realistic narrative descends into low farce and parody, a stumbling block for many admirers of this novel.

Huck enlists Tom in his plan to free Jim, but according to Tom it mustn’t be done in the simplest, most practical way. On the contrary, Tom Sawyer wants to do things right, to make the escape a legendary feat, with style, mystery, and great obstacles to overcome, a grand adventure. Tom’s elaborate scheme is convoluted and ridiculous; it’s practically guaranteed to fail in its purported purpose of freeing Jim, while placing all parties involved in danger of life and limb. However, it does provide Clemens with page after page in which to parody adventure stories involving prisoners and daring escapes including Dumas père’s The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask. It also provides Tom and Huck the opportunity to play devilish pranks on the Phelps family, their servants, and poor Jim who the boys torment needlessly. What’s more, Huck participates in Tom’s nasty pranks despite having sworn he’d never again play such mean tricks on Jim. “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

Eventually, the escape comes off with disastrous results. Tom is shot in the leg and Jim is nearly lynched by a mob of angry farmers. However, tragedy is averted. Huck fetches a doctor who arrives just in time to save Tom’s life. What’s more, instead of running from the mob, Jim stays with Tom and helps the doctor. The doctor vouches for Jim, which probably saves him from hanging, although the farmers also consider the fact that if they hanged Jim, they’d be obliged to compensate his owner for the loss of valuable property.

All’s well that ends well. Tom recovers and Jim is freed. As it turns out, Miss Watson died and freed Jim in her will, a fact Tom Sawyer knew all along but didn’t reveal because it would have spoiled all the fun and adventure of the great escape.

Did Clemens compromise his art to please his readers? Did he contrive an ending that pleased those who wanted to see Jim freed with Huck’s help while at the same time appeasing others who didn’t mind Jim being freed as long as it was done legally? I can’t answer those questions definitively. But there could be more to it than that. “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” Throughout the novel, Clemens shows humanity at its worst: greedy, violent, dishonest, arrogant, vindictive, ignorant, stupid and cruel. In this unflattering portrait of human nature, Jim, the poor, illiterate Black slave comes off the best. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was able to show the dark side of humanity while entertaining us, making us laugh at ourselves without turning us against him. All in all, I’d say that’s quite an accomplishment.
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