Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. earlier this month, I listened to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and wanted to learn more about his friend, Huckleberry Finn; and,
2. February 2024 is my "Classics" Month!

Praises:
1. Huck's adventures are quite entertaining! From his escape from his abusive Pap to joining forces with Jim, a runaway slave, while they traverse the Mississippi, these events were at times anxiety-ridden, yet other times, hilarious;
2. loved the introduction of various characters which made this story so much fun to follow. Some of my favorites included Huck's visit to Mrs. Judith Loftus while dressed up as a girl, and the shenanigans of those rapscallion frauds, the Duke and the King. I was; however, pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Tom Sawyer himself! His wildly complicated ideas to free Jim, and the actions he and Huck undertook, all the while tempered by Jim's patient demeanor, had me laughing so hard that I had to pause the audiobook from time to time;
3. Huck himself is such a loveable character. He is "quick on his feet" as he maneuvers himself (and Jim) out of sticky situations. Most importantly, I appreciated his conscience when it came to Jim's freedom; and,
4. narrator Eric G. Dove does an excellent job with his fluency using various dialects.

Overall Thoughts:
I cringed with the frequent use of the "n" word, but being published in 1884, this story is historically accurate and reflects the times.
Personally, I enjoyed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but I loved The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn!

n"وأيقنت ألا جدوى من إضاعة الوقت هباء, فأنت لا تستطيع أن تعلم زنجياً كيف يجادل. وعندئذ كففت عن الحديث" هاكلبري فين, بعد أن رفض الزنجي أن الاختلاف بين الأمريكي والفرنسي مثل الاختلاف بين القطة والبقرة

n


إذا لم تستطع هذه الرواية أن توصل لك قيمة العلم والمنطق, وخطر العلم الزائف فما الذي سيفعل؟
إذا لم تشعرك الرواية بكمية الخطر والخداع الذي يتحتم عليك أن تحتمي منه في هذا العالم المحيط بك, فما الذي تبقى لنشلك من سذاجة الطفولة؟

فكما يقول "بريان ديوننج":

"قد يكون مارك توين أكثر النقاد فاعلية عند نقده لجهل البشر وخدعهم حتى الآن, بالرغم من مظهرها فهي تبدو وكأنها قصص مغامرات, فهي بالحقيقة مجموعة من إفشاءات صادمة للضعف البشري, والتي تقودها الخرافات, العنصرية, الجشع, والجهل"

في ريفيو الجزء الأول: توم سوير تحدثت عن روعته الرواية كقصة مغامرات مسلية, ولكن في الجزء الثاني منها, والذي يُحكى لنا على لسان صديق توم سوير "هاكلبري فين", نشهد تحولا كبيراً واضحاً في موضوع المغامرات منذ الصفحات الأولى من الرواية:

-tفدية؟ وما هي الفدية؟
-tلست أدري! ولكن هذا ما يفعله المغامرون دائماً! ولقد قرأت عن الفدية في الكتب. ومن ثم فهذا هو ما يجب علينا أن نفعله!!
-tولكن كيف يمكننا أن نفعل ذلك ونحن لا نعرفه؟
-tمهما يكن من أمر, فإنه يجب علينا أن "نفعل" ذلك! ألم أقل لك إنه مذكور في الكتب؟ هل تريد أن تأتي عملاً يخالف ما ورد في الكتب؟ وأن تفسد كل مغامرتنا بذلك؟
...
-tولماذا لا يلتقط الإنسان هراوة و "يفتديهم" بمجرد مجيئهم إلى هنا؟!!
-tلأن ذلك ليس مذكوراً في الكتب!..هذا هو السبب يا "بن روجرز".. هل تريد أن تعالج الأمور حسب النظام المتبع أم بطريقة مخالفة؟ -هذه هي المسألة ..ألا تظن أن أولئك الذين وضعوا الكتب يعرفون الإجراءات الصحيحة التي ينبغي اتخاذها؟ هل تظن "أنك" تستطيع أن تعلمهم شيئاً؟ كلا يا سيدي! سوف "نفتدي" هؤلاء الأشخاص بالطريقة المتبعة
-t.. وهل نفتدي النساء أيضا؟
-tلا, فان أحداً لم يقرأ عن مثل هذا في الكتب!

n
======================
الرواية هي إحدى الكلاسيكيات الخالدة, وعندما نقول أنها كلاسيكية ليس فقط معناها أنها قديمة, بل لأنها أيضاً أصيلة في أفكارها التي يتداولها اللاحقون تحت غطاء مسميات أخرى, فمثلا عندما تقرأ هذا المشهد:

n
-tإن ما يجعلني أشعر بالحزن هذه المرة , هو أنني سمعت صوت باب يغلق بعنف منذ قليل , فذكرني ذلك بالمعاملة السيئة التي عاملت بها ابنتي اليزابيث الصغيرة في أحد الأيام ! لم تكن حينذاك قد بلغت الرابعة من عمرها , وأصيبت بالحمى القرمزية , وكانت إصابتها شديدة الوطأة ولكنها شفيت . واتفق ذات يوم أن كانت تقف أمام المنزل فقلت لها :
-tأغلقي الباب.
ولكنها لم تفعل , وابتسمت لي فجن جنوني , فقلت لها مرة أخرى بصوت مرتفع:
-tألا تسمعيني ؟ أغلقي الباب .
فوقفت جامدة في مكانها , والابتسامة على شفتيها , فازددت سخطاً وغيظاً وصحت :
-tسأجعلك تطيعين ما أقوله لك .
وهويت بيدي فوق رأسها , فسقطت على الأرض . ثم تركتها ودخلت المنزل وقضيت هناك عشر دقائق .. وعندما خرجت , كان الباب لا يزال مفتوحا والطفلة واقفة وقد خفضت رأسها والدموع تنهمر من عينيها .. وقد زادني ذلك جنونا ؛ وهممت بالانقضاض عليها , لولا أن الريح هبت في تلك اللحظة فأغلقت الباب خلف الطفلة .. ولمنها لم تتحرك من مكانها . فأحسست بأن قلبي يكاد يفلت من بين ضلوعي , وتقدمت نحو الباب وفتحته بلطف وهدوء وأبرزت رأسي من خلفه , فإذا بالطفلة لا تزال واقفة في مكانها ؛ وعندئذ صحت فيها صيحة مدوية مفاجئة , ولكنها لم تتحرك .. أواه يا هاك .. لقد انفجرت باكيا , وحملت الطفلة بين ذراعي وقلت لها : أيتها الطفلة المسكينة , فليغفر الله العظيم لجيم المسكين ما أتاه من أثر عظيم , لأن جيم لن يغتفر لنفسه هذا الإثم طالما بقي على قيد الحياة" .. يا الهي يا "هاك" ..
لقد كانت الطفلة التعسة بكماء صماء .. ومع ذلك عاملتها لك خشونة.!
n

n
تذكرت مشهد مشابه سرده ستيفن كوفي في كتاب العادات السبع الأكثر فعالية, رغم أنه سرده كمشهد حقيقي.
====

nوقالت لي الآنسة واطسون انه ينبغي علي أن أصلي كل يوم حتى أستطيع على كل ما أطلبه في صلاتي! ولقد جربت ذلك, ولكن الصلاة لم تحقق لي أي مطلب! ... لقد كنت أحدث قائلاً: "إذا كان الناس يستطيعون الحصول على ما يريدون بالصلاة فلماذا لا يستعيد "ويكون وين" النقود التي فقدها في تربية الخنازير؟ ولماذا لا تستطيع الأرملة دوجلاس أن تسترد علية "السعوط" الفضية التي سرقت منها؟ ولماذا لا تستطيع الآنسة واطسون أن تزيد من وزنها" وعندئذ أيقنت أنه ليس في الإمكان أن يحقق الإنسان أمنيته بالصلاة! وذهبت إلى الأرملة وقلت لها رأيي, فقالت أن الشيء الذي يستطيع الإنسان الحصول عليه من الصلاة هو "الهبات الروحية" لا الهبات المادية!!

====
في الغالب ستخرج من هذه التجربة متشكك يعمل عقله في كل الاحتمالات, فطوبى للمتشككين.

"فأجبت : أكبر الظن أن هؤلاء الجن أغبياء لأنهم لا يحتفظون بالقصر لأنفسهم بدلاً من أن يشيدوه لغيرهم ! فلو أنني كنت واحداً منهم , لما لبيت نداء أي شخص يحك مصباحاً قديماً من الصفيح !! بل لو أنني كنت واحداً من هؤلاء الجن, لتخليت عن عملي !"

كله يدلع نفسه..بالعقل و بالاصول اوعى تدلعها زيادة
دايما بتفكرني هذه الأغنية ب هاكلبيري فين ذلك الصبي الأشقر المطالب للابد بحق الانسان في ان يكون ملكا لنفسه مهما كلفه ذلك من مشاق و صراعات

صبي افاق شريد.. يكره العمل المنتظم و الذهاب للمدرسة او الكنيسة !! لا يبغى سوى : حرية منفلتة بلا حساب او عقاب..فيه لمحات من بيتر بان الصبي الابدي
نصيبه من العلم محدود..و من التربية معدوم♨
..ترق له ارملة و تتبناه ..و لكنه يتبطر على حياة الدعة و الشبع المصحوب بالادب و النظام بالطبع..و يهرب مع عبد اسمر هارب. .ليلعبا لعبة الحياة الكبرى ..الصراع لنيل حريتك

و عبر رحلتهما في الميسيسيبي⛵
..يسخر توين بقلم لاذع لا يضاهى من تقاليد المجتمع الأمريكي بطبقاته.. من الكذب و الخرافات ..الجهل و التعليم..الثار و العبودية

قيمة الرواية تأتي من انها تفرق بين المبادىء الانسانية الصحيحة و القيم الزائفة التي تستمد بقاءها من تقاليد بالية تتسلط على الجموع و العقول و تصبح لها قوة قاهرة لأي تفكير فردي حر

يحتفي الأمريكيون بهذه الرواية بشكل لايصدق⭐
. . فهي الرواية الوحيدة التي تصلح ليقرأها المرء في العاشرة ..ثم يقرأها سنويا و تمنحه شيئا جديدا

Seeking Freedom.

If you search for the most important American novels, Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is listed as a must read. The reason: it is a timeless masterpiece that delves into themes of freedom, morality, and human relationships while capturing the spirit of 19th-century America along the Mississippi River. The novel combines humor, adventure, and biting social commentary to create a story that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

The novel’s most compelling aspect is its portrayal of Huck, a boy who wrestles with societal norms and develops his own moral compass. Twain masterfully captures Huck’s voice through a vivid and authentic narrative style, written in the vernacular of the time. This choice not only immerses readers in the setting but also provides a raw, unfiltered view of Huck’s thoughts and feelings as he navigates complex moral dilemmas.

Another strength is the relationship between Huck and Jim, Miss Watson’s enslaved man. Their bond grows as they journey down the river, with Huck slowly recognising Jim’s humanity despite the racist ideology ingrained in him by society. Twain uses their interactions to critique slavery and the broader moral failings of the antebellum South, making the novel both a personal journey and a scathing social commentary.

The episodic structure of the story, filled with colourful characters and adventures, adds to its charm. Encounters with conmen, feuding families, and misguided townsfolk provide both comedic relief and a mirror to society’s absurdities. The Mississippi River itself becomes a symbol of freedom, offering Huck and Jim a space to escape societal constraints.

Despite its strengths, the novel is not without controversy. You must take caution before redding this book. Twain’s use of racial slurs and depictions of racial stereotypes has led to debates about its place in modern classrooms. While these elements reflect the language and attitudes of the time, they can be uncomfortable for contemporary readers. However, they also serve to expose the brutal realities of slavery and racism, which Twain condemns through Huck’s evolving perspective.

Additionally, the ending of the novel, involving Tom Sawyer’s over-the-top scheme to free Jim, has drawn criticism for undermining the serious tone of the earlier chapters. Tom’s antics trivialise Jim’s plight and contrast sharply with Huck’s moral growth, leaving some readers dissatisfied with the resolution.

‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is a profound exploration of freedom, morality, and social injustice, wrapped in a captivating tale of adventure. While its language and depictions can be challenging for modern readers, the novel’s core message about the importance of empathy and the courage to challenge societal wrongs remains deeply relevant. Twain’s work continues to provoke discussion and reflection, making it a cornerstone of American literature.

This was a wonderful experience, re-reading Huck's adventures after many years away from the book. On this second reading, so much spoke to me: the poetry in the descriptions of the time on the river, Twain's obvious love of his young character Huck Finn, the wonderful characters of all stripes and the picture of the time (with Twain's twist of course). Huck's struggles with what he perceives as right and wrong are so wonderfully written and, of course, so satirical for the reader, as he deals with the mores of his time.

A section on Huck and Jim's travel on the river struck me with it's poetry.


"Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I might
say they swum by, they slid along so quiet and smooth and
lovely....It was a monstrous big river down there....we run
nights, and laid up and hid daytimes; soon as night was most
gone we stopped navigating....Next we slid into the river
and had a swim...then we set down on the sandy bottom...and
watched the daylight come. Not a sound anywheres---perfectly
still---just like the whole world was asleep, only sometimes
the bullfrogs a-cluttering, maybe. The first thing to see,
looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line---that
was the woods on t'other side...then a pale place in the sky;
then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened
up away off, and warn't black any more, but gray....
(ch 19, loc 1623)


The description of dawn on the river goes on, and is lovely. I can imagine the times Twain must have watched the river and the wildlife, capturing all the details.

Amazingly enough, this description feels right for Huck too, for he is an observer of all kinds of life. He's had to be due to his difficult upbringing.

Further along, adventures of all sorts begin, ones that he and Jim are less than willing participants at times. But I'm not going to spoil any fun here. If you want to read about the outrageous con men of the time, the famous King and Duke, then you will have to read the book.

Huck's growth during his journey with Jim is seen in his choices,along the way, especially his choices regarding Jim, and his perceptive views of the adults around him and their actions.He may believe he will ultimately be condemned for his thoughts and actions, but we and Twain believe otherwise in the major irony of the book.

Highly recommended to all and I must say I enjoyed this far more on reading this as an adult. Thanks to On the Southern Literary Trail for having this as a June read.

ماجراهای هاکلبری فین رمانی اثر مارک توین است که در سال ۱۸۸۴ برای اولین بار چاپ شد. این کتاب در پی رمان تام سایر منتشر شد.
این کتاب داستان نوجوانی است که از پدری الکلی متولد می‌شود. پدرش بعد از چند سال گم می‌شود بعد او با تام سایر دوست می‌شود .او را بدست فردی به نام بیوه می سپارند. او همراه با خواهرش دوشیزه واتسون زندگی می‌کند که او یک برده سیاه به اسم جیم دارد.پدر هاکلبری فین بالاخره به روستایشان می آید و هاک را به کلبه ای وسط جنگل می برد.هاک پس از چند روز از آنجا فرار می‌کند و...

2023: I'm not sure how I found this so funny in 2016. Did I not get it? This kid escaped from a horrific situation with an abusive father who tried to use him and unknowingly kill him. He runs away and meets up with a runaway slave, who has been separated from his family and misses his wife and two kids. I know the word people don't like in this book had been part of that time, but reading it over and over made me cringe. The two meet up with others enslaved by different things in life apart from literal slavery and a terrible father within his rights of the law. They meet people enslaved to hatred, feuds, forbidden love, killing, cowardice, conning, deceiving and stealing. It ripped my heart apart, a powerful and intense rebuke to the world and society of Twain's time, all under the guise of humor and entertainment.

2016 RE-READ

I read this when I was like ten or something and all I remembered was that it was one of my favorites. Here I am, 26 years later, having read it again, and loving it perhaps more than I did then. I don’t remember Mark Twain being so damn hilarious. I mean I was in hysteria I was laughing so hard. I had to cover my mouth a few times when I burst out laughing when I was reading next to my sleeping beauty. I liked this so much that I bought a hard copy. I plan to read it again and again.
I was so sad to get to the end of this because I felt like Huck was my best friend ‘dat I ever did haive ya see. I don’t know, that’s kind of how the whole book is written – so very wonderful. He touched on some very deep, heartbreaking issues, all covered in lightheartedness. I can’t seem to express how much I loved this.
I remember reading this when I was young, then reading other books on slavery because of it. I felt that interest peaking again as I read it. As I was thinking about this I got inspired to look up some old Negro spiritual songs on YouTube and stumbled upon Martin Luther King’s last speech, “I Have Seen the Mountaintop.” I thought, “What if he would have seen Obama as President.” It made me weep. Then I saw a link to Robert Kennedy’s speech announcing that MLK was shot. That made me weep too.
We sure have come a long way.

3.5

"There warn't no home like a raft, after all."

I mean, at the beginning there's a notice that reads "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." How am I supposed not to fall in love, pray tell?

This book swarms with key issues of Twain's -today's- America -world-, all properly backed up by irresistible humour and irony. As I've said elsewhere before, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is another of those books that, in my opinion, with their sole existence make the world a better place.

I was going to say there was not enough Tom Sawyer in this book which also meant it wasn't anywhere near as funny as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", but I have since read up on Mark Twain and his intentions with this book and what Tom Sawyer represents in it and I now realise that this might be the less funny, less engaging and - in places - more boring book but also the better of the two.

More mature and longer than its cousin, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn remains an incredible kid's story of initiation and adventure. Yes, there is some racial stereotypes in the depiction of Jim, but let's give Mark Twain the benefit of the doubt that he is trying to tell a good story and is sympathetic to the anti-slavery movement. An amazing tale that has not aged a bit!

Typical mini-review for classics...reread's got me pulling it down a star.

I've got to admit it: I skipped huge swaths of this the second time around. Even though I was reading it for a class. Even though said class is participation-based. I honestly just winged it. It worked out, whatever.

ANYWAY, this book was so. Much. Worse. This time.

Here's how I looked the first time I read it:



versus this time:



Dear Mr. Twain, did you think it took a lot of balls to write an anti-slavery book two decades after slavery was abolished? Were your uses of the N-word and offensive stereotypes in the name of modernity?

And how about your female "characters"? Were they boring sexual objects because you're just that progressive? The only halfway interesting one is f*cking dead.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is so, so much better than this. I don't even want to dwell on this anymore.

Bottom line: the only reason I'm not giving it 1 star (& instead am lowering it to 2) is that I feel I didn't even read enough of it. In other words - f*ck this.

A sequel of sorts to Twain's earlier novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, this novel is also set in the 1840s and opens in the same setting, fictional St. Petersburg, Missouri, picking up the thread of events from where the first book left off. But while Tom will play an important part in the tale, here the focus is on his buddy "Huck," who's a bit older at about 13-14 years old (he doesn't know his exact age); and this book actually comes to grips with more serious themes. The greater seriousness, though, is partly masked by Huck's narrative voice (the previous book was in third person), which is that of an unschooled, dirt-poor white kid, indifferently raised by an abusive, alcoholic father with neither moral nor intellectual cultivation, whose concerns are mostly self-centered and materialistic, who views polite society from the outside and expresses himself with a naive, matter-of fact candor that's brimming with unintentional dry humor, to satiric effect. (That is, it's unintentional on Huck's part --but not on the author's!)

At the conclusion of Tom Sawyer, Tom and Huck had come into some money (long story!). But a few months later, Huck's Pap turns up in town again, wanting to get his hands on Huck's share. Before long, circumstances will force Huck and escaping slave Jim (who's overheard his owner, Miss Watson, avowing an intention to sell him away from his family) to team up in a quest for freedom, journeying down the Mississippi on an abandoned raft. (Their original intention was to turn into the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. Parts of the tale are set in Illinois and Arkansas, and possibly Tennessee --the locale isn't always specified.) Along the way, Huck will meet people from all strata of antebellum Southern society, be exposed to many of the permutations of human nature (often at its worst --Twain was something of a pessimist and a misanthrope), and experience titular "adventures" that are sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes ludicrous, and sometimes life-threatening, but never boring.

The author's real purpose, though, isn't to relate adventures for their own sake; he has (despite his obviously tongue-in-cheek prefatory Notice to the contrary!) a motive in writing, which very definitely has to do with imparting a moral, or morals, centering around how humans ought to treat each other, but all too often don't. (I wouldn't exactly describe it as a "coming of age" story; Huck's still pretty immature at the end of it. But he definitely does grow and learn through his experiences.) A big part of his "moral(s) of the story" is critique of slavery and its underlying racism, which remained endemic in both North and South in 1884 America, and too often still does. For modern readers, this critique is ironically often obscured by the frequent use of the n-word, and by Huck's ingrained awareness that in helping Jim escape he's defying what he's been taught is "right" behavior. But defy it he does. Twain doesn't pretend that the 1840s South was a paradise of racial brotherhood; instead, he depicts it the way it really was, and the way its people were taught to think. Glimmerings of light aren't recognizable as light if you aren't aware of the darkness. Slavery/racism isn't the only target of criticism, though. We also get up-close looks at the human propensity for homicidal violence disguised as "honor," for moral and physical cowardice and for mob psychology; for self-serving greed, for pandering to our own baser appetites, for putting on a show of "religion" reduced to formal observances and theological dogmas, but divorced from ethics.

Stylistically, this book is a product of the Realist school. Part of that is reproduction of the actual speaking style of characters in this time and place: black dialect, backwoods Southwestern speech, and different variants of the more conventional "Pike County" Missouri dialect, all of which Twain grew up hearing. The pervasive use of the n-word, even by blacks, is a reflection of that. Modern critics are often offended by the latter, just as many critics and librarians in Twain's own time were offended by the fact that Huck's narrative voice is ungrammatical and often "vulgar." But if we basically accept the idea that literary dialogue or first-person narration should reflect language as the speakers would actually use it, it's hypocritical to then fault the author in particular instances where we don't like it. (For instance, I don't like the f-word any better than I do the n-word; but I don't deduct stars from a book when the author allows characters to use it who realistically would.) The same could be said of "stereotypes;" both Jim and most of the white characters are depicted as ignorant (though he's not stupid --that's a different thing!) and superstitious because, given the conditions under which they lived, most lower-class Southerners in that day actually were ignorant and superstitious.

There are legitimate criticisms that can be made of this novel. The plotting has its drawbacks. (One aspect that isn't often mentioned, but that really struck me, is that Huck and Jim hoped to "go way up the Ohio amongst the free states, and then be out of trouble." Well, DUH --Illinois was a free state, and they were on Illinois soil more than once. Heading for, say, Chicago would have made more sense than floating downstream in a southerly direction with slave states on the west bank; but the latter was what suited Twayne's plot outline. :-( ) Tom Sawyer's role in the book reminds me of why I commented in my review of the previous book that I didn't particularly like him, and I have to agree with at least a couple of reviewers that he'd have benefited from a good spanking. (Some of that content, though, serves to remind us that neither Tom nor Huck are adults, though we want to think of them that way; they're tween or young teen kids, and they can at times display all of the juvenile immaturity that can go with that age.) But in deference to the serious moral decisions that get made here, I can't rate this at anything less than five stars.