The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Here are our thoughts, which may include spoilers:
Joshua’s Review
[★★★★☆]
Visitors of our blog, below you will find Madelyn’s Review. My schedule, as of late, has been jam packed and jelly tight. Due to my aforementioned plight of ill-timed errands, job hunting, and unpleasantries, I have yet to create a review that I deem worthy of this book and/or blog. As soon as the perfectionist within me is pleased with my review, I will update the blog.
Best regards,
Joshua T. Kilgore
Madelyn’s Review
[★★★★☆]
Huckleberry Finn is a thirteen year old boy who has no plans throughout his adventures. I would love to say that I could have followed him and done everything right alongside him, but let’s be realistic. That boy would have stressed me out. I admire him for letting the river take him on his whirlwind journey, but to do so with no maps or money and so little knowledge, just seems silly. I guess with this introduction, I did not expect him to be so smart, but my opinion changed quickly. He has common sense that does not show until he needs to get himself out of a situation.
One of my favorite moments was when those two scam artists started going on and on about their royal blood. The Duke and the King were absolutely eccentric; reading everyone’s reactions from Huck’s point of view made it hilarious. The best parts of the book, in my opinion, were all of Tom Sawyer’s grandiose plans for freeing Jim. Huck and Jim went along with him for the most part, but not without vetoing the rattlesnakes. The writing on the wall, the blood journal, musical instruments to attract animals, and the rest of Tom’s theatrics surrounding Jim’s escape belong in a Hollywood film. Tom Sawyer probably grew up to be a director and Huckleberry Finn, the stunt artist.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it will be a while before I can slug through all the dialect to read it again.
P.S. In hindsight, we should’ve read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer first.
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What are your thoughts on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain? What are your favorite quotes?
[Updated May 30, 2017]
Huck Finn encourages racial discussion and inspires adventure.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book. Huckleberry is hard to dislike, despite how painfully racist he is. But we must remember that this book was published in 1885. The civil war had ended just 20 years earlier and reconstruction was just "ending"-- America was by no means in a state of equality.
It is proposed that Mark Twain covered some of the same moral road as Huckleberry Finn: being raised with slaves and eventually resolving against the institution. When this book was published, it was banned within one month after being labeled as trash. Now, it is banned because it allegedly spurs racial tensions by its use of the N-word and its simple portrayal of Jim. But I would question which is better: a man of no education wanting nothing but freedom for his family, or the many white men who show only selfish tomfoolery?
In my humble and white opinion, Twain challenges people to consider their own raising: how do I view those of a darker or lighter complexion than my own? How do I treat them and why? Huckleberry is quite cringeworthy all the way through, but this book was written by a man whose own parents must have known nothing else than that black people were property bought and used for work. Twain gave slaves, who were considered merely property, a likable personality, humor, a family, real feelings, bravery, curiosity, and so much more therefore humanizing them and forcing southerners of the 1880's to see slaves as people (similar to themselves) rather than mere property. Even now, it is a harrowing tale of antebellum America which can be compared to the modern day. How have things changed? How have they not? I can understand discomfort around this novel because of the language, but I will never understand banning a book that provokes so much thought about equality or the lack thereof.
Besides all that, Huckleberry is the adventurer we all wish that we could be. May Huck and Tom travel the Mississippi forever.
I love you and your comment. You are such an eloquent writer and I am so happy that you have joined us on this journey!
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