Book Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
It’s time to report on last month’s book club reading. Just as I was surprised at the unexpectedly rich experience of rereading Animal Farm, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
To be frank, I didn’t expect it to be as boring as it was. At times, the plot really dragged. This is not how I remembered Huck’s and Jim’s grand adventure to be.
The book feels like a series of short stories strung together by the river, and many of the short stories went on way too long. I thought the last one was especially trying. For goodness sakes, could somebody please just slap Tom Sawyer and let the rest of us get on with it!
OK, I know what I just said—
The book feels like a series of short stories strung together by the river [...]
I do get the merits of the book. In fact, it’s been on my mind consistently from when I last closed the covers. But before I get into why, I’m saddened to report that I couldn’t whole-heartedly recommend Huck Finn to an adult who has not read it before. I feel that there are other books that are better worth his/her time.
Now that that’s in print, let’s move on to why the book stays on my mind.
During these times of unease, when we’re all wondering about who we are as a country and where we’re going, I marvel at a time when principles such as capitalism and individuality were not as yet set in stone for the United States.
Today, these ideas are so sacred that everyone is afraid to even think about how the encroachment upon them may be necessary just to survive.
Huckleberry Finn, however, helped define our America today. When reading it, I think everyone can feel the mythic quality of the West and the allure of the rugged individualism that is associated with it.
I’m not a kid anymore, but I still think it is cool that Huck and Jim were able to float down practically the entire country relying on limited resources and just themselves. I dreamed about such a trip as a girl, and I still do today. (Although today, I like the idea more than the execution because now, I know about mud, mosquitoes, and the blessing of clean bathrooms.)
Back then, people lived in towns that were separated by hours if not days from the rest of the world. It was up to each town to define themselves, govern themselves, and make things work.
Twain brought all that onto the page.
He also brought forth a hero who was young and Of Nature. Huck tries to learn the rules of society and religion, but they feel wrong in his guts. His God given power to reason brings him the “right” answers, and better yet, he chooses the “right” rebellious actions time and again—defying hell as he does them.
Huck is a boy trying to find his way. Though he has a propensity to trust and admire those more civilized, more educated, and more respectable than he is, Twain lets us see all the flaws in these others that Huck can’t just yet.
But he gives us hope that Huck one day will. And then he’ll realize that his way of thinking in just as good if not superior to everyone else’s. And at that time, he’ll know that he is godly too.
For a young United States, I can see how this book would have mobilized identity. So much of our romantic notions (and I don’t mean that negatively) are shown in this work. The messages still resonate.