THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

BY MARK TWAIN
A BOOK REVIEW

BY:
NAME: SHAWN
CLASS: JH3-GW

PRIMEONE SCHOOL 
MEDAN
2021
CHAPTER 1
SUMMARY

Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he
wants Huck's $6000. That was awarded $6000 from the treasure he and Tom Sawyer
found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck finally escapes from the deserted
house in the woods and finds a canoe to shove off down the river. Instead of going
back , he decides to run away. He is sick of all of the confinement and civilization
that the window enforces upon him. He comes across Jim, Miss Watson's slave, and
together, they spend nights and days journeying down the river, both in search of
freedom.

While traveling on a raft down the river, Huck and Jim have many adventures
and during many long talks, become best of friends. They find a house with a dead
man. They end up stealing many things from the house. They find a wrecked ship,
and go on it, only to be mixed up with murderers. They get away with money and
some other goods. They get separated from each other in the heavy fog, but
eventually find each other. A steamboat crashes into their raft and Jim and Huck are
separated again. Huck has a run-in with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, two
families at war with each other. He is reunited with Jim shortly after this. Then, they
meet the King and the Duke, and get into a good deal of trouble performing plays.
The King and the Duke pretend to be Peter Wilks' long lost brothers from England
and try to steal all of the money left behind in his will. They escape before they are
caught. Huck finally gets rid of them, but is left to search for Jim, who gets sold by
the King. He ends up at Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally's house, where Tom and Huck
rescue Jim.
Through all of the adventures down the river, Huck learns a variety of life
lessons and improves as a person. He develops a conscience and truly feels for
humanity. The complexity of his character is enhanced by his ability to relate so
easily with nature and the river.

CHAPTER II
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS

In every novel there will be major and minor characters. A character a person
in a novel, play, or movie ( Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). A character is divided to two
groups major and minor characters. major characters are those who are central to the
main plot and story conflicts. Most of the dialogue and inner thinking happens with
the main character. Minor characters are there to support the major characters but
have less influence on the story (Lisbdnet, 2021).

Other than major and minor characters, a novel would mostly have a
protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist works toward the central story goals,
while the antagonist works against the goals. The words “protagonist” and
“antagonist” are antonyms. In storytelling terms, this means that protagonists and
antagonists are opposing forces in a story (Masterclass, 2021).
CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS
3.1 Major Characters
3.1.1 Huckleberry “huck” Finn
The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Huck is the thirteen-year-old son of
the local drunk of St. Petersburg, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River.
Frequently forced to survive on his own wits and always a bit of an outcast, Huck is
thoughtful, intelligent (though formally uneducated), and willing to come to his own
conclusions about important matters, even if these conclusions contradict society’s
norms. Nevertheless, Huck is still a boy, and is influenced by others, particularly by
his imaginative friend, Tom.
“Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing
wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.” (Page 334)
“That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing
when they don’t know nothing about it.” (Page 6)
“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” (page 313)
3.1.2 Jim
One of Miss Watson’s household slaves. Jim is superstitious and occasionally
sentimental, but he is also intelligent, practical, and ultimately more of an adult than
anyone else in the novel. Jim’s frequent acts of selflessness, his longing for his
family, and his friendship with both Huck and Tom demonstrate to Huck that
humanity has nothing to do with race. Because Jim is a black man and a runaway
slave, he is at the mercy of almost all the other characters in the novel and is often
forced into ridiculous and degrading situations..
‘’De bes’ way is to res’ easy en let de ole man take his own way.
Dey’s two angels hoverin’ roun’ ’bout him. One uv ’em is white en shiny, en ’tother
one is black. De white one gits him to go right, a little while, den de black one sail in
en bust it all up. A body can’t tell, yit, which one gwyne to fetch him at de las.” (Page
27)
“When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin’ for you, en went
to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’ k’yer no mo’ what
become er me en de raf’. En when I wake up en fine you back again’, all safe en
soun’, de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss’ yo’ foot I’s so
thankful. En all you wuz thinkin ’bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid
a lie.” (Page 121)

3.2 Minor Characters

3.2.1 Pap Finn
Huck’s father, the town drunk and ne’er-do-well. Pap is a wreck when he
appears at the beginning of the novel, with disgusting, ghostlike white skin and
tattered clothes. The illiterate Pap disapproves of Huck’s education and beats him
frequently. Pap represents both the general debasement of white society and the
failure of family structures in the novel.
3.2.2 Judge Thatcher
The local judge who shares responsibility for Huck with the Widow Douglas
and is in charge of safeguarding the money that Huck and Tom found at the end of
Tom Sawyer. When Huck discovers that Pap has returned to town, he wisely signs his
fortune over to the Judge, who doesn’t really accept the money, but tries to comfort
Huck. Judge Thatcher has a daughter, Becky, who was Tom’s girlfriend in Tom
Sawyer and whom Huck calls “Bessie” in this novel.
3.3 Morals
The moral values we can learn from this novel is that we should treat each
other equally.
if everyone is treated equally then everyone should be able to work together, solve
problems, feel safe and cared for. Treating people equally is also a big part of human
rights. So, no matter what someone's individual circumstance is they should be
treated with respect, dignity, and kindness.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

4.1 Conclusion

At the end of the novel, with Jim’s freedom secured and the moral quandary about
helping him escape resolved, Huck must decide what to do next. On the one hand,
now that his father has died and no longer poses a threat, Huck could return north to
St. Petersburg. On the other hand, he could say with Sally and Silas Phelps, who offer
to adopt and “sivilize” him. But Huck inclines toward a third option. Instead of
returning home or staying on the Phelpses’ farm, Huck wishes to escape civilization
altogether and “light out for the [Indian] Territory” in the West. Huck’s strong desire
for independence marks him as a symbol of American individualism. His longing to
set off for the uncharted territories of the American West also links him to the
pioneers, whose bravery, pragmatism, and ability to persevere all contribute to the
proverbial character of the American spirit. In these senses, the ending of Huck
Finn channels the founding mythology of American freedom.

What remains ambiguous, however, is whether the novel’s ending celebrates or

critiques the American tenets of freedom and individualism. Throughout most of the
book, Huck’s individualism seems like a good thing. It is difficult not to cheer Huck
on as he escapes from St. Petersburg, floats down the Mississippi with Jim, and
evades the various dangers encountered along the way. At the end of the novel,
however, it remains unclear whether the reader should celebrate Huck’s individualism
or reject it. For one thing, Huck’s wish to escape could be understood as a reversion
to childishness and immaturity. Huck has no real knowledge of what he will find out
West, other than what he’s heard of in stories like those Tom Sawyer recounts. And
in any case, the experience of working with Tom to free Jim from prison seems to
demonstrate to Huck that such stories have a limited relationship to reality. So why
would Huck believe blindly a childish and idealized fantasy of the Wild West? On the
level of plot, then, it seems that Huck’s individualism has its limits.

A similar problem arises on the level of theme. If Huck’s individualism links him to
the spirit of the pioneers, then it also links him to the nineteenth-century doctrine of
“Manifest Destiny,” which celebrated and justified westward expansion across the
North American continent. Huck’s desire to run off into the sunset toward the
“Territory” makes him an agent of Manifest Destiny. From the point of view of a
contemporary reader, Huck’s celebration of westward expansion as a reflection of
freedom and individualism conflicts with his powerful challenge to the institution of
slavery. Just as the institution of slavery led to suffering and death for countless
African Americans, the doctrine of Manifest Destiny enabled the genocide and
colonization of Native Americans. Even though Huck has risked his own freedom to
secure Jim’s, his continued pursuit of freedom out West would most likely result in
the subordination of Native Americans. Huck Finn therefore ends on an ambiguous
note, indicating how the concept of freedom stands as the defining problem of the
United States.

REFERENCE

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Character. In Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved

November 21, 2021, from

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/character

Lisbdnet.com. (2021, December 10) what is the difference between a major and a
minor character? https://lisbdnet.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-major-and-a-
minor-character/#:~:text=in%20the%20story%3F-,Remember%2C%20major
%20characters%20are%20those%20who%20are%20central%20to%20the,less
%20influence%20on%20the%20story.

MasterClass (2021, September 28). Writing 101: Protagonist vs. Antagonist

Characters. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-protagonist-

vs-antagonist-characters#what-is-a-protagonist