Huckleberry Finn

The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written by Mark Twain and published on December 10, 1884. This picaresque novel takes place in the mid-1800s in St. Petersburg, Missouri and various locations along the Mississippi River through Arkansas as the story continues. The main character is young delinquent boy named Huckleberry Finn. He doesn’t have a mother and his father is a drunk who is very rarely involved with Huck’s life. Huck is currently living with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who attempt to make the boy a more civilized and representable citizen. Later Huck runs away and meets this runaway slave named Jim and they become good friends. As Jim and Huck travel down river in their raft they experience many conflicts. For example, when they meet the two conmen, the duke and dauphin who sell Jim over to a farmer and tells him that Jim is a runaway slave and there is a huge reward for his return. Huck decides to write to Tom Sawyer and ask for his help to save Jim. He agrees to help Huck and the two boys come together to plan out Jim’s escape. After everything the boys have been through it seems everything works out for Huck, Tom and Jim. The first piece of literary criticism I found is called “Overview of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” written by Pearl James. The second article I found is called “Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” written by Karen Sloan. Finally, the third article I found called “A Rationale for Teaching Huckleberry Finn” written by John Kean. My original thoughts on the first criticism I found was that this critic was very blunt in his description. He not only explained how he interpreted the novel but he explained how the racial problems and other social mannerisms in the past relate to the problems we have and still carry out in today’s America. My thoughts on the second criticism piece was that the critic seemed to go into depth about Jim and Huck missing the point of Twain’s points of slavery and how Jim is to