Tom is Evil

Although Tom Sawyer appears in less than fifty pages in this book, he makes sure that his presence is felt. Toward the beginning of the book he seems like an okay character, just a leader in his group of friends. However toward the end of the book, it becomes clear that Tom is evil. When Tom agrees to "help" Huck free Jim, there is situational irony, because Huck is unaware that Tom knows Jim is no longer a slave. Even though he knows this, Tom still agrees to help Huck because he wants an adventure. On page 257 Tom explains why he didn't tell anyone Jim was free: "Why, I wanted an adventure of it; and I'd 'a' waded neck-deep in blood to- goodness alive, Aunt Polly". This is a horrific and disgusting thing for Tom to do, especially because he makes it much more complicated by "doing it by the book". Tom forces Jim to have a creepy pet, attempts to have him cut his limbs off, and notifies his uncle about Jim fleeing. Tom is such a sick character who is subdued by what society believes that he goes as far as showing pride in his bullet wounded leg. This just shows how evil of a character Tom was.

The River

In this novel, the river is seen as a very important symbol. Throughout the book, Huck is trying to get away from society. The river was Huck and Jim's place to get away from society. They were able to escape civilization when they were on the river. They felt a sense of freedom when they were on the river and Huck even says, "So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us" (183). When Huck and Jim were on the river, they were alone and no one could bother them, and therefore they felt safe. Also, Huck and Jim were able to be themselves on the river. They did not have to put on their masks. They were able to get away from society and society's view of them. They did not have to be who society said they should be while they were on the river.

"The Great American Novel"

In "Say It Ain't So, Huck," Smiley tries to argue that Huck Finn is a horrible choice for a book to call "The Great American Novel," and contends that it is because Huck Finn was considered, as Ernest Hemingway put it, the "one book" from which "[a]ll modern American literature comes from" that what we now-a-days consider typical "American Literature" as actually severely flawed and not at all exemplary of true American values. Smiley seems to think that Uncle Tom's Cabin would be a far better choice for a great American novel.
However, I would say that this is a misguided statement. In this argument, Smiley makes the same mistake she makes throughout her entire essay: she tries to narrow the entire topic down to the singular issue of slavery. While Smiley is correct in saying that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a far more resounding argument against slavery, the flaw in her logic arises when she implies that the issue of slavery is the only significant aspect of true "American literature". But the truth is that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a far more American novel because it deals with the larger, more permanent issues of a flawed civilization and an escape into nature. While the slavery was certainly a big issue during the time of both Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this was not a fundamental part of American values. The whole reason we don't read Uncle Tom's Cabin in high schools is that slavery is no longer a huge issue in America - we all know slavery is wrong. However, the issues dealt with in Huck Finn - fighting conformity, questioning the morality of "civilized" society - are still very prevalent on America today and are thus important to think about.
This is the biggest difference between Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in terms of being a perfect example of the American novel. Uncle Tom's Cabin deals with a single, temporary issue, while Huck Finn deals with many issues that remain important to this day.

Tom vs. Huck, AKA Romanticism vs. Realism

In the final chapters, in which Tom and Huck form and execute their plan to free Jim, Tom and Huck have two very contrasting ways of going about things. Tom wants freeing Jim to be a big, exciting adventure, complete with all sorts of special adventurous things he read about in his books when it comes to escaping prisoners - things like rats and snakes, the prisoner carving a message into the wall, and chopping off the prisoner's foot to escape the chains. Huck, on the other hand, knows deep down that Tom's plans are completely ridiculous and instead attempts to convince Tom to use methods that are more easy and reliable. In this storyline, Tom represents Romanticism while Huck represents Realism. Tom has read many Romantic novels and is thus completely obsessed with the Romantic ideas of epic adventure. Huck, however, is far more grounded in reality, and focuses less on what would be "the right way," as Tom puts it (257) and more on what would actually work. Tom and Huck's bickering and their failure to ultimately carry out a majority of Tom's plans (and then Tom still getting shot) is Twain's way of showing that the Romantic ideals that Tom so violently strives for simply do not work in the real world. The stories Tom reads are fiction, and while these adventures may be fun to read about, they just are not possible within real life.

Tom Takes Over

When Tom and Huck are planning the escape for Jim, Tom becomes the new leader, making him in some ways, a kind of dictator. When he does this, the story loses it's tone that is being spoken from Huck's conscience and turns more into a book written for children, because it carries the aspect of adventure. When Tom becomes the leader of Jim's escape plan, he deems all of Huck's plans as completely unrealistic. By doing this he tends to block out Huck himself at certain parts of the story. For example on page 151, (online text) Huck states, "He had forgot me and everything else." Tom does things like this when trying to grasp what to do in the situation.

The End

On the last page of the book, Huck decides that he does not want to live with Aunt Sally and become civilized. Here is the passage "But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before" (185 online text). This confuses me because at the beginning of the book Huck wanted a family, and even in the middle he says he would fit in perfectly with the Grangerfords. Furthermore the whole novel is about being uncivilized and how Huck hates it and wants to live a normal life with some adventure. I guess in a sense the whole book being about living an uncivil life and the end Huck refusing to settle and become civilized. But I believed that there were times when Huck wished to be back with Miss Watson.

Chapter 27 vs. 28

In Chapter 27, the concept of dark humor is shown at the funeral because there are hints at satire relating to death, especially when Huck says, "there warn't no more popular man in town that what the undertaker was." This chapter has a number of hints at dark humor whereas in chapter 28, the tone changes to something lighter. This chapter focuses a lot on the compassion of Mary Jane. Also, Huck learns a lot in this chapter about the humanity of slaves when he sees how Mary Jane treats them. He slowly starts to learn about their dignity and that they are human too.

The Messy Morality of Huck's World

I noticed this in the part of the story where "the king" and "the duke" put on a show only to rip off their audience. It is fairly quickly made clear that the two frauds are not very good people; while they are not extremely evil or malicious, they are liars and cheaters who basically steal these people's money. Thus, we, as the reader, at first thing that the king and duke will be the "bad guys" of the story and the audience the poor, cheated "good guys". However, when the audience reacts not by warning the rest of the town of the scam, but by plotting to deceive the rest of the town into being ripped off as well. Thus, it would seem the audience members who have been tricked are just as selfish and immoral as the frauds who tricked them. I feel like this shows how in the world of Huckleberry Finn, there really is no set right or wrong, no "good guys" or "bad guys". There is not a strict moral code that everybody follows and the whole idea of right and wrong seems to be very messy and confusing, especially to a young kid like Huck.

Introducing Satire

When the Duke and Dauphin are introduced in chapter 19, the literary use of satire is also developed. From here on out, the Duke and Dauphin provide comical scenes throughout the course of the story. Huck has suspicions regarding their true identities but he still treats them as though they are royalty. The fact that they are actually con- artists shows a slight glimpse into the unusual class structure that the story contains because the raft becomes a social structure within itself.

Funny Convicts

In chapter 19 Huck agrees to give two strangers a ride on the raft. I was surprised by how easily they convinced Huck to give them a ride especially because they were in the South and Jim was still aboard the raft. Another surprise to me was how foolish Jim and Huck were to believe that these two admitted convicts were royalties. For example when the old man claims he is the heir to the king of France, "Yes, gentlemen, you see before you, in blue jeans and misery, the wanderin', exiled, trampled-on, and sufferin' rightful King of France" (79, online text). I think Twain may have thought the same way as Huck does and he maybe showing it in this scene.

Family Rivalry

In chapter 18, they talk about the family rivalry between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. While i was reading this, I thought that it was ridiculous that they are still fighting and killing people from the other family 30 years after the original conflict. The two families have gone on fighting and killing people of the other family for so long. At a point in this chapter, Buck tries to shoot Harney Shepherdson. I was shocked when I was reading this because Harney did not do anything to Buck, he was just riding his horse. Even though there were a lot of things different back then, I would never have thought this would be happening between two families.

Apparently there is a special edition of Huck Finn that replaces every instance of the word "nigger" with "hipster".

"The Hipster Huckleberry Finn"

This Is Awesome

Huck and his tricks

In Chapter 16, Huck and Jim run into a couple of white men who start questioning Huck about the raft. In this scene, Huck comes up with story about how his pap is on board the raft and is sick. Because of this plan, the men do not end up searching the raft because the men say, "we don't want the smallpox" (82), and therefore, the men do not find Jim, the runaway slave. Again in Chapter 17, Huck plays a trick, or comes up with a plan to figure out his fake name. In this scene, Huck tells Buck to try and spell his name. Once Buck has done it, Huck now knows what his name is again. Even though this may only be a small little trick, that may have little meaning, I believe that it helps to show how smart and quick thinking Huck is. In both of these instances, Huck has to think fast in order to not get caught.

Huck against Himself?

In Chapter 15, when Huck tricks Jim into thinking that he dreamed up their whole separation, Jim ends up getting upset with Huck because he was actually worried. Huck finally apologizes and when he does he says "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger." At this point, I think we, as the readers, get a clearer picture of the way people were expected to treat black people. It takes Huck a long time to apologize to Jim because it is something that he is unfamiliar with. However, after he is done, he doesn't regret it because he knows that Jim is important to him.

Gullible or Unknowing

Huck for the most part tells the truth to the people he encounters about his life. He told both the family with Bob and Tom, and Mrs. Judith Loftus that his father is an evil drunkard and his mother died. I realize that communication back then was difficult, but I found it odd how Mrs. Loftus did not pick up the fact that he was Huck Finn. Another thought that occurred to me was how patient Jim must be because Huck really takes his time on his trips, to people's houses.

I noticed a little something

So you guys know in Chapter 17 when Huck gets taken in by the family? Well, I found a quote (it's on page 111 in my book, but I think mine's different than most people's) where he says "Buck and his ma and all of them smoked cob pipes, except the nigger woman, which was gone, and the two young women." I feel like there's some significance to Huck referring to the "nigger woman" as "which" rather than "who". It's just a little detail, but I feel like it really shows how slaves were regarded as objects back then and how Huck himself, even though he's helping Jim run away, has still had that attitude engrained in him by society.