Huck Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story about a young boy who is very wild at the beginning and tries to become “civilized”. The story is set in the middle 1800’s in the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri.

The story begins as with Huck running away from home. His buddy Tom Sawyer tells him if he goes home, Huck can be in a band of robbers. So he goes home. The Widow Douglas, who adopted Huck, tries to teach him about Moses. Huck later finds out that Moses is dead, so he loses interest. The Widow’s sister, Miss Watson tries to teach Huck how to spell.

Huck sneaks out with Tom and tiptoe through the widow's garden. Huck trips on a root as he passes by the kitchen. Jim, one of Miss Watson's slaves, hears him from inside. They don’t get caught. Meanwhile, a rumor circulates that Huck's father, who has not been seen in a year, is dead. A body was found in the river, thought to be his father because of its "ragged" appearance. The face, however, was unrecognizable. At first Huck is relieved. His father had been a drunk who beat him when he was sober, though Huck stayed hidden from him most of the time. Based on the description of the body found, however, Huck soon realizes that it was not his father, but a woman dressed in men's clothes. He worries that his father will soon reappear. Nothing happens in Tom’s “gang”, so the other boys lose interest and quit.

School starts and Huck shows improvement. Huck later sees his father. His father gets mad because Huck is the first person in the family to learn how to read. One day Huck’s father kidnapped him, and takes him to a cabin. He locks Huck in it all day. Huck finds a saw and saws through the wall and almost gets out, but his father catches him.

Huck runs away again, everyone thinks that Jim killed him, since he vanished the same day Huck did.