THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
BY MARK TWAIN (1835-1910)


About the author
Mark Twain was a pseudonym for Samuel Longhorne Clemens. He grew up in Missouri, which at the time made a part of the U.S west side. Missouri was a slave state. Samuel’s father had a slave and Samuel grew up and played around the institution of slavery, and he listened to the stories about ghosts that the slaves used to tell. Samuel was fascinated of Mississippi and the boats the past. He could lie on the banks all day long, watching the passing boats. He daydreamed about one day be one of the sailors on the ships.

When Samuel was twelve years old, he lost his father. When he was eighteen, he moved to New York where he worked at several newspapers. When he was twenty-two, he moved back to Missouri and began to work at a steamboat. It has been said that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is partly based on Samuels work on the boat.


About the book
In the beginning of the book, Huck tells us about his earlier life. He tells us that if you haven’t read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you don’t anything about him. Before the widow Douglas adopted him, he lived an uncivilized life and he tells us that it was a big adaption for him to learn how to behave, eat properly and at regular times, sleep in a bed, go to school, do his homework and not swear.

Then Huck’s alcoholised father shows up and he takes his son with him. Huck’s father beats him and locks him in, so one day Huck decides to escape. He escapes to Jackson’s island, where he meets Jim, Miss Watson’s slave that also has escaped. Together they begin a journey on a raft down the Mississippi. During their journey, the boys meet fighting clans, murders and other gangs that they together survive. Their friendship grows strong.

Huck is a clever boy, he is brave and independent. His mature way of handling difficult situations makes me impressed.  It’s hard to believe that hi is only a child. Huck’s friend Jim is credulous and easily fooled, which makes a contrast in their relationship.


This book is an adventure novel, and a very satirical one.
The main purpose of the book is to entertain. In the beginning of the book, it says “Persons
attempting to find a motive in this narrative story will be prosecuted; persons attempting to
find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” Even if
this words refer that this is just a book of entertaining, I think it has a more important

message. Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote about white people’s attitude to black people, about the slavery, which he was strongly against, and that’s why he made the book so satirical.

I like this book: it has an interesting plot, good biographical descriptions and I learned a lot about the community and the slavery in America in the late 19^th century.