Title: The Adventures of Huck Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Page Count: 202
ISBN #:1442141018
Publication Date: 1884
Description from back of book (Apple Classics):
Huck Finn grew up along the Mississippi in the days of slavery. Huck was a homeless rebel-a boy who loved freedom more than respectability. Huck isn’t above lying and stealing but when he meets up with Jim, a runaway slave, he has a battle with his conscience. Jim tells Huck that his owner wants to sell him to a slave trader down river for $800. Jim wants to go North to a free state. If he helps Jim escape, Huck knows he’ll be in serious trouble with the law. But can he turn Jim in when al Jim wants is to be free?
Thoughts on the book:Â (spoiler alert)
One of the main dilemmas in Huckleberry Finn is Huck’s struggle with societal conditioning and what feels right in his heart. Huck Finn values his freedom, especially after it’s snatched from him by an abusive father. Upon escaping from his father, Huck runs into Jim, a friend but also an enslaved man who wants his freedom. Huck has to make a choice, help a friend find his freedom or go along with society’s laws and expectations. These are confusing issues for Huck, on one hand, Jim is his friend who is being forced into a bad situation against his will, on the other, hand society says Jim is a slave and the property of another. Throughout the book, Huck battles back and forth on these issues but when it comes down to it, no matter what the peril, he always fights for Jim’s freedom.
One question that kept coming to mind while reading Huckleberry Finn was: what societal conditioning am I accepting right now at the expense of my better conscience?
Favorite quote:
You can’t pray a lie-I found that out.
— Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn