The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Book Summary

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a picaresque novel written by Mark Twain and published in 1884. Widely ranked among the Great American novels, the book has also been the subject of controversy, in part because Twain used Huck to comment on slavery-era Southern society through the eyes of a young boy. Often considered Twain’s masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the coming-of-age story of Huck Finn, a disadvantaged boy living in the antebellum South who teams up with the enslaved Jim to escape their troubles by sailing down the Mississippi River.

Set in nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, Missouri, the novel opens on the adventurous Huckleberry Finn, or “Huck,” shortly after he and his fanciful friend, Tom Sawyer, have discovered twelve thousand dollars in treasure. Judge Thatcher, a respected citizen in St. Petersburg, invests the money to keep it safe, and Huck is adopted by the well-intentioned Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, who attempt to civilize the boy despite his desire to remain wild. Huck eventually runs away, but Tom finds him and convinces him to return home.

One day, Huck discovers footprints in the snow and recognizes them as belonging to his abusive, absentee father, Pap. Huck infers that Pap has returned to claim the money that Huck found. Despite the Widow’s attempts to gain custody of Huck, a new judge in town awards custody to Pap. He and Huck relocate to a log cabin, but after receiving frequent beatings at the hands of his alcoholic father, Huck fakes his own death, steals a canoe, and escapes down the Mississippi River.

Huck lands on Jackson’s Island and sets up camp. After a few days, he stumbles upon a still smoldering campfire and discovers Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, who also escaped after overhearing the widow’s plan to sell him to a slave trader. While Jim is initially frightened to see Huck, whom he believed to be dead, the unlikely pair soon come to appreciate each other’s company.

During their stay on Jackson Island, the river rises, culminating in an entire house floating past them on the river. When Huck and Jim climb aboard, they find a dead man inside. Jim inspects the body and realizes it must be Pap but keeps this a secret from Huck. Meanwhile, Huck returns to town disguised as a girl and learns that both Pap and Jim are suspects in Huck’s murder. Discovering that the town also suspects that Jim is hiding on Jackson Island, Huck and Jim decide to flee.

Building a raft, Huck and Jim float downstream by night and hide on shore by day. One day, they come upon a wrecked steamboat and climb aboard, where they overhear two thieves plotting to kill a third man onboard. Huck and Jim try to jump ship but find that their raft has floated away and manage to steal the robbers’ skiff instead. Shortly after, they see the capsized steamboat floating downstream again, now far enough below the water line to have drowned everyone on board. Coming upon their original raft, they continue downstream with two vessels.

As Huck and Jim drift down the Mississippi, they become close friends. They formulate a plan to reach Cairo, where they can take a steamship up the Ohio River and into the free states. However, the two are separated during a dense fog, with Huck in the canoe and Jim on the raft. When they find each other in the morning, it becomes clear that they passed Cairo in the fog.
Days later, a steamboat runs over their raft and forces Huck and Jim to jump overboard. Again, they are separated and must swim for their lives. When Huck reaches shore, he comes upon the Grangerfords, a kind family who invites Huck to live with them. The family takes good care of Huck until one day, when an old family feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons is rekindled. Within one day, all the Grangerford men are killed, including Huck's new best friend, Buck. Amid the chaos, Huck finds Jim, and together they resume their journey downriver.

Further downstream, Huck rescues two humbugs known as the Duke and the King, who take control of the raft. The Duke and the King hatch a scheme to make money by cheating people along the river using a technique they call the Royal Nonesuch, which involves staging an absurd theater performance before abruptly leaving town. After swindling one town, the Duke and the King escape with four hundred dollars.

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