1. CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Basically , we as a student majoring in education and literature English language
understand that we will not only explore the science teacher but also science
literature . therefore we begin to understand the need for reviewing the contents of
a novel , short story , or a variety of papers which of course requires the art of
writing and literature in order to analyze secars correct and on target . because the
literature does not have the same meaning for some people . therefore , we are
here trying to find a common view of the novel . novels we studied may be many
who find controversial opinion because the theme is presented is a more mature
romance theme is not worth reading for minors especially for eastern nations such
as Indonesia . but here we are trying to assess from the literature that explores the
submission of the author's thoughts and expertly embodied in a paper which
eventually can be enjoyed by the general public . for that we present assessment of
this book and the literary scientific as possible in order to achieve our goal of
literary analysis for this book from the controversial novel after this .
B. Problem Formulation
- How the summary of the novel ?
- What are the intrinsic elements that exist in this novel ???
C. Purpose
The purpose of writing this paper we present are :
• In order for students to know the intrinsic elements in the novel
• In order for students to understand a novel of literary elements
• In order for students to know the relevance of the concept of writing and intrinsic
element of a novel
1

2. CHAPTER 2
CONTENT
A. Summary
 Chapter 22
The crowd travels to Sherburn's store and rips down the front fence. They halt when Sherburn
emerges with a shotgun and calmly stands in front of them. He lectures the mob on how
pathetic they are, tells them they are being led by half of a man, Buck Harkness, and calls
them all cowards. When he finishes his speech, he cocks his gun and the crowd runs off in
every direction.
Huck leaves and goes to the circus which is in town until late that night, and after which the
Duke and King plan to perform their show. He sneaks in and watches all the fun activities,
such as the clown and showgirls. Huck then remarks that it is the best circus he has ever
witnessed and the most fun.
That night, the Shakespearean show is a disaster, with only twelve people showing up and
none of them staying until the end. In response, the Duke prints up some new handbills
touting a show titled the Royal Nonesuch. He then cleverly adds the line, "Ladies and
Children Not Admitted" and comments that if such a line does not bring an audience, then he
does not know Arkansas.
 Chapter 23
The Royal Nonesuch opens to a house packed with men. The Duke greets them and hypes up
the audience for the King. The King emerges completely naked, covered in paint, and
crawling on all fours. The audience laughs their heads off, and he is called back to do it twice
more. Then the Duke thanks them all and wishes them a good night.
The men are furious that the show is so short and realize they have been "sold," or cheated.
But, before they can rush the stage in protest, one man stands up and tells them that they will
be the laughingstocks of the town if it ever is revealed how badly they were cheated. They all
2

3. agree to leave and tout the show for being wonderful so the rest of the town can be cheated as
well.
As a result, the next night's performance is also full, and the audience leaves just as angry.
The third night, all the men show up, carrying rotten eggs, dead cats, and other foul items
with them. The Duke pays a man to mind the door and he and Huck rush away to the raft.
They immediately push out onto the river and the King emerges from the wigwam where he
and Jim have been hiding all along. Together, the two con-artists made four hundred sixty-five
dollars.
That night, Jim grieves over no longer being able to see his wife and children. Huck remarks
that Jim cares almost as much about his family as a white person would. Jim then tells Huck a
story about when he was with his daughter, Elizabeth, one day. Jim told her to shut the door
and she just stood there smiling at him. Jim got mad that she did not obey and yelled at her
until he finally whacked her on the side of the head for not listening to him. Ten minutes later
Jim returned and his daughter still had not closed the door. She was standing in the same
place, crying. At that moment, a strong wind slammed the door behind her, causing Jim to
jump. However, his daughter never moved an inch. Jim realized his poor daughter had lost
her hearing. Jim tells Huck that he burst out crying upon making this realization and grabbed
his daughter to give her a hug. Ever since, he has felt terrible about how he treated her.
 Chapter 24
To avoid tying Jim up in ropes during the day (since he has been pretending to be a runaway
slave), the Duke figures out a better solution. He paints Jim in blue and makes him wear a
costume. Then, he writes a sign that reads, "Sick Arab - but harmless when not out of his
head." Jim is happy that he can now move around.
The King and Huck cross the river and meet a young fool waiting for the ferry to Orleans. He
proceeds to tell them all about how a Peter Wilks has died, leaving his whole estate to his
daughters and brothers. The two brothers have not yet arrived from England, which greatly
saddened the man before he died. The King takes a keen interest in the story and gathers
every detail he can.
3

4. Once he has all the details, the King gets the Duke and tells him the entire story. The two
men agree to pretend to be Peter Wilks's brothers from Sheffield, England. Together, with
Huck acting as a servant, they get a steamboat to take them to the town and drop them off.
Their ploy works perfectly and when they hear that Peter is dead, both men put up a huge cry
and lament. Huck remarks that, "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."
 Chapter 25
The two con artists are taken by the crowd that greeted them upon arrival to visit the family,
which consists of three orphaned girls: Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna. Everyone exchanges
hugs and cries, and then the King and Duke go to view the coffin. The two men burst out
crying again, and finally the King makes a speech about how sad the whole situation is. They
finish off by kissing all the women on the forehead and acting heartbroken. Huck comments
that the whole scene is "disgusting."
The King and Duke discover they have received the bulk of the estate holdings as well as
three thousand dollars cash. The three girls have also received three thousand dollars and the
house they live in. Wilks's will tells them where in the cellar to find the cash, and the two
men go downstairs and find it. The King and Duke count the money and come up four
hundred and fifteen dollars short. To alleviate any suspicion, they add the money they made
from the Royal Nonesuch to the pile. Then, to permanently win the town over to their side,
they graciously give their share of the money to the three girls, knowing they can steal it back
at anytime.
The King gives a speech and foolishly digresses. A Doctor Robinson enters the crowd, hears
the King and laughs heartily, calling the King a fraud because his British accent is such a bad
imitation. The townspeople rally around the King, who has been so generous, and defend
him. The Doctor warns Mary Jane directly, but in response, she hands the bag of money to
the King and tells him to invest it for her. The doctor warns them one final time of the
mistakes they are making, and then departs.
 Chapter 26
The night of the doctor's warning, Joanna and Huck eat together, since they are the youngest
two people present. She asks him all about England, and Huck lies to her in order to sound
4

5. knowledgeable. She catches him in several of the lies, and Huck keeps pretending to choke
on a chicken bone in order to think of a way out. Mary Jane overhears Joanna telling Huck
that she does not believe him and makes Joanna apologize to Huck for being so rude. Huck
decides he cannot let the King and Duke steal the money from these extremely kind girls.
Huck goes to the King's room and hides when he hears the Duke and King approaching. The
conmen debate whether they should leave now that suspicion has been raised or wait until the
rest of the property is sold off. They choose to stay and hide their money in the straw tick
mattress. Huck steals the money immediately and waits until it is safe to slip downstairs to
hide it.
 Chapter 27
Huck is afraid he will be caught with the stolen money, so he hides it inside Peter Wilks's
coffin. That day, the funeral service is held, and is interrupted by loud barking from a dog
locked in the cellar. The undertaker goes to silence the dog, returns, and tells the audience the
dog caught a rat. Huck remarks that the service was long and tiresome, but is relieved when
Peter Wilks and the money are finally buried.
The King and Duke immediately begin selling everything they can, including the slave family
owned by the household. To sell the slaves faster, they break up the family. The girls are
extremely upset by this insensitivity. Many of the townspeople also expressed disapproval,
but the men are not swayed.
On the day of the auction, the King realizes the money is gone. He questions Huck, who
cleverly blames the slaves who were sold. Both the Duke and King feel extremely foolish for
selling the slaves at such low prices considering all their money is now lost.
 Chapter 28
Later that morning, Huck sees Mary Jane sitting on her floor, crying while packing to go to
England with her uncles. Mary Jane explains that she is upset about the slaves being so
mistreated, and Huck blurts out that they will be together again in two weeks at the most,
knowing the Duke and King will abandon the town. When he realizes he has slipped, he
decides to tell her everything. She becomes furious as he relates the story, and when Huck
finishes, she calls the King a "brute."
5

6. Huck makes Mary Jane leave the house and stay with a friend across the river. Before she
leaves, he writes down where the money is located so she will be able to find it later on. Huck
is afraid that if Mary Jane stays at the house, her face will give away Huck's indiscretion.
Huck tells her sisters that she is across the river trying to stir up interest in buying the house.
After telling this part of the story to the reader, Huck remarks that he has never forgotten
Mary Jane and still thinks she is one of the most beautiful girls he has ever met.
The auction occurs that afternoon and the King works hard to sell every last thing. In the
middle of the auction, a steamboat lands, and two men claiming to be the real heirs to the
Wilks's fortune disembark. As they approach the crowd, Huck notices that the elder man is
speaking, and that the younger man's right arm is in a sling.
 Chapter 29
The new heirs claim to have lost their baggage and are therefore unable to prove their
identity. The King and Duke continue pretending to be the real heirs. Both groups are taken
to the tavern where Levi Bell and Dr. Robinson grill them for information.
The first information revealed is that the Wilks money has been stolen, which looks bad for
the King and Duke. However, they blame it on the slaves and continue pretending. The
lawyer, Levi Bell, manages to get all three men to write a line for him. He pulls out some old
letters and examines the handwriting, only to discover that none of three men had written the
letters to Peter Wilks. The real Harvey Wilks explains that his brother had transcribed all his
letters because his handwriting is so poor. Unfortunately, since his brother has a broken arm,
he cannot write and therefore they cannot prove their case.
Harvey Wilks then remembers that his deceased brother had his initials tattooed on his chest
and challenges the King to tell him what was on Peter's chest, assuming that the men who had
laid his brother out would have seen the mark and will be able to determine who is lying.
Refusing to give up, the King continues pretending and tells them Peter had a blue arrow
tattooed on his chest. The men who laid out Peter Wilks cannot remember seeing anything,
and thus they are forced to exhume the body.
The entire town travels to the gravesite. When they finally unearth and open the casket, they
discover the gold Huck has hidden there. Immediately, the men holding the King and Duke
6

7. let go to get a look at the money. At this opportunity, Huck, the King, and the Duke run to the
river as fast as they can. Huck gets to the raft and takes off down the river, hoping to escape
the two men. When the Duke and King catch up to him in a little skiff, he almost starts to cry.
 Chapter 30
After the King boards the raft, he grabs Huck, shakes him, and yells at him for trying to get
away and for escaping without waiting. The Duke finally intervenes and calls the King an
"old idiot," asking, "Did you enquire for him when you got loose?"
Next, the King and Duke get into an argument about the money and start accusing each other
of stealing the cash and hiding it, especially since they had added the proceeds of the Royal
Nonesuch to the pot. The Duke finally physically attacks the King and forces him say that he
took the money. Next, both men get drunk, but Huck notices the King never again admits to
taking the money and rather denies it at every opportunity.
 Chapter 31
The Duke and King spend a few days plotting how to recover their fortunes. Soon, they reach
a village named Pikesville. The King leaves and tells the Duke and Huck to follow him if he
does not return by midday. After he fails to reappear, they go to find him, leaving Jim with
the raft. Huck and the Duke search for quite some time, and finally find the King in a tavern.
Soon, both the Duke and King are drunk.
Huck sees his chance and runs straight back to the raft, but when he arrives Jim is gone. A
young man on the road tells him Jim, a runaway slave, was just captured and sold to the
Phelps family, down the road. Huck realizes that in an effort to make some money, the King
had snuck back to the raft while he and the Duke had been searching for him, took Jim, sold
him for forty dollars, and returned to the town to drink.
Huck sits down and contemplates his next move. He is torn between his friendship for Jim
and his belief that helping a runaway slave is a sin. Huck finally writes a letter to Miss
Watson explaining where Jim is. Not quite satisfied, he thinks about it some more, and, in
one of the most dramatic scenes in the novel, rips apart the letter saying, "All right, then, I'll
go to hell!"
7

8. Huck starts walking to the Phelps's farm, but encounters the Duke along the way. The Duke
is posting advertisements for the Royal Nonesuch, which the two men are planning to
perform again. When he sees Huck, the Duke gets extremely nasty and is afraid Huck will
warn the townspeople. Next, he lies to Huck and tells him Jim was sold to a farm several days
away and threatens Huck in order to keep him silent. Huck promises not to say a word, and
hopes he will never have to deal with men such as the Duke and King ever again.
 Chapter 32
Huck decides to trust his luck, and walks directly up to the front door of the Phelps's farm. He
is quickly surrounded by about fifteen hound dogs, which scatter when a large black woman
chases them away. Aunt Sally emerges and hugs Huck, saying "It's you, at last! - ain't it?"
Entirely surprised, Huck merely mutters "yes'm."
Aunt Sally drags Huck into the house and starts to ask him why he is so late. Not sure how to
respond, Huck says the steamboat blew a cylinder. The woman asks if anyone was hurt, to
which Huck replies, "No'm, killed a nigger." Before he has a chance to answer any more
questions, Silas Phelps returns home after picking up his nephew at the wharf. Aunt Sally
hides Huck, pretends he is not there, then drags him out and surprises Silas. Silas does not
recognize Huck until Aunt Sally announces, "It's Tom Sawyer!" Huck nearly faints from joy
when he hears his friend's name and realizes Aunt Sally is Tom's aunt.
Over the next two hours, Huck tells the family all about the Sawyer's and entertains them
with stories. Soon, he hears a steamboat coming down the river, and realizes Tom is probably
on the boat, since the family was expecting him. Eager to meet his friend and keep himself
safe, Huck tells Aunt Sally and Silas that he must return to town to fetch his baggage, quickly
explaining they need not accompany him.
 Chapter 33
Huck meets Tom Sawyer on the road and stops his carriage. Tom is frightened, thinking
Huck is a ghost, but Huck reassures him and they settle down to catch up. Huck tells Tom
what has happened at the Phelps's, and Tom thinks about how they should proceed. He tells
Huck to return to the farm with his suitcase, while Tom returns to town and begins his trip to
the Phelps's again.
8

9. Huck arrives back at the Phelps house, and soon thereafter, Tom arrives. The family is
excited because they do not get very many visitors, so they make Tom welcome. Tom makes
up a story about his hometown and then suddenly and impudently kisses Aunt Sally right on
the mouth. Shocked at his behavior, she nearly hits him over the head with her spinning stick,
until Tom reveals that he is Sid Sawyer, Tom's brother.
Next, Silas tells the family that their new slave Jim warned him about the Royal Nonesuch,
and that he took it upon himself to inform the rest of the town. Silas figures the two cheats
Jim spoke of will be ridden out of town that night. In a last minute attempt to warn the Duke
and King, Huck and Tom climb out of their windows, but they are too late. They see the two
men being paraded through the street covered in tar and feathers. Observing the scene, Huck
remarks that human beings can be awfully cruel to one another.
 Chapter 34
Tom and Huck brainstorm ways to break Jim out of his prison. Huck plans to get the raft,
steal the key to the padlock, unlock the door and then float down the river some more. Tom
claims that plan is too simple and would work too well. Tom's plan is much more elaborate
and stylish, and takes a great deal longer to implement.
The boys go to the hut where Jim is being kept and search around. Finally, Tom decides that
the best way, or at least the way that will take the longest, is to dig a hole for Jim to climb out
of. The next day, he and Huck follow the black man who is delivering Jim's food. Jim
recognizes Huck and Tom and calls them by name, but both boys pretend not to hear. When
he has a chance, Tom tells Jim that they are going to dig him out. Jim is so happy he grabs
Tom's hand and shakes it.
 Chapter 35
To create as fantastical a story and game as possible, Tom tries to determine how to make Jim
into a real prisoner before his daring escape. He decides that he and Huck will have to saw
off the leg of Jim's bed in order to free the chain, send him a knotted ladder made of sheets,
give him a shirt to keep a journal on, and get him some tin plates to write messages on and
throw out the window. To top it off, Tom tells Huck that they will use case-knives to dig Jim
out, rather than the much quicker and more appropriate picks and shovels.
9

10.  Chapter 36
The next night, Tom and Huck sneak out and start digging with their case knives. They tire
soon and their hands quickly develop blisters, but it seems they haven't accomplished
anything. Tom finally sighs and agrees to use a pick and shovel, but only as long as they
pretend to be using case knives. Huck agrees and tells Tom his head is getting "leveler" all
the time.
The next day, they steal some tin plates and a brass candlestick for Jim to write with. They
also finish digging the hole and make it possible for Jim to crawl out. Jim wants to escape
immediately, but Tom then tells Jim all about the little things he needs to do first, including
writing in blood, throwing the tin plates out of the hut, etc. Jim thinks all of these ideas are a
little crazy, but agrees to do it.
Tom then convinces the man who brings Jim his food that Jim is bewitched and offers to heal
him by baking a pie, in which he plans to conceal the sheet ladder.
 Chapter 37
Aunt Sally notices that she has lost a sheet, a shirt, six candles, a spoon and a brass
candlestick. Very confused by the strange disappearances, she becomes absolutely livid. Aunt
Sally yells at poor Silas, who eventually discovers the missing spoon in his pocket, where
Tom had placed it. He looks ashamed and promises her he has no idea how the spoon got into
his pocket. Aunt Sally then yells at everyone to get away from her and let her get some peace
and quiet.
Tom decides that the only way to steal back the spoon is to confuse his poor Aunt Sally even
further. Tom has Huck hide one of spoons while Aunt Sally counts them, and then Huck puts
it back when Aunt Sally counts again. By the time she has finished counting, Aunt Sally has
no idea exactly how many spoons she has, and Tom is able to take one without any more
trouble. Tom then does the same thing with the sheet, by stealing one out of her closet and
putting it on the clothesline, only to remove it the next day.
The boys bake Jim a witches pie, in which they hide the rope. It takes them several hours to
get it right because the pie is so large, but they finally succeed. The man who normally takes
Jim his food takes the pie in to him, and Jim happily removes the rope.
10

11.  Chapter 38
Tom designs a coat-of-arms for Jim to inscribe on the walls so as to permanently leave his
mark on the prison cell. Next, Tom works out three mournful inscriptions and tells Jim he
must carve them into a rock. Huck and Tom go to fetch an old grindstone for Jim to use as his
rock, but it is too heavy for them to carry, so they are forced to allow Jim to leave his
"prison" and come help them. Jim rolls the rock into the hut and sets to work on the
inscriptions.
Tom decides that Jim needs some cell companions, such as snakes and spiders. He tells Jim
that he and Huck will find some for him, but Jim is vehemently opposed to the idea. Tom
then tries to convince Jim to get a flower so he can water it with his tears. Jim replies that the
flower would not last very long. Tom finally gets frustrated, and gives up for the night.
 Chapter 39
Huck and Tom spend the next day catching creatures to live with Jim in his cell. They first
gather about fifteen rats, but Aunt Sally's son frees them by accident and both Tom and Huck
receive beatings for bringing rats into her house. Determined, the boys catch another fifteen
rats, along with some spiders, caterpillars, frogs, and bugs. At the end of the day they gather
some garter snakes and put them in a bag, but after dinner they discover all the snakes
escaped in the house as well. Huck remarks that there was no shortage of snakes in the house
for quite a while after that.
Uncle Silas decides to start advertising Jim as a runaway slave in some of the local
newspapers because he has failed to receive a reply to his earlier letters. Since the plantation
to which he wrote never existed, it makes sense that he never received a reply. Tom figures
out how to stop Silas, by planting anonymous letters that warn him off this plan of action.
Tom and Huck first plant a letter reading, "Beware. Trouble is brewing. Keep a sharp
lookout." The next night the boys tack up a letter containing a skull and crossbones, which
they follow with a picture of a coffin.
Tom plans a final coup by drafting a longer letter. Pretending to be a member of a gang of
robbers who are planning to steal Jim from the family, he warns them that the gang will be
11

12. coming late at night from the north to get Jim. The family is terribly frightened and does not
know what to do.
 Chapter 40
The letter has a strong effect, and over fifteen armed farmers are sitting in the house waiting
for the robbers to come during the night of the escape. Huck is frightened for their safety
when he slips out the window and tells Tom they must leave immediately or they will be
shot. Tom gets very excited when he hears about how many people came to catch them.
As Tom, Huck and Jim start to move away from the hut, Tom gets caught on the fence and
his britches rip quite loudly. All three start to run, and the farmers shoot after them. When
they get to a dark area, Huck, Jim, and Tom hide behind a bush and let the whole pack of
farmers and dogs run past them.
Once safe, they proceed to where the raft is hidden and Tom tells Jim he is a free man again,
and that he will always be a free man from now on. Jim thanks him and tells him it was a
great escape plan. Tom then shows them where he got a bullet in the leg, but Jim is worried
for Tom's health. Jim rips up one of the Duke's old shirts and ties up the leg with it.
Jim tells Tom that he is not going to move until they get a doctor there and make sure he is
safe. Tom gets mad at both of them and yells, but Huck ignores him and gets the canoe ready
to go to town. Tom makes him promise to blindfold the doctor before bringing him back to
their hiding place.
 Chapter 41
Huck returns to town and finds a doctor. Instead of allowing Huck to come along, the doctor
makes Huck tell him where the raft is and takes the canoe out alone to find Tom and Jim.
Huck falls asleep on a woodpile while waiting for him to return. When he wakes up, he is
told the doctor has not yet returned.
Huck soon sees Silas, who is very glad Huck is not hurt. Together, they go to the post office,
and Silas asks where Sid is. Huck makes up a story about Sid taking off to gather news about
the events of the night. When they return home, Aunt Sally makes a fuss over Huck, but is
glad he has returned.
12

13. A large gathering is held at the house, and the women discuss how they think Jim must have
been crazy due to Jim's grindstone inscriptions and the tools found in his hut, all of which
Huck and Tom actually crafted.
Aunt Sally is worried about Sid's whereabouts. Huck tells her the same tale he told Uncle
Silas, but it does not set her mind at ease. During the night, Huck sneaks out several times
and each time sees her sitting with a lit candle on the front porch, waiting for Sid's return.
Huck feels very sorry for her and wishes he could tell her everything.
 Chapter 42
The next day, the doctor appears, bringing Tom on a stretcher and Jim in chains. Tom is
comatose due to a fever from the bullet wound, but is still alive. Aunt Sally takes him inside
and immediately starts to care for him. Tom improves rapidly and is almost completely better
by the next day.
Huck goes into the bedroom to sit with Tom and see how he is doing. Aunt Sally walks in as
well and while both of them are sitting there, Tom wakes up. He immediately starts to tell
Aunt Sally about everything the two of them did and how they managed to help Jim escape.
Aunt Sally cannot believe they were creating all of the trouble around her house.
When Tom hears that Jim has been recaptured he shouts at them that they cannot chain Jim
up anymore. He tells them that Jim has been free ever since Miss Watson died and freed him
in her will. Apparently Miss Watson was so ashamed about planning to sell Jim that she felt it
best to set him free.
At that moment Aunt Polly, Aunt Sally's sister, appears. Aunt Sally is so surprised that she
rushes over to her sister to give her a hug. Aunt Polly proceeds to tell Aunt Sally that the boys
masquerading as Tom and Sid are actually Huck and Tom. Embarrassed, the boys look quite
sheepish. Aunt Polly only gets angry when she discovers that Tom has been stealing and
hiding her letters. She also explains to Aunt Sally that in regards to Jim, Tom is correct. Miss
Watson freed Jim in her will.
B. Analysis Intrinsic Elements
13

14.  Major Themes
Conflict between civilization and "natural life"
The primary theme of the novel is the conflict between civilization and "natural life." Huck
represents natural life through his freedom of spirit, uncivilized ways, and desire to escape
from civilization. He was raised without any rules or discipline and has a strong resistance to
anything that might "sivilize" him. This conflict is introduced in the first chapter through the
efforts of the Widow Douglas: she tries to force Huck to wear new clothes, give up smoking,
and learn the Bible. Throughout the novel, Twain seems to suggest that the uncivilized way
of life is more desirable and morally superior. Drawing on the ideas of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Twain suggests that civilization corrupts, rather than improves, human beings.
Honor
The theme of honor permeates the novel after first being introduced in the second chapter,
where Tom Sawyer expresses his belief that there is a great deal of honor associated with
thieving. Robbery appears throughout the novel, specifically when Huck and Jim encounter
robbers on the shipwrecked boat and are forced to put up with the King and Dauphin, both of
whom "rob" everyone they meet. Tom's original robber band is paralleled later in the novel
when Tom and Huck become true thieves, but honorable ones, at the end of the novel. They
resolve to steal Jim, freeing him from the bonds of slavery, which is an honorable act. Thus,
the concept of honor and acting to earn it becomes a central theme in Huck's adventures.
Food
Food plays a prominent role in the novel. In Huck's childhood, he often fights pigs for food,
and eats out of "a barrel of odds and ends." Thus, providing Huck with food becomes a
symbol of people caring for and protecting him. For example, in the first chapter, the Widow
Douglas feeds Huck, and later on Jim becomes his symbolic caretaker, feeding and watching
over him on Jackson's Island. Food is again discussed fairly prominently when Huck lives
with the Grangerford's and the Wilks's.
14

15. Mockery of Religion
A theme Twain focuses on quite heavily on in this novel is the mockery of religion.
Throughout his life, Twain was known for his attacks on organized religion. Huck Finn's
sarcastic character perfectly situates him to deride religion, representing Twain's personal
views. In the first chapter, Huck indicates that hell sounds far more fun than heaven. Later on,
in a very prominent scene, the "King", a liar and cheat, convinces a religious community to
give him money so he can "convert" his pirate friends. The religious people are easily led
astray, which mocks their beliefs and devotion to God.
Superstition
Superstition appears throughout the novel. Generally, both Huck and Jim are very rational
characters, yet when they encounter anything slightly superstitious, irrationality takes over.
The power superstition holds over the two demonstrates that Huck and Jim are child-like
despite their apparent maturity. In addition, superstition foreshadows the plot at several key
junctions. For instance, when Huck spills salt, Pap returns, and when Huck touches a
snakeskin with his bare hands, a rattlesnake bites Jim.
Slavery
The theme of slavery is perhaps the most well known aspect of this novel. Since it's first
publication, Twain's perspective on slavery and ideas surrounding racism have been hotly
debated. In his personal and public life, Twain was vehemently anti-slavery. Considering this
information, it is easy to see that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn provides an allegory to
explain how and why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a main character and a slave, to
demonstrate the humanity of slaves. Jim expresses the complicated human emotions and
struggles with the path of his life. To prevent being sold and forced to separate from his
family, Jim runs away from his owner, Miss Watson, and works towards obtaining freedom
so he can buy his family's freedom. All along their journey downriver, Jim cares for and
protects of Huck, not as a servant, but as a friend. Thus, Twain's encourages the reader to feel
sympathy and empathy for Jim and outrage at the society that has enslaved him and
threatened his life. However, although Twain attacks slavery through is portrayal of Jim, he
never directly addresses the issue. Huck and Jim never debate slavery, and all the other slaves
in the novel are very minor characters. Only in the final section of the novel does Twain
15

16. develop the central conflict concerning slavery: should Huck free Jim and then be condemned
to hell? This decision is life-altering for Huck, as it forces him to reject everything
"civilization" has taught him. Huck chooses to free Jim, based on his personal experiences
rather than social norms, thus choosing the morality of the "natural life" over that of
civilization.
Money
The concept of wealth or lack thereof is threaded throughout the novel, and highlights the
disparity between the rich and poor. Twain purposely begins the novel by pointing out that
Huck has over six thousand dollars to his name; a sum of money that dwarfs all the other
sums mentioned, making them seem inconsequential in contrast. Huck demonstrates a
relaxed attitude towards wealth, and because he has so much of it, does not view money as a
necessity, but rather as a luxury. Huck's views regarding wealth clearly contrast with Jim's.
For Jim, who is on a quest to buy his family out of slavery, money is equivalent to freedom.
In addition, wealth would allow him to raise his status in society. Thus, Jim is on a constant
quest for wealth, whereas Huck remains apathetic.
Mississippi River
The majority of the plot takes place on the river or its banks. For Huck and Jim, the river
represents freedom. On the raft, they are completely independent and determine their own
courses of action. Jim looks forward to reaching the free states, and Huck is eager to escape
his abusive, drunkard of a father and the "civilization" of Miss Watson. However, the towns
along the river bank begin to exert influence upon them, and eventually Huck and Jim meet
criminals, shipwrecks, dishonesty, and great danger. Finally, a fog forces them to miss the
town of Cairo, at which point there were planning to head up the Ohio River, towards the free
states, in a steamboat.
Originally, the river is a safe place for the two travelers, but it becomes increasingly
dangerous as the realities of their runaway lives set in on Huck and Jim. Once reflective of
absolute freedom, the river soon becomes only a short-term escape, and the novel concludes
on the safety of dry land, where, ironically, Huck and Jim find their true freedom.
16

17.  Plot
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict,
complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake
up the recipe and add some spice.
· Exposition
Sivilization and Six Thousand Dollars
When we meet Huck, it sounds like he should be set for life: he's rich, and he's being brought
up by a strict but upstanding widow. But something's missing. Adventure… and his deadbeat
dad, who shows up to extort money from him. When Huck escapes and stumbles on the
runaway slave Jim, he's thrust right into the story's main conflict.
· Conflict
Free… At Last?
And boy is it a doozy. Should Huck return Jim, who is someone's "property," or should he
follow his conscience and help an enslaved man escape to freedom? Sure, it sounds like a no-brainer
to us. But we think it's remarkable that a boy living in the pre-Civil War South would
even think to ask such a question. Go Huck!
· Complication
Presenting Romeo and Juliet
Huck and Jim come up with a pretty good plan involving the small town of Cairo, but their
plans are foiled (and foiled… and foiled) by events as diverse as a sinking steamship, a band
of robbers, and two Shakespearean conmen. It sure is hard to have a moral crisis when you
have to keep dressing up as a girl, are we right?
· Climax
17

18. Their Royal Highnesses
After a series of misadventures with the "duke" and "king" conmen, Huck realizes that Jim
has been sold into slavery again, and the conflict breaks out into a climax: will he help Jim
escape, or will he tell Miss Watson that her "property" has been stolen? (Were you expecting
pirates? Sorry. This may be an adventure story, but the real struggle takes place in Huck's
soul.)
· Suspense
Off With His Leg!
The climax is prolonged by an unexpected encounter: Huck's (and our) old friend, Tom
Sawyer. Huck may have had adventures with robbers and conmen, but Tom has been reading
about them—and so he's got all sorts of kooky ideas about rope pies and amputation.
Yeah, okay, it's not actually that suspenseful. We're pretty sure Jim won't lose his leg. But we
are starting to get worried about his freedom.
· Denouement
Free at Last
The whole debacle culminates in Tom getting shot and Jim about to be hanged… when Tom
wakes up from his coma/ inconvenient nap and announces that Jim's owner Miss Watson died
a few weeks ago and freed Jim in her will. He's a free (and no longer about-to-be-hanged)
man! It looks like everything is wrapping up nice and neat.
 Setting
The Mississippi River along Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas sometime in the 1830s-40s
Slavery is legal. Everyone drunk. And you'd better not touch any rattlesnake skins, because
you'll be sure to have bad luck.
18

19. Welcome to the South, circa twenty years before the Civil War.
And this isn't the gracious, refined South where everyone is drinking sweet tea and wearing
giant dresses. It's a backwater south, full of uneducated, superstitious, and misguided hicks
who say things like this: "Deed you ain't! You never said no truer thing 'n that, you bet you"
(12).
But we do also see that people can be good and kind: the Grangerfords take Huck in right
away; Mrs. Judith Loftus tells Huck—who's a stranger—to "send word… and I'll do what I
can to get you out of [trouble]" (11); and Aunt Sally welcomes Huck like a long-lost child
instead of a boy who isn't even really her cousin.
And there's real beauty in this South, too. When Huck is on the river, he responds to this
natural beauty: "There was freckled places on the ground where the light sifted down through
the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little, showing there was a little breeze up
there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered at me very friendly" (8.1).
So what's Twain saying with this setting? Well, like a lot of people who write about the South
—like William Faulkner—he seems to see its good and its bad sides—and, more than that, he
seems to think that it could change.
 Point of View
First Person
Meet Huck—or, as you introduces himself, "You don't know about me without you have read
a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter" (1.10).
So, we know right away that we're getting a first-person narrator, and it's a real first person,
full of Huck's personality and viewpoint and youthful voice. Because everything is filtered
through Huck, we have to rely on him to interpret the story and present it to us. This
subjectivity means taking the narration with a grain of salt, but Huck's is so earnest and
truthful with himself—and with us—that we're happy to take him at his word.
19

20.  Genre
Satire Coming-of-Age
Kid on a raft, bad guys, several snake-related incidences—you're just one Samuel L. Jackson
(and a few technological innovations) away from Snakes on a Plane. (Although, to be fair,
Twain is also clearly drawing from classic adventure epics, particularly The Odyssey. Don't
believe us? Well, consider that, throughout the whole epic, the main character is called the
"wily" or "crafty" Odysseus. Translation: the guy is really good at spinning a story—just like
our friend Huck.)
But there's clearly something else going on here. For one, take Twain's "Notice": "Persons
attempting to find a motive in this narrative 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."
Um, satirical, much? By reading this first, we know that we should pay close attention: this
may look like a kid's book, like one of the adventures rotting Tom Sawyer's brain, but
everything is not as it seems. It may look like a kid's book, but in fact it's a complicated
examination into racism, slavery, and the moral issues that go with them.
And speaking of morality: Huck doesn't exactly grow up over the course of his travels, but he
does develop his moral compass to a significant degree, which is a big part of becoming an
"adult." Sure, he's not about to settle down with a nice girl and a picket fence—but he's
definitely growing up.
 Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory
· The River
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
"Muddy Mississippi." "Ol' Man River." "Proud Mary." And even more, if you want them.
The Mississippi River might as well be a national symbol; it's definitely a majorly important
symbol for Huckleberry Finn. It represents freedom and possibility—but also, maybe, the
problems of a drifting life.
20

21. · Nothin' Left to Lose
Sure, the river is Huck and Jim's transportation. It's taking them from captivity (slavery; child
abuse) to (hopefully) freedom in the state of Ohio. But the river ends up symbolizing freedom
in its own right.
Before hitting the rapids, Huck feels confined—both by both society (which, figuratively,
kept Huck imprisoned by its restrictive rules) and by Pap (who, literally, kept Huck locked
up). And the river is the only route they can take if they want to be free both in that present
moment and in their respective futures. Check out the way Huck describes it:
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. (29)
"Free again," "All by ourselves," "nobody to bother us": to Huck, the river represents a life
beyond the rules of society. And that's a life he could get used to.
· With Great Freedom Comes Great Responsibility
But is freedom all it's cracked up to be?
After all, the rules and laws that people like the Widow and Judge Thatcher lay down aren't
just meant to make Huck's life miserable; they're also meant to protect him. On the river,
Huck and Jim encounter all kinds of life-threatening situations: burglars and potential
murders; losing their raft; missing the mouth of the Ohio River; losing the raft again;
witnessing the Grangerford-Shepherdson bloodbath; meeting up with the duke and king; oh,
yeah, and losing Jim back to slavery.
As Huck drifts down the river, he learns that freedom comes with great responsibility: the
responsibility to decide for yourself how to be a good, moral person.
· The Raft
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
21

22. We're kind of point A to point B people at Shmoop. Give us a nice four-wheel drive and a
good stretch of highway—or, better yet, an airplane with a loaded iPad.
But not Huck and Jim. Their vehicle of choice is a raft: something that can barely be steered
and that only goes as fast as the river it's on. But the raft ends up being a kind of no-man's
land that seems to operate under different laws than solid ground. In a way, it provides a
space for Huck and Jim to get to know each other man-to-man rather than master-to-slave. As
Huck says, "we… let her [the raft] float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the
pipes, and dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things—we was always
naked, day and night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us" (19.4).
Floating down the middle of the river (and naked) just might be the only place this black man
and white boy can speak together as equals. And that makes it a pretty important symbol.
· Huck
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Huck, a symbol? We think so. Sure, he's a great, well-rounded character—but he could also
be seen as a symbol for America. (See Huck's "Character Analysis" for a few thoughts.)
Check out the very last line for some pretty convincing proof: "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" (43).
In the nineteenth century, there was a lot of mythology built up around the idea of the rugged
individual, the frontiersman or pioneer who was completely independent and self-sufficient,
and wasn't about the let the guv'mint tell him what to do. (For "guv'mint," read "Aunt Sally"
or "the Widow Douglas.") In other words, someone a lot like Huck: smart but uneducated; a
little wild but fundamentally honest and moral; and not too fond of table manners.
22

23. When Huck says he's got to "light out for the territory ahead of the rest," he's taking on the
role of the pioneer: heading out to new, untamed country. And we bet that as soon as it starts
getting "sivilized," he's going to head out looking for yet another frontier.
· Shakespeare
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Man, Twain loved the Bard. There the duke and king rehearsing on the boat with an odd
amalgamation (now there's a $5 word that just means "mix") of the greatest soliloquies of all
time in one totally messed-up speech, the unsuccessful performance in front of the
"uncivilized" folk of Arkansas, and the subsequent naked prancing about. (Not to mention the
Romeo and Juliet-esque debacle with the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords.)
So what's up with that?
Well, the duke and king are all wrapped up in their own sophistication. They think they're
just so worldly and clever. Of course, the joke is on them for being ignoramuses who use
words like "orgies" to talk about funeral rites (25). It's the same thing with the Shakespeare;
the duke thinks he knows what he's talking about, but he's really going around saying: "To be
or not to be; that is the bare bodkin" (21).
(Not up on your Hamlet? "To be or not to be" are the first words of the most famous
soliloquy in possibly the most famous Shakespeare play; check out the whole thing here. It's
worth it.)
All the references to Shakespeare might just be one way for Twain to make fun of the duke
and king's pretensions. But it's also a way for Twain to contrast the smart but uneducated
Huck with the duke and king—who think they're educated but actually turn out to be full of
hot air… and badly quoted Shakespeare.
 Character Analysis
· Huckleberry Finn
23

24. Huckleberry may have $6,000 and a laissez faire attitude toward showing up to school, but
we're not about to switch places with him. This is one kid with a serious ethical dilemma—
and we're not talking about that internal struggle over whether to download Game of Thrones
because your parents refuse to pay for HBO.
Is This Moral Compass Turned On?
To begin, the boy's trying to sort out about ten systems of conflicting rules. He has to decide
to what and whom he feels loyal: follow religion, or follow his gut instincts? Obey his father,
or obey the Widow? Listen to Tom, or listen to the Phelpses? Check out this little moral
dilemma:
Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back
some time; but the widow said it warn't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent
body would do it. Jim said he reckoned the widow was partly right and pap was partly right;
so the best way would be for us to pick out two or three things from the list and say we
wouldn't borrow them any more—then he reckoned it wouldn't be no harm to borrow the
others. So we talked it over all one night, drifting along down the river, trying to make up our
minds whether to drop the watermelons, or the cantelopes, or the mushmelons, or what. But
towards daylight we got it all settled satisfactory, and concluded to drop crabapples and
p'simmons. (12.9)
We've got at least three different sets of moral values here: Pap's, the Widow's, and Jim's.
And there's Huck in the middle, trying to decide which one is right. That's a lot harder than
waking up in the morning and going to school because your parents will ground you if you
don't.
And he doesn't take it lightly. Once he's decided the right thing to do, Huck does it—even if it
goes against society's code. Like, when he realizes that he was wrong to trick Jim (at one of
the many points he tricks Jim), he apologizes, even though it takes him "fifteen minutes" to
"work [himself] up to go humble himself" to a black man (15.49). So, even though we see
Huck do some questionable things (like lie, cheat, and prank his friends), we know he's an
upstanding kid.
H-E-Double Hockey Sticks
24

25. No wonder Huck takes these questions seriously: no matter how suspicious he is about
religion, he's a good Southern boy at heart, and he's been paying attention in Sunday School.
Wrong actions earn you a one-way, express ticket to hell, and not the metaphorical kind. The
literal kind. The "bad place" (1.6), where he's going to suffer all sorts of not-fun torments.
That's why his little moment of moral crisis is so important. Throughout the whole novel, he's
been struggling against his heart, which wants to treat Jim like a man; and his conscience,
which has been corrupted by the corrupt ethical system of his society into believing that Jim
is nothing more than a piece of portable property. He even goes so far as to write a letter
telling Miss Watson where to find Jim.
But he doesn't send it. Instead, he remember that Jim is a good friend who has continually
risked his life and freedom to save Huck—and he decides, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"
(31.34). He makes the right choice—even though he thinks it's the wrong choice, or the
wrong choice by the moral code that he's accustomed to.
Don't underestimate this. It's easy to say, "Oh, sure, of course Huck decided to do the right
thing." But in pre-Civil War Southern states, this would be like knowing your friend stole
your mom's sweet Lexus and helping him cover it up. Yeah, it's an ugly metaphor, but it was
an ugly time: slaves were often the most expensive "property" people owned. They were
incredibly valuable, particularly a strong, young man like Jim. Huck deserves major props
here.
What Would Tom Sawyer Do?
As you can probably tell from all these moments of moral scrutiny, Huck struggles a lot with
his sense of self. In the beginning of the novel, he oscillates between his comfort living in the
woods and his realization that, actually, gettin' civilized ain't so bad.
Once he's on the river, he survives by pretending to be other people. He's "George Peters"
when Mrs. Judith Loftus wants to think that he's an abused, runaway apprentice (11);
"George Jackson" when the Grangerfords ask "Who's there?" (17.6, 17.2); and Tom Sawyer
when Aunt Sally asks "It's you, at last!—ain't it?" (32.8). Talk about identity crisis: Huck
can't seem to make up his mind who he is, or who he wants to be.
25

26. One thing to notice is that, when he's lying about who he is, he tends to spin elaborate stories
about fake families, or inserting himself into already exiting families—like the Grangerfords.
And who does he pretend to be at the end of the story? His hero, Tom Sawyer.
Throughout the whole adventure, Huck's been thinking about Tom. "I did wish Tom Sawyer
was there" (7), he says; and "Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? …
He'd call it an adventure—that's what he'd call it; and he'd land on that wreck if it was his last
act" (12); and, "I reckoned Tom Sawyer couldn't 'a' done it no neater himself" (28). But why
does he want to be so much like Tom? Does he succeed? Does he change his mind when he
sees how Tom acts? And why doesn't he want to be himself?
Buck Nekkid
There is one place where Huck feels at home: out in nature. When he's out in the woods or on
the river, his folksy, questionably grammatical language becomes almost beautiful. Check it
out:
The sun was up so high when I waked that I judged it was after eight o'clock. I laid there in
the grass and the cool shade thinking about things, and feeling rested and ruther comfortable
and satisfied. I could see the sun out at one or two holes, but mostly it was big trees all
about, and gloomy in there amongst them. There was freckled places on the ground where
the light sifted down through the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little,
showing there was a little breeze up there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered
at me very friendly. (8.1)
The way Huck describes the woods, you can tell that this is where he belongs. Even the
squirrels are friendly to him. When he and Jim are hanging out by the river, they're "naked,
day and night, whenever the mosquitos would let [them]" (19.4).
And why does he love nature so much? It's the only place he can be "free and satisfied" (1.2).
We think there are a couple of things to note here:
(1) Out in nature, he and Jim are equal. They take care of each other, and there's no society
around to tell them that Tom is a free man while Jim is a slave. By making Huck so
comfortable in nature, Twain might be telling us that he knows what's up.
26

27. (2) When he's in nature, Huck feels "free and satisfied" (1.2). And you know how he runs off
to "Injun" country at the end of the book? Well, Twain might be making Huck into a symbol
of America: a little wild, a little rough around the edges, but always ready to push off into
new lands. (See our "Symbols" section for more on that.) This myth of rugged individualism
was super popular in the nineteenth century. But here's the question: does Twain approve of
it?
Or, by making the figure for rugged individualism a wild kid with questionable hygiene, is he
ever-so-slightly making fun of it?
BFFs
One last thing: Huck is a good friend. If Tom Sawyer were our bud, we'd get pretty sick of
his harebrained talk about adventures and genies, particularly if we'd just finished a weeks-long
actual adventure, one with actual robbers. Not Huck. Huck still looks up to and admires
Tom.
And then there's Jim. Huck may prank Jim, and may make fun of his superstition, but in the
end he does the right thing. The fact that a boy growing up in the pre-Civil War South is able
to think of a black slave as his friend shows that Huck, more than anyone else in the story, is
a good friend—and a good person.
· Jim
Character Analysis
Jim is a slave. For most people living in the pre-Civil War South, that's about all there is to
know. Who cares about a slave's motivations, or character, or background, or feelings? It
would be like trying to psychoanalyze your family pet—or not even, since that's apparently a
thing that exists.
But Twain is smarter than that—and so is Huck, eventually. Jim is every bit as complex a
character as Huck is, and maybe even more. So what makes him tick?
Friends Forever
27

28. Well, for one, loyalty. Jim sees Huck as the only "white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to
ole Jim" (16.16), and Jim repays him: he shelters Huck from seeing his dead father; he lets
Huck sleep through his watch, staying up all night to keep lookout ("he often done that" (23),
says Huck); and practically dancing a jig when he realizes that Huck actually is alive. "It's too
good for true, honey, it's too good for true," he says: "Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o'
you" (15.19).
Just for contrast, check out the way Huck's own father greets him after not having seen him
for a year: "You think you're a good deal of a big-bug, don't you" [5.4]. Warms your heart,
doesn't it? Jim may not exactly be a father figure to Huck, but he's doing a much better job
looking out for him than Pap is.
Jim's loyalty extends to Huck's friends, too. When the doctor is operating on Tom Sawyer
after the boy's been shot, Jim pops out of his hiding place to help save the kid, risking his
own life and (he thinks) giving up his hard-earned freedom.
The Magic Hairball
For all his practical street smarts—or, uh, river smarts, Jim has a superstition for every
occasion. Cooking dinner? Don't count your food. See a snakeskin? Don't touch it. Bit by a
rattlesnake? Kill it, roast it, and eat the meat. (Tastes like chicken.) Oh, and tie the rattles
around your wrist. Got a big hairball? Use it to tell fortunes.
This may all sound a little silly, but is it any sillier than Miss Watson's religion, which will
send you straight to hell if you slouch? Or Aunt Sally, who thinks that spirits must have
stolen Jim away? Or Huck himself, who wants to throw salt over his left shoulder when he
pills it?
We think not. Jim is a product of his time. Sure, maybe he's a little goofier and more
committed to these superstitions than Huck or Tom. But can he help it? He's a slave. He was
never sent to school or coerced into going to church. In fact, Jim might actually smarter than
Huck, or at least has more natural smarts. Huck may think he's silly not to know that some
people speak languages other than English, but, come on, he has a point: why do people
speak so many different languages?
28

29. Family Man
So, we know that Jim is loyal, and we know that he's superstitious. But what does he want?
What makes Jim run away, when we really get the impression that he's basically okay with
being enslaved?
Family.
He finds out that Miss Watson is planning to sell him down to New Orleans, where he'd be
separated from his family. And Jim loves his family. Huck is a little surprised by this,
actually, saying, "I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for
their'n. It don't seem natural, but I reckon it's so" (23).
Uh, okay, Huck.
But the point is, Jim loves his family. We never see him interact with them—although we do
see a sort of disturbing incident where he smacks around his deaf daughter, although, to be
fair, he didn't know she was deaf—but, based on the way he treats Huck, we're going to guess
that he's a pretty good dad.
In the end, Jim gets what he wants: freedom. He also gets the respect of the white folks, who
say, like Huck, that he's a "good" black man.
· Uncle Tom
And that brings us to our final point. Is Jim an "Uncle Tom" character? Uncle Tom is a
character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (shock!). He's a gentle, childlike
slave who's totally loyal to his white masters. So, to call someone an "uncle tom" is an insult.
Basically, it's like calling someone a brownnoser or a suck up, except, well, worse.
So, Jim. Is Jim unrealistically helpful to Huck? Is his gentleness and nature-smarts a way of
making him seem primitive and simpler than the white guys? Or is Twain actually just trying
to show that a black man can be a complex character?
· Tom Sawyer
Character Analysis
29

30. We first met Tom in Mark Twain's previous book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Tom Sawyer is Huck's good friend, introduced in a previous book by Mark Twain, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer. And he is—well, he's basically like any pre-teen kid who spends
his time reading adventure novels or too many comic books. He's imaginative, mischievous,
and totally, hilariously, impractical.
Birds of a Feather
Maybe Huck admires Tom because they're so different. Sure, Tom has a stable home and a
good upbringing (a "character to lose" [33.21], as Huck puts it), but he's different from Huck
in other ways. Where Tom is imaginative, Huck is practical. Where Tom always has his nose
in a book, Huck runs away to the river or woods when he needs to escape. Where Tom is
basically a good-hearted kid who's oblivious to moral issues, Huck is a boy on the verge of
becoming a man by grappling with some really important questions.
And Huck definitely has a little bit of a man-crush on Tom. Huck wishes he could come up
with a story as good as Tom's, or come up with a plan as good as Tom's. Why? Maybe
because Huck seems that Tom has all the things he doesn't: "here was a boy that was
respectable and well brung up; and had a character to lose; and folks at home that had
characters; and he was bright and not leather-headed; and knowing and not ignorant; and not
mean, but kind; and yet here he was, without any more pride, or rightness, or feeling, than to
stoop to this business, and make himself a shame, and his family a shame, before everybody"
(33.21).
So, respectability, a good upbringing, character, intelligence, kindness: we'll admit it, that's
pretty impressive. But it's not everything. In the end, Tom lacks the most important thing:
moral rightness.
Adventure Stories
Miss Watson can't see things clearly because her religion teaches her false principles (like,
black people should be enslaved). Jim is hopeless, because his system of superstition is a
complete fantasy. But Tom has his own fantastical system of rules leading him astray:
literature.
30

31. He's always trying to do things the way they're done in books, like starting a "band of
robbers" and making everyone write their names in blood (2.10). When Huck comes up with
completely logical and honestly kind of easy ways to free Jim (like, lift up the bed and slip
the chain off), Tom rolls his eyes: "Why, hain't you ever read any books at all?… Who ever
heard of getting a prisoner loose in such an old-maidy way as that?" (35.6).
And it may be just a game to Tom, but remember: this whole time, Tom knows perfectly well
that Jim is actually a free man. Tim is supposed to be the well-brought up kid with good
principles and a solid conscience, but he lets Jim suffer for days, using him to act out some
adventure fantasy he read in a book.
· The Duke and The King
Character Analysis
Sorry to disappoint you, but these aren't a real Duke and King. Nope. They're conmen who
team up to bilk the gullible people of more than one riverside town.
Of the two, the king is definitely the worst. In the first con the two men pull, the duke steals a
measly nine bucks—not even enough for a pizza. The king, on the other hand, pretends to be
a preacher in order to steal a whole $80.
Not too cool.
Okay, but other than being examples of What Not to Do, the duke and king have two
important roles in the novel: (1) they're like a bizzaro-world version of Huck and Jim; and (2)
they're a major part of Huck's maturation.
Friends For… Ever?
Let's look at bizzaro-world, first. When the duke and king first meet, they consider conning
each other and then decide that they'd be better off teaming up:
Like as not we got to be together a blamed long time on this h-yer raft, Bilgewater, and so
what's the use o' your bein' sour? It 'll only make things on-comfortable. It ain't my fault I
warn't born a duke, it ain't your fault you warn't born a king—so what's the use to worry?
Make the best o' things the way you find 'em, says I—that's my motto. This ain't no bad thing
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32. that we've struck here—plenty grub and an easy life—come, give us your hand, duke, and le's
all be friends. (19.47)
So, first, we get the sense again that the duke has the high moral ground in the this pair;
second, we learn that these guys aren't pairing up out of loyalty or friendship, but for "plenty
grub and an easy life." In other words, we wouldn't bet on this team in The Amazing Race.
Fun and… Games?
At first, Huck is having a grand old time. No rules, no sitting up straight, and definitely no
Sunday School. Soon enough, he starts to wonder if maybe life on the lam isn't so great after
all, especially when the king and duke start trying to cheat the pretty Mary Jane out of her
inheritance.
And when the duke and king end up tarred and feathered, Huck realizes that he's probably
going to better off staying on the right side of the law. And that's a lesson worthy of royalty.
· Pap
Character Analysis
Sure, Huck's father Pap may be an ignorant, abusive, alcoholic racist who beats his son and
extorts whiskey money from him, but he's not all bad. He's got some really redeeming
qualities—like…
Like…
Okay, we lied. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and we don't really feel sorry that
he removes himself from Huck's life entirely by dying. But at least it's easy to figure out Pap's
motivations: he wants whiskey. And really, this is about all you need to know about Pap. He's
an addict. He'll do anything to get more whiskey, including lying, stealing, and abusing his
son. (As if you needed a cautionary tale about late-stage alcoholism.) He's so addicted to
alcohol that he lies around drunk in the pigpen and has delirium tremens-induced fits of
hallucinations.
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33. When the new town judge tries to reform him, Pap is so un-reform-able that the judge
changes his mind about the ultimate good of human nature and declares that there are some
men you can only reform with a shotgun. Is Pap proof that no one can change? Or is he just a
man in the grip of a terrible addiction?
Fit for the Pigs
The drinking is bad enough, but that's not even the worst of it. The worst is that Pap is a
willfully ignorant racist. He doesn't want Huck to learn anything, saying "You've put on
considerable many frills since I been away… You're educated, too, they say—can read and
write. You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?" (5.6). In other
words, he's jealous because his son knows more than he does. Some dad, right?
And it's not just his son. He can't handle the idea of black people knowing more than he does,
either:
here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had
the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town
that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed
cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think?
They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed
everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well,
that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just
about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there
was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never
vote agin. (6.11)
Pap is so outraged that a black person is (1) educated, (2) well-dressed, and (3) allowed to
participate in the political process that he just refuses to vote.
· The Widow Douglas
Character Analysis
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34. We don't see much of the Widow Douglass, but we get the feeling she's a nice lady. She takes
Huck under her wing and promises to civilize him, which maybe not be what he wants but,
by the standards of society, is a pretty nice offer.
Even though Huck doesn't much like getting "sivilized," he has nothing but praise for the
Widow: she's "regular and decent" (1.2), she makes Miss Watson lay off him (1.6), and she
doesn't lay into him when he fouls up his clothes. She even says that he's "coming along slow
but sure, and doing very satisfactory… she warn't ashamed of me" (4.2).
We don't learn much about the Widow Douglas as an individual. She's a type: she's basically
kind, mostly caring, and 100% committed to following the rules of society, from table
manners to church-going to slave-owning. But is that good enough for Huck? Is it good
enough for Twain?
· Miss Watson
Character Analysis
Miss Watson is Widow Douglas's sister, "a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles [glass]"
(1.6). And she means well. (We guess.) But if Widow Douglas represents the good parts of
civilization, Miss Watson is the bad parts. The nagging parts. The slave-owning parts.
She's got a whole list of rules for Huck, including:
"Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry"; and "Don't scrunch up like that, Huckleberry—
set up straight"; and pretty soon she would say, "Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry
—why don't you try to behave?" (1.6).
In the end, though, Miss Watson's conscience pricks her just a little too hard, and she sets Jim
free in her will. Does this redeem her? Can we blame her for wanting to sell Jim, or is she just
a product of her time?
· The Grangerfords
Character Analysis
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35. We might as well be talking about Scarlett O'Hara, because The Grangerford clan is Twain's
example of a traditional aristocratic family living in the pre-Civil War South. They're
extremely wealthy: each family member has his or her own personal servant; their house is
huge and beautiful; and they own a ton of land with over a hundred slaves (we're thinking
they live on a plantation). Check out this description of their house:
It didn't have an iron latch on the front door, nor a wooden one with a buckskin string, but a
brass knob to turn, the same as houses in town. There warn't no bed in the parlor, nor a sign
of a bed; but heaps of parlors in towns has beds in them. There was a big fireplace that was
bricked on the bottom, and the bricks was kept clean and red by pouring water on them and
scrubbing them with another brick; sometimes they wash them over with red water-paint that
they call Spanish-brown, same as they do in town. They had big brass dog-irons that could
hold up a saw-log. There was a clock on the middle of the mantelpiece, with a picture of a
town painted on the bottom half of the glass front, and a round place in the middle of it for
the sun, and you could see the pendulum swinging behind it. (17)
Translation? This is one sweet pad. And when Huck stumbles into their lives, the
Grangerfords treat him with the utmost hospitality and care… but only after they discern he
has nothing to do with "the Shepherdsons."
Oh yeah, that. The Grangerford family may be pleasant and respectable, but they live in a
world of fear and hate. They've had a hardcore feud going on with the nearby Shepherdson
clan for about thirty years, and each family is intent on killing off the other, one by one, until
no one's left standing. Even Buck Grangerford, a boy around Huck's age, has violence on his
mind all the time.
It ends, as you can probably guess, tragically. (Buck explains feuds: "by and by everybody's
killed off, and there ain't no more feud" [18].) What's up with this family? Well, just like
slavery, not all traditions should be respected. The South may have nice houses and great
sweet tea, but it also has some nasty history.
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36. · Buck Grangerford
Character Analysis
Move over, Tom: Huck has a new BFF. Buck and Huck become pals the second they meet,
partly because Buck's a friendly guy:
Say, how long are you going to stay here? You got to stay always. We can just have booming
times—they don't have no school now. Do you own a dog? I've got a dog—and he'll go in the
river and bring out chips that you throw in. Do you like to comb up Sundays, and all that
kind of foolishness? You bet I don't, but ma she makes me. Confound these ole britches! I
reckon I'd better put 'em on, but I'd ruther not, it's so warm. Are you all ready? All right.
Come along, old hoss. (17)
Talk about welcoming. They're so comfortable together that Buck doesn't even wear pants.
He and Huck are both adventurous (and a little violent—Buck likes to carry a gun), so Huck
is especially devastated by Buck's death. The fact that they were the same age only makes the
loss of his new friend all the more personal. Did you notice that the two boys' names rhyme?
We're pretty sure that's not a coincidence. Huck and Buck have a sort of "long lost twin"
relationship. Huck sees in Buck what his life could have been like, had he been born into a
wealthy family. And he might be better off as a half-civilized river boy.
· Aunt Polly
Character Analysis
Tom's Aunt Polly doesn't make her grand entrance until the very end of the novel, but that
woman has awesome timing (check out Chapter 42; we can't do it justice). Although she's
around a lot more in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly shows us that she's one sharp
lady in her one Huckleberry Finn scene. She's "slow and severe" (42), but she's definitely a
strong character. There's no fooling her, probably because she's had to deal with Tom's
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37. shenanigans for years. As she says, "I reckon I hain't raised such a scamp as my Tom all these
years not to know him when I see him" (42).
· Silas and Sally Phelps
Character Analysis
Small world: the king (who? check out his "Character Analysis") just so happens to sell Jim
to Tom's aunt and uncle.
Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas are good-natured and hospitable southern folk with lots of kids.
The two fall for a bunch of Tom and Huck's lies, but they also have honest intentions and big
hearts.
Here's Sally:
She grabbed me and hugged me tight; and then gripped me by both hands and shook and
shook; and the tears come in her eyes, and run down over; and she couldn't seem to hug and
shake enough, and kept saying, "You don't look as much like your mother as I reckoned you
would; but law sakes, I don't care for that, I'm so glad to see you! Dear, dear, it does seem
like I could eat you up! Children, it's your cousin Tom!—tell him howdy." (32.10)
And here's Silas:
That's all he said. He was the innocentest, best old soul I ever see. But it warn't surprising;
because he warn't only just a farmer, he was a preacher, too, and had a little one-horse log
church down back of the plantation, which he built it himself at his own expense, for a
church and schoolhouse, and never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it,
too. There was plenty other farmer-preachers like that, and done the same way, down South.
(33.26)
Don't these seem like nice folks? They're hospitable, too. When Sally sees Tom (playing
"Sid") coming down the road, she says "Why, I do believe it's a stranger… put on another
plate for dinner" (33). She doesn't even wait to find out who it is to start feeding him. Talk
about Southern hospitality!
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38. Unfortunately, they also embrace the South's tradition of slavery. So we're left feeling a little
confused. Are they good people, corrupted by a bad society? Or are they fundamentally bad,
unable to see how wrong it is to own another person?
· The Shepherdsons
Character Analysis
We don't know much about the Shepherdson family other than the fact that they are the rival
clan of Huck's adoptive family, the Grangerfords. The Shepherdson plantation is about five
miles away from the Grangerford pad, but evidently, that's still too close for comfort. The
two families share the same steamboat landing as well as the same church—the one place
where they can peacefully co-exist, albeit with their guns locked and loaded resting between
their knees.
Despite all the hatred, the Grangerfords genuinely respect the Shepherdsons. "There ain't a
coward amongs them Shepherdsons" (17), Huck says. But when Harney Shepherdson, one of
the clan's studly sons, runs away with Sophia Grangerford one night, that mutual respect
doesn't stop the families' violent hatred from claiming many lives on both sides. (You may
also want to check out what we have to say about The Grangerfords.)
· Colonel Sherburn and Boggs
Character Analysis
Sherburn and Boggs are only in the story for a short time, and neither has anything to do with
the overall plot of the novel. What gives, Mr. Twain? Well, we think they illustrate two
common types of men in the antebellum South.
First, there's Boggs. He's the town drunk, and though he's belligerent, everyone in the town
believes him to be 100% harmless. As one of the townspeople says, "He don't mean nothing;
he's always a-carryin' on like that when he's drunk. He's the best naturedest old fool in
Arkansaw—never hurt nobody, drunk nor sober" (21.40). Evidently he rumbles into town
every once in a while and picks somebody to threaten. On this particular trip he's chosen
Colonel Sherburn—oops.
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39. Sherburn doesn't entertain Boggs's drunken lectures, and ends up shooting Boggs dead. The
bystanders form a mob and migrate over to Sherburn's house, in attempt to lynch him. But
Sherburn calmly faces them, and delivers the most articulate speech of the novel. Here's how
it starts:
The idea of you lynching anybody! It's amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck
enough to lynch a man! Because you're brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out
women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your
hands on a man? Why, a man's safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind—as long as it's
daytime and you're not behind him. (22.6)
It goes on from there—you should really read the whole thing. Basically, he's undermining
the whole myth of Southern bravery. So why did Twain decide to include this speech in the
novel? Was this a speech Twain himself felt like making? Is Sherburn supposed to represent
a true Southern gentleman of honor, while most of the population has devolved into
embarrassing riffraff?
· Judge Thatcher
Character Analysis
Judge Thatcher and Widow Douglass are the dynamic duo fighting for Huck's safety and
well-being at the start of the novel. The judge is super-respectable and seems like an all-around
good guy. At the end of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer (this novel's prequel), the
judge takes the money that Huck and Tom found during their adventures and invests it for
them, so they'll earn as much interest as possible.
Judge Thatcher and Huck have a father-son relationship, and when Huck gets worried
something bad is about to happen to him, he literally runs to the judge and tries to make the
judge take his money. Judge Thatcher won't have any of that, though; he "studied awhile" and
then comes up with a way to let Huck keep the money while protecting it from Pap (4.16).
This says a lot, since most of the other characters in the book would take the money and
sprint away in the opposite direction.
Besides taking care of Huck's money issues, the judge tries to gain custody of Huck when
Pap proves to be an incapable father. Go judge!
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40. · The Wilks Family
Character Analysis
The Wilks family is the target of one of the duke and the king's most conniving scams. The
two cons learn from a local young man that Peter Wilks, a fairly wealthy local tanner, has just
passed away. Peter Wilks's nieces—Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna (who Huck refers to as
"the hare-lip")—are about to inherit the family estate, since their mom and dad (who was
Peter's brother) passed away the year before.
Peter had been hoping to see his other two brothers, William and Harvey, before he died, but
they hadn't yet arrived from England. The duke and the king, being the con-men
extraordinaires that they are, decide to pose as the two missing brothers in attempt to steal the
family's riches.
Unfortunately for the cons, the Wilks ladies are very likeable, lovely young women, and
Huck just can't stand by and let the duke and king take the girls' money. Huck grows
especially fond of Mary Jane, the oldest of the group. She's "awful beautiful" (25.5), and
"handsome" (25), and basically Huck has a giant crush on her. Her compassion for her
family's slaves has a big impact on Huck's ethical questioning.
· The Wilks Family
Character Analysis
The Wilks family is the target of one of the duke and the king's most conniving scams. The
two cons learn from a local young man that Peter Wilks, a fairly wealthy local tanner, has just
passed away. Peter Wilks's nieces—Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna (who Huck refers to as
"the hare-lip")—are about to inherit the family estate, since their mom and dad (who was
Peter's brother) passed away the year before.
Peter had been hoping to see his other two brothers, William and Harvey, before he died, but
they hadn't yet arrived from England. The duke and the king, being the con-men
extraordinaires that they are, decide to pose as the two missing brothers in attempt to steal the
family's riches.
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41. Unfortunately for the cons, the Wilks ladies are very likeable, lovely young women, and
Huck just can't stand by and let the duke and king take the girls' money. Huck grows
especially fond of Mary Jane, the oldest of the group. She's "awful beautiful" (25.5), and
"handsome" (25), and basically Huck has a giant crush on her. Her compassion for her
family's slaves has a big impact on Huck's ethical questioning.
 Figurative Language
In this book, Twain does not use much figurative language since he is limited by the use of
Huck as the narrator. Because Huck is the narrator, it would not make sense to use too much
figurative language since that would be like expecting an uncivilized adolescent to use a lot
of figurative language in his speech. However, there are some cases of figurative language.
Twain gives an example of a metaphor during one of Jim’s talks with Huck. Jim says, “... en
trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head or dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed.” Jim
compares trash with the people who play tricks on their friends.
Twain does use many similes throughout the book, especially during descriptive passages.
For example, he said of the duke and king that they “slept like dead people.”
Twain rarely uses personification in this work. But occasionally applies it to steam boats.
Once saying that it was, “shining like red-hot teeth.”
There are many allusions to other works in Huck Finn. Early in the book, he alludes to the
story of Moses and the Bullrushers. He also alludes to Twain’s earlier work, Tom Sawyer.
Also during the plays of the duke and king, he alludes, to Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.
 Moral Values
The morals values that we can get from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
novel are:
1. Sincerity, We think that by Jim's actions we do learn about him. Jim is probably the
only truly loyal and "nice" character in the book. There is a sense of innocence about
him that the other characters, including Huck, do not posses. We think Twain meant
to create this character and certainly pulled it off. Jim had a sincerity about him that
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42. could not be faked. He loved Huck for who he was. When Jim sees Huck's dead pap
on the floating house, he doesn't tell Huck out of concern for him. Jim was loyal to
Huck throughout the story. It was a loyalty based on friendship rather than colour or
social norms.
2. Be a Good Person, We can be as Huck who believes that when he lies or steals in
order to do good, he still will be sent to hell.
3. Togetherness, as a human being we should help each other or at least we can send a
pray to them who are in need like what Huck had done in the novel he prays for those
who are in need, such as the daughters of the dead man.
CHAPTER 3
CLOSING
A. Conclusion
Many people treat Huck Finn as real character, like Tom Sawyer. Actually he is
fiction character Mark Twain, who is 12 to 13 years old, and at the first time appear in the
adventure of Tom Sawyer, and then the position is up become the main character in the
adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
So, why Huck Finn can be really real ? it’s because Mark Twain always creates character in
his book based on that is experienced by him in daily life. Huck Finn is character that is inspired from
Tom Blankenship, son of a sawyer that live near Mississippi river. Mark Twain clear call this in his
autobiography : “Through Huckleberry Finn, I paint Tom Blankenship seems like objective.
He is cool, dirty, and thin, but he has heart that really kind.
One thing that can’t be denied is brave characteristic, plainness, and freedom Huck Funn
when he adventured. A world of boy that is created by Mark Twain that very explorative, full of new
things that challenge and surprising, which is finally inspire and become true story asset of millions
of boys around the world.
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43. This novel is interesting to be read. Novel with many themes which can decide has 8
themes, it shows that how the wide the story of this novel. Which is all of themes are
appropriate decided become the theme of this novel.
RFERENCES
http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/examcentre_sc.asp?id=415
http://www.collegetermpapers.com/TermPapers/English/Morality_of_Huckleberry_Finn.html
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/study-guide/short-summary/
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