Back to the Classics Challenge: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I chose Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for my 19th Century Classic.

This book was hard for me to read. I know that Mark Twain meant well, but advocacy in 1885 sounds like racism and paternalism in 2015. Huck’s attitude towards Jim, alternately treating him as an intelligent animal or a young child, hurts my heart. The humor is often at Jim’s expense, and he’s rarely shown as a true man, although those scenes are particularly moving. Though Jim has a happy enough ending for the time period, it is hard to celebrate.

Huckleberry Finn is satire, so the story is operating on two levels. Superficially, it’s about adventures of the sensational drunken father, feuds, and frauds variety which aren’t my cup of tea. Jason remembered several of the humorous chapters from when he read it in high school and cracked up describing them to me, so it’s my problem, not the book. I can see why some of the adaptations have completely eliminated the escaped slave plot line and played up the boy adventure aspect. It spoils Twain’s original intent, but it makes for a less challenging book/movie/play. As a satire, it’s painful to see the ignorance, prejudice, and just plain meanness in society. I like my biting social commentary to provide some answers to life’s perplexing questions, not just expose them for the world to gape at without any hope of redemption. I felt the same way about Gulliver’s Travels, so Finn is further confirmation that satire isn’t a genre I enjoy.

For me, this is a “take your medicine” book. It is well worth the effort of reading, shows how far we’ve come (and how far we have to go), and has funny moments, but I don’t think I’ll reread it again for entertainment.