Difference between revisions of "Huckleberry Finn"
(probably the easiest anti-slavery novel for white people to read) |
(village truant Huckleberry "Huck" Finn runs away - so does slave Jim) |
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''Huckleberry Finn'' is probably the easiest anti-slavery novel for white people to read. It is entertaining and has long been a favorite of children. It has been made into movies half a dozen times. | ''Huckleberry Finn'' is probably the easiest anti-slavery novel for white people to read. It is entertaining and has long been a favorite of children. It has been made into movies half a dozen times. | ||
| − | The story has village truant | + | The story has village truant Huckleberry "Huck" Finn (friend of the hero of ''[[Tom Sawyer]]'' run away to avoid beatings by his drunken father. |
| + | Huck teams up with Jim, a slave who runs away to avoid being sold South. | ||
The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being". | The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being". | ||
Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" as risk "going to hell" to save him makes is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery. | Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" as risk "going to hell" to save him makes is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery. | ||
Revision as of 16:25, May 26, 2007
Huckleberry Finn is probably the easiest anti-slavery novel for white people to read. It is entertaining and has long been a favorite of children. It has been made into movies half a dozen times.
The story has village truant Huckleberry "Huck" Finn (friend of the hero of Tom Sawyer run away to avoid beatings by his drunken father.
Huck teams up with Jim, a slave who runs away to avoid being sold South. The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being".
Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" as risk "going to hell" to save him makes is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery.