The Southern dialect dialog keeps this picaresque classic
from being a fast read, and I think now it might work better as an
audiobook. Still, I plodded my way
through and enjoyed the irony, humor, and adventure that his book offers. Why on earth did we read this as kids, aside
from the fact that the title character is a 14-year-old boy? Jim, a runaway slave, has in his head a
gazillion superstitions, and Huck seems to run afoul of all of them, courting
bad luck at every turn and never knowing when the bad luck has ended. The escapades of Huck, Tom, Jim, and two
despicable con men are often silly, but sometimes the results are dire. This novel has quite a bit of violence,
including a murder in cold blood and a family feud that practically wipes out
both sides, with neither family really sure about the origin of their
disagreement. After a particularly
deadly encounter, the families attend a church service in which the sermon’s
message is brotherly love! Their animosity,
juxtaposed with their fundamentalist religion, would seem ridiculously
hypocritical if it didn’t hit so close to home for so many disputes today and
throughout history. On the lighter side,
Hamlet’s soliloquy is hilariously misquoted and interleaved with passages from
Macbeth and possibly other works, for
all I know. Ultimately, though, this is
a story of the bond that develops between Huck and Jim. Huck’s sense of right and wrong is constantly
challenged, due to his misguided conviction that the right thing to do is to
return Jim to his owner. However, his
loyalty to Jim and his doubt that he is destined for heaven anyway cause him to
act on Jim’s behalf time and again.
These two naïve souls have each other’s back, protecting one another
both physically and emotionally.
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