Huckleberry Finn

I'm not really sure this book was what I was exactly "looking for." Granted I did enjoy it, it was not exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting the novel to be just a boring, slow read. It definately was a slow read, but it was not as boring as I expected. I will say, though, that the first four or five chapters were the most boring. I think the book also just took off pretty much right where Tom Sawyer ended. At the beginning, the connection Huck shared with Jim is not something you'd see everyday. To me, it seemed to be just, very, dull sort of relationship. Further into the book, towards the end, it seemed to be a very sharper connection and the relationship seemed to have grown throughout the book, even though it wasn't very blunt.

There were several questions that crossed my mind throughout the book. Some of which include; 1. Does Huck smoke on a regular basis? It seemed to me as though he did, yet he was so young; granted, I know it was a whole different era in time and a whole different culture. 2. In the scene at the beginning where Huck and Tom are creeping around trying not to awake Jim, is Jim outside like on "nightwatch" or something? 3. Does the word 'reckon' have several different meanings as did not really occur in Tom Sawyer? It seemed that these three questions in particular kept crossing my mind at different parts, all throughout the story.

I think this book is a very good, useful example of like in the South at earlier times. I know we often hear and learn about slavery, life in the South, but, I don't think we get to hear it from a young boy's point of view very often. I think Mark Twain does an excellent job of this - he really seems to know how to put things into perspective. To be honest, I did not see this type of writing and level of writing shine through Tom Sawyer. I also didn't see the relationship between Huck and Tom to be the same as it was in Tom Sawyer. It seemed like in Tom Sawyer, Tom was in charge, and here, it seems like Huck is in charge. I am wondering if this has to do with who narrates. I also love how Twain states that those readers who try to seek a moral will be punnished. I don't really remember seeing this in Tom Saywer. It also seems like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer made Huck seem pretty dumb and not very clever. The Adventures of Huck Finn seem to show the exact oppostie. The novel doesn't seem to show that Tom is dumb, but show that Huck is clever and Tom follows. I agree with Mrs. Jesik that Huck does a very good job of staying strong considering everything he endured throughout the book. Thinking about this makes me really begin to feel as I'm in the book right there with them. I have to take a step back and realize that he is a character as well as is his "father."

In general, I gained a new perspective for authors, such as Mark Twain, that I would not read their books on my own time. Before I read this book, I thought these type of authors were just lame and boring. Now, I think they were really trying to get certain points across and they do an excellent job of this. Southern literature used to not interest me one bit, but I think I am starting to get used to the idea and I want to read more books from these types of authors. I look forward to reading the next book so I can compare in my own head the two authors.(: