Huckleberry Finn Flaws

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is an adored novel by many Americans today. Many consider this novel to be the greatest american novel, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since( Ernest Hemingway).” Many Americans as well as critics, tend to overlook the flaws this book contains. This novel is still of great importance in American literature; however it cannot be considered the fundamental document of American culture. Although it is well written, its flaws hinders it from being as great as it is perceived. The overlooked flaws in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; inhibit the …show more content…
To Huck and Jim the river offers a place of refuge for both of the characters; it allows for them to get away from society and its inhabitants. For them the river was their serenity, “Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time... It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss...” (118 Twain). The river may have symbolized freedom, hope, and independence for Huck and Finn, but in reality the river was quite flawed. For one the river is actually flowing in the opposite direction for which they were attempting to go. In the story, Huck and Jim were following the Mississippi river up North to Cairo, Illinois. They followed the current of the river, with little knowledge that they were going the wrong way, all in all never actually arriving in Cairo. Jane Smiley, reinforces this stance in her critique of Huckleberry Finn, she states, “it never really was about making it to Cairo and gaining their freedom but about the adventure and journey that would make a great story.”(6 Smiley).Another flaw that the river contained was the distractions that surrounded it. These distractions include characters such as the king, the duke, and the burglars. The use of these characters caused confusion as well as took away from the story itself. Although, the river played a critical aspect …show more content…
Huck is raised in a society where slaves are devalued and perceived as lesser than.Slaves were property to be owned, who couldn’t think for themselves, not actual humans with feelings and thoughts (Gradesaver). This mentality that Huck has can be seen through the numerous childish pranks he pulls on Jim. In one incident on Jackson’s Island, Huck decides to hide a snake in Jim’s blanket and the snake’s mate came and ended up biting Jim. Huck played this trick on Jim out of amusement ,“I curled him up on the foot of Jim’s blanket, ever so natural, thinking there’d be some fun when Jim found him there.” (Twain 63). In another incident, Huck and get separated in the fog searching for Cairo, Illinois. Huck in the canoe became separated from Jim in the raft, and once he located Jim he climbed aboard. Huck decides to play another prank on Jim, this time he decided to lie and make Jim believe he had dreamt the whole situation up. This particular lie shows, how Huck believed that Jim was unintelligent, naive, and gullible enough to think that none of it ever occurred and he had imagined it all. This idea that Jim isn’t as intelligent as Huck continues throughout the novel. At one point in the novel, Huck is telling the tale of King Solomon and Jim has a difficult time understanding and comprehending the story. Soon enough Huck Finn becomes quite frustrated by Jim's incomprehension, he states,