The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy's coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800's. Themain character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floatingdown the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim.Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town ofSt. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolutefreedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid muchattention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck isnot used to following any rules. The book's opening finds Huck living withthe Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly oldand are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like HuckFinn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe willbe a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to "sivilize"him. This process includes...