Yes. Let’s look at the the requirements that our class has set up for a Great American Novel and find some examples from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
American Content: The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Missouri in the 1850’s. Slavery is still a major industry and it is a major aspect of this novel. It is what drives the two major characters, Huck Finn and a slave Jim, in many of the encounters they have on their journey down the Mississippi River. The many times where Huck needs to lie to authorities and other people about who he is traveling with and the dialogue between them perfectly encapsulates the identity of some people who had lived in that place and time period. Jim was a runaway slave who Huck became friends with and eventually decided to help him escape to freedom which spoke to the growing movement to end slavery.
Style: The book is written by one of the most acclaimed authors of all time, Mark Twain. He no doubt is a fantastic writer and was able to get the reader to become in engaged with the characters throughout the book like no other. The book takes place in first person from Huck’s perspective which allows the reader to see Huck grow as a person and his feelings for the other characters in the book change as the story goes on. This book kept me engaged from beginning to end and I have no doubt that many others feel the same.
Relevancy: Aside from the story of freeing a slave this story is about freedom. In the beginning of the novel Huck is going to school and being civilized. He is not a fan of this. After his father returns to town and essentially kidnaps him, Huck finds this as an opportunity to start his adventure. He journeys down the Mississippi River with Jim and they steal, lie, run with other criminals. They try to free Jim and they involve themselves with a classic family feud. Huck has no shortage of adventure in this story and in the end it is believed that he moves west instead of being adopted by a nice family as he knew that kind of life was not what he wanted or needed. This is a story that can be told over and over and though Huck didn’t use his freedom in the best ways in the beginning he found out who he wanted to be and who he was. Everyone wants freedom and everyone wants to know who they are and this story will be able to encourage those urges for years to come.
Characterization: As discussed the characters are very well developed from the eyes of Huck. But Huck is the one who has the most apparent and important changes. He first leaves his father’s to simply run and seek adventure. He found Jim and didn’t think much about it but throughout the novel he struggles with the societal belief that Jim is nothing but a slave and he has no reason to help him and whether or not he should help Jim find his own freedom. Huck eventually decides that the right thing to do is to free Jim from slavery and he stops at nothing to help his friend.
Limitations: This book fits our class’s limitations that we set on a Great American Novel. Mark Twain is American and it is a fictional story.
Content: This novel is extremely well written and its message will be stick for many years to come.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is definitely a Great American Novel and I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to understand the dialogue and themes throughout the novel.
Great American Novels 2020 