The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

     In English class we are currently reading Huck Finn. I was kind of predisposed to disliking this book because of the simple fact that I was being forced to read it. But it turns out that I don't dislike it. It's not the best book I've ever read by a long shot, but it's also not half-bad for that dreadful thing known as a "classic". The fact that I'm forced to read it at a specific pace makes it less enjoyable, but I've found that while I don't look forward to reading Huck Finn, I also don't dread it, like I did Macbeth. And I've come to realize that once I've sat down and actually started to read it, I read it pretty fast and by the end of the chapters I have to read, I'm actually sort of kind of enjoying it. Not enough to read past the required number of chapters, but still. What I like about Huck Finn is that it's told in the first person, unlike most classics, and its characters aren't pretentious, unlike most classics, and its language is understandable, unlike most classics. I like the informality of Huck Finn and I like that Huck is actually a character that one could relate to. He is faced with a tough decision- whether or not to listen to what society is telling him about helping a runaway slave. Society tells him that what he's doing is bad- worthy of death- and yet something in Huck allows him to see the humanity and friendship in Jim and allows him to make the decision time and time again to continue to stick by him and help him. He knows that what he is doing is wrong (at least by his society's ideas) but he does it anyway. Today, we look at Huck and think "Why wouldn't you help a fugitive slave?" but back then, the question was just the opposite, which makes it hard for us to understand that Huck is actually a very loving and brave person. At first, I thought that Huck was dumb as a bag of bricks, but now I realize that he's much more intelligent than most of the people around him, and much more thoughtful and compassionate.
     When I was on a plane a few years ago, the movie Mud was playing. I only watched parts of it, and didn't think a whole lot of it afterwards. But when I started reading Huck Finn, I was almost immediately reminded of the movie, although I wasn't entirely sure why. Out of curiosity, I watched the trailer a few weeks ago, and while Mud and Huck Finn don't seem to have a lot in common on the surface, there are some subtle similarities. For example, the character Mud (played by Matthew McConaughey) has crosses in his boot soles to ward of the Devil, just like Huck's dad. There is also a character named Tom Blankenship, which was the name of Mark Twain's childhood friend, whom Huck Finn is based off of. So I guess that's one reason to read classics... you get the references.

Here's a trailer for the 1993 movie adaptation of Huck Finn... I've included it for DL, who is an Elijah Wood fan. :)
 

And here's a clip from Mud:

Day 125 Song Recommendation: "Sodom, South Georgia" by Iron & Wine.
-SE Wagner