|
|
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (Paperback)
by Mark Twain
| Category:
Classics, Literature, Ages 9-12, Children's books |
| Market price: ¥ 88.00
MSL price:
¥ 78.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
This is a masterpiece of American literature from Mark Twain which most closely represents the America experience. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
Detail |
Author |
Description |
Excerpt |
Reviews |
|
|
|
Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Scholastic
Pub. in: May, 1987
ISBN: 059043389X
Pages: 384
Measurements: 1.2 x 4.5 x 7.0 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00177
Other information: Reprint edition
|
|
Rate this product:
|
|
- MSL Picks -
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be the American novel; the work that most closely represents the America experience. One white and free another black and slave- on the run so alone under the sun and stars. At the same time they are chasing their own wild dreams and adventures. It is a seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published.
Mark Twain is one of the world's greatest literary figures. He's taken the simple story of a young man and a runaway slave escaping their respective lives for greener pastures and has turned it into a tale of adventure, humor, and social commentary. This story has been argued over from the first day that it was published. Of course, today most people who attack or criticize this book focus on the use of the word "nigger" throughout the book. If these people could actually get beyond their own hypocrisy, they would see that Twain takes Huck out of an abusive atmosphere with his drunken, no-good father, and places him into the loving hands of one of the most caring characters in literary history, Jim. Jim essentially becomes a father to Huck Finn. He loves the boy with all of his heart and often mentions to him that he can't get over the fact that Huck is trying to help him get to freedom. Sure, Jim might be rather superstitious and not the most intelligent of men, but it's in his heart where his true strength lies. Keep in mind that Jim is a runaway slave in this story. Slaves weren't given much time to read, write, socialize, or do pretty much anything to further their intelligence along, so it should be understood that Jim isn't a very intelligent man as far as booksmarts go. However, Jim knows his way around the river and uses his common sense to try and make Huck do the right thing. Huck refers to Jim as "nigger" throughout the story, as well as all of the other slaves in the book. Remember that this story takes place in a time when that particular word was used to address blacks. Does that make the word okay to use? No, but it was the word used in Huck's time. Get beyond that word, and you'll see that Huck loves Jim perhaps more than anyone else in the world. Jim is Huck's friend and mentor and either of them would die for the other. Ironically, rappers and hip-hop performers of today use the "n" word almost as a badge of honor at once and then as a derogatory term, whereas Huck simply called Jim that word because that's what he was raised to believe. But what makes this story great is the noble theme that runs throughout the book. Society's inhuman and exploitative nature and human heart's own capacity for love, compassion and friendship, above all. As we see in the book human compassion and friendship triumphs over greed, malevolence and injustice of an unjust and small hearted society.
The value of the individual versus the influence of society. The hope and opportunity of freedom versus the comfort and security of civilization. These are themes that have reverberated throughout American literature, American history, and the American psyche. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn develops those themes brilliantly in a captivating story with vibrant and unforgettable characters. It is, and always will be, an American classic.
Target readers:
Young Adult
|
|
- Better with -
Better with
Harlem (Caldecott Honor Book)
:
|
|
Customers who bought this product also bought:
 |
Harlem (Caldecott Honor Book) (Hardcover)
by Walter Dean Myers , Christopher Myers (illustrator)
The book Harlem was about how black and whites didn't get along, and they move to Harlem and all their problems were resolved with the help of positive leaders. |
 |
Slam! (Paperback)
by Walter Dean Myers
"Impossible is nothing!" Slam teaches you to do the best and never give up. |
 |
Thunder Rolling In The Mountains (Paperback)
by Scott O'Dell , Elizabeth Hall
This book is written that tears at one's heart and helps one understand the plight of the Nez Perce and countless other American Indian tribes. |
 |
When Marian Sang: True Recital Of Marian Anderson (Hardcover)
by Pam Muñoz Ryan , Brian Selznick (Illustrator)
The story about one of the greatest African American singer who break down racial barriers with incomparable courage and dignity. |
|
|
Mark Twain(1835-1910)
Quintessential American humorist, lecturer novelist and essayist.
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on 30 November 1835, the sixth child born to Jane Lampton (1803-1890) and John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847). In 1839 the Twain family moved to their Hill Street home, now the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum with its famous whitewashed fence, in the bustling port city of Hannibal, Missouri. Situated on the banks of the Mississippi river it would later provide a model for the fictitious town of St. Petersburg in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
His first stories are "A Gallant Fireman" (1851) and "The Dandy Frightening the Squatter" (1852). After traveling to and working in New York and Philadelphia for a few years, he moved back to St. Louis in 1857. It was here that the lure of the elegant steamboats and festive crowds drew his attention and he became an apprentice 'cub' river pilot under Horace Bixby, earning his license in 1858. As a successful pilot plying his trade between St. Louis and New Orleans, Twain also grew to love the second longest river in the world which he describes affectionately in his memoir Life on the Mississippi (1883).
An important part of a river pilot's craft is knowing the waters and depths, which, for the mighty Mississippi and her reefs, snags, and mud are ever changing. To 'mark twain' is to sound the depths and deem them safe for passage, the term adopted by Clemens as his pen name in 1863.
With the outbreak of Civil War in 1861 passage on the Mississippi was limited, so at the age of twenty-six Twain moved on from river life to the high desert valley in the silver mining town of Carson City, Nevada with his brother Orion, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory. He had never traveled out of the state but was excited to venture forth on the stagecoach in the days before railways, described in his semi-autobiographical novel Roughing It (1872).
Apart from numerous short stories he wrote during this time and Tom Sawyer, Twain also collaborated on The Gilded Age (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
A Tramp Abroad (1880), Twain's non-fiction satirical look at his trip through Germany, Italy, and the Alps and somewhat of a sequel to Innocents Abroad was followed by The Prince and the Pauper (1882).
Twain also continued to uphold a busy lecture series throughout the United States. In 1888 he was awarded an honorary Master of Art degree from Yale University.
Twain's novel The American Claimant (1892) was followed by The Tragedy of Pudd'Nhead Wilson (1894), first serialized in Century Magazine. Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) was followed by Tom Sawyer, Detective in 1896. His favourite fiction novel, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896) was first serialised in Harper’s Magazine. By 1895, unable to control his debts, he set off on a world lecture tour to Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa to pay them off. Following the Equator (1897) is his travelogue based on his tour, during which he met Mahatma Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, and Booker T. Washington.
With another successful lecture tour under his belt and now much admired and celebrated for his literary efforts, Mark, Livy and their daughter Jane settled in New York City. Yale University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1901 and in 1907 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Oxford University. The same year A Horse's Tale and Christian Science (1907) were published. While traveling in Italy in 1904, Livy died in Florence. For Twain's 70th birthday on 30 November 1905 he was fêted at Delmonico's restaurant in New York, where he delivered his famous birthday speech, wearing his trademark all-year round white suit. That year he was also a guest of American President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt at the White House and addressed the congressional committee on copyright issues. He was also working on his biography with Albert Bigelow Paine. In 1908 Twain had moved to his home 'Stormfield' in Redding, Connecticut, though he still actively traveled, especially to Bermuda.
Mark Twain died in April 1910 in Redding, Connecticut and now rests in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Livy's hometown of Elmira, New York State, buried beside her and the children. A memorial statue and cenotaph in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park of Los Angeles, California states: "Beloved Author, Humorist, and Western Pioneer, This Original Marble Statue Is The Creation Of The Renowned Italian Sculptor Spartaco Palla Of Pietrasanta." Twain suffered many losses in his life including the deaths of three of his children, and accumulated large debts which plagued him for many years, but at the time of his death he had grown to mythic proportions as the voice of a spirited and diverse nation, keen observer and dutiful reporter, born and died when Halley's Comet was visible in the skies.
"Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all - the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved." - Twain's last written statement
|
|
Cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, vulgar, and bad - and because all their children admired him so', Huckleberry Finn, the fourteen-year-old son of the town drunkard, joins runaway slave Jim on an exciting journey down the mighty Mississippi River on a raft.
|
| View all 6 comments |
Justin Evans, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
When I first read this book, I was so taken with it, that I read from chapter 18 through the end of the book in one night. I was up until 3:30 in the morning, reading ahead of my 11th grade assignment, and loving every minute along the way. Later in college, when I studied the book more, closer, and with a more educated eye (whatever that means) my love for the book increased. Now, as a teacher myself, I look forward to having my students read this book and discussing it in class. But now as for the title of my review: I can't help feeling bad for people who think that this is not a good novel because "we don't talk like that anymore." Are we to abandon books that are no longer contemporary to ourselves? I also take issue with people who claim that this book is a racist tirade based upon the use of the word "nigger," or because the escape route Jim took was down the Mississippi instead of up river. While currently offensive, Mark Twain used the term as a literary fact that most, if not all young boys of the south spoke in such a manner. Once more, Jim explained why he was going south before he headed north. The simple fact is that if you are going to criticize a book, then you should read it. Mark Twain said as much in his essay, "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses." From reading a number of the reviews of this book, I have come to the opinion that while many read the book, more than a few are refusing to give Twain credit for subtext and the use of allegory. One reviewer down the line says that the book is racist because Twain makes a young boy to be twice as smart as Jim. Upon closer reading, Twain is showing what Huck feels to be true. Huck only thinks that he is smarter. The reader should pick up on the fact that Twain writes Jim as an intuitive father figure for Huck, one who teaches a true morality as opposed to the morality of the South. Simply put, you get what you put in to the reading of this book. If you think it is going to be a boring read because you "have to" read it for a summer reading list or school assignment, then that's what it will be. If you think it will be a difficult read because you don't want to try and read in dialects other than your own, it will be a hard read. If you are looking to justify the book as racist because of a single word that presentism doesn't excuse, then have at it. This book can be all of those things. However, this book also has the potential to enlighten the reader, give something wonderful to the reader, and teach about the human condition. |
C. Bashara, TX, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
There are very few works that come near this masterpiece of American literature. Not only do you need to read this book; you need to read this book multiple times. It never gets old. It is so complex and multi-layered that you truly find something new with each reading. It is a shame that so many students feel "forced" to read this. Reading this book is a privilege and a delight. It is funny, touching, witty, satirical and one of the most important books that exists. Although it was written and set in the past the themes are universal and timeless. Do not hesitate to read this book! |
Joseph M, Colorado, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a wonderful novel that is adventurous, humorous, and fun. The characters are believable (one reason why is that Mark Twain writes in the character's dialects). The book really transports the reader into a different time period. The story revolves around Huck Finn. Huck is an easy going young teenager who is the son of a town drunkard. He recently made a large fortune. Because of this Huck is confined by schooling, shoes, and, worst of all, manners. Huck had enough of this so he runs away. His small town assumes that he is dead, so he enjoys the life on Jackson's island. When Jim, an escaped slave, runs away to the island. Huck decides to go down the Mississippi River. Going down the river, Huck interacts with a variety of people, small towns, and adventures. The story is outrageous, but it doesn't matter. Huck more then makes up for it in his view of the world. I would recommend this to most people because it is a very easy read and is entertaining. |
Phoenix, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
What then makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn such a great book to read, and such an embodiment of America? Many things. First, this book addresses the issue of color racism thoroughly and subtly from multiple viewpoints. The latter includes the naive reluctant racist (Huck), the naive apathetic racist (Tom), those discriminated against (Jim), and of course the active, enthusiastic racists (most everyone else we meet in the book). Racism is examined from both the mental viewpoints; how individuals consider others of the same and different race, and from the social viewpoint; how individuals of different races interact in public and private. This emphasis on race points to the heart of American history; few other countries have struggled with skin color bias as long and as deeply as the US. The second major point examined in this book is slavery; an issue strongly related to the first. Slavery as existed in other countries was rarely as delineated along color lines as it was in the USA. And rarely was it defined as a feature of different skin colors. For example, slavery throughout Europe was used as a form of criminal punishment. Likewise, slavery in the Middle East was a side effect of military conquest of one group of people by another. Not so in America. Here it was an inherent feature of how two races dealt with each other. The third theme of this book that strongly embodies the American experience is the fractured / divided family. Walk through any neighborhood in China, India, Japan, Mexico, Egypt, Ireland or most any other country, and most of the children you encounter live with their parents, and most of the parents you meet live with their children. Unique among nations is America where many children do not live with both their biological parents. True now, this was true in the mid-1800s when this book's story takes place. Jim is searching for his family and Huck has left his. At the end of the book, they meet Tom, another boy who is not being raised by his parents. In fact, the two most stable families nuclear families encountered in this book are the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons. This leads of course to a fourth feature of this book that is reflective of America; the family feud. For a country where everyone has so much, both back then and now in the early 21st century; Americans seem to have problems with neighbors. Nowadays, everyone wants a house with big yards to maximize separation between them and their neighbors, and neighbors’ rat on each other to their homeowners' association. Back then, they had feuds. The fifth topic dealt with in this book is the con. Unique to America is the role of the con artist in our history and culture. Consider Jim and Tammy Fay Baker, Robert Millikan and Charles Keating of modern times, and Ponzi of the early 1900s. In this book the reader encounters numerous cons and con artists. Huck himself cons Jim at the end of the book whereby he concocts a series of escape plans that puts Jim thru a series of ordeals, all for the naive amusement of Huck. Having read several versions of Twain's classic by different publishers; this reviewer has only praise for this version. The book itself is a great classic and worthy of anyone’s time and effort in reading it. |
View all 6 comments |
|
|
|
|
