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Books The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I thoroughly dislike Tom Sawyer. I think that Tom Sawyer spoils the last chapters of Huckleberry Finn. All those silly jokes. They are all pointless jokes; but I suppose Mark Twain thought it was his duty to be funny even when he wasn’t in the mood.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at The Paris Review Jorge Luis Borges The Paris Review 1967
Yet the moral intelligence of Huck Finn can hardly be overpraised. The character of Jim, in particular, the runaway slave, who is Huck’s only companion, is beautifully subtle.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at New Yorker Adam Gopnik New Yorker 2010

The very center of Twain’s book revolves finally around the boy’s relations with Nigger Jim and the question of what Huck should do about getting Jim free after the two scoundrels had sold him.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at The Paris Review Ralph Ellison The Paris Review 1955
The magic of Huck Finn seems to have passed me by, I don’t know quite why. Tom Sawyer was the book of Twain’s I always preferred. I remember when I got to college I was startled to find that Huckleberry Finn was the classic.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at The Paris Review Norman Mailer The Paris Review 1964