Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

who first appeared in the book ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...

'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...

'' (1884). He is 12 or 13 years old during the former and a year older ("thirteen or fourteen or along there", Chapter 17) at the time of the latter. Huck also narrates ''

Tom Sawyer Abroad ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' is a novel by Mark Twain published in 1894. It features Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a parody of adventure stories like those of Jules Verne. Plot In the story, Tom, Huck, and Jim travel to Africa in a futuristic hot ...

'' and '' Tom Sawyer, Detective'', two shorter sequels to the first two books.

Characterization

Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is the son of the town's

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

drunkard, "Pap" Finn. Sleeping on doorsteps when the weather is fair, in empty hogsheads during storms, and living off of what he gets from others, Huck lives the life of a destitute vagabond. The author metaphorically names him "the juvenile pariah of the village" and describes Huck as "idle, and lawless, and vulgar, and bad", qualities for which he was admired by all the other children in the village, although their mothers "cordially hated and dreaded" him. Huck is an archetypal innocent, able to discover the "right" thing to do despite the prevailing theology and prejudiced mentality of the South of that era. An example of this is his decision to help

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

escape

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, even though he believes he will go to

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

for it. His appearance is described in ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''. He wears the clothes of full-grown men which he probably received as charity, and as Twain describes him, "he was fluttering with rags." He has a torn, broken straw hat, his trousers are supported with only one suspender, and "was the first boy who went barefoot in the spring and the last to resume leather in the fall," (Mark Twain believed that it was "tough" or "manly" for young boys to go around barefoot at that time). Even Tom Sawyer, the St. Petersburg hamlet boys' leader sees him as "the banished Romantic". Tom's Aunt Polly calls Huck a "poor motherless thing." Huck confesses to Tom in ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' that he remembers his mother and his parents' relentless fighting that stopped only when she died. Huck has a carefree life free from societal norms or rules, stealing watermelons and chickens and "borrowing" (stealing) boats and cigars. Due to his unconventional childhood, Huck has received almost no education. At the end of ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', Tom and Huck recover a treasure worth thousands of dollars, which is invested on their behalf; Huck is adopted by the Widow Douglas, who enrolls him in school in return for his saving her life. In the course of ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', the sequel to ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', he learns enough to be literate and reads books for entertainment. His knowledge of history as related to Jim is inaccurate but it is not specified if he is being wrong on purpose or as a joke on Jim. In ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', the Widow attempts to "sivilize" 'sic''the newly wealthy Huck. Huck's father takes him from her, but Huck manages to fake his own death and escape to Jackson's Island, where he coincidentally meets up with Jim, a slave who was owned by the Widow Douglas' sister, Miss Watson. Jim is running away because he overheard Miss Watson planning to "sell him South" for eight hundred dollars. Jim wants to escape to

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysse ...

, where he can find work to eventually buy his family's freedom. Huck and Jim take a raft down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

, planning to head north on the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

, in hopes of finding freedom from slavery for Jim and freedom from Pap for Huck. Their adventures together, along with Huck's solo adventures, comprise the core of the book. In the end, however, Jim gains his freedom through Miss Watson's death, as she freed him in her will. Pap, it is revealed, has died in Huck's absence, and although he could safely return to St. Petersburg, Huck plans to flee west to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

. In ''

'' and '' Tom Sawyer, Detective'', the sequels to ''Huck Finn'', however, Huck is living in St. Petersburg again after the events of his eponymous novel. In ''Abroad'', Huck joins Tom and Jim for a wild, fanciful balloon ride that takes them overseas. In ''Detective'', which occurs about a year after the events of ''Huck Finn'', Huck helps Tom solve a murder mystery.

Relationships

Huck is

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

's closest friend. Their friendship is partially rooted in Sawyer's emulation of Huck's freedom and ability to do what he wants, like swearing and smoking when he feels like it. In one moment in the novel, he openly brags to his teacher that he was late for school because he stopped to talk with Huck Finn and enjoyed it, something for which he knew he would (and did) receive a whipping. Nonetheless, Tom remains a devoted friend to Huck in all of the novels they appear in. In ''Huckleberry Finn'', it's revealed that Huck also considers Tom to be his best friend. At various times in the novel, Huck mentions that Tom would put more "style" in Jim and his adventure.

, a runaway slave whom Huck befriends, is another dominant force in Huck's life. He is the symbol for the moral awakening Huck undergoes throughout ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''. This is seen when Huck considers sending a letter to Ms. Watson telling her where Jim is but ultimately chooses to rip it up despite the idea in the south that one who tries helping a slave escape will be sent to eternal punishment. Pap Finn is Huck's abusive, drunken father who shows up at the beginning of ''

'' and forcibly takes his son to live with him. Pap's only method of parenting is physical abuse. Although he seems derisive of education and civilized living, Pap seems to be jealous of Huck and is infuriated that his son would try to amount to more, and live in better conditions than he did. Despite this, early in the novel Huck uses his father's method of "borrowing" though he later feels sorry and stops.

Inspiration

The character of Huck Finn is based on Tom Blankenship, the real-life son of a sawmill laborer and sometime drunkard named Woodson Blankenship, who lived in a "ramshackle" house near the Mississippi River behind the house where the author grew up in

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mar ...

. Twain mentions his childhood friend Tom Blankenship as the inspiration for creating Huckleberry Finn in his autobiography: "In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person—boy or man—in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than any other boy's." – '' Mark Twain's Autobiography''.

Appearances

#''

'' (1876) #''

'' (1884) #''

'' (1894) #'' Tom Sawyer, Detective'' (1896) #''

Schoolhouse Hill ''The Mysterious Stranger'' is a novel attempted by the American author Mark Twain. He worked on it intermittently from 1897 through 1908. Twain wrote multiple versions of the story; each involves a supernatural character called "Satan" or "No. ...

'' (1898) – unfinished #''"Huck Finn"'' (1898) – unfinished #''Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians'' – unfinished #''Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy'' – unfinished #''"Tom Sawyer's Gang Plans a Naval Battle"'' – unfinished Since Mark Twain's death, Huck Finn has also appeared in a number of novels, plays,

comic strips A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

,''Huckleberry Finn'' by

Clare Victor Dwiggins Clare Victor Dwiggins (June 16, 1874 – October 26, 1958) was an American cartoonist who signed his work Dwig. Dwiggins created a number of comic strips and single-panel cartoons for various American newspapers and newspaper syndicates from 18 ...

("Dwig"), distributed by the

Ledger Syndicate The Public Ledger Syndicate (known simply as the Ledger Syndicate) was a syndication company operated by the Philadelphia '' Public Ledger'' that was in business from 1915 to circa 1950 (outlasting the newspaper itself, which ceased publishing in ...

(1940–1942). and stories written by various authors that purport to tell the latter adventures of Huck and his friends. The Mark Twain Museum, '' CNN'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' of London have dubbed American canoeist and author Neal Moore "the modern-day Huckleberry Finn.”

Portrayals

Actors who have portrayed Huckleberry Finn in films and TV include: * Robert Gordon (1917) *

Lewis Sargent Lewis Sargent (August 19, 1903 – November 19, 1970) was an American film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1917 and 1949. Biography Sargent was born in Los Angeles on August 19, 1903. He had 8 brothers and sisters. His father Lewis ...

(1920) *

Junior Durkin Trent "Junior" Durkin (July 2, 1915 – May 4, 1935) was an American stage and film actor. Career Trent Bernard Durkin was born in New York City in 1915. He began his acting career in theater as a child. Durkin first appeared in films in 1930, p ...

(1930 and 1931) *

Jackie Moran Jackie Moran (January 26, 1923 – September 20, 1990) was an American movie actor who, between 1936 and 1946, appeared in over thirty films, primarily in teenage roles. Early life and Hollywood career A native of Mattoon, Illinois, Jo ...

(1938) *

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His b ...

(1938) *

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

(1939) *Gene Holland (1944) *

Eddie Hodges Samuel "Eddie" Hodges (born March 5, 1947) is an American former child actor and recording artist (his 1961 cover of the Isley Brothers’ “I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door” reached #12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100), who left show business as ...

(1960) * Michael Shea (1968–1969, in the TV series ''

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is an American live-action and animated fantasy television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1968, through February 23, 1969. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on the classic Mark ...

'') *Marc di Napoli (1968 in the French/German TV series ''Les Aventures de Tom Sawyer''/''Tom Sawyers und Huckleberry Finns Abenteuer'') *

Roman Madyanov Roman Sergeevich Madyanov (russian: Рома́н Серге́евич Мадя́нов; born July 22, 1962) is a Soviet and Russian actor. Madyanov's career in cinema began as a child actor when he starred as Huckleberry Finn in ''Hopelessly Lost' ...

(1973, in ''

Hopelessly Lost ''Hopelessly Lost'' (russian: Совсем пропащий, Sovsem propashchiy) is a 1973 Soviet adventure comedy directed by Georgiy Daneliya based on Mark Twain's 1884 novel ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''. Cinematography by Vadim Yusov. It ...

'') * Jeff East (1973 and 1974) *

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...

(1975) *

Steve Stark Steve Stark is a television producer and studio executive. He currently is the Chairman & Executive Producer for Toluca Pictures. Early life Steve grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa and attended Northwestern University where he graduated with a bache ...

(1979) *

Ian Tracey Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

(1979–1980, in the TV series ''

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends ''Huckleberry Finn and His Friends'' is a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, based on the novels ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) by American wr ...

'') *Gary Krug (1985, in '' The Adventures of Mark Twain'') *

Mitchell Anderson Mitchell Ogren Anderson (born August 21, 1961) is an American character actor and chef. Anderson was born in Jamestown, New York, to a retail store owner mother and a businessman father. He attended Jamestown High School and Williams College ...

(1990, in '' Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn'') *

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Woo ...

(1993) *

Brad Renfro Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in '' The Client'' (1994). He went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards. Prior to bei ...

(1995) *

Mark Wills Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – '' Mark Wills'', ''Wish You Were Here'', ''Permanently'' ...

(2000, voice) *

Leon Seidel Leon Seidel (born November 22, 1996) is a German actor. He is known for playing the role of "Huckleberry Finn" in the German film of 2011 . Life and career Seidel was born in Cologne. His talent for acting, says Seidel, he had inherited from h ...

(2011, in a German version of ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''; 2012, in a German version of ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'') * Jake T. Austin (2013) *

Kyle Gallner Kyle Steven Gallner (born October 22, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas in the television series ''Veronica Mars'', superhero Bart Allen in the drama series ''Smallville'' and Reed Garrett ...

(2015)

References

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