The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Plot

The story begins in fictional St. Petersburg, Missouri, on the shore of the Mississippi River, sometime between 1835 (when the first steamboat sailed down the Mississippi)[5] and 1845. Two young boys, Thomas "Tom" Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). Huck has been placed under the guardianship of the Widow Douglas, who, together with her sister, Miss Watson, is attempting to civilize him. Huck appreciates their efforts, but finds civilized life confining. His spirits are raised somewhat when Tom Sawyer helps him to escape one night past Miss Watson's slave Jim, to meet up with his gang of self-proclaimed "robbers". However, when the gang's exploits turn out to be nothing worse than disrupting Sunday School outings and stealing paltry items like hymn books (which the Sunday School teacher forces them to return anyway), Huck is again downcast. However, his life is changed by the sudden reappearance of his shiftless father "Pap", an abusive parent and drunkard. Although Huck is successful in preventing him from acquiring his fortune (he gives all 6,000 dollars to Judge Thatcher), Pap forcibly gains custody of him and moves him to his backwoods cabin. Though Huck prefers this to his life with the widow, he resents his father's drunken violence and his habit of keeping him locked inside the cabin. During one of his father's absences Huck escapes, elaborately fakes his own murder and sets off down the Mississippi River.

Characters:

Huckleberry Finn, a boy about thirteen or fourteen. He has been brought up by his father, the town drunk, and has a hard time fitting into society.
Widow Douglas is the kind old lady who has taken him in after he and Tom come across the money. She tries her best to civilize Huck, believing it is her Christian duty.
The widow’s sister, a tough old spinster called Miss Watson, also lives with them. She is pretty hard on Huck, causing him to resent her a good deal. Samuel Clemens may have drawn inspiration for her from several people he knew in his life. [4]
Jim, the widow's big, mild-mannered slave to whom Huck becomes very close in the novel.
Huck’s friend, Tom Sawyer, the main character of other Twain novels and the leader of the town boys in adventures, is “the best fighter and the smartest kid in town” [4]
Huck’s father, "Pap" Finn, is the town drunk. He is often angry at Huck and resents him getting any kind of education.
Mrs. Judith Loftus seemingly plays a small part in the novel - being the kind and perceptive woman whom Huck talks to in order to find out about the search for Jim- but many critics believe her to be the best female character in the novel.[4]
The Grangerfords, the prominent family of Col. Grangerford, takes Huck in until most of them are killed in a feudal skirmish with another family.
After the Grangerfords, Huck and Jim take aboard two con artists who call themselves the Duke and the King.
Joanna, Mary Jane and Susan are the three young women whose wealthy uncle and caretaker recently died.
When Huck goes after Jim, he meets Tom's Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas Phelps. She is a loving but high strung lady, and he a plodding old man.

Many other characters play important but minimal roles in the many episodes that make up the novel. They include slaves owned by the various families they meet, supporting townspeople, rafts-men, a doctor and a steamboat captain