“All modern American literature comes from Huck Finn” “the best book we’ve had.” “If you read it you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating.”-Ernest Hemingway
Dear Mr. Hemingway,
You are now, a legendary and widely celebrated writer among many others of your trade, but I still must disagree with a statement you made regarding The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (by Mark Twain). You claim that the real ending is not when the book ends, but when Jim, the escaped slave, is lost. When Jim is sold because of two frauds that had been traveling with them- “the Duke” and the “King”- and Huckleberry, after all his hard work and long journeys to bring Jim to his freedom, feels like there’s no hope, could have been the ending for this book, but it would have been a different book. It is a heartbreaking part of the story and would have reflected the cold, hard truth of the world and its cruelties.
The following chapter, however, Huck is joined by Tom and ridiculous adventures ensue, as always. Together they set out to break Jim out, so the melancholy prior to this is replaced with a satirical, yet genuine since of childlike adventure. When Huckleberry reaches the farm where he’s heard that Jim is being held, he is greeted by a woman, who is very excited for his arrival and was apparently very worried about him. He’s supposed to call her Aunt Sally, but he has no idea as for what character he should be assuming and appears to be completely “up a stump”. Luckily for Huck, he’s saved when she asks him to hide, so she can surprise her husband with his presence. When she pulls him out after implying to her husband that she has heard no word of him and her husband asks “Why who’s this?” , she exclaims ”It’s Tom Sawyer!”, Huck is extremely relived and astonished by this news; Tom Sawyer is a piece of cake for him to be! Tom Sawyer was Huck’s best friend in the times before his (2nd) presumed death and new...