Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or, in more recent editions,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is a novel by
Mark Twain,
first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the
United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American
Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be
written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color
regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn,
the narrator of two other Twain novels (
Tom Sawyer Abroad and
Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places
along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that
had ceased to exist over 20 years before the work was published,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.
Perennially popular with readers,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
has also been the continued object of study by literary critics since
its publication. The book was widely criticized upon release because of
its extensive use of coarse language. Throughout the 20th century, and
despite arguments that the protagonist and the tenor of the book are
anti-racist, criticism of the book continued due to both its perceived
use of racial stereotypes and its frequent use of the racial slur
"nigger".
