The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Vorpy

This is regarded as one of the greatest pieces of American Literature next to the preceding book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". When somebody is using a standard to measure good literature to, they bring up HF. When they want to explain why popular media they don't like is getting too much attention, they bring up the meager TAoHF. ED has done this, SA has done this, TVT has done this, we have done this.

I want you to explain to me why, without butthurt bullshit mind you, why Huckleberry Finn is as great as people says it is. I want  you to explain to me all of the good parts, and point out justifications for their existence. Also take note of how this little book should be treated with more respect than most of the series out there, and why it has earned this little reputation it has.

This piques my interest very much, because I doubt this book is as great as everyone says it is.

DonZabu

Have you read it at all?

Vorpy

Of course I did. It's a given, since in order to pass almost any elementary english class it was an almost-requirement to read it. I read it in 2nd grade.

Vivi

I've never read it.

Counterclock

lol does that mean you never passed the second grade then?

XD

Nova

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/context.html

Vivi

Yup. I'm actually 8 years old

Vorpy

No, I mean that there was nothing obviously wrong with it, from what I read. It was, on a scale from 1 to 10, straight 5s. There was nothing demeaning about it in any way, and everything wasn't draggy or sluggish or confusing, but it didn't excel in every department at all, and was a book I could probably read once and be done with.

The history and controversy set it's pedestal very high, and it can be regarded as very good with it's lifetime, other than that though, if released at any other time I am pretty sure it would not have had the impact it had now.

DonZabu

I like The Great Gatsby better.

Gelzo

Hukleberry Finn is a great book because Mark Twain is a classy motherfucker and it has the word "nigger" in it.

Bob

-watches as Gelzo gets ripped apart by randy gay ogres several thousand Black people-

Counterclock

~Brings popcorn~

~hands Bob some popcorn~

Gelzo

Is there something wrong with my saying the word "NIGGER"?

Vivi

While I've never read Huckleberry Finn, the premise of To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men interest me much more, and I've read both of those.

Vorpy

So it's just a book that got lots of publicity in it's timeframe? that's it? South Park almost feels right about Huckleberry Finn being very overhyped.

Noimporta

Not sure if serious.

Nova

I guess my link was ignored then.

Scrye2

For one, Mark Twain is ridiculously good at capturing vernacular dialogue in his writing. It was also one of the first American books to portray a black man as an actual person that we're supposed to sympathize with, rather than a subhuman. The book itself has many examples of well-written wit, satire, as well as believable character growth. It reads like an American Odyssey, and many works have taken after a lot of what Huck Finn put forth from a literary perspective. That's not to say that a lot of people aren't putting on their "historically significant" goggles when they see Huck Finn. I can't for the life of me determine if the book would be praised or quickly forgotten if it were first published in this day and age, but that's mainly because the book itself is historically and culturally significant, and has affected the literary environment for over a century.

If you need specifics, read an analysis of Huck Finn.

Codename_M308

Vorpy, I think you read the abridged version or something, as I don't think they'll want to introduce the word "nigger" to second graders.

Vorpy

Thank you Scrye.

Vorpy

I can see why this book is very good, very good indeed.

I just have a question.

Why do people keep using it as a standard to compare anime or fanfiction against? It doesn't make one bit of fucking sense. Most people (around 40% of Americans I have met have read and remember the book anyway) know more about HuckFinn than they do about NGE/PrincessTutu/Nanoha, yet the internet people keep whining about how those animes are more popular and have more devotion to them than HuckFinn does.

I can ask everyone I meet today which one they heard about most or first, HuckFinn or Nanoha, and I can safely say more people know about HuckFinn than Nanoha.

Most animes MAY have 400,000+ articles/words for their articles than this book does, but this book has more history and popularity than those things could possibly get, and I don't see why they even try bringing that up as an argument.

MillerCross

It's just a random example that is used the most because it's not as ridiculous as the bible and it's not as nerdy as Harry Potter.

IanExMachina

Have never read it.

'Cos you know we have George Orwell and other writers.

Although if it is anything like 'Of Mice and Men' then I think I will never read it unless I want to debate about it.

RedEyedAbyss

"Why do people keep using it as a standard to compare anime or fanfiction against? It doesn't make one bit of fucking sense. Most people (around 40% of Americans I have met have read and remember the book anyway) know more about HuckFinn than they do about NGE/PrincessTutu/Nanoha, yet the internet people keep whining about how those animes are more popular and have more devotion to them than HuckFinn does.

I can ask everyone I meet today which one they heard about most or first, HuckFinn or Nanoha, and I can safely say more people know about HuckFinn than Nanoha.

Most animes MAY have 400,000+ articles/words for their articles than this book does, but this book has more history and popularity than those things could possibly get, and I don't see why they even try bringing that up as an argument."

Precisely. Huck Finn and Nanoha are on a different level, so there's little point in comparing them. Of course, if they think things like the latter are more deserving of analysis, then there's a problem (*cough*, *cough*, "Kodomo No Jikan is a deeply psychological and sociological work...")

Forzare

Kodomo No Jikan is a deeply psychological and sociological work...

Does anyone other than like one troper who won't be named actually think that?

MillerCross

It seems that way, going on by some other tropers.

And the fandom of the thing. 

GLORIOUSLeader

^^ Well, he's been banned, so can't we name him?

RedEyedAbyss

I remember Myrmidon once linked to a LiveJournal entry mocking that kind of attitude, with several of the comments trying to defend that view.

Forzare

^^ Actually it's because I can't remember if it was Raw Power or Signed or someone else entirely that said that.

I thought most people just watched it for the creepy fanservice, and just had a few of that kind of fan.

MillerCross

Precisely. Huck Finn and Nanoha are on a different level, so there's little point in comparing them. Of course, if they think things like the latter are more deserving of analysis, then there's a problem (*cough*, *cough*, "Kodomo No Jikan is a deeply psychological and sociological work...")

I disagree with the idea that Nanoha is less deserving of analysis. Although it's because I believe that all works deserve analysis and I think that all works should be studied.  Also, after so many Huck Finn analysis, is there anything sound that hasn't been said about the book? 

I'm not saying that Finn is not an important work. But I feel that dismissing a show without having analysed it and studied it and saying that it isn't worth of analysis seems pretty lame. And regressive, too.

GLORIOUSLeader

Both of them were banned.

And Myrm's Livejournal reminds me of this:

...do not read the comments for that one.