Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huck Finn

I finished Tom Sawyer this afternoon. I finished Huck Finn a couple of weeks ago.

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer is a much better book than Huck Finn. Tom's character shines through the book on numerous occasions: taking the licking for his girl, coming back to his aunt to say that he was just playing pirate so not to worry her, testifying against Injun Joe to save the life of a drunkard even though Injun Joe would probably kill him, sticking up for Huck Finn and helping to make him rich with finding the buried treasure, helping his girlfriend stay alive in the caves when they were lost, etc.,

Tom is an orphan who is raised by his Aunt. He gets into all kinds of mischief. It's an interesting book that takes place in the middle 1800s. The book was published in 1876.

The book captures the seeming naiveté of a 12 year old, similar to Peter Pan, the twilight hour of childhood before the reality of the world takes hold on the mind into adulthood.

Huck Finn

This book followed Tom Sawyer. To me, it read more like a parody than a novel. While there was a certain sense of believable realism to Tom Sawyer, the story of Huck was full of frauds, people that loved to lie. So much so the book became a bit ridiculous. Huck loved to tell lies, The King and the Duke told the craziest lies, and the whole time the slave, Jim, was just trying to get to safety.

The modern framing of this book tends to weigh the friendship of Huck and the slave, Jim, as the focal of the story, but this is absurd once you read it. This book is almost nothing about Jim, except for him being a side story as an observer to Huck's misadventures. Huck is torn wether or not to help Jim free himself, and when it comes down to it, is nearly beside himself when he learns that if Jim frees himself, then Jim is going back for his wife, and god forbid, his children.

"Here was this nigger which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children-children that belonged to a man I didn't even know, a man that hadn't ever done me no harm. I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him."

Unlike in Tom Sawyer, the word 'nigger' is used throughout the book, while in Tom Sawyer, maybe a couple of times. It would be very uncomfortable reading Huck Finn with African-Americans in the classroom. In fact, the book is much  more racist than Tom Sawyer. It's hard to believe people think this book is about the friendship between Huck and Jim. Have they ever read the book? 

For instance, here a line from the book showing the language throughout the book: "Sold him? I says, and begun to cry; 'why, he was my nigger, and that was my money. Where is he? I want my nigger.'
Both of these books are good reads, but I feel quite a let down to think these works are the tops of American Literature. If that's actually the case, this is a pretty sad grand oeuvre for America. 

Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel about a fictional battle in the Civil War. The book was published in 1895. The book discovers the life of an 18 year old, newly enlisted private, Henry Fleming, and his experiences in a great battle.

The book details the story of Fleming as he joins the army, gets ready to fight his first battle, runs away from the first battle he is in, walks around the battlefield and laments and philosophizes about his fate, and then joins the battle again and shows some real courage.

The red badge of courage is the bloody wounds of the soldiers that stayed and fought. They could show that they had courage because they had the red, bloody wounds to prove it - this was their red badge of courage. Fleming didn't have that badge, because he ran away.

The story shows his naiveté of wanting to experience the 'Greeklike' struggles of war, to becoming a coward of that war, and then finding vindication through bravery. At the end of all this, his soul had changed.

Wanting to fight:

"He had long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle. Such would be no more, he had said. Men were better, or more timid. Secular and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else firm finance held in check the passions."

"There was a lavish expenditure of bread and cold meats, coffee, and pickles and cheese. As he basked in the smiles of the girls and was patted and complimented by the old men, he had felt growing within him the strength to do mighty deeds of arms."

Running from his first fight:

"lots of good-a-'nough men have thought they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time come they skedaddled."

As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government. And now they were taking him out to be slaughtered.

The brigade was hurrying briskly to be gulped into the infernal mouths of the war god. What manner of men were they, anyhow? Ah, it was some wondrous breed! Or else they didn't comprehend—the fools.

If none of the little pieces were wise enough to save themselves from the flurry of death at such a time, why, then, where would be the army? It was all plain that he had proceeded according to very correct and commendable rules. His actions had been sagacious things. They had been full of strategy. They were the work of a master's legs.

He, the enlightened man who looks afar in the dark, had fled because of his superior perceptions and knowledge. He felt a great anger against his comrades. He knew it could be proved that they had been fools.

He remembered how some of the men had run from the battle. As he recalled their terror-struck faces he felt a scorn for them. They had surely been more fleet and more wild than was absolutely necessary. They were weak mortals. As for himself, he had fled with discretion and dignity.

He wanted a red badge of courage:

At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.

He threw aside his mental pamphlets on the philosophy of the retreated and rules for the guidance of the damned.

After showing Bravery on the battlefield:

He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man.

So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed.

The book was well written and made me feel a bit sheepish for having any trifles in my life that I think are so much bigger than what they really are.