The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Monica

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Monica - July 2013 Scholarship Essay

Throughout all of my middle school and high school years I have been assigned to read many different kinds of books and novels. To be honest, I hardly remember many of the books that I have read in the past few years as assignments; mostly because they did not have much of an impression on me as to stay in my memory for very long. In my junior year in high school I took my Honors English III class in which we learned American Literature. We were learning about the many famous and revolutionary authors in America.  It was in this class that we were assigned to read ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain. This was by far the best book I had read in class.
              By the time I had finished reading the first chapter, I had started taking a real interest in Mark Twain and his style of writing. While reading, I realized that the novel reflected society in the world and Mark Twain’s opinion of it all in a satiric way.  As I kept reading, I understood why Mark Twain wrote the novel in the eyes of a young boy; Twain wanted us to look at the condition of the world from a different perspective. I was able to see that while Huckleberry went on many fun and dangerous adventures, he learned from them and every decision he made would affect his future in a way that he would learn and grow from it. Although many of the things that he would do were witty and comical as to bring relief to the situation he was in, the truth behind what was going on was most likely happening in real life. For example, whenever Huckleberry was helping his African-American friend Jim escape from slavery, Huckleberry did many funny things and told many lies in order to keep Jim hidden. Back in the times of slavery, if an African-American slave were caught trying to escape slavery, the punishment was great. Mark twain wanted his readers to see that no matter who the person might look like, that person is a human and all humans should be treated fairly.
            As I kept reading, I realized that the book was too good to put down. Whenever I finished reading it, I could not believe that the adventures of Huckleberry Finn were already over. The book had left an impression in my life. I had learned that one should treat others fairly and that one should also be careful of who they can trust because there are people out in the world that will try to deceive others. I also realized that one should always look at situations from different perspectives. People might see problems differently from others and it is important to take that into consideration. From reading this one fictional book, I have learned a lot more about life than what I have learned from all of the other fictional books that I have ever read. That is why I consider ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ the best book that I have read for school.