"Chapter the last" p.294-296 (Norton Edition). Excerpt taken fom Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Although Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is written after the 1861-65 Civil War, it is about the pre-war period. The American Civil War marks the combat of the Northern States against the Confederacy among other things, the struggle between states where slavery had been abolished (the North) and those where it was strongly defended (the South). This novel is the sequel of Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which Huck Finn appears as a minor character. Tom and he are friends.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place in the South during the 1830's. The eponymous character lives at the Widow Douglas Plantation. Mrs. Douglas and her sister wish to civilize him however that does not suit Huck. Meanwhile, Huck's alcoholic and oppressive father is in search of him as he longs to benefit from his son's money. He kidnaps him but Huck manages to escape staging his own murder. Then, he meets Jim, Miss Watson (the Widow's sister) 's runaway slave on Jackson Island and soon discovers that the latter is accused of his killing.

The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...

Illustration of Jim and Huckleberry Finn, by EW Ke...

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They decide to raft up the Mississippi river to the free states. They experience several adventures encountering a shipwrecked steamboat which carries a gang for instance. Then, Huck lives with the Grangerfords for a while. Back with Jim, he meets and spends some time with a so-called Duke and a Dauphin, two swindlers who end up selling Jim to Silas Phelps. Determined to free his friend, Huck walks to their plantation and, discovering that the woman, Aunt Sally, is Tom Sawyer's aunt, he passes himself off as Tom while the latter pretends he is his brother Sid. Tom agrees to help and free the slave, yet he longs for a more elaborate plan than Huck. The latter gives in. After a while, the three of them escape...