Who else thinks that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is hard to read?

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Question:

I mean, it's not like the vocabulary's hard!. I just find Mark Twain's style of voice intolerable!. I'm only in the second chapter!. Does it get better afterwards!?

And what happens in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer!? I'm pretty lost because it's apparently a continuation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I like Mark Twain to some degree, but his writing style was contrived to be low-brow, or at least a sympathetic satire of such, so it can be annoying to read!.

That said, he has the characters talking in the dialect of their particular time and class!.!.!. so a 19th Century poor slave obviously isn't going to speak like he just graduated Oxford!.!.!. he's gunna talk lyk dis!. He's uneducated and low-class, and Twain wrote it in a suiting dialect!. He does the same with all the characters!.!.!. which, while accurate and an interesting stylistic choice, can be a huge pain to read, especially if you're expecting proper English!.

Obviously you need to read it phonetically!. To help with that one snippet you gave, to give you an idea!.!.!.

"Say - who is you!? Whar is you!? Dog my cats ef I didn; hear sumf'n!. Well, I knows what I's gwyne to do!. I's gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it agin!."

!.!.!.equals!.!.!.

"Who are you!? Where are you!? Good gracious, I'm sure I heard something! Well, I know what I'm going to do; I'm going to sit down and listen until I hear it again!."

!.!.!. so he hears something, but he's not sure what he heard, he asks if someone's there, and no one replies!. So he decides to stay there and listen until he hears it again so he can figure out what/who it is!.

As you get further into the book you'll start to get used to it and it won't be so difficult!.

As for Tom Sawyer!.!.!. a lot happens!. Go to Wikipedia and read the summary!.

EDIT: To the girl who mentions the use of "n***er"!.!.!. keep in mind, again, Twain was going for context and accurate language for the time and each character's social class!. And yeah, circa the Civil War, the word "n***er" was used a lot!. When Twain wrote it, he wasn't trying to be offensive - just accurate to the way people really talked!. Twain was actually very much anti-slavery/anti-racism and often mocked those who weren't - which is an ongoing theme in both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn!. That said!.!.!. I'm not the one who thumbs downed you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Huckleberry Finn is the further story of the characters first written in Tom Sawyer!. The language is not as much southern as midwestern - it takes place in MIssouri after all and some of it reflects the black dialect of an uneducated slave and the poor grammar of a little-educated poor child and both at a time over a hundred years ago!. It is well worth the read and if you stick with it, you might enjoy it!. It gets pretty hair-raising later on!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

the adventures of tom sawyer sucked *** majorly i hated every word of that stupid book i swear on my cats grave i did!. i swear it!. i was forced to read that damned book for english because we had a test for it!. GOD WAS IT TORTURE i failed the test with a freakin 28! seriously! it was so hard to read and i noticed the constant use of "n" word during my reading of the book!. its so offensive and its just intolerable!. stupid author useless grammar corny *** story and plot!. yes i said it and i am prepared to get a thumbs down lolWww@QuestionHome@Com

Hi! I suggest you read the adventures of Tom sawyer first!. 5 yrs ago, I tried reading huck's tale, but i only made it to the 1st or second chapter!. some couple of months ago I've read Tom Sawyer's!. It was really fun!. and maybe it gave me a bit of wanting to try to get back to hucks', to know what happenned, (although I actually know from a tv series that was shown in our country when I was a kid) I'll do it some time maybe!.!.!. Good luck!!Www@QuestionHome@Com

i don't actually a "reader" of Twain's books!. i'm not a fan of American classical writers!. i'm not in the mood to read them cause it was such rude to read them and i'm puzzled a lot on understanding the words written!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The grammar is a correct "documentary" as such of the language of the time!. As bad as it was and the local dialect of course may make it more difficult!. But if you read the "Reader Digest" version of a story - you lose most of the context, meaning and flavor!.

Jim is the hardest character to understand, for a reason!. Huck is next for about the same reason more or less!.
The more education the character in the books have the easier it is to understand!.

I have a 23 book volume of Twain and Tome Sawyer and friends are in a lot of them!. Keep in mind Twain wrote during and just after the Civil War!. Most people were still not using Webster as a standard for spelling!.Www@QuestionHome@Com