47 pages 1 hour read

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1884

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

Illusion and Costumery

When in public, Huck spends less time as himself than he does under an assumed identity. By necessity, Jim must always stay hidden or assume a different identity for fear of capture, enslavement, or death. On the margins, morality must remain malleable and slippery, and so too must identity. Huck is never adept at this alteration of identity; early on Judith tells him he makes a terrible girl, and his attempts to be an English servant are laughed at by anyone with the slightest knowledge of English custom. Yet Huck understands the value of maintaining such illusions, even poor ones, at important junctures. When it comes time for him to tell the truth to Mary Ann, the young girl he’s allowed the duke and the king (through their own barely functional illusions) to nearly swindle her out of her inheritance, he understands that her lack of experience in cunning will get them all in trouble. He sends her away rather than bear a truth her expression is likely to reveal. In Miss Watson’s idea of heaven, it may be that everyone tells the truth and no one ever misrepresents themselves. In Huck’s world, however, a different reality—several different realities—holds true.

Related Titles

By Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

A True Story

Mark Twain

A True Story

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Gilded Age

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

Study Guide

logo

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Invalid's Story

Mark Twain

The Invalid's Story

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The War Prayer

Mark Twain

The War Prayer

Mark Twain