The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - Audio Book CD
Brand New (10 CDs - 11.5 hours)
About The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is about a young boy, Huck, in search of freedom and adventure. The shores of the Mississippi River provide the backdrop for the entire book.
Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he wants Huck's 00. Huck was awarded 00 from the treasure he and Tom Sawyer found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck finally escapes from the deserted house in the woods and finds a canoe to shove off down the river. Instead of going back to the widow's house, he decides to run away. He is sick of all of the confinement and civilization that the window enforces upon him. He comes across Jim, Miss Watson's slave, and together, they spend nights and days journeying down the river, both in search of freedom.
While traveling on a raft down the river, Huck and Jim have many adventures and during many long talks, become best of friends. They find a house with a dead man. They end up stealing many things from the house. They find a wrecked ship, and go on it, only to be mixed up with murderers. They get away with money and some other goods. They get separated from each other in the heavy fog, but eventually find each other. A steamboat crashes into their raft and Jim and Huck are separated again. Huck has a run-in with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, two families at war with each other. He is reunited with Jim shortly after this. Then, they meet the King and the Duke, and get into a good deal of trouble performing plays. The King and the Duke pretend to be Peter Wilks' long lost brothers from England and try to steal all of the money left behind in his will. They escape before they are caught. Huck finally gets rid of them, but is left to search for Jim, who gets sold by the King. He ends up at Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally's house, where Tom and Huck rescue Jim.
Through all of the adventures down the river, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. He develops a conscience and truly feels for humanity. The complexity of his character is enhanced by his ability to relate so easily with nature and the river.
About Mark Twain
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. In 1839, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. Many people suggest that the family moved due to the death of Sam's younger sister Margaret. It was in Hannibal that Sam witnessed many things he would later incorporate into his novels. For instance, he witnessed slaves being mistreated (similar to Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), and civilized people acting crazy and violent (like the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons). Sam even had a best friend in Hannibal named Tom, who could do as he pleased and was very wild. Tom eventually became the character of Huckleberry Finn.
Other tragic events, aside from the death of Sam's younger sister, influenced Twain. His young brother Benjamin also became ill and died. Then, his older brother Orion left the family business to work as a printer's apprentice for the Hannibal Journal newspaper. In 1847, Sam's father, John Clemens, died of pneumonia. Sam went to work with his brother at the Journal. This is where Sam first developed his writing skills. Later, he moved to St. Louis, where he got a job working at the St. Louis Evening News as a typesetter. He didn't stay there long, and later moved to New York City and then Philadelphia. He spent a lot of time traveling all over the world, and eventually, in 1859, Twain got his river pilot's license. Sam enjoyed this life a lot and his many experiences on the river would later be incorporated into his novels.
Events in American history such the Civil War, the gold rush, and moving west, became important themes for Twain. While working for the Nevada Territorial Enterprise, Sam first wrote under his pen name, Mark Twain.
Twain would later fall in love with Olivia Langdon, his wife and mother to his four children. The early deaths of his children would later lead to bouts of depression and emotional suffering.
In 1888, Twain earned a Master of Arts degree from Yale University. He then was awarded two honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Yale in 1901, and the University of Missouri in 1902. His works include: The Innocents Abroad, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. In 1910, Samuel Langhorne Clemens died at age 75 in his Connecticut home. |
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