The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn is an archetypal American maverick, a rebel against school and church, the accidental heir to the golden treasure, the rafters of the Mississippi, and the savior of fugitive slave Jim. Fleeing a respectable society that wants to "liberate" him, Huck Finn takes Jim on a rhapsodic journey down the Mississippi River on a raft. When Huck learns about love, responsibility, and how to make moral choices, the journey turns into a metaphorical journey in his own soul, culminating in a glorious moment in which he decides to "go to hell" rather than return Jim to slavery. Mark Twain described the "classics" as "a book that people praise and do not read"; Huckleberry Finn is a happy exception to this rule. Twain's mastery of the dialect, combined with his famous wit, makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn one of the most enjoyable and distinctly American classics ever written.
