User:Conner96/sandbox

Characters
(In order of appearance):

The protagonist is Huckleberry Finn, a boy about thirteen or fourteen. He has been brought up by his father, the town drunk, and has a hard time fitting into society. Widow Douglas is the kind old lady who has taken him in after he and Tom come across the money. She tries her best to civilize Huck, believing it is her Christian duty. The widow’s cousin, a tough old spinster called Miss Watson, also lives with them. She is pretty hard on Huck, causing him to resent her a good deal. Samuel Clemens may have drawn inspiration for her from several people he knew in his life. Huck’s friend, Tom Sawyer, the main character of other Twain novels and the leader of the town boys in adventures, is “the best fighter and the smartest kid in town” Huck’s father, "Pap" Finn, is the town drunk. He is often angry at Huck and resents him getting any kind of education. One of the main characters in the novel is Jim, the widow's big, mild-mannered slave to whom Huck becomes very close in the novel. Mrs. Judith Loftus seemingly plays a small part in the novel - being the kind and perceptive woman whom Huck talks to in order to find out about the search for Jim- but many critics believe her to be the best female character in the novel. The Grangerfords, the prominent family of Col. Grangerford, take Huck in until most of them are killed in a feudal skirmish with another family. After the Grangerfords, Huck and Jim take aboard two con artists who call themselves the Duke and the King. Joanna, Mary Jane and Susan are the three young women whose wealthy uncle and caretaker recently died. When Huck goes after Jim, he meets Tom's Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas Phelps. She is a loving but high strung lady, and he a plodding old man.

Many other characters play important but minimal roles in the many episodes that make up the novel. They include slaves owned by the various family's they meet, supporting townspeople, rafts-men, a doctor and a steamboat captain.

Illustrations
The original illustrations were done by Edward W. Kemble (more often known as E.W. Kemble), at the time a young artist working for Life magazine. Kemble was hand-picked by Twain, who admired his work. As Kemble could only afford one model, most of his illustrations he produced for the book were done by guesswork. When the novel was published, the illustrations were praised even as the novel was harshly criticized. E.W. Kemble also produced another set of illustrations for Harper’s and the American Publishing Company in 1898 and 1899 after Twain lost the copyright. .