Huckleberry Finn – The boy-narrator of the novel, Huck is the son of a vicious town drunk who has been adopted into normal society by the Widow Douglass after the events of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In his love for freedom, Huck rebels both against his father Pap’s debauchery and its seeming opposite, a sternly straight-laced but hypocritical society. Wise beyond his years, cleverly practical but nonetheless supremely humane, Huck defies societal conventions by befriending the black slave Jim while travelling with him on their raft and whom, as Huck matures, he comes to see as his equal. Huck’s maturation is impeded, though, by his respectable and bright but boyishly self-indulgent friend, Tom Sawyer.
Jim – One of Miss Watson’s slaves, Jim runs away because he is afraid of being separated from his beloved wife and daughter. Jim is superstitious, but nonetheless intelligent; he is also freedom-loving, and nobly selfless. He becomes a kind of moral guide to Huck over the course of their travels together, and, indeed, something of a spiritual father. Despite being the most morally upstanding character in the novel, Jim is ruthlessly persecuted and hunted and dehumanized. He bears his oppression with fiercely graceful resistance.
Tom Sawyer – Tom is Huck’s childhood friend, a boy from a respectable family who is both bright and learned; he is also a seasoned prankster. As good-spirited as Tom is, he is not as morally mature as Huck, and his impracticality endangers himself and others, especially Jim. Tom is also self-indulgent, even selfish. Despite his shortcomings, however, Tom exerts a powerful influence on Huck.
The duke and king – The kind of people Huck and Tom might turn into were they to only act out of self-interest, the duke and king are a couple of con men that Huck and Jim travel with. The two are selfish, greedy, deceptive, and debauched, but sometimes their actions expose and exploit societal hypocrisy in a way that is somewhat attractive and also rather revealing. Though the exploits of the duke and king can be farcical and fun to watch, the two demonstrate an absolute, hideous lack of respect for human life and dignity.
The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson – Two elderly sisters, the Widow and Miss Watson are Huck’s guardians at the beginning of the novel until Pap arrives on the scene. The two women demand that Huck conform to societal norms, which Huck resents. Miss Watson is hypocritical in holding Christian values yet cruelly keeping slaves, even separating Jim from his family. However, it would seem that she sees the light just before her death: she frees Jim in her will.
Pap – Huck’s father, Pap is a vicious drunk and racist, demonstrably beyond reform, who wants to have Huck’s fortune for himself. He resents Huck’s social mobility and, when not drunk or in jail, he can usually be found harassing Huck. Infuriated by the Widow at one point, Pap kidnaps Huck and imprisons him in a cabin, where he beats Huck mercilessly, such that Huck is compelled to escape from him once and for all. Pap seems to be free from the Widow and Miss Watson’s idea of society, but he is enslaved to his own wretched viciousness and alcoholism, as much a prisoner as anyone in the novel.
Judge Thatcher –A kind of guardian to Huck at the beginning of the novel. Judge Thatcher nobly helps the Widow in her bid for custody of Huck over Pap, and, at the end of the novel, he dutifully restores to Huck his fortune. Judith Loftus – A shrewd, gentle woman whom Huck approaches disguised as a girl. Mrs. Loftus exposes that Huck is lying to her, but is kind to him nonetheless. Her husband is a slave-hunter pursuing Jim.
Colonel Sherburn – A cold-blooded killer, Sherburn guns down the vocal but harmless drunkard Boggs for almost no reason at all, all of which Huck witnesses in horror. When a lynch mob sets out to avenge Boggs’ death, Sherburn calmly scorns the mob as being full of cowards and absolutely impotent. He is right: the mob, humiliated, disperses.
The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons – Two noble, pious, aristocratic families that absurdly, bloodily feud with one another despite mutual respect. Huck stays with the Grangerfords after becoming separated from Jim, but becomes embroiled in their feud after he accidentally enables a Grangerford girl to elope with a Shepherdson boy. Huck is confused by how such good, brave people could be involved in such devastating madness.
Jack – A Grangerford slave who tends to Huck and kindly shows him to where Jim is hiding nearby the Grangerford estate.
Mary Jane Wilks – The beautiful daughter of Peter Wilks, Huck is so moved by her goodness that he resolves to expose the duke and king as the con men they are.
Joanna Wilks – A daughter of Peter Wilks with a harelip, Joanna shrewdly catches Huck in many lies as he plays along with the duke and king’s impersonation of the Wilks brothers.
Doctor Robinson and Levi Bell – The intelligent but somewhat condescending friends of Peter Wilks who suspect all along that the duke and king are frauds.
Harvey and William Wilks – Brothers of Peter Wilks who have traveled from England to the U.S. for Peter’s funeral. William is a deaf mute. The duke and king impersonate them during one of their more disgusting scams.
Peter Wilks – Brother of Harvey and William Wilks, father of Mary Jane Wilks and her sisters; deceased.
Sally and Silas Phelps – Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle, respectively, who are both good people and parents, upstanding members of their community, and yet who troublingly support the institution of slavery, exemplified by their detainment of Jim. Huck and Tom trick the Phelpses when preparing for Jim’s escape, much to Aunt Sally’s fury and Uncle Silas’s innocent befuddlement. Aunt Sally offers to adopt Huck at the end of the novel, but he refuses to be “sivilized” by anyone.
Nat – A Phelps slave whose superstitions Tom exploits in executing his ridiculous plan to free Jim.
Aunt Polly – Tom Sawyer’s aunt and guardian, sister of Sally Phelps.
Jim – One of Miss Watson’s slaves, Jim runs away because he is afraid of being separated from his beloved wife and daughter. Jim is superstitious, but nonetheless intelligent; he is also freedom-loving, and nobly selfless. He becomes a kind of moral guide to Huck over the course of their travels together, and, indeed, something of a spiritual father. Despite being the most morally upstanding character in the novel, Jim is ruthlessly persecuted and hunted and dehumanized. He bears his oppression with fiercely graceful resistance.
Tom Sawyer – Tom is Huck’s childhood friend, a boy from a respectable family who is both bright and learned; he is also a seasoned prankster. As good-spirited as Tom is, he is not as morally mature as Huck, and his impracticality endangers himself and others, especially Jim. Tom is also self-indulgent, even selfish. Despite his shortcomings, however, Tom exerts a powerful influence on Huck.
The duke and king – The kind of people Huck and Tom might turn into were they to only act out of self-interest, the duke and king are a couple of con men that Huck and Jim travel with. The two are selfish, greedy, deceptive, and debauched, but sometimes their actions expose and exploit societal hypocrisy in a way that is somewhat attractive and also rather revealing. Though the exploits of the duke and king can be farcical and fun to watch, the two demonstrate an absolute, hideous lack of respect for human life and dignity.
The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson – Two elderly sisters, the Widow and Miss Watson are Huck’s guardians at the beginning of the novel until Pap arrives on the scene. The two women demand that Huck conform to societal norms, which Huck resents. Miss Watson is hypocritical in holding Christian values yet cruelly keeping slaves, even separating Jim from his family. However, it would seem that she sees the light just before her death: she frees Jim in her will.
Pap – Huck’s father, Pap is a vicious drunk and racist, demonstrably beyond reform, who wants to have Huck’s fortune for himself. He resents Huck’s social mobility and, when not drunk or in jail, he can usually be found harassing Huck. Infuriated by the Widow at one point, Pap kidnaps Huck and imprisons him in a cabin, where he beats Huck mercilessly, such that Huck is compelled to escape from him once and for all. Pap seems to be free from the Widow and Miss Watson’s idea of society, but he is enslaved to his own wretched viciousness and alcoholism, as much a prisoner as anyone in the novel.
Judge Thatcher –A kind of guardian to Huck at the beginning of the novel. Judge Thatcher nobly helps the Widow in her bid for custody of Huck over Pap, and, at the end of the novel, he dutifully restores to Huck his fortune. Judith Loftus – A shrewd, gentle woman whom Huck approaches disguised as a girl. Mrs. Loftus exposes that Huck is lying to her, but is kind to him nonetheless. Her husband is a slave-hunter pursuing Jim.
Colonel Sherburn – A cold-blooded killer, Sherburn guns down the vocal but harmless drunkard Boggs for almost no reason at all, all of which Huck witnesses in horror. When a lynch mob sets out to avenge Boggs’ death, Sherburn calmly scorns the mob as being full of cowards and absolutely impotent. He is right: the mob, humiliated, disperses.
The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons – Two noble, pious, aristocratic families that absurdly, bloodily feud with one another despite mutual respect. Huck stays with the Grangerfords after becoming separated from Jim, but becomes embroiled in their feud after he accidentally enables a Grangerford girl to elope with a Shepherdson boy. Huck is confused by how such good, brave people could be involved in such devastating madness.
Jack – A Grangerford slave who tends to Huck and kindly shows him to where Jim is hiding nearby the Grangerford estate.
Mary Jane Wilks – The beautiful daughter of Peter Wilks, Huck is so moved by her goodness that he resolves to expose the duke and king as the con men they are.
Joanna Wilks – A daughter of Peter Wilks with a harelip, Joanna shrewdly catches Huck in many lies as he plays along with the duke and king’s impersonation of the Wilks brothers.
Doctor Robinson and Levi Bell – The intelligent but somewhat condescending friends of Peter Wilks who suspect all along that the duke and king are frauds.
Harvey and William Wilks – Brothers of Peter Wilks who have traveled from England to the U.S. for Peter’s funeral. William is a deaf mute. The duke and king impersonate them during one of their more disgusting scams.
Peter Wilks – Brother of Harvey and William Wilks, father of Mary Jane Wilks and her sisters; deceased.
Sally and Silas Phelps – Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle, respectively, who are both good people and parents, upstanding members of their community, and yet who troublingly support the institution of slavery, exemplified by their detainment of Jim. Huck and Tom trick the Phelpses when preparing for Jim’s escape, much to Aunt Sally’s fury and Uncle Silas’s innocent befuddlement. Aunt Sally offers to adopt Huck at the end of the novel, but he refuses to be “sivilized” by anyone.
Nat – A Phelps slave whose superstitions Tom exploits in executing his ridiculous plan to free Jim.
Aunt Polly – Tom Sawyer’s aunt and guardian, sister of Sally Phelps.