I understand why this is a Great American Novel TM. The vernacular, the picaresque adventurism, the presence of the Mississippi as a character in itself. The grappling with the contradictions and moralities of the time, despite Twain introducing the book with:

“PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”

As he said later in life, it becomes truly a battle between a good heart and an ill-trained conscience, where heart wins. I also laughed out loud a fair few times.

But then he has to go and bring Tom Sawyer back into it. I KNOW that a generous reading is that it is a self-reflexive jab at the adventurism and how it makes light of slavery and Jim’s humanity. But that feels awful generous. Especially for a man who fought for the Confederates for a bit of fun. But maybe he realised the error of his ways? Maybe…