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NovelAmerican · 18844 min · 1 passageGentle

Huckleberry Finn — Opening

Mark Twain →

Twain hands the book to a thirteen-year-old narrator and never corrects his grammar. The voice is the argument: this is a story told by someone the century did not count.

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The opening
Vernacular voice

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, . There was things which he stretched, but he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom's Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

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Plain English

You don't know about me unless you've read a book called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but never mind. That book was written by Mr. Mark Twain and he told the truth, mostly. There were things he stretched, but mostly he told the truth. That's normal. I never met anyone who didn't lie sometimes, except Aunt Polly, the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly — Tom's Aunt Polly — Mary, and the Widow Douglas are all in that book, which is mostly true with some stretchers, as I said.

That's the whole thing.

Read it again slowly — it gets better the second time.

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