Compare and Contrast Huck Finn

When a book is being adapted into a movie, changes have to be made, especially if doing the book identically would involve a three to four hour movie. What changes should be made? Are all the simplifications going to change the basic message and plot? In the case of the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there are many differences and similarities between the book and the 1993 Disney Home Videos version directed by Stephen Sommers. There are differences and similarities in the elements of plot, characters, and characterization. All together, these elements make up the move from a book version to a movie version.
Many of the differences between the movie and the book are due to the simplifying of the plot in order to save time. Most of these simplifications do not affect the story, such as when, in the book, Huck “sells” all his money to Judge Thatcher in order to keep it from Pap, which does not occur in the movie. Instead, in the movie, Pap mentions, later on in the story, that Judge Thatcher will not give him Huck’s money. Also in the movie, they do not show the boys, including Huck, making their pact to steal and murder together as a band; they merely show them sneaking out together. Although their sneaking out does have an effect on the plot, the details of what happens when they sneak out that are not given do not affect the story line.

When Huck goes to town to steal food, he dresses as a girl and talks to a woman in her home. In the book, however, he only goes to town to find out news about what has been going on. The scene in the house has a few small differences from the book. The woman tests Huck, but not as much as in the book. Her husband comes home and tells them he has seen smoke on an island and is off to search for a runaway slave. Huck runs for it but the woman holds him back, accusing him of being a boy; he just barely gets away. In the book, however, the husband never comes home, and the woman has seen the smoke on the island. She tests Huck and accuses him of being a boy. Assuming he is a runaway apprentice, she offers to help him and lets him go.

Later on in the plot, the movie combines the scenes at the floating house and at the sinking river boat. Jim discovers Pap’s body on the boat while Huck discovers the two murderers. The boat collapses and sinks, skipping Huck’s later effort, in the book, to send a ferry back to the boat to save the two men. Some differences in plot do change the story somewhat. The movie fails to show Jim and Huck stealing the girls’ clothes that Huck wears to town. It uses implication instead of being explicit. Other times the movie goes beyond simplification and actually changes the tone of the story, such as the removal of the Royal Nonesuch, which is a crucial comical relief in the book that brings out more of the duke and king’s characters.

There are, however, basic similarities involving the theme, setting, and plot. The story is still about a runaway teenage boy and a runaway slave, going down the Mississippi River and it still humanizes slaves. Huck develops a growing independence, and certain plot elements such as the hair ball oracle are present.

As these changes and similarities take place, there are characters from the book that remain in the story, are removed, or are replaced by other characters. There are still the basic main characters such as Huck, Jim, Pap, the Duke and the King, the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons, Miss Watson, and the Widow Douglas, but there are also characters taken out, such as Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, and the Phelps. These characters form a crucial part of the plot in the book that is not present in the movie. Instead of Tom being shot, Huck is shot. Instead of having Jim captured by the Phelps, Jim is put in jail. Therefore, when Huck and Jim are caught, Jim is almost hung. Huck wakes up in the Wilks’ house to find that Jim is all spiffed up and has been set free by the recently deceased Miss Watson. The widow Douglas has come and is going to civilize Huck, but Huck runs away again. The Phelps have been replaced by the widow, Tom by Huck, and Aunt Polly, also, by the widow. As a result, the entire ending has been changed, for the movie.
The differences in what characters are in and not in the movie and book, and the parts of the book, that the movie omits, simplifies, or replaces lead to differences in the characterization of the characters. The duke and the king are more openly evil in the movie. They threaten to turn Jim in if Huck does not keep silent. Huck and Jim seem more fearful and less caring in the movie because Huck never sends a ferry back for the robbers, and Huck and Jim try to get away before the duke and the king can get on their raft.
The movie does not show the details of Huck and Jim’s life on the island, such as when Huck hides the dead snake on Jim’s blanket while he is sleeping and Jim gets bitten by the dead snake’s mate. When this happens, Huck does not take responsibility for it, which shows his childish side; however, when Huck has to take care of Jim, it is the start of their caring relationship for each other. Also in the movie, Huck is more selfish, and almost does not take Jim with him. Later, he almost does not help the Wilks girls. Jim’s dialect also changes the way he is portrayed. In the movie, he is more clear and easy to understand when he talks, and he is more educated. This and the lesser amount of superstition in the movie, change his character.

Even with these differences, there are still similarities. Pap is still his old, drunken self in the movie, and the Duke and the King are still doing their bad deeds. Some of Huck’s mature and immature sides still show, and there is still an obvious side of Jim that cares about family and people, which causes Huck to think more deeply about what is right and what is wrong, and whether his helping a slave escape is a sin or not.
If the characters of the movie version were put in the same room with the characters of the book version, which characters would have the most obvious differences? Moreover, which characters would “whoop” the others? By comparing and contrasting the two versions, these differences and similarities become obvious. The elements of the plot, characters, and characterization, all together, make up the move from a book version to a movie version. For, if The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the book, were to be made into a “Disneyfied” movie version, these elements would have to be changed in order to simplify the story and make it more adaptable and applicable to the current times.