Mark Twain's, Huckleberry Finn, although an excellent book, has a very weak and unrealistic ending. The two main characters, Huck and Jim are turned into comic characters and the seriousness of their journey down the river is lost. Twain lets the ending destroy the plot of the book by making it comic and unrelated to the episodes on the raft.
             Leo Marx points out that the meaning of Huck and Jim's journey is lost. During their journey, Huck and Jim develop a very close relationship. Jim becomes like the father that Huck never truly experienced. "Jim is identified even more unmistakably as Huck's father by the love that he gives him." (Lynn p.214) Jim would do anything for Huck; such as calling him honey, trying to keep him happy, and taking over his watch so Huck could sleep. Likewise, Huck would do anything for Jim. He lies to the men about to search the raft and even decides he'll go to Hell for Jim. Although Huck and Jim have bonded throughout their time on the raft, Huck is somehow able to disregard Jim as a human and only regard him as a plaything. Both boys fill Jim's cell with snakes, spiders, and biting rats. They then further his misery by prolonging his stay in the cell while they ready a complicated, risky, and worthless plan. " Jim's yearning for freedom is made the object of nonsense." (Marx p.205) Huck accompanies Tom in all his antics and reverts back to his subservient role in the story while Tom takes over. Huck gives little protest to the inhumane treatment of Jim. The reader cannot be expected to believe that Huck would so completely disregard the fate of a man who had become a best friend and a father to him.
             A second reason that Huck's transformation to subservient is unrealistic is his level of maturity after the journey. Throughout the journey, Huck continually grows and matures. He sees how inhumane people can be and he realizes that
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