'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' subject of this year's Weber Reads program

Brad Roghaar has traveled down the Mississippi with Huckleberry Finn many times.

“It’s never the same river twice,” said Roghaar, an instructor in Weber State University’s English department, and fan of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” “Every time you read something, you read it new, hopefully, so I think you can read that novel a number of times — I have.”

Weber Reads, a community-wide reading and discussion program, invites everyone to read — or reread — “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” this year.

“I think it’s a great choice, because it can appeal to so many audiences,” said Roghaar, who earned his doctorate with a Twain-themed project. “It definitely can be read as a younger novel ... but at the same time, it’s such a mature work, depending upon how you’re interpreting the book.”

The focus is on Twain this year because 2010 is the centennial of his death, but more importantly because he’s considered one of the country’s most significant writers.

Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Faulkner all said Twain was the first American writer, and “Huckleberry Finn” the first American novel, according to Roghaar.
“It does envision those uniquely American aspects of life,” he said, noting that Twain dealt with slavery and the frontier in ways that were new to readers. “And he does it with humor, and he does it with biting sarcasm and irony, and it’s a good little adventure story, too. ... It probably deserves that appellation of being the first great American novel.”

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” focuses on a boy with an abusive father, a slave named Jim, and their journey to escape to freedom.

A journey is a standard literary ploy, giving characters a chance to learn and grow, said Roghaar. What Huck learns on the journey down the Mississippi is deeper than the river.

“We see a lot, especially the older we get, in the struggles that he’s going through as he’s dealing with his conscience,” said Roghaar. “To me that’s the novel, at least it is right now. Twenty years ago, it was something else, and maybe 20 years from now, if I’m around, it might be something entirely different again.”

That’s why Roghaar says it’s never the same river twice.

“If you want to enter the novel looking at the slavery issue, you certainly can. If you want to look at it in all the sociological aspects of it, you certainly can. If you want to look at it as a novel, that very much is a novel about Huck and Jim and the relationship that they forge, you can — and with all the implications of that.”

Roghaar says he hopes to interest readers in taking a look at Huck, who sees the world through fresh eyes.

“Just look at how he looks at the world. Just look at the questions that he asks. Just look at ... the ways in which he deals with what is going on,” he said. “And one of the things that should never be ignored is that there’s a great love and respect that Huck has with Jim, really.”

Readers may argue about the relationship, and whether it’s long-lasting, but Roghaar says he believes it.

“I think that that’s very important in looking at that novel, and it’s quite moving really,” he said. “It’s quite moving the way Jim takes care of Huck, and the way Huck takes care of Jim — although he sells him out on occasion and is sorry for it.

“But this is a young kid in Huck, who is certainly not formed yet. He’s in formation, and his conscience comes up now and again, where he knows that this is wrong, and those are places you need to stop and reflect. So to me, it’s more than just that odyssey or the journey down the river.”

Read more on Mark Twain by Standard-Examiner staff:

WSU's Roghaar ready for historic interview Thursday

Finn's tale still controversial