Huckleberry Finn Handout: The ending
  Is the ending an artistic failure?

William F. Byrne:

The ending section is tiresome, and is often considered a failure. However, one commentator, Catherine Zuckert, argues that Twain had a definite purpose in mind: “he tries to separate the reader’s viewpoint even further from the narrator’s at the end--by making the reader sick and tired of all the boyish tricks. Failing to perceive the critical thrust of the disgust that Twain purposely engendered, however, most commentators have simply concluded that his art ran out at the end.” [12] It is true that by the end of the book we begin to wish that Tom would just grow up. It can be argued, however, that it is not simply “boyish tricks” we grow sick of, but Tom’s romantic imagination which is fueling them. We recognize that the antics serve no purpose, and wish Tom would get done with them. Sandwiched between the book’s Tom Sawyer-dominated beginning and ending sections, Huck and Jim’s trip down the river, free of Tom and his romantic role-playing, is like a breath of fresh air.