Many readers responded to our query on July 4 to select what should be considered "America's novel." This was in the wake of a new book by Mary McDonagh Murphy that marked the 50th anniversary this summer of the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

She claimed that Harper Lee's "Mockingbird" was "our nation's novel."

Among the books that readers suggested were "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville, "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike, "The Fountainhead," by Ayn Rand and "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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PG POLL

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Which would you select as the American novel?

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Most readers, however, emphatically supported Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Daniel Kennedy, an English teacher in the Clearfield School District for 28 years, teaching mostly ninth-graders, had this to say about why "Huckleberry Finn" deserves this recognition:

" 'Huckleberry Finn' was the first American novel to focus on the Mississippi Valley, which was a crucial transportation corridor in the opening of the American West. With this frontier viewpoint, Twain could compare the new Western lifestyles with the more established traditions of the East. At various points in his career, Twain traveled the world, worked in the far West of the United States, and had settled in the Eastern United States. His ideas and viewpoints were influenced by his area of origin as well as his vast and varied experiences.

"Twain or, preferably, Samuel Clemens, was well-acquainted with the complexities, ambiguities and contradictions of being an American. Twain was a son of the South, but he settled in the North. He initially expressed disdain for Native Americans, but came to view them as the only honorable inhabitants of North America. Twain grew, changed and learned as a result of his travels, experiences and observations. 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' often is cited on lists of books banned because of the racial epithet used to identify Jim, Aunt Polly's slave. What readers often overlook is that Jim is actually the only admirable main character in the book.

"In a similar way, 'Huckleberry Finn' describes Huck's journey, both physical and ethical, on the landscape of America and its struggle with the institution of slavery. Huck wrestles with the consequences of violating the Southern social contract regarding slaves, and decides that he will violate this code in order to help his friend escape. Huck firmly believes that he has doomed himself in helping Jim.

"Huckleberry Finn is a character who struggles against the established society by doing the right thing. Unlike other heroes trapped in this situation, Huck survives relatively unscathed thanks to the intervention of the wily Tom Sawyer. The ending of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' has been cited as a literary contrivance by some critics to rescue the author from the corner into which he had written himself. However, Huck had probably suffered enough."

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