Comment by kombookcha
2 hours ago
I've been reading an oral history of Soviet Afghanistan-veterans and unexpectedly one of them brought up this scene, talking about being a kid in school and being asked to name the most heroic literary figure he could think of. He names Huck Finn, because he knowingly accepted hell for himself in order to right an injustice and help Jim be free.
I thought that was quite an interesting pull for a kid in 1960s USSR.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was mandatory school reading in the USSR - and still is in Russia and many of the ex-USSR countries.