Mr. Hall
American Literature
11 November 2011
Huck Finn Essay The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was the first great American novel. Ernest Hemingway went as far as to say that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". Mark Twain used literature to express his beliefs about American life and society. Huck Finn is a story of a young boy named Huckleberry Finn finding himself while traveling down the Mississippi River. Mark Twain uses Huck's journey towards maturity to convey his belief in the importance of being independent. Huck's journey to maturity begins with Huck displaying adolescent and dependent behavior. Huck is very immature at the beginning of the novel in the sense that he is reliant on the actions of others in order to dictate the decisions he makes. When Huck asks Tom Sawyer about how they should go about being a gang of robbers, Tom comes up with crazy ideas that do not make sense, but defends himself by saying; "I’ve seen it in books; and so of course that’s what we’ve got to do"(10). At this point, the gang that Tom Sawyer started is following everything he says. Huck and the rest of the boys are not thinking for themselves, but are doing what they are told, even though what they are doing is ridiculous. This demonstrates Huck's dependence on others to make his decisions and his immaturity. Later on, the boys are discussing when they should go out and rob people, but "all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday"(11). Huck and the boys started a gang to rob and murder people, but are reluctant to do it on a Sunday because that would be wrong. This is a prime example of adolescent behavior. The main goal of the gang was to rob and murder which is wrong but they contradict themselves by saying that it would be wrong to do something that is already evil on a Sunday. Huck begins to mature but is hindered by the Duke and Dauphin. As Huck and Jim are traveling down the river they get lost in a fog but eventually find each other. Huck tries to play a trick on Jim, but Jim gets upset about it and feels bad: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither"(84). Huck starts to develop a conscience and take responsibility for his actions. He makes a great stride towards maturity, apologizing for making someone feel bad. His development of maturity is nullified by the presence of the Duke and Dauphin. Huck helps the Duke and Dauphin scam people out of their money for awhile, but realizes that it is immoral and wrong. The actions of the Duke and Dauphin were "enough to make a body ashamed of the human race"(157). Huck does not like the fact that the Duke and Dauphin are taking advantage of people and swindling their money away from them. He is maturing and becoming a more independent person, but is still slightly influenced by the Duke and Dauphin. Huck achieves maturity and displays Mark Twain's emphasized independence. Huck becomes more independent as he treks down the river. Jim had been caught and Huck was going to set him free even though it was illegal to do so. He did not care about the consequences, he decided; "All right, then, I’ll go to hell"(206). Huck displays Mark Twain's prized attribute of independence. He stands up for what he believes in and does not care about the consequences. Huck has almost achieved maturity. Jim goes on to get captured again and Huck reunites with Tom Sawyer who devises ludicrous plans to break Jim out. Finally, Huck gets annoyed and stands up for himself: "your head gets leveler and leveler all the time, Tom Sawyer, . . . Picks is the thing, moral or no moral; and as for me, I don’t care shucks for the morality of it, nohow . . . I don’t give a dead rat what the authorities thinks about it nuther"(237). Huck finally stands up to Tom and his foolish plans because they are absurd and completely illogical. He displays his maturity by standing up to Tom. Huck's maturity is evident in this statement and his independent spirit is exhibited. Huck's journey towards maturity conveys Mark Twain's belief in the importance of independence. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a tale of developing independence and maturity. Huck achieves maturity in the end and displays Twain's principle of independence. Mark Twain exhibits his value of importance and ultimately brings up a tangible point about the lack of independence of American society.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn was a troubled kid who grew up and matured in several ways. Huck ran away and had to learn how to make it on his own, and as he went on that journey of going from boyhood to adulthood he learned so much about doing the right thing.…
- 785 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Huck is mature at the end because tom acts as a father figure to him. He would be able to do the same as what tom did on his adventure, and follow tom and making maturity decisions that tom did. Huck said, “Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine style.” This shows that hucks are able to do and copy tom and doing brave things to free Jim and could lead both get killed.…
- 527 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Through rejecting an education he is rejecting society and the religious, racist propaganda of the time. Huck paves his own path with help from Jim, a runaway slave and Huck’s most influential teacher. Jim encourages Huck to question many of the teachings he received from both Pap and Miss Watson. Multiple times, Huck chooses to go to hell rather than conform to cultural standards. This journey to maturity and independent thinking is contrasted by Tom Sawyer. Tom lives in the society Huck purposefully avoided and because of that is immature and less morally astute. Huck’s journey down the river with Jim shows that a true education can not be found in formal schooling, but in one’s own mind, one’s relationships with others and contact with the broad…
- 714 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In contemporary society, people’s personalities often change based on the environment that surrounds them. These personalities affect society for the better or worse as they influence others. Contemporary society has the same conflict between societal rules and natural rules as illustrated by the differences of rules between life on the river and life on land for Huckleberry Finn. In pre-Civil War America, society was greatly influenced by convention. When Huck is around other people on shore, he follows convention instead of following his own innate behavior. Huck most expresses his natural side…
- 996 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Au contraire, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel written by Mark Twain in the 19th century (which was first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885), we follow a young Huckleberry Finn alongside his trusted companion, Jim, who just so happens to be an African American slave! This book was commonly named among the Great American Novels and is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular- that is entirely in dialect- characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by the main protagonist, Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, a good friend of Tom Sawyer, and is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book satirizes a Southern antebellum society, focusing on their attitudes, particularly racism.…
- 639 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Toward the end of the book the reader eventually finds out that Huck doesn’t like living with the Widow. During the course of your reading Huck states how the Widow took him in “when he couldn’t stand it no longer he lit out” (1). Huck doesn’t want to stay with the Widow but that is what everyone else in the town wants him to stay with her. During the story the Widow makes him do things that he really didn’t want to do. The Widow makes Huck learn things about the Bible, but Huck thinks this is a completely waste of time because “he don’t take no stock in dead people” (2), Huck also thinks that school is a waste of time because “he don’t take no stoke in mathematics” (15) either. Tom also talks about Huck his participation in his gang. Tom makes sure that every single gang member has a family member because if…
- 446 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Most people often assume that the aim of civilizations is for humanity to function together, jointly and cooperatively, so that humans produce and experience the benefits of moral people who live and act together. However, in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reverse is true. The swap in societal stereotypes is apparent in the king and the duke’s production of the Royal Nonesuch as well as Huck and Jim’s pleasant journey down the Mississippi after escaping the family feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. Leading up to the performance of the Royal Nonesuch, the king and the duke attract an all-male audience in a small town in Arkansas for a so-called “tragedy”, and make signs promising lewdness in the performance. Conversely, the protagonists of the novel, Huck and Jim, are depicted as noble characters on the outskirts of society, as they lead a carefree existence down the Mississippi River. The central irony in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that in the midst of a “sivilized” society, uncivilized members abound, particularly those who are racist, conniving, and ill-mannered; whereas Huck and Jim, who have escaped society, are more righteous, sincere, and morally sound than any of the other “sivilized” characters who populate the traditional southern communities the novel depicts.…
- 1762 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Schools are built by the hundreds every year. Parents rely on the schooling and its staff to take care of their kids throughout the day while they are at work or are running errands. If you notice, however, schools have to practice lockdown drills every couple of months and now have to keep their inside classroom doors locked. Why do they do this? “Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog” - Mark Twain. By the 1990's, the U.S. was opening, on average, one new prison or jail every week. Today, the United States has the largest prison population in the world and the highest incarceration rate in the world. It took America 160 years to incarcerate its first million people, but just twelve years to incarcerate the second million according to the Justice Policy Institute. These prisons are being built in urban areas in back fields with 24 hour surveillance. In these urban areas, families thrive and children attend school five out of seven days in a week.…
- 1337 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
The first adventure that Huck has is with Tom Sawyer and a group of other young boys who band together to form a robber gang, all under the influence of Tom Sawyer. Their mission is to rob people and then kill them, however none of this ever happens and the gang soon breaks up.…
- 2416 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Actions speak volumes of character. While words are used to convey emotion, action is what determines character. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he emphasizes the relationship between characters’ actions and their moralities. Ironically, Huck and Jim, the novel’s social pariahs, represent the moral fiber of this novel as they defy predefined racial boundaries and learn to trust and even love each other. Tom Sawyer, Huck’s well off, socially accepted counter part and literary foil, is a manifestation of selfishness and corruptness, despite being of a higher class than Huck and Jim. As the novel is plot driven, Twain establishes the characters’ morality through their actions, and ultimately asserts that it is character, not class, that determines integrity.…
- 732 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Huck Finn was the main character of the book Huckleberry Finn. He definitely became way more mature throughout the book and it really shows. At the start he isn’t very much like everyone else around him. He just followed his own rules and did what he wanted to do without really putting in much thought about what his actions may do to others or how they may feel and react. He was a poor, homeless boy growing up and also acted very ignorant most of the time. He was just not important in the town or society he lived in. Towards the end of the story you will see a big change in the way he acts. Throughout the first portion of the book he was trying to escape his father, who was a drunk, mean old man.…
- 521 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Huck Finn is a child who is trying to get away from his dad named Pap. He was also taken in by Widow Douglas who started to take him to school and started to teach him about religion. He also joined a “gang” made by Tom Sawyer. They only pretended to be killing men and taking goods and women. But later on Pap had taken Huck to a ruined cabin to kind of imprison his son so he wasn’t taken away by Judge Thatcher or Widow Douglas. But as soon as Pap left the cabin Huck was already making his escape. As he got away he later on found Jim. And Jim was Huck’s second parent.…
- 514 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Many authors use satire to discuss issues in society that they have opinions on. These authors express their opinions by mocking the issues in a subtle way in their writing. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes many societal elements. Three of these issues include the institution of slavery, organized religion, and education.…
- 741 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the beginning of the novel, Huck has a very immature lifestyle. He doesn’t care what he does wrong, he doesn’t listen to his family, and he gets in a lot of trouble. Miss Watson yells at Huck for the littlest things, like not sitting up straight, “Then she told me about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there…all I wanted was a change” (Twain 2). Huck was a different person than a lot of the other kids his age. Huck thinks that everyone that doesn’t follow him in actions is…
- 687 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Huck is a kind of natural philosopher, skeptical of social doctrines, and willing to set forth new ideas. However, when it comes to the idea of a family, Huck is ignorant in all ways. Nevertheless, Huck’s adventures throughout the novel present him with opportunities to gain the family that he has secretly wanted all his life because of his lack of compassion from his remaining family. This new discovery to a family begins with Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer initiated himself as the decision-maker, with Huck listeing without argument, much like a big brother little brother relationship. “ In the first few chapters of the book, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are established as foils for each other-characters whose actions and traits contrast each other in a way that gives readers a better understanding of both characters. Due to these contrasts, Tom has established himself as Huck’s older brother. Later on in the book, Huck comes across the Grangerford family. The Grangerford family is a tragic family in a huge predicament similar to Romeo and Juliet. Huck finds himself attached to the family in a way. “Everybody loved to have him (Col. Grangerford) around, too; he was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.” Huck cries over Buck’s body because Huck has begun to think of Buck as a friend as well as a brother. Huck finds the feud that the…
- 1767 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays