Huckleberry Finn - Thesis
Yakov Suleymanov
Senior thesis December 2008
Do you think you have role models in your life? Someone you can look up to and say “I Want to be like him”. If yes, first of all you have to ask yourself what is a role model? A role Model is a person who serves as a model in a particular behavioral or social role for another
Person to emulate. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain shows us two
Sides of the coin by putting good role models for huck such as: Judge Thatcher, Widow Douglas,
And many more. On the other side he shows us also bad examples of role models, characters like
Pap, the king, and the duke. Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain
Shows us through Huck the importance of a role model in ones life.
Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn we meet many characters
Who influence the thinking and actions of the protagonist, huck. One of the characters is Widow
Douglas whom takes huck under her custody and “... allowed she would sivilize me” (Twain, 1).
Twain uses Widow Douglas as a good role model for Huck in place of a mom. He clearly states
That Huck is a boy from the slums. His clothes are dirty and he does not have manners. Widow
Douglas takes Huck in and tries to improve his behavior from the get-go and dress him clean but
Huck refuses to wear the clothes she gives him with the excuse of “I couldn’t do nothing but
Sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up” (Twain, 1). Even though Huck disobey the Widow,
He gets a lesson in how one should behave in the real world. The above will help him in the
Future adventures with Jim on their way to freedom in the Mississippi river. During their time
Together in the Mississippi river, Jim becomes an important role model in Huck’s life.
As Donald B. Gibson states in his journal “Mark Twain's Jim in the Classroom”
Senior thesis December 2008
Do you think you have role models in your life? Someone you can look up to and say “I Want to be like him”. If yes, first of all you have to ask yourself what is a role model? A role Model is a person who serves as a model in a particular behavioral or social role for another
Person to emulate. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain shows us two
Sides of the coin by putting good role models for huck such as: Judge Thatcher, Widow Douglas,
And many more. On the other side he shows us also bad examples of role models, characters like
Pap, the king, and the duke. Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain
Shows us through Huck the importance of a role model in ones life.
Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn we meet many characters
Who influence the thinking and actions of the protagonist, huck. One of the characters is Widow
Douglas whom takes huck under her custody and “... allowed she would sivilize me” (Twain, 1).
Twain uses Widow Douglas as a good role model for Huck in place of a mom. He clearly states
That Huck is a boy from the slums. His clothes are dirty and he does not have manners. Widow
Douglas takes Huck in and tries to improve his behavior from the get-go and dress him clean but
Huck refuses to wear the clothes she gives him with the excuse of “I couldn’t do nothing but
Sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up” (Twain, 1). Even though Huck disobey the Widow,
He gets a lesson in how one should behave in the real world. The above will help him in the
Future adventures with Jim on their way to freedom in the Mississippi river. During their time
Together in the Mississippi river, Jim becomes an important role model in Huck’s life.
As Donald B. Gibson states in his journal “Mark Twain's Jim in the Classroom”
Bibliography: New York: Modern Language Association, Vol. 87, No. 1, 1972. 69-74. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, Vol. 57, No. 2, 1968. 196-202. Twain, mark. The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Ed. Wilbert J. Levy. New York: Amsco, 1972.