Adventures of Huckleberry Finn



Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Mark Twain

Justin Bjorkland

Grade 9 English Honors

Ms. Janice Tonger

August 22, 2011

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnis written by Mark Twain. The main character is Huck Finn; he is an eleven year old boy who faces many challenges throughout the book. One major challenge that he faces is that his father is an alcoholic and does not care for him as he should. Since his father is never around Huck stays with Miss. Watson and the widow. At Miss. Watson’s house Huck and the reader is introduced to the other main character Jim. Jim is Miss. Watson’s slave, Huck is being influenced by society that slavery is perfectly fine. Huck receives money from an event that occurs with Tom Sawyer, who is Huck’s best friend. Huck’s father discovers that Huck had received money so his father Pap came back to take it from him. Pap demanded that Huck dropped out of school because Huck was better than Pap. In the end Pap takes Huck to his cabin. After being abused Huck escapes and adventures off onto the Mississippi River and lands on Jackson Island and discovers that Jim had ran away because he was going to be sold from Miss Watson. In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the theme of coming of age is shown through Huck’s experiences with death, the Duke and King, and Jim.

First, the experience of Huck seeing numerous cases of death causes this to be a coming of age novel. At the beginning of the novel Huck, Tom and a few other friends decide to start their own gang. They all decided that they would steal and kill people and would not care about anything that happens. Huck says to Tom, “Must we always kill the people? Oh, certainly. It’s best. Some authorities think different, but mostly it’s considered best to kill them” (6). This is showing how these young men did not care about life and just thought killing was no big deal. Also it shows how immature these young men truly are. Though at the beginning of the book Huck is immature and doesn’t care about death because he has never experienced it, that all changes. Huck, after escaping Pap and floating on a raft down the Mississippi River comes across a ferry boat with a man dead onboard. This person we find out at the end of the book is his father. As a young child most people do not witness death for quite some time but for Huck he witnesses it numerous occasions. When Jim is telling Huck how his father will not be coming back Huck responds, “Why Jim? Nemmine why, Huck-but he ain’t comin’ back no mo’. But I kept at him; so at last he says: Doan’ you ‘member de house dat was float’n down de river, en

dey wuz a man in dah, kivered up, en I went en unkivered him and didn’ let you come in? Well, den, you k’n git yo’ money when you wants it’; kase dat wuz him” (220). This quote shows how Huck keeps questioning Jim to find out why he will not see his father anymore. When he keeps asking, this tells the reader that he has came of age because he has seen death and cares about what had happened to his father.

Next, the experience of Huck meeting the Duke and King causes Huck to come of age. In the novel Huck and Jim meet these two characters who lie quite frequently. These two men make Huck realize stealing and lying is wrong and it enlightens him not to do it anymore. As in the beginning of the book Huck wants to steal money from these innocent people with his friends. After meeting these two men and traveling with them to different towns Huck has changed completely. The Duke tells Huck and Jim that he does, “a little in patent medicines; theatre-actor- tragedy” (92). Like the Duke the King tells Huck and Jim, “I’ve done considerable in the doctoring way in my time” (92). These two quotes convince Jim and Huck that they good people and its fine to trust them. Huck realizes later in the book that they have lied the whole time and should have never been trusted. After the King and Duke decide to go to pretend they are the family of Peter Wilks who had just died and had left money for his family. When the King and Duke do this Huck realizes stealing and lying are wrong and makes him more mature proving

this is a coming of age novel. Huck says to Mary Jane, “I put it in the coffin. It was in there when you was crying there, away in the night. I was behind the door, and I was mighty sorry for you, Miss Mary Jane” (144). This quote is showing how Huck realized that what the Duke and King stole was not there’s and to be honest Huck steals it from them, hid it and then told Mary Jane where she could find it, so it could go to the rightful owner.

Finally, during the experience of traveling with Jim, Huck realizes blacks should be treated equal making this a coming of age novel. At the beginning of the novel Huck wants to tie Jim up to a tree but does not do it because he thought he would get caught. The author writes, “When we was ten foot off, Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun” (4). Huck thinks of Jim as just property and that he has no feelings and rights just how all the whites thought of blacks. Throughout the novel Huck figures out that Jim has feelings and is just like everyone else in the world. The reader finds this out when Huck says, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go to humble myself to a nigger-but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d knowed it would make him feel that way” (65). This quote is showing how Huck felt terrible for tricking Jim into believing he was dreaming because he was black and Huck thought all blacks are gullible and don’t have feelings that can get hurt. Huck finds out that he is wrong about what society is telling him about blacks. The biggest decision for Huck is that he lies to save Jims life by telling these men that Jim is white and not black. All these decisions show how this novel is coming of age.

Another experience of Huck's growing maturity was in Chapter 15. Huck and Jim are split because of a thick fog near Cairo, their destination. After many hours, Huck finally makes his way back to the raft. Jim is sleeping, and Huck, still in a childish state of mind, decides to play a joke on Jim by pretending that he was never lost. He pretends to wake up next to Jim, who is overjoyed to see him, and Huck convinces Jim that the whole episode was a dream. When Jim finally realizes that Huck is fooling him, he scolds him sharply for it: Aamy heart wuz mos' broke bekase you wuz los', en I didn' k'yer no' mo' what become er me en de raf'. En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun', de tears come, en I could a got down on my knees en kiss yo; foot. I's so thankful. En all you wuz thinking' bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah a TRASH; en trash is what people is dat put dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes em ashamed. (p. 109).

At the end of the story when Huck visited Aunt Sally he decided to stay the entire night instead of leaving to check on Tom. Huck has proven to be more mature at this time as he was more caring and was showing his feelings by caring for his Aunt. “And twice I went down the rod away in the night, and slipped around front, and see her setting there by her candle in the window with her eyes towards to road and the tears in them; and “I wished I could do something for her, but I couldn’t, only to swear that I wouldn’t never do nothing to grieve her any more. (p283). In the beginning of the story he would not have been so considerate for others feelings but as he has matured he thinks twice before his actions.

The theme of coming of age is supported by experiences with death, the King and Duke, and Jim. All of these have one thing in common, people and experiences display the good and bad in the world and these people and experiences help others become more aware of right and wrong. This awareness matures and makes people come of age just like Huckleberry Finn. If the experiences and people had not occurred in Huck’s life then he still would have been just a child but after it he is mature and ready to take on many new tasks and conflicts that will rise in his life.

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