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Compare And Contrast Essay On Huckleberry Finn

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All children grow up, and as they grow up, they encounter different experiences that shape them into adults. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a coming of age story that showcases the moral growth of a child as he becomes an adult. Twain uses the adventures of Huck, a young boy from the lowest social class of society, and his changing relationship with Jim, a runaway slave, to showcase a key feature of adolescence: learning through taking risks. Huck learns key life lessons in his time spent on land with the Widow Douglas, pap, the Grangerfords, and the Wilks that lead to his decision to “go to hell” (?).
Huck learns the importance of freedom from the Widow Douglas and pap. By the time we finish reading the first page of the novel, we know …show more content…

Buck, a boy who is the same age as Huck and is quite similar to Huck, teaches Huck both what a feud is and how destructive it can be. Both Huck and Buck seek action and adventure. Buck displays this clearly when Huck comes to the Grangerfords house and the men of the house search Huck to make sure he is not part of the enemy family, but Buck is only woken up when the interrogation of Huck was complete, and he complains “Well, nobody come after me, and it ain’t right. I’m always kept down; I don’t get no show” (97). Both Huck and Buck are looking to get in on the excitement. Because they are so similar, Huck and Buck quickly become good friends. The lesson that Huck learns from the Grangerfords is particularly forceful for Huck because the fight between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons results in Buck’s death. Huck sees first hand the death of Buck along with many other members of both families. This emotionally impacts Huck, and he explains that when he saw Buck die, “it made me so sick I most fell out of the tree” (114). Sophia Grangerford, who falls in love with Henry Sheperdson, teaches Huck another way of dealing with feuds. She shows him that an individual can overcome feuds and bridge gaps between families. This new subtle lesson comes up when Huck questions if he should go to hell near the end of the

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