Huckleberry Finn Essay

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows the development of a young boy named Huck Finn. We see Huck develop in character, attitude and maturity as he goes on his adventure down the Mississippi River. This is displayed through his search for freedom from civilization and it's beliefs and through his personal observations of a corrupt and immoral society. Most importantly, we are in Huck's head as he goes through his confusion over his supposedly immoral behavior and his acceptance that he will “go to hell” as he conquers his social beliefs.

Jim's true role in Huckleberry Finn has long been argued. Some critics believe that he acts as a father figure for Huck. Others believe various other things. However, Jim's real role in the novel is to provide Huck with an opportunity for moral growth because, through his friendship with Jim, Huck learns a great deal about humanity.

Tim Lively Critical Analysis: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Setting: Late 1800’s along the Mississippi River Plot: When the book begins, the main character, Huck Finn possesses a large sum of money. This causes his delinquent lifestyle to change drastically. Huck gets an education, and a home to live in with a caring elderly woman (the widow). One would think that Huck would be satisfied. Well, he wasn’t. He wanted his own lifestyle back. Huck’s drunkard father (pap), who had previously left him, was also not pleased with Huck’s lifestyle. He didn’t feel that his son should have it better than he. Pap tries to get a hold of the money for his own uses, but he fails. He proceeds to lock Huck up in his cabin on the outskirts of town.

Jim helps Huck develop greater character changes throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. In the story Huck learns a lot of lessons on how to grow into a better and more trustworthy friend. Jim helped him throughout the story to show him a different side of life, and how everyone is different and they grow in different surroundings. Jim and Huck both grew in maturity with their life, and wanted the best for one another. Huck finds out a new identity for the world as he grows later on in the story.

The first book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, features Huck, who narrates his adventures along the Mississippi with Jim, a runaway slave. Huck escapes from his alcoholic, abusive father early in the book, and, immediately thereafter, is primarily concerned with his own survival and contentment. However, even these basic amenities are threatened as he continues his voyage south. First and foremost, Huck must survive in the wild, a task he undertakes with remarkable skill and resourcefulness. Early on in the novel, Huck's skill at living in the wilderness is plainly established, and the reader never doubts his ability to provide for himself.

In Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the adults in Huck's life play an important role in the development of the plot. Pap, Huck's father, constantly abuses the boy, never allowing him to become an intelligent or decent human being. He beats and attacks Huck whenever they meet up, and tries to destroy Huck's chances of having a normal life. This situation is balanced by several good role models and parent figures for Huck. Jim, the runaway slave, embraces Huck like a son, and shares his wide ranging knowledge with him. He also protects Huck on the journey down the river. Widow Douglas is another good role model for Huck. She tries to civilize him and make him respectable to society,

Thus, Twain’s early experiences in life helped him to flesh out a well-rounded vocabulary and sparked his interests in adventure and traveling. Twain spent his boyhood in the riverside town of Hannibal, Missouri where he, “experienced the excitement of the colorful steamboats that docked at the town wharf, bringing comedians, singers, gamblers, swindlers, slave dealers, and assorted other river travelers” (Gribben). His exposure to much of the world at a young age opened his eyes to people groups, travel, and differences in dialect that would all become subject matter of his later writing. Twain wrote in Life on the Mississippi that he became acquainted with all the “different types of human nature that are to be found in fiction, biography, or history” while he worked as a steamboat apprentice (128). The diverse people and places he met during his time on the river all became awe-inspiring to him and served as the foundation for his works to come. Countless

Huck and jim were in close connections through the book. When they were sailing through the seas, they bonded through a friendship. The book was

The first contrast between Jim and Pap is the initial reaction Huck has when encountering them. When Huck is on Jackson’s Island, presumably alone, but then comes across a smoldering fire, he is at first frightened, but once he sees that the other refugee is Jim, he pops right out of the bushes and greets him. He is glad for his company. However, when signs of Pap being around are apparent, Huck is seen to panic, and rushes off to rid himself of his fortune. He knows that Pap is greedy enough to steal from anyone, even his own son. When they come face to face, it becomes clear that Huck is afraid of his father, who used to beat him while in a drunken state. During this confrontation, it becomes clear that Pap resents that Huck is being educated, and feels threatened by it. On the contrary, Jim teaches Huck what he knows, and is proud of him for thinking up schemes, such as faking his death to escape his father’s grasp. As Jim and Huck travel together, Jim shows more consideration and a protective nature for Huck, and he tries to act, as much as he can, as a shield between Huck and the corrupt world, which is something Huck’s father never did. On the contrary, Pap exposed Huck to more corruption than most others his age, such as Tom Sawyer, were expected to have been exposed to.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. He is better known by his pen name “Mark Twain”, which is a nautical term which means two fathoms deep. As a child he learned to smoke and led a gang, leaving school at age 12 to become an apprentice at a printing shop. He became a free lance journalist and traveled around country until age 24, when he became a river boat pilot on the Mississippi, his childhood dream. During the Civil War, Twain joined the Confederate Army, but left and went west in search of gold. When that failed him, he became a reporter and comedian. His book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1885. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is narrated from Huck’s perspective,

This is in contrast to the way Huck’s father is depicted, who Twain describes using all of the above characterizations and more. The reader views Jim as a good friend a man devoted to his family and loyal to his

Throughout all these situations that Huck goes through, Jim has supported him, even when Jim was not with Huck at every time. Jim first met up with Huck on the island. Jim escaped Widow Douglas’s home because he was to be sold down south, which would separate Jim from his family forever. Jim is hands down the most important person to Huck throughout the novel, putting himself in a category as one of Huck’s new family members. Jim has been associated as Huck’s father figure. During their time together, Jim and Huck make up a sort of alternative family in an alternative place, apart from society. Huck escaped from society for adventure and a new life, while Jim has escaped from society so that he wouldn’t be separated from his family by being sold down south. Jim is based off of his love, whether it’s for his family or his growing love for Huck. Jim was thought of by Huck as a stupid, ignorant slave in the beginning of the novel, but as Huck spends more time with Jim, Huck realizes that Jim has a different kind of knowledge based off of his years as well as his experiences with love. In the incidents of the floating house and Jim’s snakebite, Jim uses his knowledge to benefit both of them but also seeks to protect Huck. Jim is less imprisoned by conventional wisdom than Huck,

Samuel Clemens, also known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was born on November thirtieth, 1835, in the small town of Florida, Missouri. His two parents were John and Jane Clemens. In 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal, Missouri. This was a port city with many boats. Mark lived in a two-story frame house. He was kept inside the house until he was nine for medical reasons. After nine, he recovered and attended a private school in Hannibal.

Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in the small town of Florida, Mo, on Nov. 30, 1835, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. When he was a young boy around the age of four he moved to Hannibal, Mo. His father died in 1847. In 1851 Mark started distributing sketches for his brother, Orion, and his Hannibal Journal.

Jim is the deuteragonist of the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. He is also known as the runaway slave of Miss Watson, the widow’s sister. He is very superstitious and blames most bad incidents on prior events that had led him to bad luck. Jim is at times intelligent and full of common sense, and is also very trusting and sympathetic. There is no doubt that without Jim, Huck might have never lasted long alone.