Is Huck Finn Being A Teenager?

Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird” possesses obvious character traits that influence others in a positive manner. Evidence of this can be found in nearly all of the chapters. His positive lessons and reasonings rub off on all of his peers but mostly his kids. Three solid examples of Atticus influencing others in a positive way are how he teaches integrity, empathy and courage.

Huck's maturity grows with the same issue later on. When approaching Cairo, the point where Jim can become free, Huck decides that he has done something terribly wrong by not turning Jim in and decides he is going into town to tell on him. However, in a split second, while encountering some slave hunters, Huck decides against it and continues to protect Jim. This episode is particularly significant because even though Huck was "feeling bad and low, because [he] knowed very well [he] had done wrong" (91) he still made a conscious decision to do what he felt was right rather than what society thought was right.

Jim becomes very close to him in the novel after all of their adventures together. “Pooty soon ill be shouting for joy, en i'll say it all accounts O Huck. Is a free man en I couldn't ever ben free if it wasn't for Huck.” (Twain 88) This is Jim saying how Huck helped him and he could be a free man without him. Jim is so grateful for all the things Huck did for him. “Well,I did. I said I wouldn't, and Ill stick to it.” (Twain 43) This is him stick to his word and not giving up on what he said. He is great friends with Jim and helps him

Huck has had friend’s before he became friends with Jim, but he never experienced what he did with Jim before. Jim and Huck protected each other and looked out for one another, unlike his previous group of friends who were always getting in trouble or harming one another. Huck’s old group of friends were more of people he

Although many make the argument that Huck is immature because of his young age, he actually shows growth and maturity by noticing the similarity between Jim and himself. When Huck and Jim are on the raft, Huck notices that Jim is upset. Huck knows it must be from missing his wife, children, and home, and makes the statement, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks do for their’n”(Twain 117). For all of Huck’s life, he allowed society to make him believe whites were superior to blacks, yet Huck is beginning to see how society is wrong with this. Jim is a person and feels things just as hard as whites do.

Huck is the only true friend Jim has, and he is sure to make that known to Huck. These few words cause Huck to stop and think. Huck starts to realize that maybe he has been treating Jim wrong all along. Huck begins to realize how wrong society truly is. The more people Huck encounters, the more he acknowledges hypocrisy: “Huck narrates the story of his encounters with various southern types...and at other times, his acute ability to see through the hypocrisy of his elders” (“The Adventures…”10).

During the book, Huck hasn’t really experienced what life really was and what you might encounter during times that just come out of anything. Jim is someone that you might call strange and unexpected. When Huck

Secondly, Huckleberry constantly talks to Jim as if he was older than him, when in actuality, Jim is much older than he is. At the point in the story when Jim tells Huck he ran away Huck responds “‘Jim”’(p.43)! Huck is almost scolding Jim for running off which isn’t quite right because Jim is older than Huck.When Jim is

During his journey with Jim, Huck begins to understand his own beliefs better. He comes across many people who test those beliefs and he grows internally because of it. When Huck and Jim discover The Walter Scott, a wrecked steam boat, Huck decides to go on and have an adventure. He discovers two robbers threatening to kill a third. As he?s leaving, Huck feels genuinely sorry for these robbers who are stranded on the wreck. The fact that he is able to feel badly for these terrible people shows that he is maturing. After he comes on land, Huck meets the Sheperdsons who show him the nature of human violence through their feud with the Grangerford family. Huck matures through witnessing the feud and also begins to comprehend the hypocrisy of religion:

Jim, who becomes Huck's friend as he travels down the Mississippi river, is a man of intelligence and consideration. "An understanding of Jim's character is by no means a simple matter; he is a highly complex and original creation, although he appears at first sight very simple" (Hansen, 388). Jim has one of the few well functioning families in the novel. Although he has been estranged from his wife and children, he misses them dreadfully, and it is only the thought of a lasting separation from them that motivates his unlawful act of running away from Miss Watson. Jim is rational about his situation and must find ways of accomplishing his goals without provoking the fury of those who could turn him in. Regardless of the restrictions and constant fear Jim possesses he consistently acts as a gracious human being and a devoted friend. In fact, Jim could be described as the only existent adult in the novel, and the only one who provides an encouraging, decent example for Huck to follow. The people that surround Huck who are supposed to be teaching him of morals, and not to fall into the down falls of society are the exact people who need to be taught the lessons of life by Jim. Jim conveys an honesty that makes the dissimilarity between him and the characters around him evident.

Often times Huck found himself in a moral dilemma on whether to do what society instilled in him or to do what he thinks should be done. Huck betrayed those feelings of “what society would want” him to do in order to be a good friend to Jim, putting his own self up at risk again for Jim. Jim was being held captive by Huck’s current host and Huck, abandoning his duties of his superior race and being a good Christian, as the Widow called it Huck suddenly has an epiphany “All right then, I'll go to hell!” as he goes to “steal Jim out of slavery” (212). Seeing the situation through Huck’s perspective it gives the reader every little detail that goes into his thought process in his decision making. These types of actions were considered wrong by society at that time and place but Huck sets that all aside and does what he feels is the right thing. Most of the time Huck has to think on his feet making the decision making process even more difficult, like the time when Huck was going to give Jim up as a runaway slave. “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on, s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad---I’d feel just the same way I do now” (91). Even through Huck’s dialect you can see him argue with himself on what the right thing to is, but he throws out what society would do and does what his heart tells him. Through Huck arguing

As evidenced in the introductory instances regarding death, Huck’s morality is defective and his sympathy is missing. Perhaps, Huck’s flaws are due to his close contact with the iconic delinquent Tom Sawyer, who is likely corroding Huck’s ethics. Consequently, when Huck bonds with his new partner-in-crime, Jim, a stark juxtaposition is evidenced between the ideals of Tom and Jim. However, luckily “youth is a time of greater potential for change than any other stage of life”, and Jim’s positive influence proves beneficial (Trites 53) . Specifically, Jim is extraordinarily superstitious and attaches a copious amount of meaning to just about everything, even a measly snake skin (Twain 162). Of course, this means that Jim does not completely disregard the significance of death and importance of sympathy, as Tom and his mischievous mates do. Consequently, Jim “has proven himself as a morally admirable figure” (Bollinger). As a result, after prolonged exposure to Jim, Huck starts to exude more concern for the life of others, as evidenced in quite a few scenarios that take place on his and Jim’s journey.

than a friend but more like a relationship between a son and his father. When Huck and Jim

Thesis: This paper will show principles learned to describe the purpose of understanding different biblical interpretation, rather than, expressing personal thoughts and emotions of Old and New Testaments.

“More than a million species face potential extinction as a result of disappearing habitats, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans” (Berger). Climate change affects all living things on the earth and is accelerating because of human activity. Climate change is happening right now, scientists are trying to figure out what is causing it, what the effects of climate change are, and they are researching how the atmosphere has changed.