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The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

Decent Essays

Each character in a book has a purpose and often an author includes an antagonist as a way for author to teach their readers and their protagonist a lesson. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, two insincere, mischievous con men appear in the middle of the book. Mark Twain utilizes the King and the Duke as a means to ruin the peace Huck Finn has grown accustomed to throughout his trip on the Mississippi River. The King and the Duke represent how Huck may be able to escape certain people in his life but not types of people. The King and the Duke live off criminal schemes that hurt the child protagonist and his companions, much like Treasure Island’s Long John Silver. The King and the Duke force Huck to participate in activities that hurt the people that are closest to Huck, for example Jim (Twain 163). Long John Silver starts a mutiny that forces Jim Hawkins and companions to fear for the safety of their lives (Stevenson 93). The affect the King, the Duke, and Long John Silver have on the adventure the young protagonist embarks on is very similar and share common traits that in the end spoil the adventure for everyone else involved. Each antagonist requires motivation when they are committing heinous crimes. The King and the Duke receive their livelihood through the lies and crimes they commit. In order to continuously commit these awful acts there has to be a driving source, which in this case is greed. Greed drives the King and the Duke to do acts that are harmful to

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