Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And Huckleberry Finn

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Issenberg 1
Brianna Issenberg
Mrs. Kalis
English IV
18 April 2017
How to Kill a Huckleberry Mockingbird
Throughout the span of recorded history, from the beginning to the present day, there has racism. One of the biggest understandings of this is through slavery and prejudice. Many races have been designated as inferior and thus have been shown hate, aggression and disdain. Even though racism became a commonplace in society, there were many people who fought against it either through action or through their words. Authors, Mark Twain, and Harper Lee used their words to address the racism that plagues the United States in their respective books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. Between these two novels there
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Finn (or better known as Finn) headstrong teenager who refuses to follow the rules of the adults around him and runs away with a runaway slave. And in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch who is the precocious son of a lawyer who defends an African American man charged with raping a white woman. Right off the bat we can see that these two characters have great connections even when set “ … 100 years apart… ” (Rebecca H. Best). Both characters are young boys who play a major role in their respective stories, each boy makes the right choice and acts on this choice they have made, and in both stories both boys only have a father as the role of guardian. However, even with these similarities, these boys could not be more different. While Finn has his father, his father is an inactive and absent parent. “ Yes, He’s got a father, but you can’t never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard, but he hain’t been seen in these parts for a year or more.” (Ben Rogers/Ch 2/Huckleberry Finn) It is known by the town that Finn's father is no father figure, as such Finn was never really brought up to know right from wrong. Yet despite of this he still understands what is fair and grows a great sense of morality. “ I begin to
“ ‘Alright, then, I’ll go to hell’- and tore it up.” (Finn/Ch 31/Huckleberry Finn) Widow Douglas ignores what the town thinks of Finn and takes him in and tries to raise him properly. “ The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me…” ( Finn/Ch 2/ Huckleberry Finn) While in their story, Jem, Scout and Dill go against what the town thinks of Boo Radley. The town has depicted Boo Radley as a terrifying sociopath, however, the kids discover that this is not the truth. Boo Radley in reality is just not used to speaking to people and is very shy, despite this he is a very caring and honorable man. Another case of standing up to social injustice of course is when Atticus takes to defending Tom Robinson. While racism runs rampant in both stories, there are the few who know how unjust these thoughts and prejudice actions are and stand against the social

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