Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain wrote Hucklebery Finn to prove a point. Huck was an ignorant

character in which was brought up in a certain way where he didn’t know right from

wrong. As an ignorant child, Huck was used to prove that America was indeed naive and

he had to overcome certain beliefs that he had been taught since birth. Huck ultimately

saves a black man from certain death, and Twain uses these types of situations to explain

in a satirical way, what growing up in the south was all about.

One of the most important characters in the book was Jim, a black slave owned by

Huck’s foster folks. Throughout the story Huck creates a friendship with this man, and

this friendship can be seen as very controversial. Jim ultimately serves as a father figure

for Huck and teaches him to see things in a new light. He makes Huck realize that slavery

is wrong and you shouldn’t believe what society always tell you. Twain uses Jim as sort

of a superego for the overall story. Although Jim might start out to seem as a strange and

goofy black man, Jim always does what is right. He is like the angel/superego(a character

that always does what’s right and often tells the main character what is right) of the story

and he has to be led toward freedom. Through Huck, Jim finds that freedom and

expresses how a man can change the views of society. While Twain was growing up he

had experienced slavery and created Jim to explain his views on the subject. Twain

seemed to be confused on whether or not he was against slavery and by the end of the

book, the reader starts to get a clearer image of Twain’s thoughts.

The story’s antagonist, or id(devil, character that does evil things), seem to be

varied. There are plenty of characters that are trying to stop Huck and Jim from

succeeding in their goal. An easy to see id is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap kidnaps Huck and

often beats him. Huck runs away and later finds out that Pap has been murdered. Pap can

be seen as pure evil, and the symbolic ignorant person in the story. Although an extreme,

Twain places Pap strategically in the story for all different aspecks, including ignorance, a

shadow(antagonist’s main enemy in which he has to overcome), and for elements of

horror. Huck has to overcome his Pap, and once he does this, Huck really overcomes