To many readers, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is known as the “Great American Novel”. It tells a story about a young boy and an escaped slave who develop an unlikely friendship while traveling down the Mississippi River. Twain explores many American literature themes in his writing. Three themes that appear frequently throughout the novel are freedom, nature, and individual conscience. Freedom plays a significant role in the story because Huck is trying to free himself from Widow Douglas and his father and Jim is escaping from slavery.
The theme of development and maturation is developed through Huck by the motifs Childhood, lies, and cons. Huck’s childhood is anything but normal, he is forced to grow up and mature very quickly due to the situations he is put through. Lies mature Huck because he has to lie to save himself and Jim from their old lives. Meeting the King and the Duke also helped Huck grow up and mature because of his experiences he learned from them. Huck has to grow up in many ways and during the novel.
Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much—robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women—but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of "A-rabs" really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen "joolry" is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Another person who tries to get
Huck learned from his trick that it wasn’t clever to put a dangerous animal into Jim’s bed because he almost killed him, and Huck learned that Jim was more important to him than he realized. At this point of the novel Huck feels close enough to Jim to play pranks on him. Once he sees that he endangers his friends life and begins to feel regret it is evident to the reader that Huck is seeing Jim as an equal, considering that he was a slave that was a big deal. It is stated in the text that Huck was trying to overcome the guilt of his actions by saying it would not have been his fault, yet, there was evidence in his tho... ... middle of paper ... ...er, all because of the trust built from a ridiculous snake prank. Mark Twain’s text, Huckleberry Finn brought a world of a new generation to life through the actions and thoughts of Huck.
Thinking to himself he says, “Well I says to myself at last, I’m going to chance it I’ll up and tell the truth this time.” Huck feels bad and decides to tell the truth to Mary Jane about The Duke and The King. He does this because he cares to Mary Jane and does not want to let her lose all the money because The Duke and The King steal it. This is great growth by Huck because at the beginning of the book he did not care about stealing or lying. He was apart of the band of robbers which stole thing from people all the time. It was big thing
Their hunting for freedom is for one reason, for their happiness. This is shown throughout the novel in Jim's desire of escaping slavery and Huck's wish for being uncivilized. From the beginning of the novel, Jim lives his life as a slave. He is fairly content until one day, when he overhears his owner, Mrs. Watson, talking about selling him to New Orleans. Jim becomes terrified and runs from Mrs. Watson.
But Huck’s free spirit reasserts itself, and he frees from his dad by faking his own death. Huck goes to a nearby island called Jackson Island. In Jackson Island, Huck meets a former slave called Jim. Jim had also run away from his former home when he discovered that he was about to be sold away. At... ... middle of paper ... ...omes more familiar with Jim’s humble nature, he develops affection for him, and actually regards him as a friend.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn conveys this idea even further, showing how a young boy living alone learns what he truly believes in, regardless of what he was raised to believe. As presidential elections come around, Huck Finn may inspire us all to tune in with our own opinions, and tune out the media and peer pressure on whose policies we agree with the
Through the character of a 13-year-old boy, Twain shows how vulnerable Huck is to fall into the societal norm of thinking. Throughout the novel it is crucial to remember that whites at this time did not recognize black slaves as humans, but rather as property. By the way Huck was raised, he sees Jim as a black slave who can’t think for himself and has a very small range of emotions. In one instance in the book when Huck and Jim are stuck on the raft together, Jim starts talking enthusiastically about gaining his freedom and traveling back up the river to “steal” his family back. When Huck hears Jim’s excitement for what Huck knows is breaking a law, he immediately falls back into the learned mindset he was raised to believe: “Saying he would steal his children—children that belonged to a man I didn’t know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (95).
He received many honors and a great deal of recognition for his writings. Clemens died of Angina on April 21, 1910. MAIN CHARACTERS Huck Finn - the central character of the novel and the son of the town drunk. Jim - Miss Watson’s runaway slave whom Huck helps to gain his freedom. Pap - Huck’s father who comes back to town when he learns about the reward.