In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer meets Huck, the juvenile pariah of the village, people are torn on whether Huck is actually good or he is what all the other parents think. The parents of the town despise of Huck, while the children admire him. All if the children admire him because he gets to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. His dad is the town drunk and he doesn't have a mother. Huck doesn't have anywhere to call his home. Tom and Huck become good friends and do a lot of things together. But the question is, is Huck a bad person or are people just judging what they see on the outside. Huck is a good person because he helps others and he cares for people. He fairly judges people and doesn't care what you look like …show more content…
Huck helps Muff Potter by bringing him tobacco and matches. Muff said “‘You've been mighty good to me, boys--better’n anybody else in this town. And I don’t forget it, I don't. Often I says to myself, says I, ‘I used to mend all the good boys’ kites and things, and show ‘em where the good fishin’ places was, and befriend ‘em what I could, and now they've all forgot old Muff when he’s in trouble; but Tom don’t, and Huck don’t--they don’t forget him,’ says I, ‘and I don't forget them.’”(150). Huck and Tom feel guilty for not telling them what really happened that night and Tom ends up testifying and Huck would have too. Huck is indeed a wonderful person and people don't see the goods things he does for others. Huck also decides to help Widow Douglas by getting her help when she was in trouble. “Then he remembered that the Widow Douglas had been kind to her more than once, and maybe these men were going to murder her.”(185). When Huck realized that she was the “revenge” than he knew that he had to get help because he thought they were going to murder her. At first he wanted to run but then realized that she had been kind to him and wanted to return the favor. He then ran to get help by going to the
Huck grows more apologetic upon the next prank he pulls on Jim. While traveling on the river, Huck and Jim reach a point in their path where a dense fog rolls in, causing them to lose their way and get separated from each other. Huck takes advantage of the opportunity given by this natural event and decides to play another trick on Jim (94). However, Jim did not handle it too well since he is worried sick. This post fog scene is one of many turning points of Huck’s moral development. He knows that it was wrong of him to make a fool of Jim because it made him feel so mean that he could kiss Jim’s foot (95). Although Huck did not mean it in a literal sense, what he said is powerful because he would have to bend over and lie close to the ground
While living on the island he meets Jim who was a slave but Huck soon learns that he has ran off and now in the process of making his way up north to Canada. Here Huck is faced along with his first tough decision, to go with Jim and help him, or just go and tell the officials of a runaway slave and get the reward. Huck reluctantly joins Jim and promises him to get him to free land for the sake of a good adventure but he still feels guilty to be conversing with a runaway slave let alone help him escape. Along the way Huck has many challenges, which are just like this one. This is truly remarkable for a child to be able to break away from the influence of society and go with his heart and do what is right especially when it was considered wrong.
Jim's character traits are easy to over look because of his seeming ignorance, but in reality Jim possessed some qualities that created a positive influence on Huck. He began by demonstrating to Huck how friends teach friends. His honest compassion also eventually causes Huck to resist the ideas society has placed upon him, and see Jim as an equal-- rather than property that can be owned. Huck knew he was going against society, and of the consequences that he could receive for freeing a slave. "It would get all around, that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was to ever see anybody from that town again, I'd be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame", (269-270). Huck then claims, "All right, then, I'll go to hell…"(272) This shows that Huck was willing to put himself on the line for a slave, because he ceased to view Jim as property and recognized him as a friend. At the beginning of the story Huck would have never done this, but after the many adventures that occur, Jims unconditional love for Huck pierces the shell society placed ar...
Huck would try and be a rebel because he had no male to tell him right from wrong. If Huck needed help the only real person that he could talk to would be Tom Sawyer, a very good friend also a thief, a rebel, and he lived on his own. Tom was not that great of a role model, for a young boy like Huck. His father was always away, and never there for him, and when he was around he was always drunk. It is hard enough to talk to a drunk man let alone when you have a problem and need advice. The childhood of a young boy is very crucial in what he will be like in his own life.
After Huck asks Tom why he tried to free a free slave, and Tom told him about how they’d become heroes and what not, Tom says to himself, “But I reckened it was about as well the way it was”(pg.291). Here, we see that Huck has really become dormant in his own thinking, and seeks to know what others like Tom think. Interestingly, by the end of the novel he has become somewhat submissive and willing to listen to what he is told to do, but still with an overall heightened sense of morality that developed throughout his adventures.
This is extremely significant in the future. After debating throughout the novel about Jim. Huck makes a decision of complete loyalty, even if it means Hell. In conclusion, Huck is a true, mature friend of kindness and kindness. loyalty.
While Huck is traveling down the river with Jim, he must lie and often disguise himself to survive on his own to conceal his identity. Huck rebels because he does not want to follow his aunts house rules or live up to her expectations which are to conform to social norms. This means he has to dress cleanly and neatly, use manners, go to school, and be polite to everyone. Huck also is confused because he wants to get away from his abusive father who excessively drinks. Huck is afraid of his father who has beaten him and verbally abused him repeatedly therefore, his only solution is to run away. He does this by faking his own death. Curiousity overwhelms him and he wants to know how society has taken to the news of his death. In order to get some information Huck disguises himself as a girl. He meets with Judy Lawson, a local woman, and asks about the disappearance of Huck Finn. Although his disguise works well, Judy Loftus starts to test him to disguise whether Huck is really a girl. As soon as Judy says, "What's your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob? -or what is it?"(Twain 70) Huck realizes he has no chance in pulling such pranks. When confronted with his lie Huck tells the truth and ends up making a friend who says he can count on her. Huck also tries to protect Jim from being captured by lying about himself and his situation.
Huck struggles with himself through his moral beliefs. Huck struggles with himself because he grows up in the lower class and when he moves in with the Widow it is hard for him to adjust to the life of the upper class. Huck is speaking to the reader at the beginning of the novel about events that have occurred in the previous novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck explains how he was adopted by The Widow Douglas and how she tried to civilize him. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time … when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out … But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back” (2). This passage shows how Huck is being civilized by the widow and since he is from the lower class ...
Huck Finn learns from the actions of people around him, what kind of a person he is going to be. He is both part of the society and an outlier of society, and as such he is given the opportunity to make his own decisions about what is right and what is wrong. There are two main groups of characters that help Huck on his journey to moral maturation. The first group consists of Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and the judge. They portray society and strict adherence to rules laid out by authority. The second group consists of Pap, the King, and the Duke. They represent outliers of society who have chosen to alienate themselves from civilized life and follow no rules. While these characters all extremely important in Huck’s moral development, perhaps the most significant character is Jim, who is both a fatherly figure to Huck as well as his parallel as far as limited power and desire to escape. Even though by the end of the novel, Huck still does not want to be a part of society, he has made a many choices for himself concerning morality. Because Huck is allowed to live a civilized life with the Widow Douglas, he is not alienated like his father, who effectively hates civilization because he cannot be a part of it. He is not treated like a total outsider and does not feel ignorant or left behind. On the other hand, because he does not start out being a true member of the society, he is able to think for himself and dismiss the rules authority figures say are correct. By the end of the novel, Huck is no longer a slave to the rules of authority, nor is he an ignorant outsider who looks out only for himself. This shows Huck’s moral and psychological development, rendering the description of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as a picaresq...
In the beginning of the story, Huck seems to feel at ease to be with his father instead of being with the widow, "It was kind of lazy and jolly, lying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no book nor study." (Twain 24) Yet, Hucks' father is not exactly the father figure a child would want. He's an abusive, "But by and by Pap got to handy with his hick'ry and I couldn't stand it. I was all over welts." (Twain 24) and he's not thoughtful of Huck. Once Huck figures his father is crazed and is an alcoholic, Twain, through Huck's eyes, gives readers a feeling of fear towards Huck's father. "There was Pap looking wild, and skipping around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs." (Twain 28) "Then he went down on all fours and crawled off, begging them to let him alone, and he rolled imself up in his blanket and wallowed in under the old pine table, still a-begging; and then he went to crying." (29)
Huck Finn thinks about his father in an unusual way. Huck does not like his father, which makes sense because his father is a greedy drunk, however Huck still looks up to his father as a role model. Pap is not a good role model for Huck because of his history of abusing Huck and his random disappearances. When Pap tries to gain custody of his Huck, the judges side with him just because he is the father. This is shown when Huck says “The judge and the widow went to law to ge...
The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson try to "sivilize" Huck by making him stop all of his habits such as smoking, etc. They try to reverse all of his teaching from the first twelve years of his life and force him to become their stereotypical good boy. The rest of the town also refused to view him as good and he was considered undesirable. The only time that the town's people were able to put away their views of Huck was when there was excitement to be found, like when they all crowded on the steamboat to see if the cannons could bring Huck's body to the surface. Everyone got interested in him and tried to show that they cared about him, but this is only after he is presumed dead.
On page 149 Huck talks to Tom about the town drunk and Huck states,”But he’s kind of good-- he give me half a fish, once, when there wasn’t enough for two; and lots of times he’s kind of stood by me when I was out of luck.” This shows that even when people may not be seen as a good person, Huck can always find the positive traits. On page 179 Huck also states,”I tote water for Uncle Jake whenever he wants me to, and any time I ask him he gives me a little something to eat if he can spare it. That’s a mighty good nigger, Tom. He likes me, becuz I don’t ever act as if I was above him.
He doesn’t go to church, he doesn’t go to school, and all the mothers of children who are Huck’s age don’t want their children playing with him. Every mother in town judges him on his every-day standards. On page 38, Mark Twain writes “Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, and vulgar, and bad--and because all their children admired him so, and delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like him.” This shows that the mothers did not want their kids to play with Huck because they believed he was a terrible influence to their children. They also hated Huck because he drew their children in to be like him, even though it is not technically Huck’s fault that all the kids want to be like him.
In Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the adults in Huck's life play an important role in the development of the plot. Pap, Huck's father, constantly abuses the boy, never allowing him to become an intelligent or decent human being. He beats and attacks Huck whenever they meet up, and tries to destroy Huck's chances of having a normal life. This situation is balanced by several good role models and parent figures for Huck. Jim, the runaway slave, embraces Huck like a son, and shares his wide ranging knowledge with him. He also protects Huck on the journey down the river. Widow Douglas is another good role model for Huck. She tries to civilize him and make him respectable to society, while also being caring and compassionate. There is a stark contrast in the ways Huck is treated by adults, and all have an affect on him.