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Analyzing the story of Huckleberry Finn
Analyzing the story of Huckleberry Finn
Symbolism throughout huckleberry finn
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About half a century ago the infamous Mark Twain, sat down and invested his time in a book, now known as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to present the world with what true maturity is. He demonstrated this sensitive topic through the time period of the early 1800’s and a young boy named Huck Finn. Huck Finn makes travels from the cavity to the end of the Mississippi River, alongside an escaped slave named Jim. As they both make these travels further down the beautiful murky waters, Huck’s character makes progression from within his mind and young adolescent heart.
Our travels start in the Mississippi Valley where Huck Finn is committing schemes and scant adventures with Tom Sawyer and their gang. Huck is also suffering from physical abuse
When he was confronted by two white men about a slave he came up with the clever lie of his father having the Small Pox, which lead the men in opposition. “Poor devil, there’s something in that. We are right down sorry for you, but we--well, hang it, we don’t want the small pox, you see.”(84). He not only does this once but every time he is confronted with new outsiders. He is using schemes of the time period that he knows an upcomer will avoid. His thinking is getting deeper, which shows how his mindset is
Huck’s decision of whether to turn Jim in is leading him to make a prompt and agile choice by using his analytical skills. He goes through this process by considering his morals and his feelings.In the end his gut instinct and feelings won over his societal morals. ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’-- and tore it up.’(193). He is not only tearing up the letter but his old state of mind. He has matured enough to where he can recognize what is right and what is wrong. He now see’s that he is obliged and will be obliged to make a decision that can change his and someone else’s life forever.
We are now towards the end of our travels of the Mississippi River. We are touching down in between Louisiana and Mississippi, where the river pours into the Gulf. After all is said and done , Huck parts off by himself. “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest…”(262). He is now going to live and travel on his own. In order to hold his structure in life he must have the mindset of an adult, and it’s evident that he has that. He is now taking the position of an adult in society by wondering on our own and by goodness this is the end of the Mississippi
Life in the late eighteen hundreds was very different from the life we know today. Not only was there more inequality, there were also more health concerns and lapses in education. Mark Twain, in his book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has given us a special look into the past through the eyes of a young boy. Though this book is one of, if not the most highly criticized books in the American school system, it is also one of the most highly renowned. Through the criticism, Twain has given us a golden reflective opportunity.
Throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. Huck goes through a maturing process much different than most, he betters a conscience and begins to feel for humanity versus society. His trip down the river can be seen as a passage into manhood, where his character changes as he can relate with the river and nature.
Huck has been raised in a high-class society where rules and morals are taught and enforced. He lives a very strict and proper life where honesty and adequacy is imposed. Huck being young minded and immature, often goes against these standards set for him, but are still very much a part of his decision-making ability and conscience. When faced to make a decision, Hucks head constantly runs through the morals he was taught. One of the major decisions Huck is faced with is keeping his word to Jim and accepting that Jim is a runaway. The society part of Hucks head automatically looks down upon it. Because Huck is shocked and surprised that Jim is a runaway and he is in his presence, reveals Hucks prejudice attitude that society has imposed on him. Huck is worried about what people will think of him and how society would react if they heard that Huck helped save a runaway slave. The unspoken rules th...
In chapter 16, Huck goes through a moral conflict of whether he should turn Jim in or not. “I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me (89).'; Right off from the beginning, Huck wanted to turn Jim in because it was against society’s rules to help a slave escape and Huck knew it. But when Jim said that “Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now (89),'; made helped Huck to grasp the concept that there is a friendship in the making. Even though Huck didn’t turn Jim in, he is till troubled by his conscience when the slave catchers were leaving because he knows it is wrong to help a slave. Still Huck cannot bring himself forward to tell on Jim, thus showing that his innate sense of right exceeds that of society.
He started to feel guilty for keeping Jim hidden all that time and even attempted to write Mrs. Watson. He wrote a letter to her telling of Jim’s location but ripped it up immediately after. Huck came to a conclusion when he says, “I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all” (Twain 204). He knew that what he was doing was not considered right in that situation but he felt okay with the choices that he had made. At this point, the reader can see how Huck is conflicted and acknowledges that his lies could have been immoral. In the end of his meltdown, he decided that it was all for the best and he wanted to continue to protect Jim at all
The book I am doing my book report on is called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain. This book revolves around a poor fourteen year old boy named Huck who runs away from his drunk father and finds friendship within a former slave, Jim, trying to escape to the free states. They adventure along the Mississippi River and end up stopping at various places throughout the novel and meet people who are all morally inadequate. “Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides. So I was satisfied, and said we would waltz in on it.” This quotes illustrates the dangers that come to Huck and Jim in this novel, but how Huck chooses to go with the plan anyhow, since it causes a sense of ‘adventure.’ The setting of this novel takes place before the Civil War in different towns along the Mississippi River in Missouri. I will talk about how Huck meets Jim, how he and Jim have to escape from their present issues, how they form a friendship and come across evil in their journey, and how they both end up free with a little help from Tom Sawyer.
Growing up, humans get smarter, learn to find their place in their world, and discover their basis of beliefs. Those three things are met when a person looks towards physical, cultural, and geographical surroundings to shape their psychological or moral traits. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck did just that. He was shaped by his journey down the The Mississippi River, his good friend Jim, the crude Miss Watson and his father “Pap”, these surrounding aspects help illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole, developing Huck into the person he was at the end of the novel.
Set in pre-civil war America, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place along the Mississippi river. As Huckleberry travels along it he learns lessons about life, society and most importantly; himself. Surrounded by a world of prejudice and racism, Huck is forced to learn to make decisions on his own. He is able to learn from the imperfections in the rest of the world as he views them. While on the river, Huck and Jim are at peace. The river symbolizes freedom for both Jim and Huck. The river is Jim’s path to freedom from slavery, and it is Huck’s freedom from society. When Jim and Huck journey onto the banks of the river they see the inhumanity to man that goes on in the world. This juxtaposition of the river and the land help emphasize the peacefulness of the river in comparison to the crazy society on land. Huck learns to think for himself, and tries not to conform to the ways of the people on the land. Although the world that he lives in teaches him to be a racist, his journey down the river teaches him to use his own mind, and find out what he really believes in.
He leaves his strict and hostile home and ventures into society to choose what he wants to believe and what rules he wants to follow. In this process, he goes from being very childish and blithe to maturing into a wise and caring young man. Huck starts thinking before acting and putting others feelings before his own. He learns who he truly is, as people in the today’s society often do. When we are born, our parents instill their personal beliefs into our minds, and we do not learn to think for ourselves until we leave home. This is exactly how Huck Finn finds himself in the novel. His journey of finding himself as he travels down the river represents our journey of finding ourselves throughout
Rivers are often linked with freedom and growth, as they are vast and continuously moving and progressing. With no exception, Twain beautifully paints the Mississippi river as Huck and Jim’s safe haven from the rest of the country. They jump on the raft and get away from the society, as symbolizing the river as a place where they do not have to worry about being ridiculed by anyone who refuses to understand their situation. As Huck and Jim ran away from the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, before setting out for their new journey Huck asserts, “I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all” (Twain 117). Clearly, the river rejuvenates Huck, he is tired of facing the society and all the injustices that it carries, but when he returns to the raft he once again felt free. While returning to their voyage, Huck illustrates the normal raft as something that holds grand scale to him and Jim. “Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfort...
...ion. Twain ends his novel by setting Huck up for a new experience and personal growth. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taught an important lesson, one that showed the importance of the self in the maturing process. We saw Huck grow up by having the river as a place of solitude and thought, where he was able to participate in society at times, and also sit back and observe society. Through the child's eye we see how ignorant and mob-like we can all be. Then nature, peace, and logic are presented in the form of the river where Huck goes to think. Though no concise answer is given, the literature forces the reader to examine their surroundings, and question their leaders.
...d his adventure with Jim on the hero’s journey, he now sees the world a different way, a different way that may cause Huck severe consequences if society became involved. Huck believes his ways are right and the society’s ways are wrong. Today the society we live in was Huck’s perspective in the years before the Civil war. Back then during that time society was more strict and involved in slavery. The way we think and act today would probably
Mark Twain’s picaresque novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (hereafter Huck Finn) gives a realistic portrayal of Southern life before the American Civil War and depicts the way companionship enables the journeyers to learn from diverse perspectives enriching the journeys power to prompt inner growth and development. This is clearly depicted through the use of first person persona, where Twain employs the uneducated vernacular voice of Huck Finn. This technique contributes to the authenticity of Huck Finn’s Southern characterisation emphasising his transformation from racial prejudice and small mindedness to a more moral and tolerant perspective. Together Huck and Jim embark on their personal quests for freedom; Huck for freedom from “sivilisation” and Jim for freedom from slavery. Together they travel down the river a motif that symbolises their desire for liberation and security. “ I never felt easy till the raft was…out in the middle of the Mississippi…we was free and safe once more”. As they travel they are not merely moving down the river but discovering who they are as they learn and grow along the way.
Despite all the criticism, of racism and other questionable material for young readers, Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a superbly written novel, which in the opinion of this reviewer should not be remove the literary cannon. Twain’s novel is a coming of age story that teaches young people many valuable lessons and to some extend makes students reexamine their own lives and morals. The most common argument for its removal from the literary canon is that the novel is too racist; it offends black readers, perpetuates cheap slave-era stereotypes, and deserves no place on today’s bookshelves. However one must ask if Twain is encouraging traditional southern racism or is Twain disputing these idea.
The friendship between Huck and Jim is constantly changing with the chain of events. The two characters encountered many things while floating along with the pace of the Mississippi, such as making decisions. In the novel Huck was forced to make the decision whether or not he would turn Jim in because it would be the, "right thing" to do because Jim was a run-away slave. It was a close place. I took...up [the letter I'd written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand.