Parenting Influence The influence of parenting has a huge effect on Huckleberry Finn throughout the story. Different styles of “parenting” shows in the way Huckleberry Finn acts, his morals, and his outlook on life. As Pap, Widow Douglas, Aunt Sally, and Jim nurture him there values and morals are instilled within Huck. Pap was an ignorant racist that constantly on the hunt for the next drink. He would lie, steal, and even abuse his own child. He even stole money from Huck to finance his next drink of whiskey and would abuse him. Pap felt threatened that Huck was attending school as you can see in chapter 5; “You’re educated, too, they say—can read and write. You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t? i’ll take …show more content…
it out of you.” Pap did not come from money and tried to assume the six thousand dollars that Huck owned as his own. Pap had to live off the land and make up for his short comings with lying and cheating. Huck grew up with these injustices and life lessons and was able to separate the good aspects from the bad aspects especially after his time with Widow Douglas. Huck starts the story being taken in by Widow Douglas. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me;” Huck was used to dressing in ragged clothing as seen in “I got into my old rags” He was not acclimatized to the civilized life and preferred the natural life rather than be dress up and well groomed. The Widow Douglas showed Huck a style of life that was structured and he was not accustomed to seen here “The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them,—that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” Widow Douglas made a positive influence on Huck. Widow Douglas’s sister Miss Watson was also and influence to Huck.
She was more of a slave owning nagger. She would say things like “Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry;” and “Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry—set up straight;” and pretty soon she would say, “Don’t gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry—why don’t you try to behave?” Although Huck considered Jim a slave as the story went on he became his friend. This friendship was based on Jim being more of a father figure to Huck. Jim sees Huck as the only "white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim". While on this adventure Jim helped house Huck and keep him safe by keeping lookout and Huck slept. Jim actually cared when he thought Huck had passed by saying “It's too good for true, honey, it's too good for true," he says: "Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o' you". Jim’s quotes and teachings are not always believed by Huck but are later learned as a life’s lesson even if they are not facts as seen in picking up the snake skin being bad luck. “You said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snake-skin with my hands. Well, here’s your bad luck! We’ve raked in all this truck and eight dollars besides. I wish we could have some bad luck like this every day, Jim. “Never you mind, honey, never you mind. Don’t you git too peart. It’s a-comin’. Mind I tell you, it’s a-comin’.” Jim pushed his superstitions on Huck as he did with other
values. Huck was a boy full of adventure. His boyhood was filled with characters that influenced his personality and choices. Each one of these people served and contributed to Huck’s life in different ways. Pap taught Huck how to live without money off the land but was a horrible father figure that stole and abused him. Huck was able to distinguish the good from the bad aspects from Pap. He did this with the Widow and Miss Watson. Jim’s friendship and father figure that was unacceptable at the time came from a black slave. This was important because it showed that Huck was able to think for himself and distinguish good from bad again. This is seen between the Duke and the King and Jim. Each of these people nurtured and instilled their morals and values with the different styles of parenting and each contributed to the boys personality.
Jim gives Huck a gateway into his private life when he tells Huck this story. Huck listens quietly and respectfully to this story, which shows him warming up to Jim. The story shows Jim’s homesickness, and how he greatly misses his family. It also shows a much less forgiving and more emotional side of Jim’s character. Jim forgave Huck for all of the pranks he pulled on Jim, though Jim would not forgive himself for a mistake years ago. If both characters had not run away together, they would not have the type of relationship they share now. It would be heavily frowned upon if Huck and Jim had this type of relationship while still at their homes because of the racism of people in the south. Huck is still open to new ideas, which is why he becomes friends with Jim.
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's Pap thought that he was trying to out do him, because he went to school. You've put on considerable frills since I've been away. I'll take you down a peg before I get done with you. You think you're better than your father, now don't you, because he can't? I'll take it out of you.
In the beginning of the novel, Huck tends to have an immature side to him. There are some things in the beginning that show that Huck still has a very childish side to him. "They get down on one thing when they don't know nothing about it." (Twain 2) This is showing the ignorance and stubbornness that all children experience throughout life. He thinks as if everything he does is right and everyone else is wrong. "That all comes of my being such a fool as to not remember that wherever you leave a dead snake its mate always comes there and curls around it." (Twain 40) This goes one step further. This shows Huck's Immaturity and Stupidity gone one step too far when he puts the snake in Jim's bed and he ends up getting bit by it. If Huck was more mature and less childish he wouldn't have been playing this so called joke on Jim. Huck learns that jokes have a limit to them at times and need to be thought out more clearly.
In lieu of his escape, Jim emphasized his feelings of becoming a free man. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom (p. 238). Huck came to the realization that Jim was escaping for a far different reason than he, and began to see this “nigger’s” freedom as his own fault; he was an accomplice. Huck’s conscience became plagued by the fact that Jim was escaping the custody of his rightful owner, and he was doing nothing to stop this. In Huck’s eyes, Jim was essentially the property of poor old Ms. Watson, who didn’t do anything less than teach Jim his manners and his books. Altogether, Huck felt that he was doing wrong by concealing this, and felt miserable to say the least.
Huck and Jim obviously have a very strong friendship and it's only proved more as the book goes on. Huck obviously cared for Jim and was willing to accept him even though he was a runaway slave. He lied quit a few times to protect Jim from being captured and taken back to Mrs. Watson. At one point in their adventure, Huck Finn had to lie to a group of men that were looking for runaway slaves. They insisted upon checking to see if Huck’s companion was actually white. He tells them, “It's the--the--Gentleman, if you'll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the headline, you won't have to come a-near the raft--please do”(Twain 96). Huck let the men believe that everyone on the raft had smallpox. This finally convinced the men not to come any closer and ultimately saves Jim from a horrible
	Huck’s attitude for Jim is racist which is seen when he decides to play a trick on Jim during their voyage. After Huck plays his trick his attitude toward Jim begins to change, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither" (Twain 72). The dialogue throughout the book between Huck and Jim illustrates that Jim is more than property and that he is a human being with feelings, and hopes for a better future.
Pap Finn instills a "Southern race prejudice" and leads Huck to believe "that he detests Abolitionists" (374). Huck comes into conflict with this philosophy as he journeys on the raft with Jim. He can not decide if he is wrong in helping Jim escape slavery, or if the philosophy is wrong. The education of Huck also stirs some values from Pap. When Pap tells him that education is useless, Huck is confused because the Widow Douglas told him that education was important.
Almost immediately we are introduced to the drunken, deranged man who is Huck?s father, Pap. Pap is an alcoholic who roams from place to place buying up booze and sleeping wherever he can. Huck has never viewed him as a real father figure because Pap has almost never been there for Huck, except when he is ?disciplining? him. Pap is uneducated and disapproves of Huck attending school. Pap tells Huck, "you're educated...You think your're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?" (14) Huck puts up with Pap?s numerous beatings because he does not want to be the cause of any more controversies between himself and Pap. Huck explains, "If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way" (95). Pap?s addiction to alcohol is how Twain views the affect that alcohol can have on a person. He believes that alcohol is a money waster, can affect the sanity of people, and how it can turn even decent men into complete scoundrels.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pap is a horrible parent to Huck, and constantly berates him. When he hears about Huck's new 6000 dollar fortune, he comes back to town to get back his son and the money. He is furious when he finds that he cannot get the money, and he becomes even more enraged when he finds out that Huck is going to school and living a civilized life. He says to Huck
Huck Finn, a narcissistic and unreliable young boy, slowly morphs into a courteous figure of respect and selflessness. After Pap abducts the young and civilized Huck, Huck descends into his old habits of lies and half-truths. However, upon helping a runaway slave escape, Huck regains morality and a sense of purpose. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck lies to characters, casting the authenticity of the story into doubt but illustrating Huck’s gradual rejection of lying for himself and a shift towards lying for others.
Child Abuse is something that children all around the world have to deal with every day. Child abuse can cause physical and mental affects on a child. It occurs very frequently and can happen for many different reasons. There is a law now stating that reporting child abuse is mandatory and you should report it immediately. There are thousands of child abuse victims every year. The abuse usually can leave permanent damage on the rest of the child's life. Child abuse is a very serious crime, and affects children everyday with positive and negative affects.
The way Huck and Jim encounter each other on the island, draws parallels in their similar backgrounds. Huck is torn between a life of manners and etiquette and a dangerous life a freedom, and while Jim at an impasse because he is being sold into slavery farther away from his home and away from his family. Each choice, for both characters comes with a cost so they both decide to runaway, in an attempt to assert some control over their lives. After spending much time together, the pair establish a connection which at times Huck feels guilty about since it violates everything he was raised to believe. At a certain point, Huck considers turning Jim in by, writing a letter, but after recalling the goods times they shared, Huck exclaims, "All right, then, I 'll go to hell!” (Twain) and quickly tears up the letter. Twain depicts Huck and Jim 's eventually friendship as a source of emotional strife for Huck and Huck constantly has to decide whether to abandon Jim and turn him in or abandon his religious beliefs and stay with Jim. The ripping up of the letter that would have turned Jim in symbolizes the choice Huck 's has selected. For this moment onward, Huck is dedicated to keeping Jim from being sold back into slavery and has no intent on going back on his choice. While there are times, Huck pays attention to the color of Jim 's skin he believes that
One of the social problems that Mark Twain addresses in Huckleberry Finn is child abuse. Huck is abused by Pap many times during the book and is even locked into a cabin by Pap. Pap also tries to steal Huck's six thousand dollars, and beats Huck frequently, which results in Huck running away. Pap puts down the idea of Huck getting an education. Twain does use humor in his descriptions of some of the interactions between Pap and Huck. For example, the scene when Pap agrees to reform and stop drinking, but ends up getting drunk and falling over is actually funny, but tells us a lot about Pap's character. Twain generally found the kind of behavior he described through the character of Pap to be disgusting, and by painting a humorous picture of the situation he emphasized his dislike of it. The humor perhaps made Pap seem even less sympathetic.
Huck and Jim's friendship undergoes many twists and turns along with the trip the two take down the Mississippi River. With each adventure their friendship grew stronger and deeper from their encounter with the Duke and the King to the riverboat scene the friendship is built one building block at a time. Throughout the novel Jim makes references to the kindness that Huck shows him, but Huck seems oblivious to their new found friendship. "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman"...(pg. 89) When Jim made this statement Huck realized just how much this friendship meant to Jim.