Psychoanalysis Of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Analysis

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Brady Campbell Psychoanalysis of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 3/10/14 Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book of pairs: Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas; Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas; the Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher; the King and the Duke; Huck and Tom Sawyer; Huck and Jim. All of whom have been critically analyzed again and again. However, Huck and Mary Jane Wilks receive very little critical attention. Regardless of the minimal attention this pair receives, it is undisputedly an important one. It is this relationship which helps explain the inconsistent actions of Huck. As he continually demonstrates that, despite his numerous mature actions, he is still merely a young boy searching for his place in the world. Robert Coles, in The Moral Life of Children, hypothesizes that the ego ideal is the primary foundation from which ones moral behavior is created; that the ego develops from a person’s interactions with their mother. As Cole states, “the ego ideal represents an effort on the part of the child to regain the kind of self-love once enjoyed so freely.”1 Huck’s evidential lack of a true mother explains why he has such trouble deciding how to act in society. Therefore, he often shows signs of maturity being undermined by childish acts. As noted by Christopher Lasch, “separation from the mother shatters self-esteem because it forces the child to confront his weakness and dependency.”2 In other words, motherless children should resultantly have a much harder time developing morally. Huck Finn is a motherless child who has not yet developed a truly mature sense of reality. Huck’s participation in Tom Sawyers multitudinous number of stories is evidentiary to his undeveloped cognition. It would be an oversi... ... middle of paper ... ...y or do “right” and return him to slavery reaches its pinnacle. Conclusively, his decision to help free Jim is most likely a result of Mary Jane’s impact on his moral character. As a direct result of Mary Jane, Huck seems to develop an ego ideal which leads him to mature action (i.e. “freeing” Jim from slavery). However, his seemingly abrupt disregard to his newly found maturity is often criticized. Many even blatantly disrespect Twain by claiming that Huck’s reversion is due to Twain setting down the novel and then picking it up again. But in truth, Huck’s reversion is due to his limited time with Mary Jane. For he simply was not exposed to a mother figure long enough for permanent change. Thus, Twain could not have been true to Huck if he did not allow him to struggle against mature action. Even though, that’s what his subconscious was grasping for the whole time.

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