Huckleberry Finn Gender Analysis

One chromosome differentiates a girl and boy at birth, although gender stereotypes affect females their entire life. Gender stereotypes are very common in the modern day, but stem from ideas from centuries in the past. The novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain shows the ways females were treated unequally during the mid 1800s. The novel starts off with Huck, the main character and narrator, introducing the Widow Douglas, who adopts him because his abusive father is addicted to alcohol and unable to care for him. Her role in the novel is to complete tasks like cooking, cleaning, teaching, and more for Huck. Her years of trying to civilize Huck do not remain the same for long, because after he runs away and embarks on an adventure

The Widow Douglas performs a female’s normal daily tasks when she provides for Huck. Her daily tasks are those of a mother figure, and from Hucks point of view the Widow Douglas “was trying to sivilize [him]” (Twain 1). The Widow Douglas is not a significant character in the text, and when she is included, it usually revolves around the tasks she completes for the male characters, like Huck. Along with the stereotypes of the daily tasks they complete around the house, women are also seen as not being capable to complete more than the stereotypical tasks set for them. The men in the novel see the women as only housewives and not able to expand on what else they can do. After her slaves have been sold Huck tells Miss Mary Jane about his plans to help get them back. He plans include himself doing the necessary work, while Mary Jane is to watch what is happening and stay protected from the problems that might come about. When Mary Jane ask to help, Huck says, “ I reckon if she knowed me she 'd take a job that was more nearer her size” (Twain 193). In Huck 's point of view, he sees the woman as weak, and they should only be doing the small housework. Huck believes the women should not expand their abilities by doing the dangerous or dirty work that the men are stereotypically supposed to do, and thus the women could not receive power because only the men can do certain