Gender Roles In Huckleberry Finn

Society has formulated stereotypes overtime on how one gender should act and be perceived as. It forcefully places men and women into categories, a barrier, that they are supposed to live religiously by. These specific classifications on gender distort people’s perspectives because it is constantly being influenced in people’s minds. That is how sexism is created because it is what people think is “normal” for a specific gender to be. The roles of gender is heavily brought up in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is in Huck’s, the protagonist, point of view. He is a thirteen year old boy who comes across many situations that shape and morph him throughout the story. He simultaneously travels

Huck and Jim are accompanied by two other men. They prefer to be called the Duke and the King because they claim to be in line of royalty. Although Huck seems to see through their gimmicks, he plays along. The Duke and the King travel town to town, and they scam the people out of their money. They continue their fraudulent ways until they run out of their luck. The Duke and the King have failed to collect anything from other towns, and it leaves them desperate for any source of money. All four of the men stop by the nearest town. While the Duke and the King go cause havoc in the town, Huck tries to take this opportunity to escape with Jim. When Huck goes to the raft, Jim is nowhere in sight. Huck later finds out through a stranger that the King has sold Jim out of desperation for some extra pocket change. Huck battles with himself to make a decision to write to Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer will then tell Miss Watson to claim Jim. Although something stops Huck from writing the letter, his mind is not in the right place. Even with praying to God and begging him for forgiveness, he is hesitant to write a letter. Flashbacks begin to appear in Huck’s mind, and he is caught in a dilemma. Huck reflects on “how good he always was” (pg 194) when they were traveling in the raft. Additionally Huck recollects how Jim calls him “honey, and pet [him]” (pg 194) as a way of comforting him. Essentially, Huck is missing his companion because of all the memorable times they have together. The flashbacks evoke Huck’s vulnerability because he is left to determine whether he should turn Jim to Miss Watson. Although he cannot seem to do this because Jim gives him comfort and friendship. The stereotypes of men include that they need to be level-headed and strong in order to be seen as manly. Therefore Twain is challenging this idea because the audience get to see Huck rehashing his deep thoughts on another