How Does Huck Appear To Be Superior To Tom?

Last Section of Huck Finn (!)

#1. How does Huck appear to be superior to Tom? Mark Twain portrays Huck as a character superior to Tom by making Huck as the complete opposite of Tom. In this book, overall, Huck has foresight about in which event will happen; for example, Huck’s notable quote “I’ll go to hell” implies that he is completely aware of the fact that he will eventually get punished for his action, which was to release Jim--an act that is not accepted by the public. Additionally, Huck is introspective (deep), realistic, and mature; even though ironically, Huck lies in order to resolve the situation. Huck’s maturity is shown in his beliefs, where he believes that Jim (or possibly other black slaves) should be treated equally like any other whites and views the minorities as equal people. On the other hand, Tom simply believes Jim should be released just because Tom believed the story of releasing Jim would make a great adventure. Moreover, Tom’s overall craving for adventure exhibits his childlike and fantastic qualities, which contrasts Huck’s quality of being a mature boy. By describing Huck as a boy who is more thoughtful than Tom, Mark Twain deliberately makes Huck to be superior to Tom (which ultimately implies Twain’s contrast of realism and romanticism).

#2. What

Tom tried to escape through the hole that Huck and he made, but the armed farmers heard Tom’s pants ripping and randomly shot his leg. Tom felt proud, rather than vulnerable, after his wound, since it made him feel adventurous and heroic. At the end, Tom recovers rapidly with the help of Jim and Huck’s doctor. Moreover, Tom gives Jim forty dollars as an apology for his immature and irrational actions, such as his idea for spiders in Jim’s hut and idea of making Jim’s escape as an adventure like “Baron Trenck, Casanova..” as Tom said in previous chapters