Huck Finn Coming Of Age Analysis

Huck’s Coming of Age

Life is full of experiences that make you the person you are today and allow you to grow. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story about Huckleberry Finn, Huck for short, in the pre-civil war era that goes on a journey down the Mississippi with a black man named Jim. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is a coming of age story for Huck, the main character; this is shown through his experiences from being a dependent child to an independent man and through the foil of another character named Tom.

At the beginning of the story, Huck was a dependent child that needed to be taken care of and watched by Ms. Watson. Huck was disobedient, did not pray, said he wanted to go to hell, and joined a band of robbers.

This was shown when Tom and Huck played jokes on Jim. Also, in the middle of the book, Huck played an immature joke on Jim when he placed a dead snake’s skin in Jim’s bed, which made the mate bite Jim’s foot. Another time, Huck fools Jim into thinking that their separation on the raft was a big dream, and Jim expresses that he was so scared when he lost Huck that he was heart broken. From then on, Huck promised to never hurt Jim again because he felt so bad for him. This was shown when Huck said, “I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d a knowed it would make him feel that way” (102). This shows that Huck finally started to care about Jim’s feelings and outgrow his

In the beginning of the story, Tom said, “Don’t you reckon the people that made the books knows what’s the correct thing to do? Do you reckon you can learn ‘em anything?” (12). This shows that Tom’s adventures were all planned and executed like the books he has read, but from no experience. At first, Huck thrives to be and looks up to Tom, but as the story progresses that changes. When Jim and Huck find the robbers on the steamboat, Jim and Huck go on the steamboat, but only thinking that Tom Sawyer would take on this adventure. Here, Huck wishes that Tom Sawyer was with him, because he likes how Tom is adventurous. Towards the end of the story, Huck’s thoughts change about Tom even though Tom still went by the books. When trying to free Jim from the Silas’s, Huck suggests that they steal the key and free Jim, but Tom insists that they create obstacles. This shows that even though Tom still thinks the book brings on great adventures, Huck realizes that they are foolish. Huck has learned a lot from experience, while Tom has not had any experiences to learn from. Huck Finn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain learned from his experiences, allowing him to develop into an independent man, while his foil, Tom, has not learned from any