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Huckleberry Finn Coming Of Age

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Coming of Age - A Journey of Self Made Successful by Others
On the Road, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Ragged Dick are all vastly different stories with protagonists with ranging ages. On the Road is a story about Sal, an adult trying to find himself while having kicks with his friends on the road; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the adventures of a runaway child who teams up with a runaway slave; and Ragged Dick, a "rags to riches" story sharing the path to success of a young street urchin named Ragged Dick. Despite being so different, these coming of age stories, however, share a commonality. Even though coming of age is about the evolution of self, each story shows that the growth of the main characters is not due to the …show more content…

Huck's ultimate maturation comes from him being able to see Jim as another human being. Being with Jim allows for Huck's practical mentality to evolve into something more. Huck always chooses the practical choice, what is easier. For example, Huck decides against praying because "Couldn't see no advantage about it - except for the other people - so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it anymore, but just let it go" (Twain 19). Huck's pragmatic philosophy allows him to choose what is easiest to do. Throughout Huck's adventure with Jim, we can see his philosophy slightly evolve. When Huck contemplates on whether to turn Jim in, he decides not to because "what's the use you learning to do right when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong" (Twain 95). Turning in Jim would be morally hard and therefore troublesome due the pain caused. It would have been easier to turn in Jim and get the money, however he is started to weigh his emotions into the scale of practicality. Later, when he drafts the letter to Miss Watson regarding Jim, he feels like all his sins have been lifted. However, when thinking about Jim he gets nostalgic and sad, ripping up the paper and declaring "All right, then, I'll go to hell!" (Twain 217). Turning in Jim would cause too much pain to Huck and is therefore no longer practical. Essentially, by the end of the book, Huck's …show more content…

Sal's is symbolized by living in the moment and settling down. Dick manages to embody all the necessary traits and becomes a respectable and successful adult. Huck manages to see past Jim's skin color and acknowledge him as. However, each of them needed other people to fully evolve. In other words, coming of age is propagated by others is unable to happen in a vacuum. For one to truly grow, they need others to help

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976 Words | 4 Pages

By the end of the book, he had started to realize that he really did care about Jim. Huck is writing Miss Watson a letter towards the end of the book talking about where Jim is and how she can get him back. After writing the letter, Huck starts to think about the good times he had with Jim and says that “...somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places for me to harden against him, but only the other kind.”(213). This was the most powerful part in the book for me because after thinking of all the good that Jim has brought him, he tears up the paper and says “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”(214). In Huck’s mind, he had the choice to send the letter and go to heaven or to try to save Jim and go to Hell for doing the wrong thing as far as the widow taught him.

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917 Words | 4 Pages

Huck sees Jim as just property and an ignorant slave who is below him. He does not really care about him very much, but we see that he cares enough to risk helping a black man get to the free states. We see Huck play a trick on Jim when he puts a snake next to Jim when he is sleeping and scaring him half to death when Jim woke up.. Huck just sits there and laughs at Jim. This is the typical 14 year old who loves to play tricks on the adults.

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Jim cares dearly for Huck and treats him like a son. When they were separated Jim is more concerned with Huck’s well being than his own, showing his selflessness and maturity. Huck never having anyone truly care about him, doesn’t know how to react and decides rather than give back affection, to prank Jim: "What's the matter with you, Jim? You been a-drinking?"’(ch 15 p 83), Huck acts like the whole ordeal never even happened to lighten the mood. Eventually when Jim catches on to the prank, he is not at all amused.

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650 Words | 3 Pages

He wasn’t used to having a father figure in his life because his actual father was an alcoholic and was abusive. “Would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was,” (Document E). This shows that not only did Huck care about Jim, but Jim also cared about Huck’s well being, too. Having a father figure was very important to Huck because his actual father wasn’t really a father figure to him at all. Since someone actually cared about him and treated him with respect and care, it meant the world to him.

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1322 Words | 6 Pages

Adversity Leads to Maturation “Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.” This quote from Joshua L. Liebman outlines the deeper theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In the novel, the main character Huckleberry Finn, matures through adversity. Huck encounters immoral situations on the shore of the Mississippi River. The deformed conscience of the people on land force Huck to question his moral compass and overcome the stupid conformity of society.

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

He goes from playing a trick on Jim which hurts him physically, to saving his life, and in doing so himself so he doesn’t get in trouble for helping an escaped slave, and then finally he plays another prank on Jim, which almost ruins his friendship with Jim. Through his constant compassion and love for Jim he goes against what convention sees as wrong and apologizes to Jim. However, he does it with a lot of hesitation and embarrassment. This shows that Huck’s compassion for Jim grew but didn’t change his morality and character at all. This is because he had compassion for Jim in the beginning of the novel and all it did was grow but it still didn’t affect the way he felt about his actions he was doing towards Jim.

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1597 Words | 7 Pages

It is rather unlikely that Huck makes this decision lightly: like Jim, he too wants to run away. Perhaps Huck feels closer to Jim because of this, and it rationalizes his reasons for helping him. Huck understands Jim’s plight, even relates to it, and he feels Jim’s pain. Similarly, one of the greatest testaments to Huck’s compassion was the river episode and Huck and Jim’s encounter with the sinking steamboat Walter Scott. The protagonists chance across a sinking steamboat, and happen aboard to take a look.

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

Huck decides to act on his morals rather than be held captive by society; Huck believes that he has to act in the best interest of Jim and does not consider what society believes is acceptable behavior. By stating that he will “go to hell,” Huck reiterates what he promises Jim in the beginning- that he rather be a “low down abolitionist”; these statements combined supports his feelings to protect Jim from society. When Huck and Tom get back to the house, Huck states, “...it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no

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440 Words | 2 Pages

But Huck also feels like he can not turn Jim in because deep down he knows that Jim’s life will be better not being a slave. This shows that Huck battles between himself whether to follow society’s rules or his own morlas. When Huck chooses to not turn Jim in as a runaway slave, that makes it evident that he matures or so it

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466 Words | 2 Pages

This transition is the result of the extended period of time that the two spend together, which allows Huck to look past the differences that he has been taught to observe for his entire life and view Jim for what he is; a fellow man. By the end of this passage, Huck’s resolve to do right by Jim is so strong that he is willing to suffer eternal damnation rather than betray Jim. Perhaps Huck’s most important statement in this passage is “Alright then, I’ll go to hell”; here he decides he’s willing to go to hell for eternity rather than causing Jim to return to his life as a slave. At first Huck just thought of Jim the property of another person, a good to be bought and sold regardless of any evidence that he was a human being. As they travel together, this viewpoint is gradually weakened by examples of Jim’s humanity, culminating in a model shift that goes against everything Huck has been taught about the societal status of a

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821 Words | 4 Pages

Huckleberry Finn is a story about a rambunctious young boy who adventures off down the Mississippi River. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain demonstrates a situation where a Huck tries to find the balance between what is right and what is wrong. Huck faces many challenges in which his maturity will play a part in making the correct decision for himself and his friend Jim. Huck becomes more mature by the end of the novel by showing that he can make the correct decisions to lead Jim to the freedom he deserves. One major factor where Huck matures throughout the novel is through his experience.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

Huck has been burned with the idea that he is to blame for Jim’s escape. Huck ultimately feels guilty because he knows he has not done wrong but he has no reason not to believe what society thinks because he was only taught one way. Huck imagines an alternate scenario, thinking “s’pose [he]’d’ a’ done right and give Jim up, would [he] felt better... No…[he'd] feel bad” (91). Huck is aware that the right decision based on society is to give up Jim.

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1083 Words | 5 Pages

Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey.

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1420 Words | 6 Pages

Huck becomes more mature throughout the novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of the adults that he meets along the way. These adults include the King and the Duke, Jim, and Huck’s father Pap to help Huck to realize how different people can be than by what is expected. Huck learns to not judge someone based on the color of their skin, not to trust everyone, and to notice that all he needs in his life is himself. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not only a story of a slaves journey to freedom, but also a story of a boy growing up into a

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551 Words | 3 Pages

Charles Darwin, associated with Cambridge University, revolutionized science with his theories of evolution. His ideas birthed new ways of understanding how species came to be. According to Darwin, the key driving force behind evolution is natural selection, which occurs under environmental pressures leading to speciation. Natural selection allows a population to adapt to changes in environmental conditions. Natural selection also explains how one species may evolve into another through the process of speciation.

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