Huckleberry Finn Feminist Lens Essay

Question 1

In Huckleberry Finn, the feminist lens portrays women in this novel as economically, socially, politically oppressed. This way of criticism exposes explicit and implicit prejudice in men in writings about women. One example of the traditional ‘woman’ is Aunt Sally. She relies on Silas to do most of the housework. The only thing Aunt Sally does is cook which is considered a traditional women’s role in society at these times. Widow Douglas is another perfect example of the “traditional woman.” She feels that it is her destiny to civilize Huck in order to help him live up to society's expectations. Mary Jane is portrayed as completely oblivious to the scam that is occuring with her family. She like the other women are considered the

He changed slowly but surely throughout the book. A really obvious one is that Jim went from being a slave to a free man. That's a pretty big deal. He didn’t wait around to be freed, instead he worked hard and gained respect from those that knew him. If we continue to dig a little deeper into Jim’s character, we see he grows in personality. Twain in the first few chapters painted him as a “typical” slave, stupid and quiet. As Huck and Jim go throughout their journey Jim becomes a kind-hearted, smart person. He really progresses into what Twain I think wanted him to become all along. Jim in the beginning didn’t show a ton of emotion. As he grows as a character he finds his voice and his opinion. In chapter 15, Huck tries to trick Jim by pretending that Jim dreamed up their entire separation. Jim tells Huck the story of his dream, making the fog and the troubles he faced on the raft into an allegory of their journey to the free states. Soon Jim notices all the dirt, tree branches and debris, that accumulated on the raft while it was unanchored. He gets mad at Huck for believing him after he had worried so much about him. He starts to really care about Huck and is hurt that he would lie to him like that. This is a critical part, where Jim makes a transition from being just a slave, to someone who genuinely cares about what happens to Huck. He really shows that he believes in Huck and will never stop supporting him in whatever he wants to