Huckleberry Finn Literary Analysis

When people hear the word icon, what images immediately pop into their head? Is it Michael Jordan dunking, Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa, or Martin Luther King Jr. giving his inspiring speeches? The term of being classic or iconic is a label given to only the extremely notable and the most worthy of all books, movies, and people. The character of Huckleberry Finn in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is an iconic literary figure that greatly shaped various protagonists in written works yet to come. As Mark Twain lived in the region of the Mississippi for a large part of his life and was a notable regionalist author, many of his childhood memories can be seen riddled throughout the book in the experiences

Huckleberry Finn is clumsy and forgetful in calm situations, however when the state of the matter becomes threatening, he can think of cunning falsifications. An example of this is when Huck first comes to live at the Shepherdsons’ house when he is looking for Jim. He wakes up that first morning forgetting the fake name he had told them he owned being George Jackson. After contemplating profusely Huck devises a plan to remember the name he had given. He playfully bets Buck that he would not be able to spell out his name and Buck replies “G-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n -- there now” (75). Through this cunning idea, Huckleberry is able to be retold his name without giving away the fact that he is an imposter. Furthermore, Huckleberry has to conceive different excuses to explain why he is in a certain situation. An example of this is when Pap is in a drunken rage and chases Huck around the house with a knife. Pap passes out eventually after tiring himself. Huckleberry then finds a rifle in the house and falls asleep with the barrel of the gun pointed at Pap. The next morning, Huckleberry is woken with Pap questioning him, irritatedly, as to why he has a

This can be seen when Huck is living with Miss Watson and she is educating him on “Moses and the Bulrushers” (2). Huckleberry is interested at first, however after he finds out that he’s been dead for a long time he “didn’t care no more about him; because (he) don’t take no stock in dead people” (2). Huck can also be seen causing humour when he tries to summon genies in the forest. Huck, deciding to try out what Tom said, grabs an “old tin lamp and an iron ring and rubbed till (he) sweat like an Injun...but it warn’t no use” (11). The final example of Huck being source of comedy is when he is talking to Miss Watson about the “bad place” (2). Huck responds with “I wished I was there...but I didn’t mean no harm...all I wanted was a change, I warn’t particular” (2). Through these situations one can laugh at the innocent Huck and the fact that he doesn’t understand these matters