Huckleberry Finn Maturity Analysis

In every situation in life, there is always a choice. When trying to decide upon the best course of action, a person’s maturity level plays a vital role in how the situation turns out. However, everyone matures at his/her own rate, and some people mature faster than others. These differing levels of maturity can drastically alter a situation’s outcome. During his adventures down the Mississippi River, Huckleberry Finn encounters many new experiences that force him to confront and resolve his own moral dilemmas in order to develop a more mature outlook on life.

Initially, Huck wrestles with the concept that Jim is a human being with all the same thoughts and feelings as himself. Growing up, Huck learned that slaves were not to be treated the

One night while traveling down the Mississippi River, they become separated in a thick fog, and Huck decides to play a prank on Jim once they reunite. He tries to convince Jim that their separation was all just a dream. Jim realizes that Huck is lying and becomes angry with him. Jim considers Huck to be his only true friend and genuinely cares about his well-being. Jim is devastated that he would lie to him, and this confuses Huck. On one hand, society states that he should not have to apologize to Jim for tricking him. Yet on the other hand, Huck’s heart tells him that he upset Jim and that he should apologize. It takes a while for Huck to come to this conclusion, but in the end, he says, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger: but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d ’a’ knowed it would

Huck becomes directly involved in one of the criminal activities devised by the King and the Duke, who conspire to rob the Wilks girls of their inheritance. The King and the Duke pretend to be the deceased man’s brothers while Huck pretends to be their servant. Huck must lie all the time in order to keep this intricate ruse a secret; however, this starts to weigh him down. Even though he is used to fabricating believable lies to get out of sticky situations, those lies embed themselves in Huck’s conscience making him feel guilty. The situation at the Wilks’s home finally becomes too much for Huck when Mary Jane chastises Joanna for being rude to him. Huck greatly appreciates the hospitality that has been shown to him, and he feels an overwhelming sense of guilt knowing that he is involved in a scandalous act that will cripple the Wilks family. He knows that he could get into trouble if he is caught faking his identity and stealing money, but he does not want to hurt these people that have shown him so much kindness. Therefore, Huck decides to steal the money back from the King and the Duke, and his reasoning is, “this is another one that I’m letting him rob her of her money. And when she got through they all jest laid theirselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends. I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind’s made up: I’ll hive that money for them or