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Huckleberry Finn's Lessons

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Everyday provides countless interactions and events that can bring forth profound lessons. Each lesson helps define one’s person and shape his or her future decisions. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn undergoes a series of adventures off of his raft which provide him with new identities. The crucial lessons Huck learns from his journeys cause him to mature and understand his abilities as a human. He learns from being a bystander, being reactive and stepping in to correct a wrong, and ultimately being proactive and taking immediate action. Through experiencing the results of inaction and taking action, Huck learns the power within himself to make a change. Through Huck’s encounter with the Grangerfords, Huck …show more content…

Despite Huck’s internal racism, he realizes how much he cares about Jim and concludes “all right, then, I’ll go to hell” as he chooses to save captured Jim (Twain 304). In this moment, Huck is choosing to not take the easy path as a bystander but immediately save his friend in need. He experienced guilt from the Grangerfords and the results of being reactive from the Wilks, so now he will use these lessons to be proactive in rescuing Jim. Huck pretends to be Tom Sawyer to fool the Wilks; but, being proactive, he recognizes and predicts the issues that will arise when the real Tom arrives. Demonstrating his forward thinking, he “[goes] up the road and waylay him” before the Phelps can see Tom (Twain 316). Huck is demonstrating forward thinking and planning to properly save Jim by predicting problems and taking course to prevent them from occurring. Next, Huck and Tom “study out a plan to steal Jim” that, although absurd, clearly indicates that the boys are taking matters into their own hands (Twain 327). While Tom seems to be running the show, Huck, being thoughtful, knows that he must play by Tom’s rules in order to prevent any pressing issues that would happen, such as Tom potentially revealing Huck’s plans, if he were to act on his own. In addition to helping Jim, Huck steps up to save Tom Sawyer when he is injured. Huck immediately understood the gravity of Tom’s wound and acted by “a-going for a doctor” to help him (Twain 383). Although risky and could lead to Jim’s capture, Huck could not lose another friend. Huck taking immediate action indicates substantial personal growth and maturity as he is valuing his friends more and gaining confidence within

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Huck thinks about Miss Watson and how he is betraying her by helping Jim escape. Huck encounters slave catchers and he is internally whether to tell about Jim but decides not to and says, “They went and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn’t no use for me to try to learn to do right; a body that don’t get started right when he’s little ain’t got no show -- when the pinch comes there ain’t nothing to back him up and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat” (Twain 102). Then later in the novel Jim is sold by some con men for $40 which upsets Huck and causes him to realize he cares about Jim and says, “All right, then I’ll GO to hell” (Twain 225). Huck is defying society’s laws by deciding to help captured Jim. Huck is maturing significantly because his perception of Jim has changed.

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