Leo Marx Huckleberry Finn Essay

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is often recognized as one of the finest novels in American literature. Unfortunately, the book has driven many critics to promote their own judgment due to what can be called a “falling off” ending. Why did Huck fall back to his old ways? What are the possible reasoning’s to Mark Twain ending the book like that? Was the ending really worth the read? With the help of two opposing critics, Leo Marx and James Cox, individuals can form their own inference about the ending of the novel. Leo Marx was a critic known to argue against Twains choice of ending by saying it did not follow through the theme of race during that time period. Twain wanted to stress the idea concerning race and lack of education during the

Tom Sawyer can be known as a mischievous boy with a very active imagination. In the novel, he spends his time as leader when he is around Huck; therefore, can help prove Marx’s point. As one gets deeper into the novel Huck starts to gain responsibility and show qualities of a leader but as soon as Tom shows up at the end, Huck decides to back off. Leo Marx says, “In letting Tom Sawyer’s escapades take over the action of the final chapters, Twain undermines the meaning of Huck’s moral maturation.”. If the novel were to continue without Tom Sawyer, Huck would have kept his responsibilities going and gotten Jim out of the hut in a manner opposite of Tom. Tom likes to treat Jims escape from the hut as a game; therefore, he states, But there’s one thing- he can have a rope ladder; we can tear up our sheets and make him a rope ladder easy enough. And we can send it to him in a pie; it’s mostly done that way.”. Tom is usually basing his ideas off of pirate books that he reads, that are most likely fictional. His immaturity and lack of education is not seen by Huck like it is seen by