In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain a young boy bythe name of Huckleberry Finn learns what life is like growing up in Missouri.
The story follows young Huckleberry as he floats down the Mississippi River onhis raft. On his journey he is accompanied by his friend Jim, a runaway slave.
Throughout this novel Huckleberry Finn is influenced by a number of people hemeets along the way. Huckleberry Finn was brought up in an interestinghousehold. His father was rarely ever home and if he was, he was drunk, hismother had passed away so Huck had no one to really look out for him or takecare of him. Huckleberry had the life that many teenagers dream of, no parentsto watch you or tell you what to do, but when Huckleberry finds himself in thecare of Widow Douglas and Miss Watson things start to drastically change. WidowDouglas and Miss Watson are two relatively old women and think that raising achild means turning him into an adult. In order for Huckleberry to become ayoung man, he was required to attend school, religion was forced upon him, and abehavior that was highly unlike Huck became what was expected of him by theolder ladies. Not to long after moving in, Huckleberry ran away. When he finallycame home he respected the ladies wishes and did what they wanted, but was neverhappy with it. When Tom Sawyer enters the picture, he is the immediate apple ofHuckleberrys eye. Huckleberry sees Tom as the person that he used to be andwas envious of Toms life. Huckleberry saw freedom and adventure in this youngman and soon became very close friends with him. Huck then joins Toms little”group” to feel that sense of belonging and adventure that he misses out ondue to living with the two older ladies. Soon enough Huck realizes that all ofToms stories are a little exagerated and that his promises of adventurereally are not that adventurous. Tom gives Huckleberry a false sense ofexcitement and eventually Huck leaves Toms gang. Later on Huckleberry sfather, Pap, enters the story and tries to change everything about Huckleberrythat the two women have taught him. Pap is a very unkempt person and his outwardappearance is definitely the epitome of the saying,” What you see is what youget.” Paps comes in and demands that Huckleberry drops out of school, stopsattending church, and that he stop reading and learning. After a couple ofmonths of avoiding his father, Pap kidnaps Huckleberry and takes him to a smallcabin in the woods far from civilization. Once again Huckleberry is given all ofthe freedom that he wants and once again Huckleberry becomes dissatisfied withthe life that is bestowed upon him. Huckleberry comes to the conclusion that inorder for him to stay alive, he must run away from his father and make hisfather and everyone else believe that there is no way of finding him.
Huckleberry decides to stage his own death while his father was away on one ofhis drunken bouts. After he stages his death he leaves for Jacksons Island inthe middle of the Mississippi River. After Huckleberry leaves he meets up withJim, Miss Watsons slave. They ran into each other after Huckleberrysarrival on Jacksons Island. As it turns out, Jim ran away because heoverheard a conversation saying that he was to be sold to people in New Orleans.
Jim makes Huckleberry feel comfortable about his decisions and about beinghimself. Huckleberry also realizes that he can learn a lot from Jim. Jim knowshow to how to tell the future, how to tell the weather forecast, and is a verygood judge of character. Huckleberry feels a need to be with Jim and feels verysafe when they are together. Hucks new found friend prompts the decision tofloat down the Mississippi on a raft together. Jim gives Huckleberry a sense ofsecurity but also allows him to have enough space to do his own things. Asopposed to Tom, Jim is very intelligent and truthful. He accepts Huckleberry theway that Tom did, but Jim does not have to lie about what promises will come oftheir friendship to make Huckleberry stay. Jim also gives Huckleberry a sense offreedom, like Pap, but shows Huckleberry that he cares about what happens tohim. Huckleberry finally found a living situation in which he feels comfortablein and likes to be in. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, thereare many outside forces trying to impose their way of life on the youngHuckleberry Finn. Coming from a broken home, Huckleberry is left in the care ofWidow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. These two elderly women try to makeHuckleberry become a perfect gentleman by forcing him to attend school andchurch. Huckleberry feels trapped and uncomfortable with the expectations thatthe two ladies have and eventually runs away. He then meets up with Tom Sawyerwho proves to be a boy full of adventures that prove to be the work of a vividimagination. Huckleberry becomes bored with the relationship and decides to goback to the two older ladies. After he comes back, his father, Pap kidnaps himand tries to return him to the life that he knew before. Huckleberry soon becameunhappy with his new life because he felt that no one cared about him or what hedid. His father was always drunk and forced him to drop out of school and stopattending church. Huckleberry finally becomes apart of a worthwhile relationshipwith a slave boy named Jim. Huckleberry and Jim are immediately inseparable asthey decide to float down the Mississippi River together. In the end Huckleberryproves to have found a friendship worthy of having. A friendship that gives himall of the aspects of all the earlier relationships, but one in which he feelscomfortable being a part of.
