Huckleberry Finn Research Paper

Mark Twain is known for his controversial and bold novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He is able to express detailed journeys of life in the South during the mid-nineteenth century because he grew up in the South (Jackson). In fact, he often uses his native land as a setting in order to provide a more accurate portrayal of the adventures that his characters partake in, especially Huckleberry Finn (Jackson). Much like Huck, Twain struggled through his early life and had a troubled childhood (Jackson). Twain was born in Florida, Missouri as Samuel Clemens, but used Mark Twain as a pseudonym in all of his novels (“Twain”). In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry …show more content…
His individualism throughout the novel and need for equality for Jim shows that he wants freedom for others and for himself, specifically from all of the troubles that he has faced in the past (Hoffman). Because of this, he is considered to be a hero of the novel and “...the hero is the personification of independence and freedom, the instinctive enemy of Old World manners and habits” (“Twain”). Huckleberry Finn embodies the independence and freedom that many yearned for during the mid-nineteenth …show more content…
He appears to be closer to nature because of this and is, therefore, closer to God (Johnson). This is why Jim is so superstitious and believes that everything that he encounters, whether it be a person or thing in nature, has a hidden meaning or symbol. For example, Jim becomes very distraught and thinks that it is his time to die when he sees Huck Finn for the first time after hearing that the boy was murdered, proclaiming, “ ‘Doan’ hurt me-don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to a ghos’. I awluz liked dead people, en done all I could for ‘em. You go en git in de river agin, whah you b’longs, en doan’ do nuffn to ole Jim, ‘at uz awluz yo’ fren’ “ (Twain 51). The moment of weakness and fear that is seen in Jim is meant to reveal the uncivilized nature that a slave is meant to possess and, hence, reveals one of the times where Jim is seen as the stereotypical slave of that time period

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