The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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One’s journey in life is not always what it is expected to be. Life experiences can change one’s personality and character. The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, follows a young boy named Huckleberry Finn through his adventures down the Mississippi River. Through the adventures and obstacles he faces and overcomes with Jim, a loyal run-away slave, Huck changes and becomes more mature. He is no longer the careless, prank playing boy that runs around and have fun at other people's expense. Near the end of his life-changing journey down the Mississippi, Huck reunites with his idol and close friend Tom Sawyer and these once very similar boys now have many obvious differences. Huckleberry Finn, through his journey of life without Tom, evolves into the more mature and genuinely good one of the two. Huck sees and interprets the world realistically and in practical terms whereas Tom, a true romantic, believes the world operates like the stories in his books which makes Huck much more understanding. A great example of their contrasting ways of thinking is in their differing approaches to rescue Jim from his imprisonment. Huck plans to simply steal the key, get Jim out, run to the canoe, and escape down the river on the raft. Huck's plan to get Jim out of captivity is straightforward, simple, and effective. Tom, however, complains that "its too blame simple," and that "there ain't nothing to it"(Twain 224). Tom's plan is complicated and full of unnecessary additions because of his stubborn adherence to the romantic scenarios that he reads in his novels. Tom believes there is "honor in getting [Jim] out through a lot of difficulties and dangers,"(Twain 230) and he goes out of his way to invent obstacles to make the situation more difficult and more like the stories he grew up on. He unnecessarily invents hard rock to dig through, a tall tower to climb down from, an infested cell full of rats, spiders, and snakes, and a high security situation. Huck, seeing no logic or practicality in Tom's plan, questions these highly unnecessary notions, claiming that "it's one of the most jackass ideas [he] ever struck"(Twain 239). Huck's realistic mind could not understand Tom's romantic nature and he disagrees with Tom's decisions on numerous occasions ultimately making him the understanding and relatable one. When the middle of the novel comes around Huck begins to distinguish what is right and wrong in life and begins to mature and do the right thing unlike Tom. He shows this when he chooses not to partake in the scam that the King and the Duke are playing on the Wilks family. Instead he takes the money back from the King and Duke to hide it because he believes it is only fair to the family. "I'm letting him rob her of her money...I feel so ornery and low...I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it" (Twain 133). This shows that Huck is starting to see the line between games and real life unlike Tom. Even though the King and the Duke turn scamming people into a game Huck notices that it is unfair to the family and decides to take it upon himself to stop them. This shows that he is beginning to mature and turn into a man for he learns that no one should be taken advantage of for the personal benefit of another which is the opposite of what Tom thinks. After his experiences down the river with Jim, Huck begins to see Jim as a human being and as a close friend while Tom is still stuck in the mindset established by his southern white elders. When Huck finds the raft unoccupied and discovers that Jim is missing, he "set down and cried" because he "couldn't help it"(Twain 204). Huck had never realized how much Jim meant to him until he lost him. He feels so strongly towards Jim that he would rather condemn his soul and go to hell than to see Jim in chains again. He decides "to take up wickedness again" and "go work to steal Jim out of slavery"(Twain 207) even though
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