Compare and contrast - Huckleberry Finn (Huck) and Tom Sawyer.
Huckleberry Finn (Huck) and Tom Sawyer are two of the characters created by Mark Twain for two of his timeless books. They are as different as night and day but in some cases as similar as an alligator and a crocodile. Tom is a born leader and Huck is a follower. Tom is unaccustomed to the fierceness of life on the streets and Huck is very familiar with it. However, both Tom and Huck enjoy playing tricks on people and causing trouble in the town where they live. Another way that they are similar is that they both confuse information. For example, Huck tells Jim that Henry VIII married a new wife everyday after cutting off the head of the previous one. Huck also says that each of the wives would tell the king a story and he collected the stories until he had 1001. There is factual information in both of those statements. Henry VIII did cut off some of his wives heads, but only so he could marry another woman in hopes that she would bear him a son to rule in his place. The part about collecting stories comes from the legend of how 10001 Arabian Nights was composed, which states that a wife of an Arab king told him various stories for 1001 nights. Tom on the other hand confuses information from books. For example, he convinces his friends to help him raid a caravan that was transporting jewels through the woods and after it turns out that they were raiding a Sunday school
Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn - Was giving up his pass to civilization wrong by consciously performing a right?
Morgan Robbins Section 1 Every human has a conscience, sometimes referred to as a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Huck wrestles with eternal damnation to Hell to help a friend or natural order to remain a part of civilized society. In this case the angel and devil roles are hard to assign. Was giving up his pass to civilization wrong by consciously performing a right? To escape this indistinguishable decision, Huck decides to free himself from civilization, bringing his newfound Negro friend Jim out of slavery in a bonding journey down the Mississippi River. In an unlikely paradox, the raft on the river although confined provides more freedom and friendship opportunity for Jim and Huck than civilized land. The life on the river for Jim and Huck intensified their friendship by creating bonding experiences and represented freedom from civilization where societal rules no longer apply. Like the waves of the very river they were on, Jim and Huck's friendship ebbed and flowed. Huck and Jim did not even need to converse to enjoy each other. It was simply the other person's presence, which brought each of them comfort. For example, Huck says "It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still river, laying on our backs, looking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud, and it warn't often that we laughed, only a
Huckleberry Finn Persuasive
Huck Finn Persuasive Essay Many people would argue that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel, and Twain has a mean spirited attack at black people through the use of his novels language, and some of the characters actions. You could argue that it is racist but in reality Twain is using the real language of the time to capture and portray the south at the time, and how blacks were being treated. Through out the novel the word "nigger" is used quite frequently by white southerners... Many believe that was Twain being racist but that's not why it's in the book. Twain is using to show how the south was in that time period before and well after the civil war. He uses it ironically to show how white people were cruel and didn't care about black people at all, and to show the reader that it is wrong and unjustified. Also what book would be accurate if white people in the south during the early 1800's didn't use that word at all, it backs up the stories accuracy and makes it an overall more believable story and also helps reinforce Twains main notions that all humans are equal regardless of their skin color. He uses it also to ironically show that even the nice southern bells thought that racism towards blacks was acceptable, and should be tolerated. For example towards the end of the story Aunt Sally is told of a steamboat accident and asks if anyone is hurt she is
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : His Moral Character
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : His Moral Character Despite the moral dilemmas that Huckleberry Finn faces, he is able to unfold his moral character through out the book. Consciously he feels that what he is doing is wrong, but still does it, which turns out to be the right thing to do. He not only lies and steals for his own survival, inquiry and benefit but for the benefit of others. Huck is a very caring person and through out his journey he had the need to help those around him. For instance, he starts writing Miss Watson a letter, telling her where her slave, Jim, is. At first he feels refreshed and content with himself after he writes it, but later he tears the letter up. "I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray, now. But I didn't do it straight off but laid the paper down and set there thinking; thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking... 'All right, then, I'll go to hell-' and tore it up." By doing this, he is violating the code of ethics, such as social behavior, that he has been taught by society. Why is this? This is because Huck sees Jim as his friend and not just as a slave. He does not want to betray the only person that needs him and has been there for him. Jim is also
Huckleberry Finn as Bildungsroman
Huckleberry Finn as Bildungsroman The novel of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy, Huck, coming of age. It is a story of Huck's struggle to win freedom for himself and Jim, a runway slave. The many adventures that Huck goes on become a learning process to maturity by learning to be self-sufficient, sic "sivilize", adverse, and adventurous. Mark Twain examines the influence of adults that Huck experiences during his childhood By Pap teaching him to be self-sufficient, the Widow educating him in being "sivilize", and Jim teaching him about humanity, it aids him in his bildungsroman, his moral education. Huck allows his own logic to realize what is good and bad, rather than blindly following his elders' teachings. At the beginning of the novel, Huck shows his skepticism of the values that society imposes when the Widow Douglas attempts to sic "sivilize" him. Huck describes his life with the Widow as " regular and decent" (1). She dresses him in starchy clothes while sending him to school to learn math and literature. When Huck did not like to be sic "sivilize" anymore, he returned back to his old ways. Huck says, " ...when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out. I got into my old rags...and was free and satisfied" (1). When he is unable to take the restrictions of life any longer, he simply releases himself and goes back to what he feels is
Views of stereotypes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Sean Carstensen December 15, 2004 Period 3 Views of Stereotypes During the early 1800's, racism was still rampant among citizens in America, especially those in the south. Minorities were generalized as a member of a certain racial group and stereotyped with degrading qualities that implied that they were less than human. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain creates a character with all of the African-American stereotypes, and throughout the novel, develops him into a character that everyone can relate to, showing that he is human. At that time, African-Americans were seen as animals that did not care for anyone, but Twain shows that Jim has feelings, despite what society thinks. Another aspect of the African-American stereotype was that all African-Americans were stupid, but Jim, although uneducated, is not portrayed as stupid. A common belief among racists at the time was that African-Americans were less than human, but throughout the novel, Jim shows feelings of despair, regret and compassion, all of which are humanlike. In contrast to the typical stereotype that African-Americans care for no one but theirselves, Jim is depicted as an extremely caring person. When describing his daughter to Huck, Jim says, "En wid dat I fetch' her a slap side de head dat sont her a-spawlin'...Oh, Huck, I bust out a-cryin' en grab her up in my arms, en say, 'Oh,
Huckleberry Finn Essay
Huckleberry Finn Essay The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, tells the story of Huck's travels down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave. Huck lived in a small town with his biological father, Pap; a drunk who had caused him many problems. However, in the novel, the character of Jim is portrayed as the "true father" of Huck. Because Jim acts as a role model and a mentor to Huck along their journey down the river, he proves to be more of a father figure to Huck than his biological father Pap. A father teaches his son lessons. Jim taught Huck many lessons both intentionally and indirectly. Jim shows Huck that slaves are real people, just like himself, despite the different color of skin. Huck gained a greater amount of respect for Jim when he talked of missing his family. Jim also shared with Huck that he remembers beating his little four-year-old girl once. Jim told Huck he regretted his actions and was overcome with sadness, and of how he misses his family towards the end of the novel. Jim teaches Huck that slaves are not different because of color; they have feelings, emotions, and love their families just as much as whites. Sharing this compassionate side of Jim teaches Huck that slaves are not completely different simply because of color. Jim allows Huck to see that slaves have
Literary analysis of "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
Many writers have used their talents to influence the way a generation thinks, but few writers have had the same remarkable influence as Mark Twain. Ernest Hemingway coined, “The Adventures of Huckleberry is the novel from which all modern American literature comes from.” Even today, Twain Is mostly acclaimed for his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book draws on Twain's memories of his boyhood in Hannibal, Mo., the knowledge of the Mississippi River that he had gained as a pilot, and his 20 years of experience in creating fictional character and adventure (Covici 1). Twain rushes Huck into encounters that allow the reader to portray pre–Civil War life along the Mississippi as well as to present the moral complexities of a boy's growing up outside of society’s reach on the Mississippi River (Covici 1). In his books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain provides insight into the pre-civil war time through his clear depictions of southern society’s ignorant and discriminatory notions. Although at first the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was roundly denounced as inappropriate for readers, it is considered to be one of the most important works of literature in American history through its condemnation of society. Mark Twain accurately portrays a hypocritical American society by highlighting its rigid