Huckleberry Finn's Maturity Essay

Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character undoubtedly develops and matures. He has a constant battle between his personal morals and what he has been taught to think is right. From these internal battles, he gains maturity and more compassion than he already had. Twain portrays his maturity through Huckleberry’s thoughts and actions towards others. Huckleberry Finn grows from an insular, immature boy to a maturing young man with the help of his experiences and struggles. The first of Huckleberry’s internal problems occurs when his father is suddenly in the picture once again. The elder Finn is a raging alcoholic who uses his son as a verbal and physical punching bag. He, along with the rest of the Finn family, …show more content…
The slave belonged to Miss Watson, but he had escaped and Huck found him, consequently taking the man along on his own escape route. Slavery is very relevant in Huck’s time, and nearly every household or plantation had at least one slave working, if not more. The crimes for being captured or trying to escape are simple: hanging, or severe beatings. Huck has been taught to treat slaves like property, and to return them to their rightful owners if one is to escape. What Huck has come to realize while floating down the river toward Cairo is that he helped a slave escape, and that is highly illegal. The young boy’s thoughts swirl and run through his mind until he is nearly suicidal, and he thinks to himself, “what had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that you could treat her so mean?” (80). Miss Watson has helped Huck become a better student and taught him many things, and the boy feels guilty for helping the nice woman’s slave escape. Huck has developed a relationship with the escapee, and his heart knows that the torture Jim, the escaped slave, would endure would be too much to handle, and there was a great chance that the man would come to his demise. He does not want Jim to be hurt or killed like that, …show more content…
He learns many valuable lessons about compassion, empathy, and morality. Although Huckleberry Finn is still a young, impressionable boy, he now knows how to handle certain situations and how to put himself in another person’s shoes. His heart and his head still have some issues to filter, but it will be easier for Huck to think through things now that he has some baggage and experience under his belt. It is nearly impossible to say that he will not have any more troubles. However, with the severity of the previous encounters, everything will be lighter on his