When we first meet Huckleberry, he is a rogue child whose life lacks structure. With an absent father and an apparently dead mother, Huck has had to raise himself in the countryside of Mississippi. And though he thinks that his life is ideal, those on the outside looking in can see the significant impact not having those parental figures in his life has had on Huck’s life. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses characters such as Mrs. Loftus, Mary Jane, and The Widow to be portrayed as motherly figures and guides in their interactions with Huck showing that children will always look to their mothers for help. Mrs. Loftus, while being a relatively minor character, is important in Huck Finn’s journey to escaping from his hometown.
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Determined to civilize him, she takes him in out of her good will and by doing so becomes the main motherly figure in his life. In Chapter 1, he describes her lessons by saying “After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him” (1). The Widow represents the closest thing Huck has to a mother figure or even to a parental figure ever since Pa left. Even though throughout Chapter 1, he refuses her help, she leaves a lasting impression on him, hence his interest in religion which he frequently discusses with Jim. Mark Twain uses the Widow to show how mothers are seen as positive role models in a child’s life and by living with her for a while, once he runs away, the guidance she tried to give him and that he reluctantly took will stay in his conscious forever. She comes to him whenever he is in a time of need such as in Chapter 13, when he says “But take it all around, I was feeling ruther comfortable on accounts of taking all this trouble for that gang, for not many would a done it. I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions, because rapscallions and dead beats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in” (77). Twain included this thought by Huck Finn because it further proves that, just like a child yearns for it’s mother, Huck needs the Widow whether he likes it or not. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mrs. Loftus, Mary Jane, and The Widow are portrayed by Twain as guides in Huck’s times of need and of motherly figures in the place of his real mother. Because of this, his character develops greatly and we are able to see the transition he has from a rebellious child to clever young
Determined to civilize him, she takes him in out of her good will and by doing so becomes the main motherly figure in his life. In Chapter 1, he describes her lessons by saying “After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him” (1). The Widow represents the closest thing Huck has to a mother figure or even to a parental figure ever since Pa left. Even though throughout Chapter 1, he refuses her help, she leaves a lasting impression on him, hence his interest in religion which he frequently discusses with Jim. Mark Twain uses the Widow to show how mothers are seen as positive role models in a child’s life and by living with her for a while, once he runs away, the guidance she tried to give him and that he reluctantly took will stay in his conscious forever. She comes to him whenever he is in a time of need such as in Chapter 13, when he says “But take it all around, I was feeling ruther comfortable on accounts of taking all this trouble for that gang, for not many would a done it. I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions, because rapscallions and dead beats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in” (77). Twain included this thought by Huck Finn because it further proves that, just like a child yearns for it’s mother, Huck needs the Widow whether he likes it or not. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mrs. Loftus, Mary Jane, and The Widow are portrayed by Twain as guides in Huck’s times of need and of motherly figures in the place of his real mother. Because of this, his character develops greatly and we are able to see the transition he has from a rebellious child to clever young