Much as a river shapes its banks on its course, in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck grows and matures as a person as he and an escaped slave, Jim, travel down the Mississippi River. As they raft along the river, the people Huck meets and experiences he gains, as well as the extreme social views he is exposed to, transform him from a naive young boy to someone who has an understanding of his own morality and of the way society functions. In between the banks of the mighty Mississippi, Huck learns humility, compassion, and how to do what is right even when it may be the more difficult decision. After leaving the civilized life thrust upon Huck by his interim guardian, Widow Douglas and her spinster sister, Miss Watson,
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In his early life, Huck’s father did not give him any reason to show compassion and forgiveness to those who use their status to hurt others. When, during a storm, a band of robbers becomes stranded on a capsized boat called the Walter Scott, Huck and Jim could have easily gone down the river and left the gang marooned in the wreckage to die. For a while it appears that all hope for the criminals is lost, until Huck tells a ferry captain of their location. “After all,” Huck comments, “I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself, yet, and then how would I like it?” (65). This shows that Huck is able to reason out difficult decisions even when it might be easier to ignore what is …show more content…
However, his trip on the river molds and shapes Huck into a young man able to interact with society in ways that all of his role models to this point in his life were not able to do. The sheer situations and problems in which he finds himself, allow Huck to grow mentally and emotionally in the way he see’s those that are considered below him, those who have done wrong, and those that are having wrong done to them. The Mississippi river washes away Huck’s old self and he comes out the other side a little damp, but ready to take on the
In his early life, Huck’s father did not give him any reason to show compassion and forgiveness to those who use their status to hurt others. When, during a storm, a band of robbers becomes stranded on a capsized boat called the Walter Scott, Huck and Jim could have easily gone down the river and left the gang marooned in the wreckage to die. For a while it appears that all hope for the criminals is lost, until Huck tells a ferry captain of their location. “After all,” Huck comments, “I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself, yet, and then how would I like it?” (65). This shows that Huck is able to reason out difficult decisions even when it might be easier to ignore what is …show more content…
However, his trip on the river molds and shapes Huck into a young man able to interact with society in ways that all of his role models to this point in his life were not able to do. The sheer situations and problems in which he finds himself, allow Huck to grow mentally and emotionally in the way he see’s those that are considered below him, those who have done wrong, and those that are having wrong done to them. The Mississippi river washes away Huck’s old self and he comes out the other side a little damp, but ready to take on the