Memories are arguably the most important aspect of a person’s life. Even with age something as simple as a smell can trigger countless memories to come flooding back. These important pictures constantly impact everyday life. This is particularly true when it comes to Mark Twain’s writing, where he uses many of his own life experiences to create important characters and settings. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses the main character, Huck Finn, as a representation of himself through Twain’s longing for the “perfect” American family, through Twain’s experiences of hardships that led to growth, and through Twain’s obsession with double identities.
The first way Twain creates Huck as a representation of himself is …show more content…
Throughout the novel the reader is able to recognize many parallels of suffering that create a “discrepancy between fact and fiction” between Twain and Huck (Quirk 44). Growing up, Twain was involved in a handful of unfortunate events. Many of these experiences he dealt with led him to grow more as a person. Twain replicated many of his hardships throughout the story of Huck’s life. One example of this is the lack of education the two received. Mark Twain quit school at the age of twelve when “his father died, and his mother gave into his pleas” (Johnson 71) where he then went onto “work as a printer’s apprentice” (Miner 63). The two boys have like opinions about school as Huck had an insignificant interest in going and Twain, in his opinion, “had little use for school” (Johnson 71). The absence of education was a definite hardship for both individuals. This missed opportunity was magnified when it comes to their hometowns. Huck grew up in St. Petersburg, Missouri, which directly mirrors the small town of Hannibal, Missouri that a young Mark Twain once called home. These small towns did not allow for much growth for either person. In order to gain a better knowledge of the world Twain and his “restless feet” were able to escape the confines of Hannibal (Leone 32). This situation was not distant to Twain as his parents had “made three moves” in “hope of betterment” for their family before coming across Hannibal (De Voto 49). So, “at the age of seventeen”, Twain followed in his parents footsteps and “began his youthful travels” (Johnson 72). After years of traveling around the States, Twain moved onto Europe where besides “his confessed ‘hate’ for Europe”, he ended up learning more about himself and the world than he would’ve been able to in his small town (Qurik 48). Twain’s experience is undoubtedly related to Huck’s
The first way Twain creates Huck as a representation of himself is …show more content…
Throughout the novel the reader is able to recognize many parallels of suffering that create a “discrepancy between fact and fiction” between Twain and Huck (Quirk 44). Growing up, Twain was involved in a handful of unfortunate events. Many of these experiences he dealt with led him to grow more as a person. Twain replicated many of his hardships throughout the story of Huck’s life. One example of this is the lack of education the two received. Mark Twain quit school at the age of twelve when “his father died, and his mother gave into his pleas” (Johnson 71) where he then went onto “work as a printer’s apprentice” (Miner 63). The two boys have like opinions about school as Huck had an insignificant interest in going and Twain, in his opinion, “had little use for school” (Johnson 71). The absence of education was a definite hardship for both individuals. This missed opportunity was magnified when it comes to their hometowns. Huck grew up in St. Petersburg, Missouri, which directly mirrors the small town of Hannibal, Missouri that a young Mark Twain once called home. These small towns did not allow for much growth for either person. In order to gain a better knowledge of the world Twain and his “restless feet” were able to escape the confines of Hannibal (Leone 32). This situation was not distant to Twain as his parents had “made three moves” in “hope of betterment” for their family before coming across Hannibal (De Voto 49). So, “at the age of seventeen”, Twain followed in his parents footsteps and “began his youthful travels” (Johnson 72). After years of traveling around the States, Twain moved onto Europe where besides “his confessed ‘hate’ for Europe”, he ended up learning more about himself and the world than he would’ve been able to in his small town (Qurik 48). Twain’s experience is undoubtedly related to Huck’s