Huck Finn Grows Up
Many changes violently shook America shortly after the Civil War. The nation was seeing things that it had never seen before, its entire economic philosophy was turned upside down. Huge multi-million dollar trusts were emerging, coming to dominate business. Companies like Rockefeller's Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel were rapidly gobbling up small companies in any way possible. Government corruption was at what some consider an all time high. "The Rich Man's Club" dominated the Senate as the Gilded Age reached its peak. On the local front, mob bosses controlled the cities, like Tammany Hall in New York. Graft and corruption were at an all time high while black rights sunk to a new low. Even after experiencing freedom during the Civil War, their hopes of immediate equality died with the death of Lincoln. Groups like the KKK drove blacks down to a new economic low. What time would be better than this to write a book about the great American dream, a book about long held American ideals, now squashed by big business and white supremacy? Mark Twain did just that, when he wrote what is considered by many as the "Great American Epic".The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "The great American epic," may be one of the most inter
The scene in which Huck matures the most because of the King and the Duke is when the group hears of the death of Mr. Wilkes. This man, who had a substantial amount of money, had willed it to not only his relatives in America, but also his brothers in England. The King and Duke pretend to be his brothers from England, and come to collect their inheritance money. Of course that just isn't enough for the two, so by sheer generosity, they "selflessly" give up their share of the inheritance money. By this "display of caring" the two manage to twist events to the point where they receive all of the inheritance money left by Peter Wilkes. This is where Huck shows a large amount of maturation. After he had learned of their plan, he said, "it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race. He realizes that what the Duke and King are doing is extremely wrong. His morals tell him that he can't let the Duke and King get away with such an awful crime against the Wilkes. Before the King and Duke leave, Huck steals the money the frauds had stolen and hides it. Huck here shows a great deal of maturity because he is breaking away from his "Tom Sawyer" ways. Instead of looking for adventure he realizes what is right, and sees that it is done. The delay is costly to the King and Duke, who barely escape the town after the real relatives from England show up. These events not only reinforce the morals that Huck already possesses, but they also show that his time spent in "civilization" with the Widow has taught him something after all. The first time that Huck Finn is shown is shown to be varying from the original immature figure that he is displayed as in the opening of the novel, is when Huck goes to Jackson Island. On the island the reader catches his first glimpse of an independent Huck. Huck is brought away from both civilization and Tom, who together silence his inner maturity. In this demonstration of freedom, Huck is able to live happily by himself, only proving that civilization is holding back the real Huck. It seems that the further Huck ventures from civilization, the more mature he becomes. On Jackson Island, Huck meets up with the black slave that he and Tom used to hassle. Huck quickly establishes that the slave, Jim, is a runaway. Huck then takes it upon himself to help Jim runaway, thinking of it as an adventure. "Call me a low down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum," is all Huck has to say on the matter, but he keeps quiet just the same. He shows his first big step in his maturation here by being tolerant of Jim and not rejecting him as a subordinate, as he and Tom had done earlier. On the island the reader does still see signs of a Huck that is not maturing. On the island Huck is frightened by Jim's superstition. After Huck holds a bit of snake's skin, Jim becomes fearful because to him that is a sign of bad luck. Later, after getting bit by a snake, Jim's superstition is validated. This only pushes Huck further towards believing in Jim's superstition. The island is the first place where the reader can see Huck's maturation; however, it certainly isn't the best example of his growth. Another area where Huck has made major advances in maturity is in his ideas of equality. Huck has come along way since the beginning of the novel, where he and Tom picked on Jim. One now sees that Huck has come to accept people's differences, he realizes that what matters is not really on the outside. Throughout the course of the novel, particula
Some common words found in the essay are:
King Duke, Island Huck, Grangerfords Huck's, Sawyer Huck, Jim Tom, Huck Jim's, Harney Sheperdson, Jim Huck, Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain's, king duke, huck finn, tom sawyer, jim runaway, jim's superstition, inheritance money, island reader, huck huck, free jim, duke king,
Approximate Word count = 2359
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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