As this quote shows, games were a very important part of life to Mark Twain. This would help explain why games are such an important part in most of his works, one of which is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He uses these games to symbolize many different things from maturity to the quest for knowledge, opening new views to what could have been a simple novel. This importance of games reflects that of our lives, when we must play the game of life as we learn, lose, and win. This is the reason that Mark Twain uses the various games such as tricks, disguises, superstitions, and fantasies to parallel Huckleberry Finn’s maturation and his education in life in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The novel is broken up into three main stages exemplifying Huck’s maturation through the games he encounters. In the first stage, the novel parallels childhood and recklessness with games. Most obviously, Huck plays “games” with th

Another game along the journey is the feuding of the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. After the raft crashes, Huck swims ashore and his liberty is once again threatened by the behavior of men. This game the adults play for a reason none of them remember threatens the lives of all who are involved. When Huck sees the dead body of Buck Grangerford, he realizes the horror of this deadly game the adults play. He is sickened by the situation and remarks that he wishes he had never come ashore to see such things. This is an important lesson he must learn about the foolishness of adult games and how sometimes these games are not always fun, but in fact have dire consequences. He learns that although killing is fun to dream about, the reality of it is horrible. Another show of these crooked adult games is that of the Duke and Dauphin. The two scoundrels come aboard the raft to Huck and Jim’s dismay, and begin to play crooked games with the two innocent souls. From the beginning, Huck and Jim sense that the men are liars and are skeptical about their story of being a Duke and a King. In one of the port towns, they put on a circus for the townspeople. This circus is nothing like the one before it and is actually a total fruad. The Duke names the show “The Royal Nonesuch” and adds, “Ladies and Children Not Admitted” to stir public interest. Once the audience comes to the show, they are chaeted with the pitiful show the two put on, but not allowed a refund. The people, angered, decide to tell others to come to the show to be cheated as well. Soon, the Duke and Dauphin have swindled the whole town and they have collected their cash, only to be chased out of town. Huck sees the Duke’s and the townpeople’s dishonesty and learns from this game of cheating, that not everyone plays by the same rules as he does and that he must watch out or be cheated himself.

The reader can see Huck’s maturation and learning through his treatment of Jim as well. When he and Jim are separated one night on the river, Jim is heartbroken and scared at Huck’s disappearance. When Huck returns, he trys one of his childish tricks on Jim, telling him the separation was all a dr

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1500
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)