The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is based on a young boy's coming of age in Missouri of the mid-1800s. This story depicts many serious issues that occur on the "dry land of civilization" better known as society. As these somber events following the Civil War are told through the young eyes of Huckleberry Finn, he unknowingly develops morally from both the conforming and non-conforming influences surrounding him on his journey to freedom. Huck's moral evolution begins before he ever sets foot on the raft down the Mississippi. His mother has died, and his father is constantly in a drunken state. Huck grows up following his own rules until he moves in with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Together, the women attempt to civilize Huck by making him attend school, study religion, and act in a way the women find socially acceptable. However, Huck's free-spirited soul keeps him from joining the constraining and lonely life the two women have in store for him. The freedom Huck seeks in Tom Sawyer's gang is nothing more than romantic child's-play. Raiding a caravan of Arabs really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, and the stolen "

However, Huck sees Jim as a gullible slave. He plays tricks on him like the "rattlesnake event" that nearly gets Jim killed. At this point in the novel, Huck still holds the belief that blacks are essentially different from whites. In addition, his conscience reminds him that he's a "low-down and dirty abolitionist" for helping Jim run away from his owner. Huck does not see that Jim is looking for freedom just as he is (Master Plots).

joolry" is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Still, he ignorantly assumes that Tom is superior to him because of his more suitable family background and fascination with Romantic literature (Twain).

Drinking also plays a part in Huck's dilemmas as the story unravels drinking led Huck's father to beat him. Living in an unhappy situation such as this gave Huck reason to start out on his own adventure. Drinking also led to the Duke's easy admittance of hiding the money. In this situation, the drunkenness exhibited by both characters helped to put a hole in their cover up. While they were questioned and served a heavy punishment, it was really Huck who stole the money before all of their eyes (Master Plots).

The first adventure Huck and Jim take part in while searching for freedom is the steamboat situation. Huck shows development of character in tricking the watchman into going back to the boat to save the criminals. Even though they are thieves, and plan to murder another man, Huck still feels that the forfeit of their lives would be too great a punishment. Some may see Huck's reaction to the event as crooked but, unlike most of society, Huck Finn sees the good in people and attempts to help them with sincerity and compassion. Getting lost in the fog while floating down the Mississippi River leads to a major turning point in the development of Huck Finn's character. Up to this event, he has seen Jim as a lesser person than himself. After trying to deny the fog event to Jim, he says, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a slave; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither (Twain 92)." He continues by explaining how he could never do such a thing again. Huck has clearly gained respect for Jim here, which explains the risks he is willing to take for Jim later in the book. A short yet significant scene is when the men on shore want to check Huck's raft for runaway slaves. He escapes by tricking them into thinking that his dad is onboard with smallpox. This scene shows a negative view of human nature. The men had helped Huck until they realized that they were in danger themselves. They put their own safety above that of others, and while this is sometimes acceptable, it is by no means a noble trait (Gerber).

Although Huckleberry Finn seems to get into a lot of trouble, as he is dishonest at many times throughout the novel, his character seems to melt in the reader's hand

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Approximate Word count = 2055
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)