Huck Finn & Catcher in the Rye Compare/Contrast

A detailed Summary of Huck Finn & Catcher in the Rye Compare/Contrast

The books The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, there many themes that collide throughout these two books. Although these two books are different their themes are closely related. Such as the racism vs. phoniness that are portrayed, also the education vs. growing up, and self-protection vs. the civilized society are all themes that the two authors bring up.

Mark Twain describes the racism in Huck Finn easily. Not because he liked racism but because Twain grew up believing that racism and slavery were not bad things. The book Huck Finn was written after the civil war so things were still cooling down from the war. At the time slavery and racism were being fought everybody owned slaves so it wasn't uncommon to hear the word, "nigger" or other racial terms. Twain wrote this book from the eyes of an innocent boy, Huck, and Twain uses Huck to get his message across that slavery is a bad thing and that we need to change. Huck grew up and was use to slavery and racism, like Twain, but he didn't know that they were bad things because of the way he was brought up that way.

Whereas the phoniness in the Catcher in the Rye was only Holden Cawf

Two main similarities in the books Catcher and Huck Finn is the education vs. growing up. The education of Huck was that he didn't like it and didn't want to be civilized. Then Huck starts to like it and he says, " At first I hated school, but by and by I got so I could stand it. Whenever I got uncommonly tired I played hooky, and the hiding I got the next day done me good and cheered me. So the longer I went to school the easier it got to be." (p.16) Huck realizes that school is hard but over time it gets easier and he starts to like it.

Holden goes to school just like Huck does but he doesn't enjoy it at all. Holden isn't dumb but he did fail four of his five classes and was ask to leave Prencey Prep because of his grades. Holden and Huck also change throughout the two novels. Holden changes by not thinking that everybody was a phony, even though his attitude doesn't change that much but his attitude toward the people he encounters does he realizes that not all people are phony like the nuns, " The nuns let me give them ten bucks as a contribution." (p.143) Holden feels sorry for the nuns so he gives them money. He doesn't think that they are phony because he feels like he can trust them. The nuns live up to his expectations of not being phony. Huck also changes by realizing that Jim, the slave he runs away with, is also a person, and that Jim is his only friend out there on the river. Huck realizes this and says, " and he would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he would think of for me and how good he always was, and at last I stuck the time I sav

Some common words found in the essay are:
Holden Huck, Huck Finn, Huck Huck, Holden Cawfields, Mark Twain, Twain Huck, Likewise Huck, civilized society, Miss Watson, racism slavery, huck realizes, huck finn, Changed America, Prencey Prep, self-protection vs civilized, vs growing, education vs, growing self-protection, vs civilized, themes authors, self-protection vs, education vs growing, believing racism slavery, vs civilized society,

Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English