Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Story Essay, Research Paper

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain a young boy by

the name of Huckleberry Finn learns what life is like growing up in Missouri.

The story follows young Huckleberry as he floats down the Mississippi River on

his raft. On his journey he is accompanied by his friend Jim, a runaway slave.

Throughout this novel Huckleberry Finn is influenced by a number of people he

meets along the way. Huckleberry Finn was brought up in an interesting

household. His father was rarely ever home and if he was, he was drunk, his

mother had passed away so Huck had no one to really look out for him or take

care of him. Huckleberry had the life that many teenagers dream of, no parents

to watch you or tell you what to do, but when Huckleberry finds himself in the

care of Widow Douglas and Miss Watson things start to drastically change. Widow

Douglas and Miss Watson are two relatively old women and think that raising a

child means turning him into an adult. In order for Huckleberry to become a

young man, he was required to attend school, religion was forced upon him, and a

behavior that was highly unlike Huck became what was expected of him by the

older ladies. Not to long after moving in, Huckleberry ran away. When he finally

came home he respected the ladies wishes and did what they wanted, but was never

happy with it. When Tom Sawyer enters the picture, he is the immediate apple of

Huckleberry?s eye. Huckleberry sees Tom as the person that he used to be and

was envious of Tom?s life. Huckleberry saw freedom and adventure in this young

man and soon became very close friends with him. Huck then joins Tom?s little

?group? to feel that sense of belonging and adventure that he misses out on

due to living with the two older ladies. Soon enough Huck realizes that all of

Tom?s stories are a little exagerated and that his promises of adventure

really are not that adventurous. Tom gives Huckleberry a false sense of

excitement and eventually Huck leaves Tom?s gang. Later on Huckleberry ?s

father, Pap, enters the story and tries to change everything about Huckleberry

that the two women have taught him. Pap is a very unkempt person and his outward

appearance is definitely the epitome of the saying,? What you see is what you

get.? Pap?s comes in and demands that Huckleberry drops out of school, stops

attending church, and that he stop reading and learning. After a couple of

months of avoiding his father, Pap kidnaps Huckleberry and takes him to a small

cabin in the woods far from civilization. Once again Huckleberry is given all of

the freedom that he wants and once again Huckleberry becomes dissatisfied with

the life that is bestowed upon him. Huckleberry comes to the conclusion that in

order for him to stay alive, he must run away from his father and make his

father and everyone else believe that there is no way of finding him.

Huckleberry decides to stage his own death while his father was away on one of

his drunken bouts. After he stages his death he leaves for Jackson?s Island in

the middle of the Mississippi River. After Huckleberry leaves he meets up with

Jim, Miss Watson?s slave. They ran into each other after Huckleberry?s

arrival on Jackson?s Island. As it turns out, Jim ran away because he

overheard a conversation saying that he was to be sold to people in New Orleans.

Jim makes Huckleberry feel comfortable about his decisions and about being

himself. Huckleberry also realizes that he can learn a lot from Jim. Jim knows

how to how to tell the future, how to tell the weather forecast, and is a very

good judge of character. Huckleberry feels a need to be with Jim and feels very

safe when they are together. Huck?s new found friend prompts the decision to

float down the Mississippi on a raft together. Jim gives Huckleberry a sense of

security but also allows him to have enough space to do his own things. As

opposed to Tom, Jim is very intelligent and truthful. He accepts Huckleberry the

way that Tom did, but Jim does not have to lie about what promises will come of

their friendship to make Huckleberry stay. Jim also gives Huckleberry a sense of

freedom, like Pap, but shows Huckleberry that he cares about what happens to

him. Huckleberry finally found a living situation in which he feels comfortable

in and likes to be in. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there

are many outside forces trying to impose their way of life on the young

Huckleberry Finn. Coming from a broken home, Huckleberry is left in the care of

Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. These two elderly women try to make

Huckleberry become a perfect gentleman by forcing him to attend school and

church. Huckleberry feels trapped and uncomfortable with the expectations that

the two ladies have and eventually runs away. He then meets up with Tom Sawyer

who proves to be a boy full of adventures that prove to be the work of a vivid

imagination. Huckleberry becomes bored with the relationship and decides to go

back to the two older ladies. After he comes back, his father, Pap kidnaps him

and tries to return him to the life that he knew before. Huckleberry soon became

unhappy with his new life because he felt that no one cared about him or what he

did. His father was always drunk and forced him to drop out of school and stop

attending church. Huckleberry finally becomes apart of a worthwhile relationship

with a slave boy named Jim. Huckleberry and Jim are immediately inseparable as

they decide to float down the Mississippi River together. In the end Huckleberry

proves to have found a friendship worthy of having. A friendship that gives him

all of the aspects of all the earlier relationships, but one in which he feels

comfortable being a part of.