Huck Finn Essay, Research Paper

Michael Dearing

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

English III

Mr. Baker

The Foil Between Huck and Tom

The foil between Huck and Tom is shown continuously in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn led a troubled life, he had no real farther figure plus his pap was abusive mentally and physically. Tom Sawyer also led a troublesome life with no real home. The characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are very similar throughout the beginning of the novel.

In the beginning of the novel Huck Finn meets up with Tom Sawyer, in an imaginary town called Hansberry, and joins Tom?s gang. In this gang Tom promises robbery, murder, and kidnapping of beautiful women. All of the robbery and murder was really harassing little kids on the playground at Sunday School. Huck realizes this a little later. Huck comes to his senses while a member in Tom?s gang. This is when Huck and Tom start to fade apart.

During the novel Huck floats down the Mississippi River with a run away slave named Jim. His foil becomes apparent in small towns on the Mississippi River. Huck is left with many hard decisions. One decision is weather or not to turn in Jim, a run away slave, for money. He chooses friendship over money. His foil is shown here because if he was still like Tom he would have chosen the money.

The next time his foil is shown is when he meets the con-artists. These people have a master plan to swindle a family. There plan was to act like long lost brothers and steal all of the family?s money. Huck was a last minute addition to this plan. He did the right thing by running away at night. The foil is shown because if he was still like Tom he would have stayed with them.

The foil between Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is important because it helps to teach Huck good morals. Perhaps without these morals Huck would have continued down the same road as Tom. Tom Sawyer was leading a mischievous life and Huck was smart enough to realize it.