Huckleberry Finn Development

Indeed, the beauty, elegance, humor and attractiveness of a book comes from a character or group of characters the author places in the book. It is the ability to bond with a certain character that defines the beauty of reading. As I began reading the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I found myself quickly bonding with a character who's personality and way of thinking I admired greatly; this character was none other than Huck Finn himself. His journey down the inconsistent peace of the river undoubtedly enabled him to broaden his horizons of understanding and lets not forget, he's a only a child! To really appreciate this character and be able to see him the way I do, it has to be understood that for any child to go through what he did with calmness and patience is merely impossible let alone having such a solid desire to seek right from wrong. Childhood is usually the time where anything fed is swallowed and usually sits in the belly forever. Whatever the parents judge as right is right, and whatever they say as wrong is wrong; no questions asked (unless you're in the mood for a good spanking). He makes his own rules and formulates his own judgments on certain things although it may contradict what society has already fed him (reminds me of how I choose to eliminate chunks of my own heritage J). Huck's moral development began at a very young age and although a bumpy ride, it was because of these bumps that enabled him to succeed (why can't all kids be like Huck?) And now I believe it is time for me to backup all the things I have just said.

Let's begin by saying Huck shows his intelligence right from the start. For a child, he uses his common sense and own judgment to such an extent that if something didn't make sense to him, he rejected it; and that's the most important thing. When Ms. Douglas tries to preach about Moses, Huck is interested. However, once she tells him Moses died a long time ago, what does Huck say? "..So then I didn't care no more about him; because I don't take no stock in dead people (p.2)." When I was being taught about the Prophet Muhammad SAW, I never would have dared to say something like that ... Another instance where he refuses to listen to the Widow is when she tells him smoking is bad but doesn't listen to the Widow and obviously doesn't think its wrong (because the Widow was snuffing it herself). "I set down again, a shaking all over, and got out my pipe for a smoke; for the house was all as still as death, now, and so the widow wouldn't know (p.3)." He clearly doesn't give the slightest bit of care the Widow had said smoking was bad. "She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean (p.2)." He clearly obeyed his own rules.

Another very interesting point to note in the beginning is that he is very hard to fool. He doesn't seem to fall into traps that easily if he sees no sense in them. When Tom was trying to explain the whole concept of the genie coming out of a lamp, Huck simply didn't get it. After much explaining, Tom gave up as Huck kept asking logical questions, which he expected logical answers to. "Shucks, it ain't no use talking to you Huck Finn...(P.11)." As we can see, it is the beginning of the novel and Huck has begun to use his own judgment to dissect certain situations. "So then I judged that all that stuff was only just one of Tom Sawyer's lies. As for me, I think different (p.11)." Summerizing these incidents, he refuses to listen to the Widow, calls his best friend a liar and is basically getting fed up of living under someone else's rules. "I didn't want to go back to the widow's any more and be so cramped up and sivilized, as they called it (p.19)."

As Huck can't even stand his own father, he runs away; leaving behind no trace of a faked death. Upon reaching Jackson's island, we begin to see more and more of Huck's immaturity and it is obvious his morality is definitely still at a low. He first of all fails to recognize a very obvious thing but because of where he comes from, he misses the fact that Jim ran away because he is also a human being with a family and doesn't want to be separated from them. He continues to ask Jim questions, confused about why Jim tried leaving. Because such a good and pious lady (the widow) had a slave, it must have never occurred to Huck that slavery could be even considered wrong. A very important part of the story is when Huck plays a trick on Jim telling him everything of Huck serperating into the fog was all a dream. "And I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way (p. 65)." Huck just doesn't get Jim is a normal person with normal feelings - yet. It doesn't take Einstein to figure out playing a trick on someone will hurt him or her; Huck acts so surprised Jim was hurt. Hello! Jim is a human being! (Just a little darker of course) He definitely doesn't recognize any concept of slavery yet as it took him fifteen minutes just to go and humble himself to a "nigger." "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you." This quote by a famous British scholar relates to Huck perfectly as he keeps looking down to Jim, not putting Jim at his own "status" level to really understand him.

Huck's immaturity was again displayed when Huck and Jim begin arguing about the story of Solomon. Jim mentions it is completely inhumane to cut a baby in half; not that Jim is dumb and doesn't realize the analogy behind the story, but to hint to Huck it is just as inhumane dividing up hundreds of families of Negroes. In the second argument about language, Jim again tries to hint to Huck that Negroes are still men of the same human race; they aren't as different as a cat and a horse. "I see it warn't no use wasting words - you can't learn a nigger to argue. So I quit (p. 60)." Huck just couldn't grasp the point...

Shifting to another scene where Huck takes a huge step in moral development is when he thinks about turning Jim in to please Ms. Douglas but then changes his mind. At this stage, he is indeed extremely confused as he is battling his conscience fiercely, pacing back and forth. He remembers all the good Ms. Watson wished for him but the important thing to note from this event is that he says he would feel bad if he did hand Jim in. "Then I thought a minute and says to myself, hold on - s'pose you'd a done