Huckleberry Finn

Childhood and adolescence are often argued as being the most influential stages in life. It is during the childhood stage where kids start to see the more complicated aspects of life. Children are very sheltered because they don't realize or think about things such as death, taxes, jobs, responsibilities, sex, and all of the complicated emotions that come with being an adult. They have this innocence about them. It is almost as if all children have a different realm of reality. When children grow up though, they start to notice these aspects of life and start forming their own opinions of their own about the dynamics of human relationships. In the story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader learns all about the importance of moral education, racism, and how “civilized society” isn’t always civilized. Children need to form opinions of their own without pressures of a society. In these ways, Huck Finn would be a great story to use as an example of childhood and adolescence literature.

Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Huckleberry Finn is a young poor boy who has no parents and is constantly showing his independent nature. Throughout most of the book, Huck is homeless with the exception of living with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. Unlike his best friend Tom Sawyer, Huck doesn’t trust societies and is skeptic towards their values. The author of the story, Mark Twain, uses sarcasm and satire to show his fear of mob mentality. Huck’s father is an abusive drunk and yet the judge lets him have custody over the two sisters. Instead of thinking for the welfare of the child, the judge lets him have Huck because he is his “natural” guardian. Similar to Huck’s fate, a slave named Jim is also treated as property of a white man and his freedom is not given or even considered. While many of the people in the story like Tom Sawyer and Sally Phelps seem good, they are tainted by following society blindly to support slavery.

Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Ð' Mob mentality or “sivilized” society as Huck would put it, is shown vividly in the chapter where they lynch a man just because he said improper things while he was drunk. On the other hand, abusive criminals like Huck’s father, are allowed to walk free. When the mob comes to lynch him we hear Twain’s beliefs spoken through the victim’s words. He states that society does not work for the better welfare of the community; instead it consists of selfish cowards who use no sense of logic. This teaches the audience that majority shouldn’t always rule or at least determine everyone’s beliefs. In hind sight, many people wonder how so many people could believe slavery was ok. It is because they did not think for themselves like Huck did. Being an outcast