The Adventures Of Huck Finn: A Coming Of Age Novel

The Adventures of Huck Finn: A Coming Of Age Novel

The novel 'The Adventures of Huck Finn' by Mark Twain is a coming of age novel. Huck's maturity grows throughout the story. He first starts to show emotions toward a runaway slave, and by the end of the novel, has grown up to the point where, when Jim, the slave, is captured, Huck decides not to play games but to take it serious and rescue him the safest and most logical way. He also decides it give up playing games after his friend is shot to ensure that he would get the medical attention that he needed

The first indication of Huck's growing maturity was in Chapter 15. Huck and Jim are split because of a thick fog near Cairo, their destination. After many hours, Huck finally makes his way back to the raft. Jim is sleeping, and Huck, still in a childish state of mind, decides to play a joke on Jim by pretending that he was never lost. He pretends to wake up next to Jim, who is overjoyed to see him, and Huck convinces Jim that the whole episode was a dream. When Jim finally realizes that Huck is fooling him, he scolds him sharply for it:

Aamy heart wuz mos' broke bekase you wuz los', en I didn' k'yer no' mo' what become er me en de raf'. En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun', de tears come, en I could a got down on my knees en kiss yo; foot. I's so thankful. En all you wuz thinking' 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah a TRASH; en trash is what people is dat put dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed. (p. 109)

Jim's words had a big affect on Huck, who realizes that Jim is a person, and that his feelings can be hurt.

Another example of his growing maturity occurs when Tom meets Huck in the end of the story. Tom immediately takes control of the situation, telling Huck that to rescue Jim