The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

         “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” follows a young boy named Huck through his adventures down the Mississippi River. Through the adventures and obstacles he faces and overcomes with Jim, a loyal run-away slave, Huck changes and becomes more mature. He is no longer the careless, prank playing boy that ran around and had fun at other people's expense. Near the end of his life-changing journey down the Mississippi, Huck is reunited with his idol and close friend Tom Sawyer and these once very similar boys now have many obvious differences. Mark Twain shows their differences to illustrate how mature both of them are.

        Huck sees and interprets the world more realistically and in practical terms whereas Tom, a true romantic, believes the world operates like the stories in his books. Huck is logical, whereas Tom is a daydreamer as a result of having read far too many novels and stories. Tom does not care what anyone else thinks. He believes that you have to go with what is in the book. He tells his newly formed gang of bandits that if they don’t follow the examples in the books he has read, they’ll “get all muddled up” (Twain 12). This quote from the book shows how Tom is a romantic that follows what is in his books and if they don’t do what is in his books they will be confused and do it all wrong.

        Tom accepts everything the way it is but Huck questions everything. He likes to question culture and slavery. He wonders why people like him have to go to church and school. Why do we have to where nice clothes? Huck opposes slavery and that is why he is helping Jim, a loyal run-away slave. Huck starts to wonder during the middle of the book why people treat slaves differently from others. With that thought in his mind throughout the whole story he starts to mature. Tom on the other hand doesn’t really care about anything. He just goes with whatever there is.