The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Analysis Paper

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an allegory to the American government

and society during the pre-civil war era. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn, Huck struggles with his maturity as more things happen to him through the story

and help define and change his character. Huck and Jim’s relationship is a perfect

example of Huck’s period of self discovery.

Huck starts off in the book as a young boy who decided to run away from home.

Smart as he may be, he still has plenty of room to grow before he reaches adulthood.

“Come in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face – it’s too ghastly (47).” This quote shows that

Jim knows Huck is still a boy and is trying to protect him from the horrors of the real

world. “Well, by night I forgot all abiut the snake, and when Jim flung himself on the

down on the blanket while I struck a light, the snake’s mate was there, and bit him (49)”

This quote shows Huck’s immaturity as he plays pranks on Jim and how much of a little

kid he is. This experience, while childish, helped Huck grow to learn that pranks are not

necessarily a good thing to do.

When Huck goes on shore to get information on pap, he goes dressed up as a girl.

As childish as this may be, the motives for his doing so were much more grown up. This

was negated by the childish feelings of running when Huck heard the robbers on the boat

and stealing their canoe; dooming the robbers on the sinking boat to death.

When Huck seems the oldest is when he acts like a scholar and tries to teach Jim

about the bible and explain the stories and about King Solomon. Jim, at this point in the
story, seems like the student and Huck’s the teacher while earlier in the story, Jim was

telling Huck about his superstitions and what and what not to do.

Back on the water, Huck shows his maturity once more when he decides not to

turn in Jim and to keep him on the raft.

Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck changes from a young

ten-year old mindset boy, to a young adult ready for the real world.